MP 7,1 At a crossroads between a new Mac Pro or something else

[CJ Dorschel]

I realize this post is more musings seeking advice and the final decision will be my own, but I thought reaching out might be worth a try in helping me come to a decision.

Having been a Mac user for 15+ years I've come to a crossroad. Services and products change with needs and markets yet I've always used desktop systems as my primary means of work and creative hobbies mainly as I prefer a system that has the right balance of power and upgradability, form and function. This is especially true with desktop real estate as I have always had at least two displays with my main system, in this instance two LG 5K UltraFine displays with a 2014 Mac Pro 8-Core Dual D700. Before then it was PowerMac's, then Mac Pro's (just sold off one of my two 2010 Mac Pro's that I upgraded with Broadcom WiFiac+BTLE 4.x chips, PCIe SATA III SSD boot, Sapphire PULSE Radeon RX 580, USB-C 3.1, etc). Along with others I held out for Apple to redesign the Mac Pro for prosumers and professionals, something more in line with the PowerMac and Mac Pro's from the 2000's; reasonably priced systems that were the perfect blend of form and function. While the Mac Pro's I upgraded lasted longer than I expected, I reached a point in which the system was no longer keeping up with my needs and the 2014 "trash can" Mac Pro has experienced known issues with overheating that have impacted the GPU's (although I have been able to remedy them on my own with bi-monthly cleaning, check-ups, and repairs).

Now I need to decide: Fork over $6000 minus $1650 trade-in and a 15% discount and eat the costs which is much more than I expected, get a nicely equipped 16" MacBook Pro and dock it with my displays and Thunderbolt 2 array, or move on to Windows (an absolutely last resort but I have nothing against Windows as I work in both environments but prefer Mac's as I'm all in). My quandary boils down to cost. Not so much that I cannot afford it but rather is it worth the price tag. I realize there are pro's and con's and many have excellent points yet it is rather jarring that a company is selling a system in this price range and market with a 256GB SSD locked into a T2 chip with a base to moderate GPU and an 8-Core Xeon that isn't much faster than my current 8-Core Mac Pro. ideally I would get the base model and upgrade storage and such as needed and this system will be more than adequate for a number of years yet it does give me pause. My other concern is Apple possibly adjusting the price points if demand is much lower than expected or at least improving the base storage and CPU at the current price. I know, I know - this is Apple and I'm dreaming.

In the end, it's a personal decision as it would be the first time I have not purchased a Mac Pro especially after the Mac's I have no longer have AppleCare which is another concern. It's a shame as Apple could have spread out the BTO options and produced a system that would cater to consumers and professionals.

 

[blackadde]

This is an impossible question to answer without knowing what you use your computer for, exactly.

 

[bsbeamer]

MBP16,1 is a nice machine and I purchased one. Timing was right and really needed to replace an aging MBP anyway. Went with 2.4/64GB/5500M 8GB/1TB. Was hoping to "buy" a few months of decision making and waiting for the dust to settle on MP7,1 and possible updates for iMac and/or MacMini before I made a decision on my personal machine(s).

I'll say this - MBP16,1 is great at a lot of things and portability is the main one. MBP16,1 is not a desktop and it's not even kind of a desktop. Clamshell mode issues are present with fans kicking up. I've tried a few times when using with an eGPU and just find it better to have the monitor open and use other monitor(s) and external keyboard/mouse in those situations. It's kind of awkward though, with new apps launching on MBP monitor and dragging over.

The drivers for AMD 5000 series in 10.15.2 are just not good. Using an RX 5700 XT in eGPU and that has the same repeatable driver issues with METAL that the 5500M has. Apple (and/or AMD) have some serious work to do before the W5700X is released for MP7,1.

If you're seriously considering this as an option, I would suggest to wait until 10.15.3 or 10.15.4 to purchase. It "benchmarks" around the same as entry level MP7,1 and iMac. I really doubt it would outperform even a slightly upgraded MP7,1 once everything is settled with OS and drivers for both.

