Andrew Kimery
Forum Replies Created
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[Chris Kenny] “That does bring real benefits — it’s always been one of the Mac’s benefits in pro use cases, and this system extends that.”
I agree that platform homogeny has been a benefit with Macs for a very long time which is why I don’t understand why some people are touting it as new benefit today.
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[Jim Wiseman] “Apple will develop software, FCPX, Motion and Aperture come to mind, and so will others.”
Yes, but it won’t be perfectly optimized for the 2013 Mac Pro Tube because said software will also have to run on dozens of other Macs with different hardware, firmware and OS versions.
That’s my point about this *not* being like a video game console where the console is released once and for the next 5-10yrs all the software is designed specifically to run on that never-changing platform. Games actually get better over time as developers learn how to coax the most out of a console. I highly doubt that in 2018 there will be new software released that is optimized to run on a 2013 Mac Pro Tube the way games in 2018 will be optimized to run on the PS4 and Xbox One video game consoles.
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[Herb Sevush] “But for which pros? There is apparently a cutoff point beyond which they do not care to go. Another trade off of walled-in simplicity for higher end power. I think the market targeting of their new “high-end” work station goes hand in hand with their marketing of X – we will go this far and no further: abandon all hope of Tesla ye who enters here.”
Hasn’t that always been the case though Herb? Things like FCP Legend and DVD Studio Pro helped bring editing and DVD authoring away from propriety hardware systems onto off the shelf desktop computers. Users traded performance for affordable pricing. Same with Color of just a few years ago (or even Resolve running on a standard Mac today). Is Apple changing its standars or have some users, over time, moved beyond what Apple likes to offer?
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[Aindreas Gallagher] “OK its got game console logic in that your buy degrades a bit over the lifecycle vs a rock your own PC build”
A key difference of course being that all software and hardware is designed specifically for that game console. No one is going to optimize software to the point that it that only runs on a 2013 Mac Pro Tube.
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[Lance Bachelder] ” Just hilarious all the complaints yet I’ll bet no one is running anything close to this in their workplace/home. “
Okay, so you are strictly speaking to people that only use Macs. In that case, I agree that no one is using anything close to this right now. That doesn’t mean that people don’t want upgradability options especially since Apple hasn’t exactly been johnny on the spot w/upgrades to the Mac Pro this last half decade.
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[Lance Bachelder] “I love it – probably the most powerful workstation to date, at least twice as powerful as anything any of us have ever used (unless you’re running a 12 core tower with dual K6000’s) and everyone is worried about upgrading. This thing is a beast, what could anyone possibly do to upgrade it? There’s nothing currently on the market that could make it any better/faster…”
There isn’t? It’s using the fastest possible CPU? The fastest possible GPUs? Will they be the fastest next year? The year after that? Yes, this kills the 2010-era Mac Pros that Apple is currently selling but that’s not saying much. I’m sure there are people that need more power today than what the new Mac Pro offers (like Resolve users that have 3 or more GPUs in their rigs) and I’m sure in 12 months that number will increase. And in 24 months the number will be even bigger.
The machine is a lot of power in a very small space but it’s certainly not the end all, be all of machines.
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To be fair Bill, until we see real world performance we don’t know how may horses this thing has. Yes, it’s leaps and bounds better than the 2010 era Mac Pros that Apple is selling today, but that’s not saying much.
Honestly, to your point Bill, I would’ve been surprised if Apple just released a tower w/upgraded guts. I know many people wanted that but it just doesn’t jive with the direction Apple has been headed the last 7 or 8 years. I think Apple sees big desktops like that as being akin to the ‘big iron’ SGI machines from a decade ago. Apple wasn’t in that market then and I don’t think they want to be in it now.
Apple helped usher in ‘desktop revolutions’ for editing, publishing, music recording, color correction and DVD authoring at times when few ‘serious pros’ used off-the-shelf desktops for those tasks. The people that really need the most power will need to look elsewhere, but IMO that’s always been the case w/Mac hardware.
I’ll reserve judgment until price and real world performance is known, but for now, as someone that doesn’t need best-of-the-best speed, I’m intrigued.
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[Michael Hadley] “Man, tough crowd. At first blush, I think it looks like a vast improvement over current options. With no benchmarks, though, hard to say. But the specs quoted make it look pretty impressive. Plus, hub and spoke concept means you buy what you need. But for me, rack-mounting is not something I need or want.”
Unfortunately the curent options are from 2010 so that’s not much of a compliment. 😉
The hub and spoke model will be great for some and not great for others. Hopefully it will mean the base price is relatively low. If it’s not the Tube will be the Cube 2.0.
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[David Mathis] “Can we upgrade the video card? Can we add an external DVD drive? Why does this “thing” look like something of a Star Trek movie? Inquiring minds, mine included need to know! At least it will be made in the USA, have to give them credit for that.
“I think the answers are no and yes as long as the external drive uses USB or Thunderbolt.
https://www.apple.com/mac-pro/
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I’m shocked at your shock Joseph. 🙂
When was the last time Apple had a desktop that was rack mountable w/o a case mod? The G4 towers that had ‘removable’ ears and feet? Apple’s long time goal has been to make computers into computing appliances and this is final nail in the coffin. All of Apple’s devices are pretty much sealed units now I think.