4 ms·

"Can't innovate anymore, my ass". Uh... what exactly is being "innovated" here?

donum 13y ago
- light at the io jacks
bvdbijl 13y ago
Please show me a device that's comparable to the new Mac Pro... So much performance in this small of a form factor is pretty innovative
- gtaylor 13y ago
  You could build something much more powerful for cheaper, and still be able to upgrade/change out individual internal components. I've bumped the RAM capacity/speed twice since I built this machine three years ago. Upgraded the video card once, and CPU once. When I decide to do a more thorough re-vamp, I can re-use the power supply, the case, the video card, and a bunch of other components. What you're really paying for is a very expensive and moderately beefy machine that can run OS X legally. Or you need Final Cut Pro in some serious capacity. Oh, and it has an Apple logo on it.
  - foxhill 13y ago
    i do a lot of audio recording. having a machine that is near silent even at full load is incredibly useful.
    - gtaylor 13y ago
      It's OK if you didn't want to, but you can build something cheaper and even more quiet than this new Mac Pro yourself. There are some excellent cases and cooling systems, and you can choose your components with your needs in mind. With these Mac Pros, I don't think people who buy them are necessarily concerned about specs or cost-effectiveness. I think they are enthusiasts that need Mac OS, and find the Macbook Pro or iMac underpowered.
      - gte910h 13y ago
        A person can build something cheaper and more quiet. That is not necessarily the person you are talking to though. Many people don't have that skill set, but say, work in music. They're premium computers that aren't the highest end specs, but have a pretty good set of specs for the size and noise especially and can be serviced quickly at apple stores across the country pretty easily.
      - jfb 13y ago
        Also, people like myself who would use this for work, and could build one, but just don't want to.
  - bvdbijl 13y ago
    I agree and you'll have to pry my self-built pc from my cold dead hands but my computer is super huge and hard to take with me, the design of the new Mac Pro is super neat
- jawilson2 13y ago
  For the Pro market, expansion and user customization far outweigh form-factor. I have a 2000 sq ft lab space and 500 sq ft office, what do I care about the form factor of the Pro if I can't throw in my stock NVIDIA GPUs and any arbitrary hard drive?
tsunamifury 13y ago
Innovation means to change and advance -- the word doesn't really set that high of a bar: - Its a different design - Its new hardware - It advances over the current generation
- drzaiusapelord 13y ago
  That's pretty much every computer out there. Is innovation such a low bar now that a new case and the newer Intel CPU is suddenly deserving of innovation praise because it has a fruit logo? Also am I the other one bothered by the case mentioning being built in the US but designed in California, like California is now its own nation?
  - mikeash 13y ago
    Apple stuff has been saying "Designed in California, made in China" for years now.
    - drzaiusapelord 13y ago
      I get that, my point is that you could just say "Assembled and designed in the US" and be done with it. Does mentioning California really give them so much more culture cachet?
      - jfb 13y ago
        It's pretty precious, yeah.
      - mikeash 13y ago
        Why alter the current pattern? I imagine they like it.
        mikeash 13y ago
        Turns out it's more than that. They really really care about this tagline: http://www.apple.com/designed-by-apple/ http://www.apple.com/designed-by-apple/
bilbo0s 13y ago
Hmm... If these things are Thunderbolt 2 devices... it really does open up some different possibilities for you. I know that everyone doesn't need it... but connecting a few of these together via TB 2 would be kind of interesting for me. I mean being able to see one machine with even as few as 24 or 36 cores. A Xeon here a GPU there... pretty soon you're talking about real capability. Again, it's not for everyone... but there are a lot of areas where you get some real benefits. Thinking about buying 4 and just writing the software myself if it's not supported. But I'm pretty sure it probably is. Probably just tcp/ip though :( Oh well... that'd be enough. Anyway... not many other devices you can do things like that with and still keep good bandwidth between devices. It is thinking a bit outside the box. I can't think of another machine that would let me conveniently do that, and still take up 1/2 the volume of the current mac pro??? Can you??? (Not snark. Genuinely interested. I'm in the market, and would be willing to write the connecting software myself).
Osmium 13y ago
In fairness, check out the "Thermal Core" section on this page: http://www.apple.com/mac-pro/ http://www.apple.com/mac-pro/ It's a pretty sweet design. Huge central fan in the middle of the column, and three big aluminium plates to conduct heat away and into it.

