Adding Thunderbolt to the MacPro is such a big problem…

[Andrew Richards]

Well to be fair, that isn’t a Xeon mobo.

Best,
Andy

[Craig Seeman]

Apple doesn’t have a non Xeon computer with internal PCIe slots as well.

[Erik Lindahl]

There is a lot of things Apple don’t have, like a desktop from 2012! 🙂 Every single Mac in Apples arsenal is a laptop except the MacPro. The problem is the MacPro is based on 2009-2010 hardware.

There have been a lot of comments regarding the issues with a discreet GPU on PCIe-architecture as well as Thunderbolt to why a MacPro from 2012 is a “problem”. Clearly it’s not a huge problem solving it. Possibly Intel skipped Thunderbolt support in the E-series Xeons. That to me sounds quite far fetched though.

[Craig Seeman]

[Erik Lindahl] “That to me sounds quite far fetched though.”

Regardless of what it “sounds” like, that would be the case. I’ve seen no report from Intel or anyone else with Xeon processors with Thunderbolt on the motherboard.

[Erik Lindahl] “Every single Mac in Apples arsenal is a laptop except the MacPro”

iMac although last updated in early 2011 whose top of the line has quad i7 with two Thunderbolt ports and, like their other computers except the MacPro, has built in GPU chip not sitting on a PCIe card.

[Erik Lindahl] “Clearly it’s not a huge problem solving it.”

Show me ONE Xeon motherboard example. There aren’t any. Don’t you think other workstation makers would do this if it were possible?

[Erik Lindahl]

The iMac technically is a laptop with a 27″ screen. The upgradeability is also somewhat questionable. If it had a proper discreet GPU it would be a lot more viable desktop-solution. If one could actually upgrade the internal HDD’s with out special solutions that would be another win.

I haven’t seen a Xeon Thunderbolt solution since the makers of the Xeon-floura of machines I presume feel it’s not needed (maybe even Intel feels so – I think HP has openly stated they aren’t going to go for TB for now). Or might be the fact these 2012 Xeon systems use PCIe 3.0 which makes TB a problem. I can’t say.

What I can say is Apple is lagging like crazy on the desktop. They had a one year head-start with TB and that didn’t give them all that much. Looking at the ASUS example a system like that – given not a “mac pro” system in regards to all aspects – could for example make a software like FCPX, Premier Pro, After Effects or Resolve dance. At the moment Apple is stuck with laptop chips or desktop chips from 2009-2010. They’ve also cracked the “issue” some people have spoken about TB and user upgradeable GPU:s (i.e. it’s not a problem it seems). Apple isn’t even trying to remedy a huge issue on their platform which is available option on the GPU-front (i.e. allow GPU-acceleration over TB as has been shown to work well in Windows).

[Jeremy Garchow]

I thought that the new “MacPro” that was coming out this year was going to be i7 based “towers”.

Apple would sell a slew of them, they’d be priced right, they’d be decently powerful.

From a technology perspective, it’s good to know that this is possible. I would imagine it would take application updates to be able to recognize the CUDA for speed and integrated GPU for display.

Pr CS6 seems to be smart enough today, but is anything else ready?

[Erik Lindahl]

My previous reply is being held for a possible “profanity word” (it’s not but I get why it got stopped). Never the less…

Yes – a desktop “MacPro Mini” based on a 6-core i7 IvyBridge would be a terrific middle-machine between the iMac and the MacPro we have today (given the MacPro is updated to 2012/2013’s standards). It would also be good if Apple took the ball and made things like Jeremy mentions easier for developers to utilize. Resolve works the way you state Jeremy though I thought Premier did not (CS5.x didn’t at least). After Effects CS6’s raytracing engine when used with CUDA will use all available CUDA-hardware in the system however.

[Craig Seeman]

[Jeremy Garchow] “I thought that the new “MacPro” that was coming out this year was going to be i7 based “towers”.”

Any indication of that? I haven’t seen it in their reports. If that would be the case than the “Asus” argument is legitimate. I can’t see a huge delay as projected in the media unless Apple was very late in starting the case redesign.

[Erik Lindahl]

There hasn’t been anything officially said or done no, given this is the machine that’s always been lacking in Apples line-up.

[Jeremy Garchow]

[Craig Seeman] “Any indication of that? I haven’t seen it in their reports. If that would be the case than the “Asus” argument is legitimate. I can’t see a huge delay as projected in the media unless Apple was very late in starting the case redesign.”

I am talking pre-WWDC announcements. I thought that perhaps the new and rumored “MacPro” was going to turn in to an i7 based tower with thunderbolt. Obviously, that didn’t pan out. 😉