 

[CJ Dorschel]

bsbeamer: Thank you so much for that reply. I greatly appreciate it as I know my post is long and most may not bother with a well thought out reply for understandable reasons. You addressed my questions and concerns with the MBP I hesitated mentioning in the OP as it was long enough already.

I've read about the overheating in clamshell and now know it would be an issue especially as I do some work with movie editing and photography and for long stretches of time. I thought an eGPU might resolve the issue yet it's still not ideal and by the time you add in all the extra's I'm climbing near the price point of a Mac Pro. Excellent points.

blackadde: Good question. Aside from the usual, I'm a developer (which isn't computer dependent) but do some work in film editing and photography. A lot of time required for rendering and post. Is it my bread and butter? No, which may seem ridiculous in this situation however my time is important and I've recently left my position after 10+ years (was a field agent then head of a joint cyber task with BND). I'm taking time off to reconnect, travel, and explore other fields. My background is in comp engineering and I/O psych in addition to creative work which is something I am considering venturing into hence the crossroad. As I traveled a lot for work, my system was gov sanctioned thus my main system(s) is my Mac Pro. A MBP would be nice for traveling but I plan on disconnecting more when I do so unnecessary. Ideally I would like to consolidate my systems and peripherals. I'd love to move my external HDD's from my Thunderbolt 2 array back into a tower and ditch the trash can and array (doubt I could get anything for the Pegasus2 Thunderbolt array, maybe $75-100USD - MAYBE), and simply use my iPad Pro 11 and iPhone 11 Pro when traveling.

I overthink WAY too much (habit from work): Weighing the pro's and con's and crunching the numbers with longterm value (cost depreciation vs time saved, etc). Honestly, if I could get the cost down to $3500 or so after the trade-in and discount and perhaps whatever I could sell that I don't need I wouldn't bat an eye. That's on par with what a Mac Pro system used to cost before the new models.

 

[blackadde]

For some background, I work in the creative field as an illustrator (PS, Illustrator) / designer (InDesign) / man of many hats. Occasionally that involves photography (Lightroom), video (Resolve, AE), and sometimes some CAD (Fusion360).

I'm of the opinion that the new MP is primarily a video editing / data scientist station. The major advantages of the 7,1 are high core counts, PCIe lanes, and access to a very large amount of RAM (1.5TB). None of those things are really major bottlenecks for hobbyist photography / video work. Having access to internal storage and expandability is obviously wonderful, but external storage has come a very long way with USB 3.1 g2 and TB3. I only need some 2TB of local storage and keep the rest on a NAS anyways.

I still end up travelling for work and need a mobile system, so I'm limping by with an aging 13" MBP and a wonderful 2018 iPad Pro. For my primary workstation I built a PC tower that benches for about 75% (PugetBench for Photoshop) of the performance for about an eighth of the cost of a 16-core MP [7,1 v PC]. I essentially never find that my creative work is stifled by the computing power available in front of me. Brush strokes in PS/Clipstudio are smooth and lagless even on very large (mural/billboard-sized) canvases. Fusion360 doesn't choke. Lightroom doesn't struggle or have appreciable UI / adjustment lag with my 24MP photos. Mileage may vary if you're shooting something like 60MP or above.

I suspect that the 16" MBP operates in more or less that performance envelope as well for 95% of the tasks I would ask of it. Perhaps if you're exporting hundred of photos a day the time savings would outweigh the significant cost of moving to a beefier platform, but I feel like very few amateurs are in that position.

Sorry for the long, meandering response; just trying to relate to your needs with my own overlapping experiences. I guess my gut says that you have two valid options if you want to put together a reasonable amateur photo / video station;

1) Stay in MacOS and get a 16" MBP. Go for 32/64GB of RAM. Maybe get the 8GB VRAM option if you need it in Resolve or have other GPU-memory bound tasks. Apple refurbs are apparently quite good, so I'd probably just wait for that to save some cashola.

2) Switch to Win10 and build a Ryzen tower, because the competing Apple variant at that price range is the Mini / iMac, both of which (imo) have serious compromises as AIO platforms.

