Is there a computer company for professionals out there, that makes serious computers with serious power? `Cause clearly Apple is not that company anymore. They are consumer electronics manufacturer and I really dislike them for that, I can´t stand the iToy hype.
I really need more CPU power than the ancient 2010 12-core Mac Pro. I don´t like to build my own PCs, so I need to find a respected company who sells pre-built computers for professionals. It would be nice to have OS X in it though...
Yes, you have to take a look at PC's / Servers of the HP or Dell business computer series (not the consumer) but you'll pay serious money, normally at least three times the "consumer" grade.
Now, fwiw, in days bygone we used to have tube radios, amplifiers etc. In those days there were different "grades" of tubes (valves), the "nromal consumer grade". "SQ" (Special Quality , supposedly designed for 5000 - 10000 hours depending on manufacturer) and military "rugged" grade. There was a large study done about which ones were the most reliable tubes.
If you were throwing your stuff around then the military were the ones to go for (just like the Panasonic Toughbook). However for home use the longest and most reliable and consistent were those which were produced in the largest numbers, yes you guessed it: the cheap "consumer grade". I've seen enough problems with "business grade" computers to be wary without inside knowledge (which I no longer have since I left the industry 10 years ago).
Carrying on about this: I have had a large number of IBM / Lenovo Thinkpad computers (always the "flagship", or "top of the line", models) and one a number of occasions I have replaced later the CPU with a different one. They were very properly engineered, good mating surfaces between heatsink and CPU / GPU etc. Have had some of those running simulations 16+ hours at 100% CPU load without breaking a sweat, in other words they would not exceed 60 - 65C with later models, more gruntier CPU's towards the higher end. The earlier models did not even get that high.
I was attracted to Apple because of the reputed "high quality" and "high reliability" after a 20 year absence. Last weekend I took my Mac mini 2011 apart because of the temperature spiking as soon as a load came on the the machine. I replaced the thermal grease with Tuniq TX-4 (selected for having the best gap filling results) and am happy with the more evened out temperature spiking. However at that time I discovered the crappy quality inside which reminded me of the Japanese electornics industry of 20 years ago: fancy ont eh outside but under the hood being a mess. Specifically: the copper part on the heatsinks are stamped and far from being flat. The copper plate for the GPU was not even sitting "flat" against the heatsink and under a slightly different "angle" so when pressed without compound in place there was a reasonable gap on one side. The connector from the power supply to the logic board was not plugged in properly. There are some rubber grommets holding some screws for the HDD but with tightening the screws (during factory assembly) these were totally damaged and no longer functional. Heatsink grease was so liberally applied that it spileld over quite far on bothh CPU and GPU SMD components taking quite some delicate work to clean up.
There are plenty of reports of those that have accidentally damaged the IR socket (pulled it off the logic board).
Then there is an issue with the HD3000 GPU and a rarely used framerate.
Cannot run this machine at 100% for extended periods because the CPU will reach 100C.....
Sorry but this imho is not worth the premium Apple is asking.
