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It's overkill because they preserved nearly every aspect of the Intel version when switching it over to ARM, even when those design elements no longer made any

by jsheard 11mo ago

It's overkill because they preserved nearly every aspect of the Intel version when switching it over to ARM, even when those design elements no longer made any sense. It's built around cooling GPUs that aren't supported anymore, has a power supply with about 4x more wattage than the system will ever draw, and has way more physical I/O than the new silicon is actually equipped to support, requiring heavy oversubscription via expensive mux chips. IMO that points to the Mac Pro being on its way to retirement in favour of the Studio - they would have made more of an effort if it were sticking around.

ProllyInfamous 11mo ago
The cruelest hardware lineup that Apple ever destroyed started with the MacPro6,1 ("trashcan" ~2013-2018), continued into the MacPro7,1 ($$$$$ and immediately depricated towards Silicon), then into the current MacPro disaster [as you describe]. Fortunately I was broke when the last Intels were being released, so didn't waste any money on them. The current MacMini lineup is absolutely incredible; even the entry-level $500 M4 is much faster than $10k Intels from five years ago.
wpm 11mo ago
I really think that they probably wanted to do something that makes more sense, but they couldn't get the silicon to pencil out for it. I've been hearing rumors for 5 years of the Mac Pro getting 2 Mx Ultras stitched together, but it just never showed up. I still wish they would try. I can't put HDMI capture cards into a Mac Studio. I can't rack mount it. I can't easily add network cards to it. Hell, I can't even put it on the floor to keep my desk clear. I don't want a Mac Studio. I want a Mac Pro.
- jsheard 11mo ago
  > I really think that they probably wanted to do something that makes more sense, but they couldn't get the silicon to pencil out for it. I've been hearing rumors for 5 years of the Mac Pro getting 2 Mx Ultras stitched together, but it just never showed up. IIRC the Asahi Linux devs were quite confident that those rumors were bunk and a quad-die part was never on the table, at least not for the M1 or M2 generations. The hardware was only set up to support two dies.

by jsheard 11mo ago

ProllyInfamous 11mo ago

The cruelest hardware lineup that Apple ever destroyed started with the MacPro6,1 ("trashcan" ~2013-2018), continued into the MacPro7,1 ($$$$$ and immediately depricated towards Silicon), then into the current MacPro disaster [as you describe]. Fortunately I was broke when the last Intels were being released, so didn't waste any money on them. The current MacMini lineup is absolutely incredible; even the entry-level $500 M4 is much faster than $10k Intels from five years ago.

wpm 11mo ago

I really think that they probably wanted to do something that makes more sense, but they couldn't get the silicon to pencil out for it. I've been hearing rumors for 5 years of the Mac Pro getting 2 Mx Ultras stitched together, but it just never showed up. I still wish they would try. I can't put HDMI capture cards into a Mac Studio. I can't rack mount it. I can't easily add network cards to it. Hell, I can't even put it on the floor to keep my desk clear. I don't want a Mac Studio. I want a Mac Pro.

jsheard 11mo ago
> I really think that they probably wanted to do something that makes more sense, but they couldn't get the silicon to pencil out for it. I've been hearing rumors for 5 years of the Mac Pro getting 2 Mx Ultras stitched together, but it just never showed up. IIRC the Asahi Linux devs were quite confident that those rumors were bunk and a quad-die part was never on the table, at least not for the M1 or M2 generations. The hardware was only set up to support two dies.