Use the cost savings vs the 7,1 to buy yourself an excellent monitor (Eizo / NEC / BenQ SW series) and colorimeter (X-Rite i1). Those are two pieces of hardware that will genuinely benefit your creative hobbies more than raw horsepower and carry over across system upgrades. Use any savings after THAT to go travel for shoots.

 

[defjam]

I overthink WAY too much (habit from work): Weighing the pro's and con's and crunching the numbers with longterm value (cost depreciation vs time saved, etc). Honestly, if I could get the cost down to $3500 or so after the trade-in and discount and perhaps whatever I could sell that I don't need I wouldn't bat an eye. That's on par with what a Mac Pro system used to cost before the new models.

The trade in and discount almost get you right there at slightly under $3,700 (assuming base model).

 

[CJ Dorschel]

blackadde: EXCELLENT points and you addressed everything and more perfectly, especially the displays as that is crucial in professional work. AIO's are not for me as they're (generally) form over function at the expense of convenience with no upgradability. IMO, the iMac Pro is absolutely ludicrous especially at that price point. Professionals need pro-grade displays that can be calibrated as needed never mind the lack of upgradability, etc. Throwing a Xeon processor with a mediocre GPU in an AIO at $5k - I couldn't believe it. Certainly some may find it useful yet again, at that price it seems counterintuitive for professional work.

It is a shame Apple did not fill the space between an iMac Pro and the Mac Pro7,1 with a system that was similar to the PowerMac and Mac Pro's of the 2000's. Considering that the CPU, GPU, SSD, RAM are pretty standard for Apple's previous Mac Pro's, a lot of the cost seems related to the logic board. The PCIe lanes for MPX modules, Afterburner support, ability to throw in some heavy GPU's all require a massive PSU and board even if you don't need THAT much expandability. Ever since the 2013 Mac Pro was released, many of us had hoped Apple would simply change the form factor back to the previous design, not add more and price it out of reach for those simply seeking a return to a solid desktop system. I've built a few hackintoshes simply for personal hobby use and while they run well no matter how well it's built and/or how experienced the user, it's a gamble esp. as Apple will begin randomizing serial numbers which may result in additional problems to solve. Not worth it.

You make some great points on a MBP which leads me back to considering a 16" model with the aforementioned specs. My other concern was storage as I currently use Thunderbolt 2 arrays so no matter the route I would most likely upgrade my external storage to TB3 at some point. Internal storage modules for the Mac Pro are in the same price range as a Mac Book Pro unless you go with a Pegasus J2i but that's only a two-bay SATAIII internal bay and no RAID. I'm not throwing down for a Mac Pro then $2-3k for storage unless I grab a solid TB3 enclosure and simply swap the drives which defeats the purpose of getting a tower for internal storage.

Seems there's no one perfect solution. At this point I'll weigh the options and wait and see as I'm not in a dire need of a new system yet (assuming the GPU's don't overheat and fry which has been a problem with the Mac Pro6,1's). I'll have to condition myself away from the need to buy the new shiny Apple system for a while longer.

 

[xk991]

My primary machine is the 2015 27“ iMac, and I‘ve been waiting for a new Mac Pro for the past two years. The latest iMac would be a massive, and affordable, upgrade, but I don‘t like the wastefulness and inconvenience of disposing of an iMac every few years. I’m not interested in laptops, they get loud and hot when CPU utilization is high.

Unfortunately the Mac Pro seems to be designed for people who need a lot of GPU power, but I compile and test software all day so I need CPU and I/O. Most of my code runs on Linux servers, but I‘ve been building and testing on MacOS, or inside a Linux VM when necessary.

So instead of the Mac Pro I’ve built a Threadripper-based Linux system with 32 cores, 64GB ECC RAM and 3 NVMe M.2 SSDs. If needed I can add 5 more M.2 SSDs and 4 SATA drives, and upgrade to 256GB of RAM. For now I’ll continue using the iMac for editor, browser, and all other GUI apps and a terminal session + file sharing to build and test all of my code on the Linux system. Eventually I’ll probably replace the iMac with a 13“ MBP and Pro Display, since I no longer need much CPU or I/O, just a nice display and well designed GUI applications.

