Apple's new Mac Pro arrives tomorrow starting at $2,999


Recommended Posts

Apple's new Mac Pro arrives tomorrow starting at $2,999

 

Apple previewed its new Mac Pro at WDDC 2013 and priced it in October, and it's now revealing it will finally go on sale tomorrow. The tiny desktop computer, that looks more R2-D2 than PC, will ship with the latest Intel Xeon E5 processors, up to 64GB of RAM, dual AMD FirePro graphics chips with up to 6GB of dedicated memory, and up to 1TB of PCI Express solid state storage. While Apple has paid a lot attention to the raw power inside, the chips and memory are stored within a cylindrical housing that's coffemaker-inspired. With the outside casing removed it looks like a minature robot, a big move away from the recent Mac Pro design that featured anodized aluminum in a traditional tower casing.

 

This latest Mac Pro doesn't look like the average desktop PC you'll find in Best Buy, and it's largely designed for professionals who need access to speed and storage. It's also not your average priced PC either. At $2,999 you'll get a 3.7GHz quad-core Xeon processor, 12GB of RAM, dual FirePro D300 graphics, and a 256GB SSD. A variant with a 6-core CPU, dual FirePro D500s, and 16GB of RAM is also available, priced at $3,999. The new Mac Pro is made in the United States and Apple claims it'll be as quiet as a Mac Mini during use. It ships tomorrow with Apple's latest OS X Mavericks operating system, and will be available at Apple's retail and online stores.

 

Source: The Verge

Link to comment
Share on other sites

When you look at it's specs, the price is actually pretty reasonable (in the US that is - Australia, add Apple tax).

 

People who work in the media are just going to love the speed increase this machine will offer. As usual, Apple don't just throw together a bunch of random components - they finely choose parts for maximum performance. That's exactly why my old 2008 Mac Mini still feels faster than many newer PCs I've used (but I'll stick with Windows thanks).

 

And just in case someone asks, IT WILL PLAY CRYSIS 3 (and 4, 5 and 6 too).

Link to comment
Share on other sites

When you look at it's specs, the price is actually pretty reasonable (in the US that is - Australia, add Apple tax).

 

People who work in the media are just going to love the speed increase this machine will offer. As usual, Apple don't just throw together a bunch of random components - they finely choose parts for maximum performance. That's exactly why my old 2008 Mac Mini still feels faster than many newer PCs I've used (but I'll stick with Windows thanks).

 

And just in case someone asks, IT WILL PLAY CRYSIS 3 (and 4, 5 and 6 too).

 

Are you sure about the specs and price? I haven't spec'd it out but I did just briefly look at the processor price and it is around ~$300 (if I got the correct E5). I can't imagine I could make something spec'd the same any be anywhere near 3K based off of that...

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Are you sure about the specs and price? I haven't spec'd it out but I did just briefly look at the processor price and it is around ~$300 (if I got the correct E5). I can't imagine I could make something spec'd the same any be anywhere near 3K based off of that...

Comparable GPUs alone will cost you $1400-$2000+.  Keep in mind this is a design workstation, so building a similar spec'd "gaming" PC is completely different.  Regardless, you won't be able to find a PC that has that much power in that small of a chassis.  The components are only one piece of the total value.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Comparable GPUs alone will cost you $1400-$2000+.  Keep in mind this is a design workstation, so building a similar spec'd "gaming" PC is completely different.  Regardless, you won't be able to find a PC that has that much power in that small of a chassis.  The components are only one piece of the total value.

 

I'm finding $1200-$1400 for two equivalent GPUs (well actually the GPUs have more RAM and higher teraflops than what the Mac is offering). So the 3 pricest components (gpus and cpu) together are putting you at somewhere around $1500-1700.

 

Speaking of, what's your idea of the difference between gaming PCs and design PCs? The only thing I can think of off of the top of my head is ECC RAM, a workstation GPU, and a Xeon... the latter latter is the same architecture as regular core i7s these days, and the only real difference is that Xeons offers some additional enterprise features for servers and higher core counts (up to 12 cores). It's basically just binning and artificial segmentation of the market. The former former is only dependent on the what the motherboard supports.

 

See for the gpus:

http://architosh.com/2013/10/the-mac-pro-so-whats-a-d300-d500-and-d700-anyway-we-have-answers/

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I'm finding $1200-$1400 for two equivalent GPUs (well actually the GPUs have more RAM and higher teraflops than what the Mac is offering). So the 3 pricest components (gpus and cpu) together are putting you at somewhere around $1500-1700.

