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The Cheese Grater is back
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Great insight Ronny. Can I ask why such facilities are running Macs in the first place? It’s just something I’m trying to understand. As Linus points out, the premium on the base model Mac Pro is almost two times the cost of the parts. I imagine the costs will scale on the more expensive Macs to be twice as expesive for the upper level models as well.
When the only difference is an operating system, why spend two times as much to run professional software? Particularly given the options on the PC side- for instance Intel processors at the high end often don’t make a lot of sense as a purchase next to a Threadripper, nVidia GPUs are typically far superior, etc. It seems to me they are paying a huge premium to for less options.
As someone who spends all day working in 3DS Max and similar applications, and only moments interacting with the operating system, I’ve never really considered the operating system as a key element.
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How is it entitled if you are going to pay for it?????
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For grins I priced out an HP Z8 in something that’s fairly close to the base configuration of the Mac Pro. $8K. You get a better 3 year warranty, but even with AppleCare on the MP, you are under that.
– Oliver
Oliver Peters – oliverpeters.com
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If that’s the case I guess I just don’t understand the pricing on branded units full stop. If the parts are worth $3k why pay $6k? I know I paid about $4k for mine. Its got two 1080ti, 64gbs of ram, a 24 core threadripper, harddrives and solid state drives. It’s going to be significantly more powerfully than that Mac for any taskI can think of. I paid a pro $50 to put it together so didn’t have to spend that hour on it myself. I guess my warranties aren’t as great but under Australian consumer law that’s no issue (the time frame set by the manufacturer really counts for not a lot here. It’s about reasonable expectation).
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[Dominic Deacon] “If the parts are worth $3k why pay $6k?”
The parts are more than that. Look up the pricing on Xeon CPU chips. An example:
https://www.cdw.com/product/Intel-Xeon-Gold-6128-3.4-GHz-processor/4872883?cm_cat=google&cm_ite=4872883&cm_pla=NA-NA-Intel_MC&cm_ven=acquirgy&ef_id=EAIaIQobChMIuejt0N3U4gIVBITICh1HegX0EAQYBCABEgKC0PD_BwE:G:s&gclid=EAIaIQobChMIuejt0N3U4gIVBITICh1HegX0EAQYBCABEgKC0PD_BwE&s_kwcid=AL!4223!3!243890702602!!!g!390217524708!
– Oliver
Oliver Peters – oliverpeters.com
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[Oliver Peters] “For grins I priced out an HP Z8 in something that’s fairly close to the base configuration of the Mac Pro. $8K.”
Which is why most independent editors don’t buy HPs. Saying the Mac Pro is no more expensive than an HP doesn’t make it a good deal.
I will say that only Apple could have fulfilled it’s promise and bummed me out at the same time. I love the look of the case, but I’m not buying a workstation that will live on the floor under my desk for it’s looks. Apple has totally shut me out as a buyer – this Mac Pro is way over spec’d ( I don’t need Xeons, an i9 will do just fine) and priced for my needs, the Imac is a closed unmodifiable system with a screen I don’t need or want, and the mini is, even with an eGPU and maxed out, insufficient for my needs.
Now back to work on my POS trashcan that I loathe. I still have my 2010 cheese grater, but it’s lack of Tbolt connectivity and inability to use the latest nVidia cards make it an emergency system only.
Gggrrrrrrrrr – curses, foiled again.
Herb Sevush
Zebra Productions
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nothin\’ attached to nothin\’
\”Deciding the spine is the process of editing\” F. Bieberkopf -
[Ronny Courtens] “So, before assuming that no-one will buy this MacPro just because you don’t need it, it would be best to realize that there is a very vast world outside everyone’s little neck of the woods.”
Of course. I’m glad the high-end shops have a Mac for them. I don’t think it’s assuming too much that this won’t be a huge commercial success. But I don’t think Apple necessarily intended it to be such. They clearly wanted to meet the needs of high-end facilities where cost is not much of an issue. I think it removes hardware as a barrier to using Apple. However, there are still barriers that remain for many of these potential customers – most notably the Nvidia/Apple conflict. That will undoubtedly dampen sales of such a high-end machine.
Now for us in the mid-level. It’s hard to see how I justify a purchase of this machine. The base configuration simply doesn’t cut it for me – 256GB? You have to be joking. No fool would ever buy a machine with a 256GB system drive as it would lead to continual problems. Unless there’s a sweet spot for less than $8000, I don’t see it’s realistic for me. And I’m not convinced at that price point it will be faster than an iMac option.
The only hope would be if there is a Mac Pro junior at some point. 1 double PCIe slot, 1 regular PCIe (for afterburner), 2 m.2 NVMe slots, 6 DIMM slots, 400 watt PSU, 10GB Ethernet is all I would need. I sort of doubt it, but a person can have a dream.
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[Brett Sherman] “I don’t think it’s assuming too much that this won’t be a huge commercial success”
I’m not sure that’s true, but it depends on how you define success. Obviously there’s a workstation market, otherwise, HP and Dell wouldn’t manufacture such machines.
I think the point that’s being lost is when the first Mac Pro tower was introduced (and previous Mac towers before it), generally there weren’t a lot of sufficiently powerful desktop machines for editing. Everything was a workstation. In the interim, desktops, all-in-ones, and laptops have become powerful enough to meet the needs of nearly every user.
I think Apple miscalculated with the 2013 Mac Pro, believing that the needs for a true workstation had been eliminated, i.e., no need for “trucks.” After all, that 2013 MP was a powerful desktop machine, but not a true workstation. With the 2019 MP, they are re-engaging with customers that actually still do need a “truck” and are willing to pay for it.
– Oliver
Oliver Peters – oliverpeters.com
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[Herb Sevush] “Gggrrrrrrrrr – curses, foiled again.”
Why am I not surprised that you’re unhappy about it 🙂
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[Steve Connor] “Why am I not surprised that you’re unhappy about it :)”
Possibly because of my legendary negativity, but remember, just because you’re paranoid, it doesn’t mean that they aren’t out to get you.
And by “they” I mean Apple, and by “you” I mean me.
Herb Sevush
Zebra Productions
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nothin\’ attached to nothin\’
\”Deciding the spine is the process of editing\” F. Bieberkopf
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