Anyway this is definitely a niche use case, but perhaps some interesting ideas for developers and other people who don’t rely on audio/video/photo type workflows.

 

[AidenShaw]

I'm of the opinion that the new MP is primarily a video editing / data scientist station.

I support quite a few data scientists - and everything that we do is CUDA.

The 7,1 is useless for us.

Tell Apple to "grow up" and support Nvidia. Their petty quarrel with Nvidia is hurting Apple, and good for HP.

 

[Flint Ironstag]

Tell Apple to "grow up" and support Nvidia. Their petty quarrel with Nvidia is hurting Apple, and good for HP.

Damn good for HP. I'm loving my experimental phase. OP, this may not be your cup of tea, but I'm getting along furiously with a current-ish MBP, several hackintoshed Z820 workstations in production, and a heavy Z840 with MacOS and Windows virtualized as my current test box. Kicks all ass at a reasonable cost.

You could virtualize MacOS on some current AMD hardware and have the best of both worlds. Get it done professionally for a couple hundred bucks, make sure your snapshots are up-to-date, and go to town.

 

[Honumaui]

I tried to switch for retouching Photogrphy work

built a really nice pc last year
gave it a really solid try

My problem is the OS
lack of proper color management
horrid preview limitations with 3rd party app
saving file not seeing all file types out of adobe
really missed the column view when dealing with files
total lack of tagging files customizing smart folders etc....

you realize how much you use the OS kinda like when you have a serious soar throat and how much you use your throat

hardware wise was happy OS wise kinda like having state of the art engine in a 1960s vehicle

can it wok fo others ? Sure for me trying it made me realize when OSX came out Why I got away from win NT around 15+ years ago and coming back how little has really changed win 10 needs radical radical redo it’s so far behind in so many ways for creatives I feel

bottom line one needs to get a good win machine and try it out

 

[MaxYuryev]

Hey CJ, I own both. Based on your use case and history stretch your budget and get the Mac Pro. You won’t regret it. If you buy a MacBook Pro you’ll wonder if you made the right choice and there’s a good chance you’ll buy one later.

As far as prices lowering later, maybe, but as far as I heard they are selling better then I expected. The trashcan Mac Pro’s didn’t seem to sell that well and it took Apple forever to drop the prices. I think it was 2-3 years or so? And that’s because they didn’t have any new hardware updates so they just dropped prices.

If price is the main objection how much lower would you need it to be? And say you would want it to be $1500 lower are you willing to wait 1-2 year to get the price or is that amount worth having this computer 2 years earlier to enjoy and be productive and not having to spend money on a MacBook in the mean time.

No I’m not paid by Apple or anything lol, it just seems like you already know the choice you want to make and need someone to allow you to do it.

 

[blackadde]

Here's a question: if you were shopping for a PC, would you be buying a HP Z8-class workstation? After all, that's the PC-world equivalent of the 7,1 (both in price, and in target demo).

 

[defjam]

I tried to switch for retouching Photogrphy work

built a really nice pc last year
gave it a really solid try

My problem is the OS
lack of proper color management
horrid preview limitations with 3rd party app
saving file not seeing all file types out of adobe
really missed the column view when dealing with files
total lack of tagging files customizing smart folders etc....

you realize how much you use the OS kinda like when you have a serious soar throat and how much you use your throat

hardware wise was happy OS wise kinda like having state of the art engine in a 1960s vehicle

It appears as if you attempted to use it like macOS and not Windows. Under such circumstances it's no surprised you didn't like it.
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Here's a question: if you were shopping for a PC, would you be buying a HP Z8-class workstation? After all, that's the PC-world equivalent of the 7,1 (both in price, and in target demo).

