Am i the only one that thinks the new mac pro is a nice looking pc?

[-iSynthesis]

I wonder what a computer like this is actually used for.  Specificially, not "workstations".

 

If it's for video production, any 4770k or 6core or whatever core intel chip will walk all over it for the same price.

If it's for gaming (wat) anything walks all over it.

If it's for CAD, are there not solutions that use CUDA or openGL that can use gaming cards?

 

I keep hearing about double precision floating points and workstation cards, but I wonder what that actually means, 

 

and the bigger question, are the people getting this mac pro going to take advantage of the benefits?  I have a funny feeling that they aren't.

Workstation GPUs have special designed drivers which you need to run a few programms. Also, they are layed out to work 24/7, your gaming card will break some time down the line.

[Coconut Money Affiliates]

I am only going to say this and then be done with this thread. Most idiots don't realize that you cant even PURCHASE half of the Mac Pro's hardware so of course it going to cost a pretty penny, Apple has to make some money. And the form factor cost a shitload to manufacture and create, so thats a factor also. People need to start to appreciate the engineering and stop hating because its apple. 

[tacticalpanic]

I think it looks interesting (I think it's fulgy, but I could see how someone might find the shape appealing..) and is an impressive formfacter and all, but the computers most people here build are already for a niche enough sector and they give you way better overall performance. They went for a super small market of people that would actually find ECC memory & quadro cards useful for anything.. A lot of company's don't worry about that crap unless it's stupidly important and then if they do I somehow doubt that the MacPro is somehow the godly answer. What they really want is for some high school student in New Media to go drop the 3K so he can make "awesome" pro videos. So if you actually want the hardware inside I guess it's not terrible for the price, but really unless you're dead set on something that hardly anyone needs then, yes, it's a waste of money. I refuse to like something just because of the looks when it's a complete package. If it was some weird case then maybe I could actually comment on it besides that...

 

I agree with you , Its an impressive machine , currently you would struggle to build better for less budget. but as you say how many people need those exact specs. What I dont get is , apart from apple enthusiasts , who wants to buy this machine? , what company's even care what a system looks like , there buying it to make them money.

 

But the biggest problem with apple computers for professional use is everything about apple is a big secret , when intel/amd/nvida announce new hardware , you can pretty much pick it up from the shop next day - to a month , with apple who knows , there old mac pro line was way behind the curve , businesses cant sit and wait for the next systems from apple to come out when they need that power today. 

[Pitou]

you know im the most apple biased person you will meet, my whole goal in life is to bankrupt them, but im not going to lie, take this and add clear glass and it would look awesome

[Real_PhillBert]

Sorry for the small thread jack here, but this...

 

and many cad apps can only run on workstaion cards

 

...is a very common misconception. I personally have used Autodesk Inventor, Pro-e, Creo 2.0, and Solidworks 12 & 13 as well as several different analysis packages on my GTX-570.

 

There is a difference between cards that are "Validated" and necessary. 

[KR_king]

That's how much they crammed into it? 
Call me impressed. Still not buying one tho.

[TheWall]

adn if somthing is worng they wanne call apple. not troubleshoot and find out which part is borken and call them up.

 

I've talked to apple support, they are not very good

[pk-man]

it's not just a trash can, but a shiny $4000 trash can.  To be fair, apple did do a good job of cramming the hardware into that form factor, but this is supposed to be a workstation so small form factor shouldn't be a priority.  The small size will have cooling issues, maybe not immediately, but definitely down the line when it starts accumulating dust and well...trash.

[Heisenbleurgh]

Pretty sure there's enough people in the planet for you to never be "the only one that" anything.

In a serious note, I do think it's an impressive computer and good looking if you're into minimalism. I know lots of people dislike Apple but I don't think "their products are ugly" has ever been part of the argument.

[NvidiaIntelfanboy]

well I think it looks nice,although it lacks those fancy lights,fans,and radiators .but it is a technological achievement that they could cram all this POWER into a small form factor so I think the price is justified 

[Lord Gaben]

yes you are 

[CRYSIS82]

It looks like a very fancy deep fryer or fondue set.. 