 

Speaking of, what's your idea of the difference between gaming PCs and design PCs? The only thing I can think of off of the top of my head is ECC RAM, a workstation GPU, and a Xeon... the latter latter is the same architecture as regular core i7s these days, and the only real difference is that Xeons offers some additional enterprise features for servers and higher core counts (up to 12 cores). It's basically just binning and artificial segmentation of the market. The former former is only dependent on the what the motherboard supports.

 

See for the gpus:

http://architosh.com/2013/10/the-mac-pro-so-whats-a-d300-d500-and-d700-anyway-we-have-answers/

The two D300s will run you about $1400 for the equivalent. The D500 and D700 are more expensive.

 

A design PC (workstation) is a combination of a special CPU, RAM, and/or GPU.  Most importantly is the GPU since the FirePro and Quadro are optimized for design and solid modeling (using OpenGL).  

 

My workstation laptop has a Quadro and it runs a super high resolution and handles CAD and SolidWorks like a champ.  The "equivalent" GeForce card can't come close to that performance.  I paid over $2000 for that laptop (which is outdated now), and I could have bought a gaming laptop that looked much better on paper, but it wouldn't have been able to handle the same tasks.  That's what sets a workstation apart from a gaming PC.  Specs don't mean everything.

 

Form factor, cosmetics, power consumption, noise, etc are all things that are of value to a designer in different ways.

Also, don't forget that Apple has R&D cost overhead, and there's a price margin they have to meet.  It's the same reason why you can buy a PC from HP for $1000, or you can build one yourself with the same specs for $700.  They can't just break even on these things.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I think it's ugly. :D

 

But I really would like to have one. 

 

Looks like R2D2 -- so geek and nerdtastic...

Link to comment
Share on other sites

The two D300s will run you about $1400 for the equivalent. The D500 and D700 are more expensive.

 

A design PC (workstation) is a combination of a special CPU, RAM, and/or GPU.  Most importantly is the GPU since the FirePro and Quadro are optimized for design and solid modeling (using OpenGL).  

 

My workstation laptop has a Quadro and it runs a super high resolution and handles CAD and SolidWorks like a champ.  The "equivalent" GeForce card can't come close to that performance.  I paid over $2000 for that laptop (which is outdated now), and I could have bought a gaming laptop that looked much better on paper, but it wouldn't have been able to handle the same tasks.  That's what sets a workstation apart from a gaming PC.  Specs don't mean everything.

 

Form factor, cosmetics, power consumption, noise, etc are all things that are of value to a designer in different ways.

Also, don't forget that Apple has R&D cost overhead, and there's a price margin they have to meet.  It's the same reason why you can buy a PC from HP for $1000, or you can build one yourself with the same specs for $700.  They can't just break even on these things.

 

Well of course you couldn't have bought a "gaming" laptop to handle the same tasks -- the workstation GPU is a very important part of the equation (at least at the driver level). Many of the differences do come down to driver support though. I've seen board pin modifications to make Quadros identify as Geforce cards for the sole purpose of enabling driver level support for features the Quadro drivers were lacking (e.g. multimonitor support comes to mind).

 

I disagree on the special CPU and RAM part of the equation for the reasons I highlighted in my previous post. It'd be different if we were discussing pre-core series processors when the architectures were different. Nowadays, the feature-sets are homogeneous other than the few details I mentioned previously.

 

As for cosmetics, sound levels, form factor, that's neither here nor there. Gaming rigs aren't required to be loud, flashy, or large -- that's just what many gamer's tend to buy. I personally always buy things that are aesthetically professional looking.

 

I think Apple is probably netting somewhere between $500-1000 so from a cost perspective, so I wouldn't say it is particularly reasonable for purchasing just a single machine. I would say it is completely reasonable if you are buying many of them though. It would be unreasonable for a company to buy parts and such and to build equivalent machines from a management, warranty, and support perspective..

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Heh I was thinking more along the lines of a bomb, just slap a digital clock on it. 

 

When I was an undergraduate in college, we had large brief cases with breadboards, micro controllers, and different components in them. We were specifically told to never bring them on a plane for that very reason. For one project we even built count down timers using simple 8 segment displays (e.g. like these: http://dangerousprototypes.com/2011/10/30/app-note-charlieplexing-using-9-pins-to-drive-8-digit-8-segment-display/) ... can't imagine that would have gone over well at an airport.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I actually think it looks better that way . . .

The black-chrome-like lid looks a little too bland for my taste, too.

 

Wouldn't throw it away if given one, though :P

Link to comment
Share on other sites

This topic is now closed to further replies.
  • Recently Browsing   0 members

    • No registered users viewing this page.