Maybe it is and maybe it's not. From what I've read there are a group of people who want a headless, internally expandable system and don't need high core counts and terabytes of memory. For them a Z8 system is overkill and they would likely opt for a Z4 or Z6 system. To their dismay there are no Z4 or Z6 comparable Macintoshes. IOW they're forced to buy a Z8 class system even though their needs don't require such a system. Ironically one can buy a Z8 system for less money than the base 2019 Mac Pro so even if they had to buy a Z8 they're not paying as much for it.
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If price is the main objection how much lower would you need it to be? And say you would want it to be $1500 lower are you willing to wait 1-2 year to get the price or is that amount worth having this computer 2 years earlier to enjoy and be productive and not having to spend money on a MacBook in the mean time.

I'm counting on Micro Center offering a good discount in the same sense they did for the iMac Pro. Do I know this for sure? No, but I wouldn't be surprised. Waiting for them to carry them in store to find out.

 

[Pressure]

You could virtualize MacOS on some current AMD hardware and have the best of both worlds. Get it done professionally for a couple hundred bucks, make sure your snapshots are up-to-date, and go to town.

Isn’t there still issues with Adobe CC in MacOS and AMD processors?

 

[now i see it]

The bottom spec 8 core base model 7,1 is a ripoff by any definition, regardless of how much storage you add. But lots of people buy expensive things all the time (fancy cars etc). The base model was configured as such to be a starting point- to upgrade from there. What you get with the base model 7,1 is very mediocre performance for an eye popping price.

 

[Zen_Arcade]

CJ -

Based on what you've written, the MP 7,1 seems to be the way to go. (Yes, I appreciate it's easy spending someone else's money . . . )

Reasons:

1. You specifically mentioned upgradability as part of the balance you seek. The MP allows, nay, encourages it while the 16" MBP (which I have) is a closed and sealed system.

2. You emphasize value over time in your initial post, and while the MP is expensive, it is also highly capable and seems likely to work for a much longer timeframe than the 16" MBP. Hence, the MP's TCO is likely to be lower than a 16" MBP (obviously depends on length of ownership; I am inferring you tend to keep systems for a relatively long time).

3. I would not expect Apple to adjust pricing downwards. It took Apple years to update pricing on the 6,1 MP even when it was an obvious commercial failure. And its utter failure to ever update it, presumably due in part to the limits of the design, seems highly unlikely to be repeated with the 7,1, which uses so far a standard socket and PCI parts.

Good luck!

 

[DoofenshmirtzEI]

Damn good for HP. I'm loving my experimental phase. OP, this may not be your cup of tea, but I'm getting along furiously with a current-ish MBP, several hackintoshed Z820 workstations in production, and a heavy Z840 with MacOS and Windows virtualized as my current test box. Kicks all ass at a reasonable cost.

You could virtualize MacOS on some current AMD hardware and have the best of both worlds. Get it done professionally for a couple hundred bucks, make sure your snapshots are up-to-date, and go to town.

Are you seriously exposing your employer to the legal issues involved with hackintoshing and the stability issues on *production* workstations?

And not only that but advising others to do the same with "professionals" who run in legal quicksand? If I were doing business with someone and found out they were hackintoshing, that would be the end of that relationship immediately. Anybody who is willing to hackintosh will have no problems screwing me over if it is convenient to them. Ethics ****ing counts.

 

[Flint Ironstag]

Are you seriously exposing your employer to the legal issues involved with hackintoshing and the stability issues on *production* workstations?

And not only that but advising others to do the same with "professionals" who run in legal quicksand? If I were doing business with someone and found out they were hackintoshing, that would be the end of that relationship immediately. Anybody who is willing to hackintosh will have no problems screwing me over if it is convenient to them. Ethics ****ing counts.

I sure am. I am the employer, and the machines have been running nearly 100% CPU & GPU utilization for well over a year now, probably going on two. In other words, flawless. Zero issues, and they get flogged.

results ****ing count.