donum 13y ago

- light at the io jacks

Please show me a device that's comparable to the new Mac Pro... So much performance in this small of a form factor is pretty innovative

gtaylor 13y ago
You could build something much more powerful for cheaper, and still be able to upgrade/change out individual internal components. I've bumped the RAM capacity/speed twice since I built this machine three years ago. Upgraded the video card once, and CPU once. When I decide to do a more thorough re-vamp, I can re-use the power supply, the case, the video card, and a bunch of other components. What you're really paying for is a very expensive and moderately beefy machine that can run OS X legally. Or you need Final Cut Pro in some serious capacity. Oh, and it has an Apple logo on it.
- foxhill 13y ago
  i do a lot of audio recording. having a machine that is near silent even at full load is incredibly useful.
  - gtaylor 13y ago
    It's OK if you didn't want to, but you can build something cheaper and even more quiet than this new Mac Pro yourself. There are some excellent cases and cooling systems, and you can choose your components with your needs in mind. With these Mac Pros, I don't think people who buy them are necessarily concerned about specs or cost-effectiveness. I think they are enthusiasts that need Mac OS, and find the Macbook Pro or iMac underpowered.
    - gte910h 13y ago
      A person can build something cheaper and more quiet. That is not necessarily the person you are talking to though. Many people don't have that skill set, but say, work in music. They're premium computers that aren't the highest end specs, but have a pretty good set of specs for the size and noise especially and can be serviced quickly at apple stores across the country pretty easily.
    - jfb 13y ago
      Also, people like myself who would use this for work, and could build one, but just don't want to.
- bvdbijl 13y ago
  I agree and you'll have to pry my self-built pc from my cold dead hands but my computer is super huge and hard to take with me, the design of the new Mac Pro is super neat
jawilson2 13y ago
For the Pro market, expansion and user customization far outweigh form-factor. I have a 2000 sq ft lab space and 500 sq ft office, what do I care about the form factor of the Pro if I can't throw in my stock NVIDIA GPUs and any arbitrary hard drive?

tsunamifury 13y ago

Innovation means to change and advance -- the word doesn't really set that high of a bar: - Its a different design - Its new hardware - It advances over the current generation

drzaiusapelord 13y ago
That's pretty much every computer out there. Is innovation such a low bar now that a new case and the newer Intel CPU is suddenly deserving of innovation praise because it has a fruit logo? Also am I the other one bothered by the case mentioning being built in the US but designed in California, like California is now its own nation?
- mikeash 13y ago
  Apple stuff has been saying "Designed in California, made in China" for years now.
  - drzaiusapelord 13y ago
    I get that, my point is that you could just say "Assembled and designed in the US" and be done with it. Does mentioning California really give them so much more culture cachet?
    - jfb 13y ago
      It's pretty precious, yeah.
    - mikeash 13y ago
      Why alter the current pattern? I imagine they like it.
      - mikeash 13y ago
        Turns out it's more than that. They really really care about this tagline: http://www.apple.com/designed-by-apple/ http://www.apple.com/designed-by-apple/

bilbo0s 13y ago

Hmm... If these things are Thunderbolt 2 devices... it really does open up some different possibilities for you. I know that everyone doesn't need it... but connecting a few of these together via TB 2 would be kind of interesting for me. I mean being able to see one machine with even as few as 24 or 36 cores. A Xeon here a GPU there... pretty soon you're talking about real capability. Again, it's not for everyone... but there are a lot of areas where you get some real benefits. Thinking about buying 4 and just writing the software myself if it's not supported. But I'm pretty sure it probably is. Probably just tcp/ip though :( Oh well... that'd be enough. Anyway... not many other devices you can do things like that with and still keep good bandwidth between devices. It is thinking a bit outside the box. I can't think of another machine that would let me conveniently do that, and still take up 1/2 the volume of the current mac pro??? Can you??? (Not snark. Genuinely interested. I'm in the market, and would be willing to write the connecting software myself).

Osmium 13y ago

In fairness, check out the "Thermal Core" section on this page: http://www.apple.com/mac-pro/ http://www.apple.com/mac-pro/ It's a pretty sweet design. Huge central fan in the middle of the column, and three big aluminium plates to conduct heat away and into it.