From Garbage can to glorified cheese grater and all for a mere $50K

[realpetertdm]

1 hour ago, SenpaiKaplan said:

It feels like i've been replying to the same posts all day on Reddit, Discord, and here...

Im not even going to bother with this, because it's tiring. Threadripper is not Xeon. Xeon has genuine advantages over Threadripper, and macOS has literally 0 support for AMD systems natively. HackintoshOSX only exists because people spent what is probably equal to years of their lives making macOS believe it's running on AMD silicon only for a substandard experience with missing functionality. Also, you failed to mention the amount of RAM you spec'd this comparison system with, or storage. 

 

You worded this poorly, but I am assuming you meant product varients costing around 10k? Presumedly a low end 8 channel RAM config with a single Vega II and more RAM? If so, I agree. The base model is dumb, and everybody agrees.

 

You, nor I, nor anybody (possibly including Apple) know this for sure. Most of the chips they market on their product page don't officially exist yet. Will they be Xeon W? I suspect the low end configs will be, and the high end will be Xeon Scalable. This would explain the strangeness about RAM configs. But the important part is until somebody goes out and buys one, then disassembles it and finds out, nobody knows. 

 

It says so on the product page...

[Sauron]

54 minutes ago, SenpaiKaplan said:

Thats what I would believe, yes. But it's nice to know Apple is doing as much looking into the future as they are the past. (See my post above)

I think you're jumping to conclusions, the Mac Pro is the glaring exception in their lineup when it comes to actually being targeted at pros - and that's probably because nobody else would be willing to shell out that much for a desktop, as they found out with the 2013 trashcan. If they're going to sell these they had better be serious machines. Time will tell but I wouldn't be surprised if Apple never released a socketed machine again outside of the Mac Pro line.

 

Also Steve Jobs did things exactly as Apple is doing them now, let's stop romanticizing him. He knew how to sell things and he was good on a stage, that's it. Tim Cook is arguably outperforming him considering Apple has never been so successful.

[realpetertdm]

https://www.tomsguide.com/us/mac-pro-2019-specs-price,news-30241.html

 

The CPU in the base model is a Xeon W.

 

[Drak3]

2 minutes ago, realpetertdm said:

The CPU in the base model is a Xeon W.

That doesn't mean that it's automatically a currently released Xeon W. We won't know that until chips are released.

[realpetertdm]

Just now, Drak3 said:

That doesn't mean that it's automatically a currently released Xeon W. We won't know that until chips are released.

I don't think Intel's going to announce a new lineup 1 or 2 quarters after Cascade Lake was released. It's possible but not likely.

 

Right now it seems that the Xeon W-3223 is the one in the base model, though someone will have to take the Pro apart to actually find out.

[Drak3]

Just now, realpetertdm said:

don't think Intel's going to announce a new lineup 1 or 2 quarters after Cascade Lake was released. It's possible but not likely.

Intel has created custom chips multiple times for Apple.

The i3/5/7 8xxxB

Desktop Broadwell

Early Intel Iris chips

Xeon W 2xxxB

[realpetertdm]

3 minutes ago, Drak3 said:

Intel has created custom chips multiple times for Apple.

The i3/5/7 8xxxB

Desktop Broadwell

Early Intel Iris chips

Xeon W 2xxxB

That's also quite likely. Considering that the CPU is mentioned as a "3.5GHz Xeon W" it's quite possible that Intel made Apple a custom one.

 

Will they do it for a computer that's targeted at a niche audience?

[Drak3]

Just now, realpetertdm said:

Will they do it for a computer that's targeted at a niche audience?

Yes. They did with the iMac Pro.

The previous Mac Pro ran custom MXM Firepro cards.

[realpetertdm]

Just now, Drak3 said:

Yes. They did with the iMac Pro.

The previous Mac Pro ran custom MXM Firepro cards.

 

Oh, didn't know that.

 

 

 

 

So we still don't even know if the CPU is a custom built one or a commercially available one. (Thanks, Apple)

[ImAlsoRan]

If you think it’s expensive, you aren’t the intended audience.

[ImAlsoRan]

35 minutes ago, realpetertdm said:

 

Oh, didn't know that.

 

 

 

 

So we still don't even know if the CPU is a custom built one or a commercially available one. (Thanks, Apple)

The CPU is part of the new Xeon line released a few days ago, apple has early access chips

[Bouzoo]

5 hours ago, SenpaiKaplan said:

So that's why they offer a rackmount option and built the chassis to 4u spec, as well as built it with server grade components and cooling solutions? Because it isn't a server? 

Do they? First time hearing about that. 

[SenKa]

9 hours ago, Bouzoo said:

Do they? First time hearing about that. 

Unfortunately I can no longer find the source, but it is a planned option.

[Video Beagle]

18 hours ago, SenpaiKaplan said:

Unfortunately I can no longer find the source, but it is a planned option.

It was said during the presentation.

 

And the big answer to why is Apple offering what options they are is because they're market research says to.  That's Cook's specialty as an executive.