Apple Mac Pro 2019

[anticpated]

So with intrepidation I decided to look at the new implentation of the Mac Pro which is forthcoming. Watched the video with Jonny to get the marketting point of view. So what has Apple created? It depends on who you are. 

If you are power hungry content creator with a ceilingless budget then all your prayers may have been answered. If you are Greta Thunberg then you will be angry unless you need to simulate climate change using AI.

Essentially the chassis can be fully open at all sides for upgrades. The cooling system blows cool air into the hotter regions which an exhaust blower then dissipates heat out of the back. That itself is not unusual as many tower systems already do this.

Large PSU, multiple GPU's and one thing that caught my attention was the lack of Nvidia Which means anybody wishing to use Nvidia Cuda, Raytracing and AI is out of luck. Instead you have team reds, Radeon Pro Vega II gpu's which use HBM2 memory which is very efficient and has lot of bandwidth (up to 1TB/s). 

The processor are Xeon based, there is no cost advertised however a ball park figure would be starting at $5000 for a basic configuration. So unless Apple made a great deal with their partners, the mark up for everyone else is incredibly expensive.

In the PC world, to do something similar could cost slightly less but not by much. I would say unless you do actually professionally need create multimedia, CGI, games development, 4k/8k video editing and so on then you are better to buy new things for the house or garden.

In a way, Apple have priced themselves out of the public domain and it's not even about bragging rights here. As long as the software and hardware ecosystem all works here then, people who use one of these should be very happy. 

Interestingly enough, they have decided to stick to one processor socket and use the power of Xeon capabilities which is currently 28 cores (56 hyperthreaded) and up to 192GB system RAM.  To create something like that on your own is no easy task. 

There was mention of storage on the Apple website, however I think most people will opt for high capacity PCIe solutions and so forth.

For joe public, this really means nothing although for those into this sort of thing it shows more leaps than bounds for technology itself.

[Cleoriff]

@anticpated 

Thanks for that. A very interesting read.

Have you bought or ordeded it yet?

[viridis]

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@anticpated wrote:

In the PC world, to do something similar could cost slightly less but not by much. I would say unless you do actually professionally need create multimedia, CGI, games development, 4k/8k video editing and so on then you are better to buy new things for the house or garden.

In a way, Apple have priced themselves out of the public domain and it's not even about bragging rights here. As long as the software and hardware ecosystem all works here then, people who use one of these should be very happy. 

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You could probably spec up a pc with similar specs for a bit cheaper... But it wouldn't be anywhere as good as the Mac Pro for creation.

Apple optimization is far superior to the pc platform at present and tbh it surprised me a LOT how more streamlined the Mac os is.

That said, I'd never have one of their MacBooks, the throttling on them is unforgivable for a £2000-5000 machine.

[anticpated]

1.5TB of system RAM and a 28-core Xeon is the most processing power you could add along with all the GPU processing.

It's kind of scary when you think how far technology has come.

[jonsie]

But all at a price that most people can't afford..... 

[anticpated]

If I ran a business I would go with another company. For the simple fact that every component is priority or limited by Apple support.

[anticpated]

@Cleoriff I am thinking about an upgrade at the moment. Stuck between going with an amd ryzen 9 setup or Intel i9.

[Cleoriff]

Best of luck whatever you choose..

[anticpated]

@jonsie I think Linux is a better candidate for performance based as it has very little windows cluttter. You need to by Windows 10 workstation which has license cost for every 4 cores your system has I was informed. It's one way for Microsoft to squirrel money back.

[anticpated]

Buy...