New Mac Pro Available for Online Orders • Hacker News Board

Re: New Mac Pro Available for Online Orders

#61

Post by TylerE » Thu, Dec 19, 2013, 4:41 PM UTC

girvo wrote: post #59

TylerE wrote: post #33

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The budget isn't even that insane. I'm actually in the market for a new machine in the month or two. By the time I spec a 27" iMac up to where I'd want to be (Fusion Drive, i7 processor, graphics upgrade) it's close to 3 grand anyway, so making the jump to the base Mac Pro and just using my existing monitor isn't an insane jump.

Honestly, I'm of the opinion that I'd be better off decoupling my display anyway, and a base model Mac Pro is perfect in terms of power for me. And it looks pretty. I like having a workstation, and this is a hell of one!

Yea exactly. That said, I'd love if they "offered" a lite version for, say, $2500 with consumer Radeon(s) instead of the Firepros.

Re: New Mac Pro Available for Online Orders

#62

Post by MetaCosm » Thu, Dec 19, 2013, 4:51 PM UTC

keithwarren wrote: post #22

gaius wrote: post #13

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If you're doing 4K check out Dell, they actually have a monitor for it.

I actually dont, but I leased office space in a post-prod studio for a long time and am still friends with the owner. There is a demand for raw horsepower on a level many people dont understand.

Honestly, if 4k video editing is the goal, why the hell is it capped at 64GB of memory. Being able to store more than like a minute of the 4k film in memory would seem useful.

According to http://web.forret.com/tools/video_fps.asp?width=4520&height=... ... which is the "Camera: Red One 2540/60p" preset.

Re: New Mac Pro Available for Online Orders

#63

Post by sounds » Thu, Dec 19, 2013, 5:28 PM UTC

gaius wrote: post #44

keithwarren wrote: post #22

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I actually dont, but I leased office space in a post-prod studio for a long time and am still friends with the owner. There is a demand for raw horsepower on a level many people dont understand.

I do understand :-) My preferred architecture for serious users at the moment is to have the horsepower in a datacentre, monster boxes with 96 cores and 2T RAM, connected to SAN via Infiniband/Fibre Channel, and on the user's desktop, a thin client, connected to it via gigE. Schlepping the data back from the DC to the office, crunching it on a normal desktop box and sending it back again is a wild goose chase.

Without being too verbose, have you configured your admittedly over-provisioned desktop as a thin client and actually tried the post-prod workflow this way?

I'm just saying that it's being looked at, and current hardware is definitely _not_ up to the task.

Re: New Mac Pro Available for Online Orders

#64

Post by Cacti » Thu, Dec 19, 2013, 5:51 PM UTC

gaius wrote: post #44

keithwarren wrote: post #22

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I actually dont, but I leased office space in a post-prod studio for a long time and am still friends with the owner. There is a demand for raw horsepower on a level many people dont understand.

I do understand :-) My preferred architecture for serious users at the moment is to have the horsepower in a datacentre, monster boxes with 96 cores and 2T RAM, connected to SAN via Infiniband/Fibre Channel, and on the user's desktop, a thin client, connected to it via gigE. Schlepping the data back from the DC to the office, crunching it on a normal desktop box and sending it back again is a wild goose chase.

Do you have any links handy for researching how to set up or rent/buy from a vendor such a solution?

Re: New Mac Pro Available for Online Orders

#65

Post by rch » Thu, Dec 19, 2013, 6:12 PM UTC

TylerE wrote: post #7

rch wrote: post #4

Add $3000 for the 12 core. Really? Edit: actually , all together it still comes to what was projected. I just didn't expect so much of it to be in the CPU.

That chip retails for $2,795, so not really that out there.

I see that now. And I just tried to price an alternative system at Colfax and came up with $15K (included dual cpu, dual 400GB SSDs, and a Xeon Phi 7120P, no GPU). The Mac Pro is a niche product, but not really 'out there' as workstations go.

