$2999 for entry model: what do you think?

[tamvly]

Boy, am I glad I bought a hex-core 2012 six months ago (my 3,1 was beginning to have a few problems). I did it for insurance, thinking that I could always sell the 5,1 IF the nMP was a great deal and not lose too much in the swap.

Well, NOT. I'll be curious, of course, of the user experience for those who wade into the nMP waters, but I suspect I'll start down the road of looking into the hack world in a year or so.

 

[N19h7m4r3]

There's one good reason for the price premium - assembled in the states. I would imagine they could have shaved $500 off it building it totally at pegatron or Foxconn coupled with the tax savings of manufacturing in China over the USA.

Means little to me here in Ireland, where we'll get it late, and get charged a whole lot more for it.

 

[jetjaguar]

I am on the fence of whether or not I will switch .. monitor wise I have my 30 acd that I can use until I would be able to afford to get a 4k monitor. I would want 6 core .. 8 core is probably going to be too expensive .. not sure about gpus though .. was thinking the d500s .. wonder how much the d700s will add

 

[kylepro88]

Not sure why so many think $3000 is too expensive or as some say "WAY" too expensive. It isn't merely a matter of component cost but also the standard mark up companies make anyway. Also, how much money do you think they spent on R&D for this thing?

The maxed out iMac plus 32GB of OWC RAM is $3000 and has the display. The Quad is likely to best the iMac easily in benchmarks and also provide you all the new I/O, PCIe Flash Storage, and dual GPU's that will be blazing fast. The price makes perfect sense and the standard $3k machine is a God-send for anybody who loves all the iMac gives you but doesn't want to be stuck with the form-factor, nor spend $5k on a Mac Pro.

I don't get the outcry...

 

[Gav Mack]

Means little to me here in Ireland, where we'll get it late, and get charged a whole lot more for it.

Unless you pop over to Fishguard and get it a bit cheaper. Couldn't believe how much things had go up every time I go Dublin. My pal asks me to get his bits over here since it all went tits up in 08!

 

[deconstruct60]

Not surprised but definitely a little more $$$ than I was expecting. Thought a hex-core might start around $3K but looks like it's $4K.

From the specs page you can tweak at 4 core model with D300's to a 6 core. Apple probably still has about a $400-500 charge to do that (i.e., old 4 core $2,499 -> 6 core $2,999 ). So about $3,399-3,499.

Based on this pricing model and the cost of ivy bridge xeon processors, I would expect 8-core and 12-core to add another $2K-$3K.

From the spec descriptions it looks like can drive the $2,999 D300 base up to 8 cores for about those prices. The 12 core is probably over 3K though. Intel is charging $2614 for a E5 2697 v2. Once Apple tacks on their 30-35%, that will be $3,300-3,500 increase.

Not to mention, adding the 6GB GPUs will likely put it through the roof.

Yes. Although gotta wonder is that is still in the "as quiet as a Mac Mini" zone if actually put all of that 12 core and 6GB VRAM to work.

I dunno, I'd love to get back on OS-X but $4K for a watered down 4930K and two overrated GPUs seems a little steep.

They went cheap on the VRAM allocation too (on all but the most extremely expensive option) . There would have been a little more of a value pitch if they were not doing that also.

 

[ssgbryan]

Apple has told us what we can do in BTO. It's all right there.


http://store.apple.com/us/buy-mac/mac-pro

Click on tech specs and prepare to be enlightened, or do I have to post screenshots to explain this mystery? The hex core can be ordered with the base gpu so it will be less than the 3999 hex core with d500.

I've been there already, it lists parts, but doesn't actually allow you to do a BTO.

Get back with me when you can actually BTO something.

 

[peabo]

I've been there already, it lists parts, but doesn't actually allow you to do a BTO.

Get back with me when you can actually BTO something.

Surely deductive reasoning would dictate that
6-core, D500, 16GB RAM = $3999
6-core, D300, 12GB RAM = Less than $3999

It says right there that you can upgrade the processor on the low-end quad core from 4 to 6, 8 or 12 cores. It doesn't say anything about the high end model being the only way to get access to 6 cores.

 

[handsome pete]

I've been there already, it lists parts, but doesn't actually allow you to do a BTO.

Get back with me when you can actually BTO something.

You're still arguing this? They show you the price for a 4-core configuration. They show you a price for a 6-core configuration. They also mention what the upgrade options will be. Logic dictates that if you only upgrade one part of the base 4-core configuration (say cpu only, not gpu), giving you an option that fits between those base configurations, then the price will fall somewhere in between. Thus making it cheaper than $3999.

Not sure why you're being so hard-headed with this.

 

[deconstruct60]

There's one good reason for the price premium - assembled in the states. I would imagine they could have shaved $500 off it building it totally at pegatron or Foxconn coupled with the tax savings of manufacturing in China over the USA.

It is not where near that high. Talking more like a difference of $20-40 bucks.... which on a $2999+ system is noise.

There is probably a bigger savings in shipping costs

The reason why it is high is that Apple is printing money with these.

Apple brings some jobs to the USA and probably keeps a high percentage of the tax loop holes they are already driving trucks of money through. The net on taxes isn't all that big of an issue either.

----------

What part of "Starting at $3,999" are you having trouble with?

The configuration with D500 GPUs starts at $3,999. Dump the D500's and the costs will be lower.

