Apple's New Mac Pro Goes On Sale Dec.19

[PillowSmoke]

Apple has just announced that its new Mac Pro computer, featuring that signature ‘Darth Vader’ design, will be available for sale starting tomorrow, Thursday Dec. 19 beginning at $2,999. There’s another version with better specs for $3,999, and a number of custom order options that will vary the prices upwards from there.

Orders kick off tomorrow online through Apple’s official web-based store, as well as in retail stores and at authorized resellers, according to Apple’s official announcement, so conceivably we could see the first customers actually take theirs home tomorrow, though it’s much more likely that orders will kick off first with stock arriving at locations gradually over the next few days.

The $2,999 configuration of the Mac Pro features a 3.7GHz quad-core Intel Xeon E5 processor, not one but two AMD FirePro D500 workstation GPUs with 2GB of dedicated RAM per unit, 12GB of system RAM and a 256 flash storage module. The $3,999 version boosts the processor to a 3.5GHz six-core version, provides 3GB of dedicated RAM to each of those workstation GPUs, 16GB of memory and 256GB of flash storage. Custom configurations allow for 8- or 12-core processors, AMD FirePro D700 GPUs with 6GB of RAM, a maximum of 64GB of system memory and up to 1TB of flash storage.

Apple first revealed the new Mac Pro back in June at its annual Worldwide Developer’s Conference. The sleek black cylindrical unity is assembled in the U.S., and features a design that maximizes cooling through a jet turbine-like system that funnels air through the top opening. It features an all-black aluminum enclosure, and comes in at under 10 inches tall. It dramatically reduces its size versus the previous version, and to do that, moves the modularity outside of the case thanks to six Thunderbolt 2 ports, as well as four USB 3.0 connections on the back. It can power up to three 4k displays, too, and also features two Gigabit Ethernet jacks and an HDMI 1.4 UltraHD out.

At Apple’s special event in October, we got the chance to go hands-on with the new Mac Pro, and found it to be incredibly silent while working, despite the amount of power contained under the hood. It features a number of impressive details like the back panel that automatically lights up when it detects the computer is being moved to help you see which ports are which, especially handy if you’re working in a darkened studio.

 

 

 

 

 

Source: http://techcrunch.com/2013/12/18/apple-mac-pro-availability/

 

[Altecice]

WOO an overpriced Bin shaped object that the Apple sheep will flock to buy.. YAY! 

 

they market it as a 4k editing machine but only sell it with a 256GB ssd.... that's like a few mins of RAW 4K video AND it uses HDMI that can only support 4K at like 30fps or something silly. why do they use this and have to pay a fee when they could use DisplayPort that can blast 8K out and have no fees to pay baffles me.

 

... silly Apple 

[Thecrazyswede]

Whoever designs these needs to get hit in the face with a fish.

[Imabigmac]

I Think it's a cool design and an interesting use of certain computer technologies, but the thing is pointless and I dislike it.

[needmorewood]

wait the shiny chrome trashcan isnt out yet? what have apple been doing ofr the last month

[Emperor_Piehead]

I quite like the form factor and not using atx, but I feel it was poorly implemented and the limit on storage is a pain. They really should have implemented say a 4tb drive and make it a little bit bigger.

[Puppet]

WOO an overpriced Bin shaped object that the Apple sheep will flock to buy.. YAY! 

 

they market it as a 4k editing machine but only sell it with a 256GB ssd.... that's like a few mins of RAW 4K video AND it uses HDMI that can only support 4K at like 30fps or something silly. why do they use this and have to pay a fee when they could use DisplayPort that can blast 8K out and have no fees to pay baffles me.

 

... silly Apple 

 

Actually not as overpriced as you might think the retail equivalent of those GPUs are expensive, the hardware bought separately isn't that far off the asking price tbh.

 

Edit: In fact I'm pretty sure the $2,999 version should be coming with D300s because that price is extremely good. You would actually be getting a substantial discount if that was the case.

[JupiteL]

God, this is really happening..

[kuddlesworth9419]

Whoever designs these needs to get hit in the face with a fish.

Or with a car.

[kuddlesworth9419]

I can find so many problems with this design. The first thing is that these will overheat whenever you try and do something with it that requires 60% of the CPU/GPU's. They are sharing the same heatsink. The storage is too small. The GPU's are not as good as Quadros in performance and support. Can't upgrade. Will not be able to use full capability of the hardware as the heat output. This thing will be loud, really loud, probably louder than a 290x. It only has HDMI so 4K is not gonna work properly as it will only be 30 fps (I don't even think that). It's overpriced and the worst sin of all is that it uses OSX. Why would you spend that kind of money on something that can do less than the equivalent Windows machine. When this thing comes out I will configure a mid range workstation PC but with components you can find on the internet and price them both up. I do like the mat black PCB's though. We will have to wait and see how well this thing performs though. 

