Apple hasn't - contrary to expectations - updated the Mac Pro, but it did today promise to do so soon.
The new version will sport one or two CPUs for a total of four, six, eight or 12 cores, all Intel 32nm Xeon workstation and - on the dual-processor rigs - server chips. Since they have HyperThreading on board, that makes for up …
I love the Mac Pro, but the spec is a little meh for a quality workstation... yes, it looks pretty, but only 32gb of ram? I would have expected atleast double that... and isnt the 5870 a gaming card, not a proper workstation card?
Exactly - if it can do 6 core Xeons, then it should be running triple channel memory, which doesn't even allow for 32gb. I guess dual channel is still good enough for Apple? Seems like just about any 2 socket Xeon 56xx series box should support up to 96GB at least.
It's a shame Apple's desktop stuff lags so far behind the PC when it comes to gaming, even with the introduction of Steam for OSX. Put two ATI 5970s in there and you've probably got a rig capable of running all games at fully max'ed settings even on a 2560 x 1600 Apple Cinema display.
it has 4 FireWire 800 ports, so USB 3.0 isn't really necessary. And Apple is never going to add BlueRay, there is no point now that wireless as taken over for video.
Thou shalt not watch movies derived from blu-rays of light, for they are unclean. Favor instead movies sourced from the ether high on mount iTunes beyond where the sins of the blu-ray grow. And thou shalt also not look into the blu-ray with remaining eye. Go now and watch in peace.
You can get a Bluray burner and reader for your mac. But I presume you're talking about the ability to view BD discs that are protected. If I'm not mistaken, that requires trusted computing to ensure that the decryption process isn't tampered with. OS X doesn't have that built in (and in my opinion, it's just as well as I prefer to remain in charge of my machine).
Apparently his Jobs-ness has decided that Blu-ray is dead already and will be super-ceded by 1080p digital download / streaming - so why bother now? Allegedly. I think I read that on Macrumours (here in fact: http://www.macrumors.com/2010/06/30/steve-jobs-suggests-blu-ray-not-coming-to-mac-anytime-soon/).
I am due a PC upgrade this year and am seriously considering a Mac Pro - though I would get a memory upgrade from Crucial and HDDs from anywhere else - Apple take the piss with their upgrade charges :(
... as is USB 3.0. There aren't many USB 3 accessories which don't also offer eSATA connections, and you can buy an eSATA card for a Mac Pro for pennies today. Hell, you can buy an eSATA ExpressCard for a Macbook Pro for about the same price too.
Apple take a very minimalist approach to design. There's a saying among artists that the secret to good art is what you leave *out* and you see this approach in other fields, like sports cars, where even a basic CD player is often considered a luxury too far.
Microsoft (and, therefore, most of Apple's rivals), have an "all you can eat" approach, which is an engineer's approach. It's a very different mind-set, where everything including the kitchen sink is slathered on in an attempt to lure customers by sheer weight of features—never you mind how bastard hard they are to actually use, it's only the feature count that matters!
Neither USB 3 nor Blu-Ray have a massive user base, but if you want to add either technology to your Mac Pro, you're free to buy the kit. Apple won't stop you. (Also, Apple's iTunes and iDevice approach is clearly centred on *downloadable* content, so Blu-Ray is unlikely to appear in Apple's computers until Blu-Ray drive prices drop to the point where it no longer makes any sense to keep making DVD drives.)
I'm sure the first Mac Pro was $2499 for the base version and $2999 (if I remember) for the top of the range CPU. This time, on the other hand, the range is from $2499-$3499-$4999, which seems pretty steep.
And as for extra disk drives, asking for $550 for an extra 2GB drive seems pretty excessive, to put it mildly.
Or just get a dell (or any other PC) with an even higher spec for roughly 3/4 the price and with a workstation graphics card. Apple should just stick to making pretty looking tech fashion accessories.
Register
Dodeca-core Apple Mac Pro coming next month
Apple hasn't - contrary to expectations - updated the Mac Pro, but it did today promise to do so soon. The new version will sport one or two CPUs for a total of four, six, eight or 12 cores, all Intel 32nm Xeon workstation and - on the dual-processor rigs - server chips. Since they have HyperThreading on board, that makes for up …
This topic is closed for new posts.
Posted Tuesday 27th July 2010 14:26 GMT
Matt 13
disappointing #
I love the Mac Pro, but the spec is a little meh for a quality workstation... yes, it looks pretty, but only 32gb of ram? I would have expected atleast double that... and isnt the 5870 a gaming card, not a proper workstation card?
Posted Wednesday 28th July 2010 00:17 GMT
Anomalous Cowherd
Meh? MEH? #
When did 32GB and 16 cores become "Meh" for a workstation? Sweet Jesus man, what kind of workload are you running?
Posted Wednesday 28th July 2010 00:19 GMT
Nexox Enigma
Yeah #
"""but only 32gb of ram?"""
Exactly - if it can do 6 core Xeons, then it should be running triple channel memory, which doesn't even allow for 32gb. I guess dual channel is still good enough for Apple? Seems like just about any 2 socket Xeon 56xx series box should support up to 96GB at least.
Posted Tuesday 27th July 2010 14:36 GMT
IanPotter
UK Price #
Anyone want to make a bet on the UK price being £2499?
Posted Tuesday 27th July 2010 15:55 GMT
jonathanb
Re: UK Price #
I'll bet on it being about £2,200.
Posted Tuesday 27th July 2010 14:37 GMT
Si 1
That's a pretty nice spec #
It's a shame Apple's desktop stuff lags so far behind the PC when it comes to gaming, even with the introduction of Steam for OSX. Put two ATI 5970s in there and you've probably got a rig capable of running all games at fully max'ed settings even on a 2560 x 1600 Apple Cinema display.