 

[apolloa]

What Apple has done is a pretty smart way to make money. It will sell you the base model with enough memory for a while, 12gb, which is something you can upgrade from non Apple stores, but it has capped the storage which you can't upgrade I would think unless you buy from Apple. Ignoring the CPU and GPU.

 

[andrebismara]

Meh stop complaining, it's $4999 for the base model here in NZ. When you consider how close our exchange rate is, a direct conversion would make it $3500. Where does the other $1500 come from?

I agree my friend, if our fellow Americans knew how privileged they are for living in the US and paying the price they pay in US they wouldn't complain.

I live in Brazil and a USED iPad 2 here is sold for about 500 dollars

PS4 will cost here 1850 dollars

Mac Pro? It will cost likely some 7k dollars here

All those values converted from our currency.

Stop whining, please, guys.

 

[Sophia.]

Personally I'm ok with the price; I had saved £12,000 for the new Mac Pro hoping for a 12-core. The only thing is I need several for our office and one for home. I wonder if the money would be better spent on PC Workstations instead...

 

[theSeb]

I've been there already, it lists parts, but doesn't actually allow you to do a BTO.

Get back with me when you can actually BTO something.

Wow.

I give up since you're clearly too pig-headed to admit when you're wrong.

 

[mmomega]

The price point is about right but I was hopeful that it would be a bit less for the quad core.
This is one of those things that I could buy but I seriously doubt that I will. It's a big want and I would want the 8-12core but in reality what I do a high end iMac will get me by just fine, sure the MacPro would be beastly but I can't justify it to myself.



Let alone tell my wife I'm dropping $5-6k on a computer.

 

[thegreatdivorce]

Enjoy the headaches. Thanks Apple for saving me from hassle of dealing with PC's in the past. Best business $ decision I made switching to Mac's.

What are you talking about? I'm not "leaving" Apple, especially not for work. My PC is for gaming, and only gaming. Because yes, Apple really and truly cannot compete in that arena. I can't imagine working on anything besides OS X and Apple machines, though.

 

[kylepro88]

Although gotta wonder is that is still in the "as quiet as a Mac Mini" zone if actually put all of that 12 core and 6GB VRAM to work.

Quotes about machine noise are never in the context of full work loads...just general operation. I still expect it to be fairly quiet.

 

[Average Pro]

Hell Yah!

Yes, Yes, Yes !!!!

I am so excited as are several of my friends. So, we have to wait until December - no problems. And the price - Fantastic!

It's been a long wait, but well worth it. Now I have something to get excited about for Xmas in addition to the days off.

Thank you Apple.

 

[N19h7m4r3]

Unless you pop over to Fishguard and get it a bit cheaper. Couldn't believe how much things had go up every time I go Dublin. My pal asks me to get his bits over here since it all went tits up in 08!

That's so true!

I actually bought my current Mac Pro in the UK, and it worked out around €500 euro cheaper. It's a joke really.

If and when I get a new mac pro, I'll probably get it elsewhere as well.

 

[greenmeanie]

Not paying 3K for a quad core.
I already have a quad core hackingtosh I built for a lot less.

 

[scottsjack]

The new one doesn't work for me. I like fast, user-upgradeable machines. The nMP is too way too hardware specific for me. It has tech I don't need while missing tech I want.

That video showing how the cover was made was really cool but adds nothing to what the computer can do. To me the previous Mac Pros had a far superior case, way bigger but way better looking.

It appears to be a great machine but just another in a line of Apple products that were not designed for me. I'm not much into goofy-looking aluminum desks and cameras with too-few buttons.

 

[zephonic]

I think the nMPv2 (or MP 7,1) could be a pretty awesome machine if Apple offers the option to replace the second GPU with an extra SSD.
That would make it a lot more suitable for audio pros.

 

[theSeb]

I think the nMPv2 (or MP 7,1) could be a pretty awesome machine if Apple offers the option to replace the second GPU with an extra SSD.
That would make it a lot more suitable for audio pros.

With the right support your audio apps could take advantage of the GPU processing in the future.

 

[sigmadog]

Here's the deal from my perspective...

I use my machine to make money. I do graphic design, illustration, and some photography. My current 2008 (3,1) cost me around $3200 fully loaded (with OWC RAM and HD's). I bought it in 2009 when the 4,1 came out.

In the 4 years that I have used this machine it has paid for itself countless times. I have profited from it's speed, reliability, and sturdy design. The only upgrade has been adding an ATI 5770 for about $250 (chump change in the pro world). It's a reliable computer and will probably last another year or two easily, and in the process I will make even more money with it.

So when it comes time to upgrade (I think a year or two), I'll find it extremely easy to write a check for $3000 - $4000 for a new Mac Pro (which by then will probably be a second generation). And I'll write that check with a smile on my face because I'll know I will be investing in several years of trouble-free workload... and more profits.

That's the calculation pros like me go through when considering equipment purchases. I pay a bit more for Apple products, but at the pro level, they have proven themselves to be impressive workhorses, so the initial cost is almost irrelevant when compared to the profits made over the life of the system.

I can easily understand the dismay some may feel at the cost of the higher-end machines (I'll be completely happy with the base model, so it's not an issue for me), but if the purchase is intended for professional work that is profit-oriented, the ROI should really ease the pain over time.

 

[Washac]

Quad core $2,999 = £1,232

Quad Core in the UK cost = £2,499

I make that over double the price here in the UK

Apple just has to be kidding, don't they ?