[Puppet]

I can find so many problems with this design. The first thing is that these will overheat whenever you try and do something with it that requires 60% of the CPU/GPU's. They are sharing the same heatsink. The storage is too small. The GPU's are not as good as Quadros in performance and support. Can't upgrade. Will not be able to use full capability of the hardware as the heat output. This thing will be loud, really loud, probably louder than a 290x. It only has HDMI so 4K is not gonna work properly as it will only be 30 fps (I don't even think that). It's overpriced and the worst sin of all is that it uses OSX. Why would you spend that kind of money on something that can do less than the equivalent Windows machine. When this thing comes out I will configure a mid range workstation PC but with components you can find on the internet and price them both up. I do like the mat black PCB's though. We will have to wait and see how well this thing performs though. 

 

There is nothing wrong with the price, at present of course :lol: (that will most likely change when the hardware becomes redundant but the price stays constant).

 

As for the design, a wise person would wait before commenting. It could be good?

[MatheusSanzo]

Build you own and save money, or build two and still save some money.

[kuddlesworth9419]

There is nothing wrong with the price, at present of course :lol: (that will most likely change when the hardware becomes redundant but the price stays constant).

 

As for the design, a wise person would wait before commenting. It could be good?

If it was good then why do all PC's have seperate heatsinks for the CPU and GPU. Workstation hardware gets used to it's full power most of the time so I just doubt that a single heatsink will be able to adequately cool two GPU's and a CPU.

[Hazy125]

Signature Darth Vader design? It's got a signature design alright....

[Puppet]

If it was good then why do all PC's have seperate heatsinks for the CPU and GPU. Workstation hardware gets used to it's full power most of the time so I just doubt that a single heatsink will be able to adequately cool two GPU's and a CPU.

 

Because it would be a nightmare to co ordinate all the different manufacturers to design for one specific purpose.

 

It would mean you would only be able to build in that design of case. It just wouldn't be feasible in the PC market.

[Dietrichw]

The hdmi isn't the only video out, all the thunderbolt ports daisy chain mini display ports so you can have 20gb/s and a display port monitor on one port

[kuddlesworth9419]

Because it would be a nightmare to co ordinate all the different manufacturers to design for one specific purpose.

 

It would mean you would only be able to build in that design of case. It just wouldn't be feasible in the PC market.

Ok then imagine have a CPU heatsink cool two GPU's and a CPU running all at near 100%. It will overheat no doubt about it. They would need a really powerful fan to cool the heatsink which would be quite loud. But yea we need to see what it is like when it first comes out.

[jrfox87]

The hdmi isn't the only video out, all the thunderbolt ports daisy chain mini display ports so you can have 20gb/s and a display port monitor on one port

Exactly. I can't believe anyone thinks the only video output it has is the single HDMI port, especially when Apple claims it can push up to 3 4K displays.

[Puppet]

Ok then imagine have a CPU heatsink cool two GPU's and a CPU running all at near 100%. It will overheat no doubt about it. They would need a really powerful fan to cool the heatsink which would be quite loud. But yea we need to see what it is like when it first comes out.

 

How do you know this? You are just speculating.

 

The design actually has the potential to be very efficient. One tube with a large fan at either end that is greatly assisted by convection, square cases have dead spots, where pockets of warm air can accumulate and the large fans could mean low rpms which is good for noise.

 

I'm not saying it will be good, it might not be, but it definitely has potential. You seem very sure of yourself, they aren't going to put it out on the market with serious overheating issues.

[Dietrichw]

The heatsink take up most of the volume of the case. Apple has experience using strange ways to cool computers, the Mac mini uses its case to dissipate most if the heat, Apple has done the same here with the thermal core taking up most if the case which probably puts some heat into the actual case which makes it nice to keep my coffee warm

[beebskadoo]

This is a 'pro-sumer' device, not a Professional workstation. What exactly is the purpose of this machine? At least with the Old Mac Pro's you could upgrade the damn things. *facepalm

[Dietrichw]

You can still upgrade the Mac Pro just now it is external through thunderbolt 2 which is good in some ways and bad in others.

[kuddlesworth9419]

How do you know this? You are just speculating.

 

The design actually has the potential to be very efficient. One tube with a large fan at either end that is greatly assisted by convection, square cases have dead spots, where pockets of warm air can accumulate and the large fans could mean low rpms which is good for noise.

 

I'm not saying it will be good, it might not be, but it definitely has potential. You seem very sure of yourself, they aren't going to put it out on the market with serious overheating issues.

I never said it wasn't speculation. It's just educated speculation. Having a small heatsink and a single fan to cool a CPU and two GPU's is not good enough on a standard PC so why should it be any different with a trash can shaped PC case.

[Dietrichw]

I never said it wasn't speculation. It's just educated speculation. Having a small heatsink and a single fan to cool a CPU and two GPU's is not good enough on a standard PC so why should it be any different with a trash can shaped PC case.

The heat sink isn't small at all, it takes up most of the computer. If you draw a triangle in the foot print of the computer that is the heat sink that goes from top to bottom with the PCBs on those three sides

[Puppet]

I never said it wasn't speculation. It's just educated speculation. Having a small heatsink and a single fan to cool a CPU and two GPU's is not good enough on a standard PC so why should it be any different with a trash can shaped PC case.

 

We haven't seen this design before on a PC, so you don't really know. Airflow definitely wont be an issue and it looks to have about the same surface area as 3 small heatsinks in a PC.