Cheers

 

[th0masp]

If I had to make this decision I'd start with the thinking that a laptop is not really a proper desktop replacement and its likely that it will run hotter than anticipated when pushed and also while connected to large-ish screens. Also I assume that current Apple laptops are a fairly pricey affair when repairs are needed and the warranty period is over.

The MP on the other hand looks like bad value and released at the exactly wrong time (end of Intel CPU domination/stagnation era). I'm also in the camp that could in theory afford one - but I'd really feel stupid to pay such an asking price. No benefit to fancy cases either, the thing goes under the desk and will not be looked at again and its far from being the only quiet system on the market. Also seemingly starved of useful ports - well no surprise there.

Hence for personal use I'd have no problem investigating a hackintosh. In fact that's probably the way forward for when I'm done with the Trashcan.

 

[Honumaui]

Nope not the case but nice try

It appears as if you attempted to use it like macOS and not Windows. Under such circumstances it's no surprised you didn't like it.
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[deconstruct60]

....
Maybe it is and maybe it's not. From what I've read there are a group of people who want a headless, internally expandable system and don't need high core counts and terabytes of memory. For them a Z8 system is overkill and they would likely opt for a Z4 or Z6 system. To their dismay there are no Z4 or Z6 comparable Macintoshes.
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....
I'm counting on Micro Center offering a good discount in the same sense they did for the iMac Pro. Do I know this for sure? No, but I wouldn't be surprised. Waiting for them to carry them in store to find out.

Is MicroCenter still selling Z6-z8 ( Dell 7000 ) class stuff anymore. I'd would be surprised if they even stocked a Mac Pro ( basically just buy on order) , let alone have deep discounts found few other places.
BH might ( or some store that sells lots of higher end AV stuff and Mac variety of stuff. )

I think Apple "guessed wrong" with the iMac Pro and always had too many of the lower end ones around. ( and somehow got stuck with a contract for min orders. hence the very mild dumping at a few stores/outlets on those configurations). I suspect the Mac Pro is going to be much closer to "just in time" built. ( that they are willing to take the hit on incrementally lower volume just to not have slow moving inventory. ) .
It has been a month and orders are still running about a week to get one. and very few places with it in stock in quantity. It won't be surprising 4-8 months from now that the leads times are very closes to what they are now.
( The rack version came out and the timeline didn't really move much at all. ). The vesa mounts , stands , and XDRs all have about the same timeline. VESA exactly the same run rate at $999 stand. errrr. ( pretty good chance that is Apple turning the knobs so have just enough . And can probably go slower if demand drops. )

 

[darthaddie]

I tried to switch for retouching Photogrphy work

built a really nice pc last year
gave it a really solid try

My problem is the OS
lack of proper color management
horrid preview limitations with 3rd party app
saving file not seeing all file types out of adobe
really missed the column view when dealing with files
total lack of tagging files customizing smart folders etc....

you realize how much you use the OS kinda like when you have a serious soar throat and how much you use your throat

hardware wise was happy OS wise kinda like having state of the art engine in a 1960s vehicle

can it wok fo others ? Sure for me trying it made me realize when OSX came out Why I got away from win NT around 15+ years ago and coming back how little has really changed win 10 needs radical radical redo it’s so far behind in so many ways for creatives I feel

bottom line one needs to get a good win machine and try it out

I switched to a kick ass windows pc last year. over the top config. It was faster in a few cases in Lightroom and photoshop. And I could game. But the editing process was HORRIBLE.

working on a 10bit monitor, only photoshop and Lightroom supported the 10bit config. Outside of that showing photos to clients was a nightmare. No other app was color managed. The ones that were have a trashy UI And from the 90’s. The windows UI itself is so inconsistent. It s good OS no doubt but the bits and pieces don’t work together. Switching from premiere to FCP itself was a boon. On the “kick-ass” windows PC premiere couldn’t playback 4k hevc without stutter. i hate converting video just for editing. Windows search is still in the dark ages.

The airdrop on the macs are just godsend. 90% of my clients have apple devices and I just airdrop there projects to them at times.