Re: New Mac Pro Available for Online Orders

#66

Post by nsxwolf » Thu, Dec 19, 2013, 6:39 PM UTC

MetaCosm wrote: post #62

keithwarren wrote: post #22

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I actually dont, but I leased office space in a post-prod studio for a long time and am still friends with the owner. There is a demand for raw horsepower on a level many people dont understand.

Honestly, if 4k video editing is the goal, why the hell is it capped at 64GB of memory. Being able to store more than like a minute of the 4k film in memory would seem useful. According to http://web.forret.com/tools/video_fps.asp?width=4520&height=... ... which is the "Camera: Red One 2540/60p" preset.

We haven't seen benchmarks yet but I bet the PCIe SSD can stream more than 64GB of video off the disk in 60 seconds.

Re: New Mac Pro Available for Online Orders

#67

Post by gaius » Thu, Dec 19, 2013, 7:11 PM UTC

sounds wrote: post #63

gaius wrote: post #44

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I do understand :-) My preferred architecture for serious users at the moment is to have the horsepower in a datacentre, monster boxes with 96 cores and 2T RAM, connected to SAN via Infiniband/Fibre Channel, and on the user's desktop, a thin client, connected to it via gigE. Schlepping the data back from the DC to the office, crunching it on a normal desktop box and sending it back again is a wild goose chase.

Without being too verbose, have you configured your admittedly over-provisioned desktop as a thin client and actually tried the post-prod workflow this way? I'm just saying that it's being looked at, and current hardware is definitely _not_ up to the task.

This is not for video editing but for number crunching. I am saying that I am familiar with apps and users that have an insatiable demand for memory...

Re: New Mac Pro Available for Online Orders

#68

Post by gaius » Thu, Dec 19, 2013, 7:18 PM UTC

Cacti wrote: post #64

gaius wrote: post #44

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I do understand :-) My preferred architecture for serious users at the moment is to have the horsepower in a datacentre, monster boxes with 96 cores and 2T RAM, connected to SAN via Infiniband/Fibre Channel, and on the user's desktop, a thin client, connected to it via gigE. Schlepping the data back from the DC to the office, crunching it on a normal desktop box and sending it back again is a wild goose chase.

Do you have any links handy for researching how to set up or rent/buy from a vendor such a solution?

There's little magical about it - it's just very expensive. Multi-gigabit MAN links for example! And Infiniband is not cheap either. You can use something like FreeNX for your thin client solution. Storage would be something like 3Par or HDS. The servers and desktops themselves are actually not the major cost in a setup like this.

Re: New Mac Pro Available for Online Orders

#69

Post by FireBeyond » Thu, Dec 19, 2013, 9:29 PM UTC

k-mcgrady wrote: post #20

They're offering a Sharp 4K monitor as an add-on in the configuration. Costs £3,499.

Well, there goes my decision to wait. Apparently the updated Cinema Display is not coming any time soon - certainly not before February. Seems like today would have been the perfect day to announce it.

So Apple's high end display option is still a Thunderbolt Display that requires a Magsafe - Magsafe 2 adapter, only supports TB1, and only has a USB2 hub...

Re: New Mac Pro Available for Online Orders

#70

Post by FireBeyond » Thu, Dec 19, 2013, 9:31 PM UTC

BenjaminN wrote: post #23

mgkimsal wrote: post #5

Dunno why, but I've always felt Apple (and others too) seem to chintz out on the 'upsell' portion. I just configured a new Mac Pro for $13k, and I still need to tack on another $69 for a trackpad. WTH? Couldn't they say - "hey, you're buying a machine for over $5k - would you like a complimentary mouse or trackpad with this?" EDIT: yes, I do know why. It feels stingy. That's why.

I had a free keyboard by just asking when I bought my iMac three years ago. Just go to an Apple Store if you want a free trackpad.

Just don't expect to get anything but the "base" model at the Apple Store (by base, I mean any one of the default option entries on the online store).