Mac pro pricing

[Rick Lang]

Intel’s prices assuming I’ve picked the correct corresponding chips:

E5-1620 v2 3.7GHz 4-core: $294
E5-1650 v2 3.5GHz 6-core: $583
E5-1680 v2 3.0GHz 8-core: $1,723
E5-2967 v2 2.7GHz 12-core: $2,618

Now it looks like the unpublished cost of the Mac Pro with the 8-core and 12-core options means Apple is undecided about the price. One could speculate each jump will cost $1,000 but the Intel numbers don’t increase so evenly so the marketing dept will pick something hopefully corresponding to their costs.

Edit: found the Intel description of that 8-core E5.

Rick Lang

iMac 27” 2.8GHz i7 16GB

[Andrew Kimery]

Up until the three year hiatus on tower development between 2010-2013 the Mac Pros have actually been price competitive when a new model has rolled out. Some times Apple would get an exclusivity window on new CPUs from Intel and that would be how they’d really differentiate themselves from other hardware makers.

[Marcus Moore]

Great to see this. The lazy meme is that you can put a machine together this fast for half of what the MacPro is costing.

And as the article points out- there’s some compromises he’s had to make to get to that price. You just can’t get some of this stuff PC side yet.

[Mark Dobson]

[Dan Stewart] “It looks like Apple have priced one of their machines reasonably – no Apple premium. Does this mean it’s snowing in hell right now?”

I’ve been pleasantly surprised at the affordability of the Mac Pro, the entry level unit is same price that I paid for my maxed out 27″ iMac earlier this year but no doubt I would probably go for the next model up.

And that’s where the detail of the pricing will start to get interesting. As you will have heard on the streamed presentation these machines come with a ‘quarter of a terabyte’ flash storage as standard. I think most people will opt for 512GB or 1TB storage and it will interesting to see how these are priced. They are specifically designed for the new Mac Pro and, unlike the memory, it doesn’t look at this stage like something that one could upgrade at a later date. ( I’m presuming one can upgrade the memory oneself )

But really the question I need to ask myself in these straightened times is how will the new Mac Pro compare with my 27″ iMac, will I really see a huge performance increase?

[Steve Connor]

[Mark Dobson] “will I really see a huge performance increase?
“

I would imagine so, especially based on two workstation class GPU’s vs the mobile GPU in the iMac

Steve Connor

There’s nothing we can’t argue about on the FCPX COW Forum

[Christian Schumacher]

As far as pricing goes, entry models are fine. But I would urge anyone who’s interested in having the best bang for the buck, and for as log as three years, to avoid the entry video cards offering and both the 4 and 6 core processors. IMO, there will be plenty of beefed up “ancient” Mac Pros beating those, specially if you’re into workflows that touches software from other companies than Apple itself. The sweet spot is the 8-core and D500, but aim for the 12 core and D700. Do. Not. buy. 4 or 6 core. Nor. D300. Unless you’re buying dozens, or something like that…

[Marcus Moore]

I agree wholeheartedly.

No question I’ll be chipping for the D700s- my only question is which is the best processor for FCPX/Motion workflow. For the extra money I’d spend on the 12-core 2.7GHz processor, is there any discernible benefit over the higher-clocked 8-core 3.0GHz.

Are there any barefeats tests on how multi-core aware the X and Motion are?

[Christian Schumacher]

[Marcus Moore] “No question I’ll be chipping for the D700s- my only question is which is the best processor for FCPX/Motion workflow. For the extra money I’d spend on the 12-core 2.7GHz processor, is there any discernible benefit over the higher-clocked 8-core 3.0GHz.”

I’m going to go out on a limb here and say for extensive FCPX and Motion work, the best bang for the buck is a 8-core coupled with the D700s. Maybe the D500s if one is into narrative and/or outsourcing graphics. But if you’re also compressing a lot then you should go for the 12 core. Meaning that if you have the need to output a lot of files on a daily basis and that’s your only workstation for doing it while you wait for it. And, of course, how fast this turnaround work should be for you, then you choose the 12 core.

[Marcus Moore]

You may be right- I know Barefeats did some FCPX tests on different processors a while back. I’ll have to see what they results were.

Considering I’m currently working on a 2011 i7 iMac, anything is going to be a huge step up.

[Rick Lang]

[Mark Dobson] “As you will have heard on the streamed presentation these machines come with a ‘quarter of a terabyte’ flash storage as standard. I think most people will opt for 512GB or 1TB storage and it will interesting to see how these are priced. They are specifically designed for the new Mac Pro and, unlike the memory, it doesn’t look at this stage like something that one could upgrade at a later date. ( I’m presuming one can upgrade the memory oneself )”

The flash storage is “user accessible” which means it can be upgraded although we need to wait until November to see the prices. I read somewhere that only one screw needs to be unscrewed to replace the flash. Still going to be cheaper to order what you believe you need as build-to-order rather than upgrade later. I don’t know if and when third-party flash for the Mac Pro will be available but that might be an option in the future.

Rick Lang

iMac 27” 2.8GHz i7 16GB