[Rick Lang]

Chris:
“This would require OS X to finally support 10-bit GUI displays, though.”

With all the emphasis going to be given to 4K video and 4K monitors and the support for 10bits per channel in the FirePro GPUs and with Apple showing renewed interest in creative professionals, surely the OS will finally support 10bits too.

Rick Lang

iMac 27” 2.8GHz i7 16GB

[Rick Lang]

Thanks, Joseph. That worked with my registered developer account. If I say anything more, I’ll have to shoot myself!

Rick Lang

iMac 27” 2.8GHz i7 16GB

[Rick Lang]

[Joseph W. Bourke] “To view the video (as well as many of the other pre-recorded sessions from the WWDC) you will need to sign up for a free Apple Developer account – you can use your existing iTunes or iCloud ID if you have one to sign up. Once you are signed up, the video will be posted on the WWDC event video page.”

I thought it cost $99 per year to be an IOS or Mac developer.

Rick Lang

iMac 27” 2.8GHz i7 16GB

[Rick Lang]

[Jeremy Garchow] “If you look at this page, then look towards the bottom, you will see the desktop version, the mobile version, then the OEM version (called the A300 here).

https://www.fireprographics.com/adobe/index.asp

That seems to be what would be in the MacPro if it is a closed GPU system, right?
“

Thanks for the feedback, Jeremy. Adobe and AMD are sure doing a great marketing job for the OpenCL consortium! I’ve always looked to NVIDIA for the best performance I thought I would need personally but AMD with Adobe and Apple are forcing us to look elsewhere this time and it may not be a bad thing.

You may well be right about the A300. But at this time, I’m not sure unless it is an unannounced next-generation version of the A300 series. Nothing here quite fits the Mac Pro Tube descriptions. I’m still guessing that it may not be off-the-shelf and Apple may never say. That’s one way to distinguish your offering and get the price-point you want. IFixIt or their partner that X-rays chips will tell us eventually.
https://www.amd.com/us/products/workstation/graphics/ati-firepro-3d/APU/Pages/APU.aspx#4

I am sure when this is released, there will be third-party products announced ready for shipment that will take advantage of the opportunity to complete the picture in terms of using Thunderbolt 2 interfaces on their peripheral equipment. Certainly LaCie and Promise will be there day one for storage at least. I can’t speculate about the PCIe extenders since I only have a cursory knowledge and no need to use then but likely one will be there day one too.

$8,000 for the high-end configuration taken to the max may be a very good estimate. Fortunately, I’ll never know since I don’t plan to go that high personally. I am going to wait for the BMD DaVinci Resolve 10 Configuration Guide to tell me what I need to make full use of the BMD BMPC4K camera shooting raw 3840×2160! I’m sure they already know but can’t say yet. Thanks again for your insights.

Edit: Sorry about my gentle remarks doubting the A300. I posted this in response to your reply to me without reading the later posts from Paul and you. Yes I saw that is an APU using DDR3 memory, but I thought you may have information I didn’t see. Next time, I’ll try to fit into the attack mindset here and say something like, “Read the fact sheet!!!” Ah, that feels better, eh?

Rick Lang

iMac 27” 2.8GHz i7 16GB

[Rick Lang]

Jeremy:
“I thought it was 6GB a piece for 12 total?

Also, aren’t these the OEM Firepros and not general consumption Firepros?”

I originally thought it was a custom version of the AMD FirePro S10000 but that has a total of 6GB used by two GPUs in one card. Then others suggested it was two of the AMD FirePro W9000 which is a single GPU with up to 6GB. I have read Apple’c copy and looked at the WWDC presentation again and it does seem to say a GPU with up to 6 GB and the standard machine has two of them. To me that means a total of 12GB VRAM. Certainly the GPU is very custom as the published specs from Apple and AMD do not fit in any respect for either W9000 or S10000 except the reference to 6GB VRAM. And so we wait to find out more accurate information.

As for price of the entry-level: Apple has said even the entry-level is dual GPU and next generation Xeon so you won’t see an iMac Haswell i7 processor. The entry-level.will still be a step up from the high-end iMac in all respects with the possible exception of memory size, internal storage, and of course the lack of a screen. I imagine it will have one PCIe flash storage of 500GB with an upgrade to 1TB possible with 16GB RAM and a 6-core CPU. Would be better if it started with 1TB flash storage and 32GB RAM. Historically entry-level machines are designed to be low-priced more than ideally useful and Apple may continue that thinking even though the specs at the lowest end might disappoint. But it will let them say, “from $2,499.” Of course very few will buy without some BTO improvements to the entry-level. The beefier 12-core will begin at $3,499. The high end configuration will be $4,999.

Rick Lang

iMac 27” 2.8GHz i7 16GB

[Rick Lang]

In the 70s, I actually walked inside one of those cylindrical supercomputers! I can no longer recall the power it represented but I am sure it was less than the Mac Pro Tube with dual GPUs and 12 core processor.

Rick Lang

iMac 27” 2.8GHz i7 16GB

[Rick Lang]

Speaking of sexy and R2D2, I don’t know how turned on you would be by this concept:

If there is a glass that is a good conductor of heat comparable to the cylinder metal housing of the Mac Pro Tube, I’d like to see the option of a glass cylindrical enclosure revealing all those sexy parts reminiscent of the old iMacs. I’d put it on my desktop behind my screens even if the noisy peripherals were in my cabinets.

Rick Lang

iMac 27” 2.8GHz i7 16GB

[Rick Lang]

[Andrew Richards] “I think it will be in line with today’s Mac Pro single CPU configurations’ prices, probably something like $2,999 and up.”

I’d like to think that too, but those dual GPUs will be in every configuration, perhaps not with 6GB of video memory for the entry-level. But if you work in 4D as I expect (originating from the Blackmagic Design BMPC4K camera for $4K including full Resolve 10), i think the 6GB will be needed. I’m hoping Tim Cook, the shrewd supply manager, can bring his best negotiation skills and keep the major components at a lower cost even though it would appear Apple’s boards may be all custom design implementations. Trouble is Peter Oppenheimer rarely gives ground on the Apple ‘tax’ and I fear Apple’s high margins. Again, they need to be very shrewd with this first-generation machine and keep it priced relatively low regardless of the intended professional market.

And let’s not forget a lot of editors and VFX artists will be in the market for a 10bit quality 4K screen at a reasonable cost even if delivering HD. Deliverables in HD will persist for many years (look at the life of SD), but capturing and processing 4K digital film will soon be very affordable and grow that market at which Apple is pointing the Mac Pro Tube.

Rick Lang

iMac 27” 2.8GHz i7 16GB

[Rick Lang]

Thanks, Chris, you must be right. That explains why I couldn’t find the part number on Intel’s site: it is next generation. And that reassures me it is 12-core, not 12 threads as some naysayers elsewhere claimed.

Rick Lang

iMac 27” 2.8GHz i7 16GB

[Rick Lang]

Erik, here is the top-of-the-line AMD FirePro S10000 link:
https://www.amd.com/us/products/workstation/graphics/firepro-remote-graphics/S10000/Pages/S10000.aspx

Rick Lang

iMac 27” 2.8GHz i7 16GB