Posted Tuesday 27th July 2010 15:50 GMT
Anonymous Coward
no usb 3? #
bummer :(
Posted Tuesday 27th July 2010 15:51 GMT
Anonymous Coward
Still fail! #
No USB 3.0 or BluRay drive!
Posted Wednesday 28th July 2010 09:07 GMT
Ted
no need #
it has 4 FireWire 800 ports, so USB 3.0 isn't really necessary. And Apple is never going to add BlueRay, there is no point now that wireless as taken over for video.
Posted Tuesday 27th July 2010 15:52 GMT
Ian Ferguson
Still no Blu-ray #
Anyone know why? I'm sure it's a deliberate move on Apple's part, but I don't understand the motivation.
Posted Wednesday 28th July 2010 00:19 GMT
Eddy Ito
Psalm 16:9 #
Thou shalt not watch movies derived from blu-rays of light, for they are unclean. Favor instead movies sourced from the ether high on mount iTunes beyond where the sins of the blu-ray grow. And thou shalt also not look into the blu-ray with remaining eye. Go now and watch in peace.
Posted Wednesday 28th July 2010 00:19 GMT
Andre Thenot
Bluray requires trusted computing #
You can get a Bluray burner and reader for your mac. But I presume you're talking about the ability to view BD discs that are protected. If I'm not mistaken, that requires trusted computing to ensure that the decryption process isn't tampered with. OS X doesn't have that built in (and in my opinion, it's just as well as I prefer to remain in charge of my machine).
Posted Wednesday 28th July 2010 00:16 GMT
Barry Lane 1
What! No beige? #
No Blu-ray, USB 3, no umpteen-port card reader or cup-holder?
Sheesh! Apple, eh?
Posted Wednesday 28th July 2010 00:16 GMT
Dave 129
@Ian Ferguson: Still no Blue-ray #
Apparently his Jobs-ness has decided that Blu-ray is dead already and will be super-ceded by 1080p digital download / streaming - so why bother now? Allegedly. I think I read that on Macrumours (here in fact: http://www.macrumors.com/2010/06/30/steve-jobs-suggests-blu-ray-not-coming-to-mac-anytime-soon/).
I am due a PC upgrade this year and am seriously considering a Mac Pro - though I would get a memory upgrade from Crucial and HDDs from anywhere else - Apple take the piss with their upgrade charges :(
Posted Wednesday 28th July 2010 00:16 GMT
Anonymous Coward
I spy a few more wasted afternoons ahoy #
as I spec up the world's ultimate Mac Pro and then fall on the floor at the price of it
Posted Wednesday 28th July 2010 00:17 GMT
dogged
hmm #
If this thing can be bootcamped or better yet, totally de-Macintoshed, I want one.
Posted Wednesday 28th July 2010 09:13 GMT
Anonymous Coward
Puzzled... #
Why wouldn't you be able to use Bootcamp on it? Or just format it and install Windows outright if that's your sort of thing?
(I understand some people enjoy morris dancing too)
Posted Wednesday 28th July 2010 00:19 GMT
Sean Timarco Baggaley
Blu-Ray is pointless for most people... #
... as is USB 3.0. There aren't many USB 3 accessories which don't also offer eSATA connections, and you can buy an eSATA card for a Mac Pro for pennies today. Hell, you can buy an eSATA ExpressCard for a Macbook Pro for about the same price too.
Apple take a very minimalist approach to design. There's a saying among artists that the secret to good art is what you leave *out* and you see this approach in other fields, like sports cars, where even a basic CD player is often considered a luxury too far.
Microsoft (and, therefore, most of Apple's rivals), have an "all you can eat" approach, which is an engineer's approach. It's a very different mind-set, where everything including the kitchen sink is slathered on in an attempt to lure customers by sheer weight of features—never you mind how bastard hard they are to actually use, it's only the feature count that matters!
Neither USB 3 nor Blu-Ray have a massive user base, but if you want to add either technology to your Mac Pro, you're free to buy the kit. Apple won't stop you. (Also, Apple's iTunes and iDevice approach is clearly centred on *downloadable* content, so Blu-Ray is unlikely to appear in Apple's computers until Blu-Ray drive prices drop to the point where it no longer makes any sense to keep making DVD drives.)
Posted Wednesday 28th July 2010 00:19 GMT
Hugh McIntyre
Prices even in the US.... #
I'm sure the first Mac Pro was $2499 for the base version and $2999 (if I remember) for the top of the range CPU. This time, on the other hand, the range is from $2499-$3499-$4999, which seems pretty steep.
And as for extra disk drives, asking for $550 for an extra 2GB drive seems pretty excessive, to put it mildly.
Posted Wednesday 28th July 2010 09:05 GMT
Lance 3
Performance #
It is also much more powerful as well though. The CPU's are not cheap at all. Look at the cost of some of the 6-core processors.
2GB, who makes 2GB drives anymore? When was any manufacturer cheap on the add-on prices?
Posted Wednesday 28th July 2010 09:07 GMT
Stephen 10
@Sean T-B #
"Hell, you can buy an eSATA ExpressCard for a Macbook Pro for about the same price too."
Good luck plugging it into a unibody Macbook Pro though - ExpressCard was deleted from these
Posted Friday 30th July 2010 15:48 GMT
Peter 48
why bother? #
Or just get a dell (or any other PC) with an even higher spec for roughly 3/4 the price and with a workstation graphics card. Apple should just stick to making pretty looking tech fashion accessories.
This topic is closed for new posts.