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How much do you think the Mac Pro 2019 will be?
- Thread starter pers0n
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I will consider a base model and add components as my needs improve.
I’ve done this with the MAC Pro 2013.
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The thing that I don't understand when people complain about the cost of a machine like the MacPro is that if the price is too high for you, you probably don't need it, especially with the other options we have now.
When I break it down, my machine cost is pretty irrelevant.
So I'll drop like 10k on a new system roughly every 5 years, including monitors and drive array. I'll use that machine almost everyday to make a living and recoup the cost in 2 months tops. The rest of the time it's just making money.
Sure, I'd love to spend as little as the next guy. But if the next MacPro costs more than we're used to, I'm ready for it. These machines hold incredible value. Mind you, I'm still on an ungraded 5,1 from 2012 and cutting 8k just fine. Yeah, it's a little on the slow side and I could definitely use something faster. But I didn't want to switch everything over to Thunderbolt until there was enough of an ecosystem in place for it to do everything I need. I could probably switch to the iMacPro if I absolutely HAD to. But I've waited this long. Hopefully not too much longer.
When I break it down, my machine cost is pretty irrelevant.
So I'll drop like 10k on a new system roughly every 5 years, including monitors and drive array. I'll use that machine almost everyday to make a living and recoup the cost in 2 months tops. The rest of the time it's just making money.
Sure, I'd love to spend as little as the next guy. But if the next MacPro costs more than we're used to, I'm ready for it. These machines hold incredible value. Mind you, I'm still on an ungraded 5,1 from 2012 and cutting 8k just fine. Yeah, it's a little on the slow side and I could definitely use something faster. But I didn't want to switch everything over to Thunderbolt until there was enough of an ecosystem in place for it to do everything I need. I could probably switch to the iMacPro if I absolutely HAD to. But I've waited this long. Hopefully not too much longer.
This is a ridiculous comment, this has never been the case with any Mac Pro ever, and there is not a single reason to think that it will be the case this time...after all, they have competition. At best, it will probably cost as much as buying 90% of the components yourself as a consumer.
Unless you're arguing that the components inside aren't worth the asking price...but that's not really Apple's fault.
Not ridiculous at all. The MP6,1 was certainly not a good value.
The 6,1 had a pair of consumer Radeon GPUs, which Apple falsely claimed to be FirePro workstation GPUs. It had only one Xeon CPU, and only four DIMM slots. All expansion was pushed off to high-priced T-Bolt boxes - which have been blocked from eGPU support. The real cost of the system was far more than an entry Z-series - you had to buy stuff that you didn't need with a conventional modular system. (Of course, a Z-series with 3 TiB of RAM was far more than any Apple system.)
My basic point is that Apple likes to increase the ASP by making the base system well configured - but that shuts out the users who don't need all the added stuff. Apple has no option for a real entry level system.
My "It will start at $6000, and be worth $2000" comment is simply that many people won't buy the MP7,1 because it will have $4000 (or $3000 or $2000 or $1000) of stuff that they don't want or need.
Why pay Apple prices for a 64GiB system if 8GiB is enough for your workflow?
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Apple has always offered bundled propositions that can be a good value if you need all or most of what's in the bundle, terrible if you don't. The classic example is the iMac - if you need the monitor and like the one Apple's selling, it's darn cheap (there have been cases where 5K iMacs sell for less than anyone else is selling a 5K monitor of similar quality for). Even upgrading the iMac at Apple prices doesn't erase the cost advantage if you happen to need a 27" 5K P3 display). The value problem has been "what if you don't"?
There will be some similar value proposition on the new Mac Pro. On the MP 6,1 it was the dual graphics - if you needed them, the MP was a reasonably priced way to get them, but if you wanted a Xeon-based machine for a GPU-resistant workload, the MP was very expensive. Whatever it is, there will be at least one expensive part with no easy way to configure it down, and if you don't like that part, you won't like the. machine.
Another piece of Mac Pro relevant news - there have been leaks of the price of the "enthusiast" version of the 28-core chip... It may be around $4000 or a bit more - expensive, but less than half the price of its Xeon Platinum equivalent. That may be an indicator of how high Mac Pro CPU prices might be. Top chip at $4000-$6000 for the upgrade, lesser models proportional? If it has a dual CPU option, the prices for the second CPU to be $1000 higher, because there's no "trade-in" of the base chip - I'd be shocked if it ONLY comes in dual-CPU configurations
There will be some similar value proposition on the new Mac Pro. On the MP 6,1 it was the dual graphics - if you needed them, the MP was a reasonably priced way to get them, but if you wanted a Xeon-based machine for a GPU-resistant workload, the MP was very expensive. Whatever it is, there will be at least one expensive part with no easy way to configure it down, and if you don't like that part, you won't like the. machine.