[ShadowCaptain]

Its a machine designed for professionals, not for playing battlefield on

 

For a studio it takes up very little space, has very powerful hardware and great expandability

 

I had a customer a few weeks ago who bought the over 1000$ lacie little big disk, there was a  problem with the raid not showing up and i helped him repair it - i asked why he bought it and he was like, and i paraphras here... "i work in studio, i need the best performance, best reliability and best build quality no matter the cost i am prepared to pay for it, i also need the support that apple and companies like lacie offer"

 

for some people price/performance ratio has NO meaning at all, some of you on here need to understand that price is sometimes the least important factor when buying hardware for some people

 

EDIT - i didnt even give my opinion on the thread topic, i think its beatifully designed, i personally wish it was expandable like the old mac pro which was also gorgeous, but this thing is TINY its less than 9" and its that powerful and good looking, if i needed a desktop for purely productivity i would buy it

[Legion]

It feels like its supposed to be on a desk and scream look how great I am with my foolish spending, but then where would you hide all the junk that is stuck externally.

 

Its a cool design but It's neither revolutionary or cost effective.

[ShadowCaptain]

It feels like its supposed to be on a desk and scream look how great I am with my foolish spending, but then where would you hide all the junk that is stuck externally.

 

Its a cool design but It's neither revolutionary or cost effective.

 

What if cost effectiveness is irrelevent to you?

[smjpl]

It feels like its supposed to be on a desk and scream look how great I am with my foolish spending, but then where would you hide all the junk that is stuck externally.

 

Its a cool design but It's neither revolutionary or cost effective.

 

It is cost effective. Okay if you don't need any of the features then it isn't but if you plan to use all of the features that the Mac Pro offers, it is extremely cost effective. Others in this thread have spec'd hardware to compare with the Mac Pro. The best that they could come up with is a similar spec for a similar cost. And then they have to build it themselves, only have parts warranty, no service support etc.

[Legion]

What if cost effectiveness is irrelevent to you?

Well then you can't have a debate with that person, Someone goes out and spends money on a Lamborghini to get them to work its not exactly cost effective.

If people want to be fools with money fine by me.

 

 

It is cost effective. Okay if you don't need any of the features then it isn't but if you plan to use all of the features that the Mac Pro offers, it is extremely cost effective. Others in this thread have spec'd hardware to compare with the Mac Pro. The best that they could come up with is a similar spec for a similar cost. And then they have to build it themselves, only have parts warranty, no service support etc.

If you plan to use all of the features well then yes but for each little feature a user doesn't use the savings are their. But for most users they aren't how many iphone users use all the features of iOS and how many buy it cluelessly because its apple.(this kind've comes back to my fools with money , a very small number will use this machine to its fullest vs the amount of sales its going to get.) 

Those are two of the issues I have with the device.

And in honesty if it is being used in a bigger environment a same spec would do much better least you have room to hide all those addon's but that's just my opinion.

[smjpl]

 

If you plan to use all of the features well then yes but for each little feature a user doesn't use the savings are their. But for most users they aren't how many iphone users use all the features of iOS and how many buy it cluelessly because its apple.(this kind've comes back to my fools with money , a very small number will use this machine to its fullest vs the amount of sales its going to get.) 

Those are two of the issues I have with the device.

And in honesty if it is being used in a bigger environment a same spec would do much better least you have room to hide all those addon's but that's just my opinion.

 

Most people buy iPhones as they are easier to use than android. Android is very customizable, iOS isn't so people buy iOS because they don't use the features that Android offers (that and the iPhone is pretty ).

 

One of the big selling points of the Mac Pro is Thunderbolt. The ease of which a user can take an external drive and get transfer speeds similar to PCI SSD's (with the newest release anyway). That is a feature that many will use but has yet to be matched by any other system. Those people have to wait for USB 3.1 before they can catch up to Thunderbolt 2.0 and time is money.

 

I had a customer a few weeks ago who bought the over 1000$ lacie little big disk...

[Legion]

Most people buy iPhones as they are easier to use than android. Android is very customizable, iOS isn't so people buy iOS because they don't use the features that Android offers (that and the iPhone is pretty ).

 

One of the big selling points of the Mac Pro is Thunderbolt. The ease of which a user can take an external drive and get transfer speeds similar to PCI SSD's (with the newest release anyway). That is a feature that many will use but has yet to be matched by any other system. Those people have to wait for USB 3.1 before they can catch up to Thunderbolt 2.0 and time is money.