Sure I can make a few compromises and go back to a TR3/Nvidia config But the entire workflow/aesthetics is just not the same. At least for me.

I am now selling my imac i9 And upgrading to the Mac Pro. I ran out of ports. Lol.

 

[defjam]

Nope not the case but nice try

A lot of people who complain about how Windows works do exactly that. The same applies to those Windows users who complain about how macOS works. People are resistent to change.
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Is MicroCenter still selling Z6-z8 ( Dell 7000 ) class stuff anymore. I'd would be surprised if they even stocked a Mac Pro ( basically just buy on order) , let alone have deep discounts found few other places.
BH might ( or some store that sells lots of higher end AV stuff and Mac variety of stuff. )

I've never known Micro Center to sell the Z6 or Z8 brand new. I have seen them sell the Z600 and Z620 as refurbished (my first Z600 was purchased from them).

As for the Mac Pro I do not see any on their web site. However we're in a transition period and, as you mentioned, supply hasn't caught up with demand yet. I do recall they were still selling the 6,1 within the past six months. I would not be surprised to see them carry the 2019 Mac Pro and, in fact, I'm counting on them to discount it somewhat (in a manner similar to what they did with the iMac Pro).

 

[Krevnik]

2. You emphasize value over time in your initial post, and while the MP is expensive, it is also highly capable and seems likely to work for a much longer timeframe than the 16" MBP. Hence, the MP's TCO is likely to be lower than a 16" MBP (obviously depends on length of ownership; I am inferring you tend to keep systems for a relatively long time).

Agreed on this. The MBP is a strong laptop, but an expensive desktop. The i7 Mac mini holds up against the i9 MBP as well, making it a pretty bad value if you don't need a discrete GPU.

The MP, with the ability to add drives, newer GPUs, and at least go wider with the CPU (I'd be surprised if we get many options on newer gen CPUs though), means you can carry it forward a lot longer with new parts.

If I had to make this decision I'd start with the thinking that a laptop is not really a proper desktop replacement and its likely that it will run hotter than anticipated when pushed and also while connected to large-ish screens. Also I assume that current Apple laptops are a fairly pricey affair when repairs are needed and the warranty period is over.

Agreed. I tried this for a week, and the MBP was just noisy. A Mac mini, iMac or Mac Pro make much better desk stations when you intend to push them for periods of time and drive the fans up. The Mac mini also is flat out cheaper than the MBP for the performance if you don't need an eGPU for it.

The MP on the other hand looks like bad value and released at the exactly wrong time (end of Intel CPU domination/stagnation era). I'm also in the camp that could in theory afford one - but I'd really feel stupid to pay such an asking price. No benefit to fancy cases either, the thing goes under the desk and will not be looked at again and its far from being the only quiet system on the market. Also seemingly starved of useful ports - well no surprise there.

This is my main concern with the 7,1. The CPU is near the end of the socket's lifespan, IIRC, so even assuming Intel responds to AMD, your main option is to buy used CPUs with more cores. Fun. That said, I could probably live on a 12-core for years, and call it good in my case.

Ports are probably my smallest concern with it. It has enough slots that if you need a USB card, grab one. But if you need more TB3 / DisplayPort connections, that is definitely painful. I'm glad the Navi GPU comes with TB ports like the higher end GPUs do.

A lot of people who complain about how Windows works do exactly that. The same applies to those Windows users who complain about how macOS works. People are resistent to change.

For color-critical work, it's more that with Windows, you have to make sure all the apps have their own color management, and do it correctly, or at least the same way as the other apps in your workflow. And if you are using any color space other than sRGB with your display, this is all even more important. Gaming monitors with DCI-P3 color gamut fall into this trap, too. On macOS, it's getting to the point where apps have to be outright negligent in order to screw up color management. (*cough*VLC*cough*)

Affinity Photo has pretty much zero color management baked in for printing like Photoshop or Lightroom does. But I can still get the same results because macOS is properly color managed. That sort of flexibility to change/experiment with your workflow is also valuable in its own way.