 

Mac's aren't the only machine with Thunderbolt??

[smjpl]

Mac's aren't the only machine with Thunderbolt??

 

No they aren't but they are one of the only ones that offer such a neat package with thunderbolt. You can get thunderbolt on custom built systems but you need to buy a cpu with an onboard gpu and then you start running into other issues such as not being able to use ECC ram. HP and Asus offer prebuilt systems that come with thunderbolt but I don't believe they are as competitively priced.

 

Maybe I am wrong and you can get some system with all features (thunderbolt & ECC) at a cheaper price point but I am yet to find it. Please put up a spec with all features that is cheaper and I will gladly be the first to say I am wrong. I hate Apple just as much as the next guy.

[xox]

• It's really nice that it's made in the developed world, shows they're looking out for the economies of today and it's far away from the sweatshop-like Foxconn factories where everything else is made.

I like the look of it. It is minimalist, as well as not being overthought. I like the concept that Apple has taken with it; although I prefer the Look of the Powermac G5, although not the Mac Pro 3,1.

I Dislike the way that they don't thing of the everyday consumer, the I/O on the back is terrible. This is true of all Apple products, solely because they want to sell more accessories. 

Proprietary Apple has made a return! Ordinary PC shops will not bother trying to fix an Apple computer because they are way too complicated. Why can't Apple understand that it's users are only there for simplicity, so why not durround the computer with simplicity, and in every aspect of it's design.

[DoubleY]

-snip-

There is no such thing as a gaming card. All that graphics cards do is calculate things.

But, since I am assuming that you're very ignorant, I will add a Quadro K4000 and take away the 780s. Now the computer is $200 cheaper, thanks for helping me prove my point even further. 

 

Nothing is wrong with me, GeFeforce cards are still crazy at Cuda rendering in any Adobe program (Premier, After Affects)

 

I do know quite a bit about tech, so no need to insult me. Nobody is perfect in every category, but I am still correct in this one

 

Only geeks and absolute losers would want full tower cases? Congratulations! you just insulted a few thousand people.

There are many advantages in having a full tower case, such as the ability to expand, and water cooling. 

You could add a raid card to a full tower PC, and throw in 5-10 HDD's and make an awesome file server! Then, you can water cool the entire setup to make it whisper quiet and chilling cool! Every PC enthusiasts dream.

 

Now, I am going to add you as a friend, just to make you mad.

Edited March 18, 2014 by alpenwasser
cleanup

[JupiteL]

It's a good design, but not for something priced at $3k. Are they hire Lian Li men?

[ccaian]

There is no such thing as a gaming card. All that graphics cards do is calculate things.

But, since I am assuming that you're very ignorant, I will add a Quadro K4000 and take away the 780s. Now the computer is $200 cheaper, thanks for helping me prove my point even further. 

 

Nothing is wrong with me, GeFeforce cards are still crazy at Cuda rendering in any Adobe program (Premier, After Affects)

 

I do know quite a bit about tech, so no need to insult me. Nobody is perfect in every category, but I am still correct in this one

 

Only geeks and absolute losers would want full tower cases? Congratulations! you just insulted a few thousand people.

There are many advantages in having a full tower case, such as the ability to expand, and water cooling. 

You could add a raid card to a full tower PC, and throw in 5-10 HDD's and make an awesome file server! Then, you can water cool the entire setup to make it whisper quiet and chilling cool! Every PC enthusiasts dream.

 

Now, I am going to add you as a friend, just to make you mad. 

 

How does adding me as a friend make me mad? There are 2 GPUs in the mac pros, D500 which although not a released card is probably worth a 1000 thousand bucks each. I used to be one of those stupid geeks who explode in their pants over huge waste of money watercooled rigs thats bigger than my desk but I swapped to air cooling and a much more stealthy fractal design r4. Point is, the mac has a better design. Fact. Just a small minority of people would like a huge ugly tower in the middle of their room.

 

Many people who use workstations can agree, the mac is the way to go. Imagine travelling with a 750d. Absolute toilet. Even linus has to build a small shuttle PC when he goes to CES. 

[Homicidium]

The looks are okay, but I'm much more impressed, that they we're able to put everything in this small form factor, but other than that, I'm not even remotely interested.