Another piece of Mac Pro relevant news - there have been leaks of the price of the "enthusiast" version of the 28-core chip... It may be around $4000 or a bit more - expensive, but less than half the price of its Xeon Platinum equivalent. That may be an indicator of how high Mac Pro CPU prices might be. Top chip at $4000-$6000 for the upgrade, lesser models proportional? If it has a dual CPU option, the prices for the second CPU to be $1000 higher, because there's no "trade-in" of the base chip - I'd be shocked if it ONLY comes in dual-CPU configurations
Not a penny less than $5000 and probably goes $15K-$20K fully loaded. The iMac Pro starts at $5000 and goes to $13,000+. The Mac-mini fully loaded, without the external GPU or disc storage that many people want/need, is $4200. Add the eGPU or some storage and you are at $5000+.
The Mac Pro is for people that can't get enough performance from the new Mini, and for people that want iMac Pro performance or more without initially restricting themselves to a particular monitor (display) or GPU. There is zero reason for Apple to price it less than $5000 base, which is where it fits relative to the Mini and iMac Pro.
I hope for a Mac Pro with lots of internal slots for off-the-shelf GPU cards, off-the-shelf SSD cards, and at least future-purchased-from-Apple CPU-card upgrades, but I'm not expecting that. I suspect it's going to be more like a Mac-mini on steroids with CPU options (not user-friendly upgradeable), RAM slots, a fairly mid-level GPU, and "modular" TB3 for everything else.
The Mac Pro is for people that can't get enough performance from the new Mini, and for people that want iMac Pro performance or more without initially restricting themselves to a particular monitor (display) or GPU. There is zero reason for Apple to price it less than $5000 base, which is where it fits relative to the Mini and iMac Pro.
I hope for a Mac Pro with lots of internal slots for off-the-shelf GPU cards, off-the-shelf SSD cards, and at least future-purchased-from-Apple CPU-card upgrades, but I'm not expecting that. I suspect it's going to be more like a Mac-mini on steroids with CPU options (not user-friendly upgradeable), RAM slots, a fairly mid-level GPU, and "modular" TB3 for everything else.
My argument for $3k starting price is that the current Mac Pro starts at $2,999. Apple likes that price point plus the iMac Pro 5k monitor accounts for the $2k difference (in Apple math). Given Tim Cook pricing $3,299 or $3,499 is not out of bounds but I don't think the Mac Pro 7,1 will start at $4,999.
It'll be much more than that (if the Mac Pro even has PCIe slots)... The Mac Pro will be Xeon-based, have a very large RAM capacity - 192 GB would be a very conservative maximum, and there is some (slight) possibility of a RAM ceiling as high as 1.5 TB on some models (that would require dual CPUs), and have high-end discrete AMD graphics. The Mac Mini has a 64 GB RAM ceiling and relies on mobile CPUs with integrated graphics.
Bit of an obvious way to put things?
If I need all of the software that comes with Microsoft office then it’s great value, if I only need word however......
An empty Box with places to put a choice of components is what I call value. Apple will never really offer an all round value proposition.
It’s obvious.
We are all preparing for our own next Super Mac.
For me, it’s inevitable as business needs grows.
It’s a matter of the raw computing power matching the business needs at the price willing to pay.
I’m in.
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The imac pro starting point is a bit high.
And with more then one disk they can make the base pci-e ssd 512GB. At bigger base is way to much at apples prices.
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well apple may want to keep the mini in the server market and 10G + lot's of fast storage kind of fits.
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4K? amd has one with more cores at half the price. Also one eypc cpu is the power of 2 Xeons.
Now moduler can work with eypc to have 1 or 2 cpus with the same number pci-e lanes.
I'm increasingly less concerned with this. I have a 16 core liquid cooled Z820 Hackintosh sitting on my desk in production and it's been flawless.
The cMP kills Apple in its sleep.
People like you and me kept the Mac Pro for a full decade!
FOR A FULL DECADE!
10 YEARS of USAGE!
This is basically a kind of a socialist product, No - this can't be... period...
The Vietnam war was fought because of that. Life's were lost.
..there will be repercussions..
Here is the Petro-Dollar End-Game Capitalist agenda for the next and last Mac Pro System:
- 10.000 Dollar Entry Price tag, RED inspired. (-> 6999,- System price with a useless Nvidia 120 equivalent "can't do anything GPU) and a forced "One option only Display" to choose from.
- at least 50% reduced shelve life compared to cMP or a very high expense in future upgrade maintenance, controlled by Apple.
- A boatload full of Product Obsolescence Land Mines (T2 and more) for software controlled product death.
- Proprietary technology only - to squeeze you into a corner and dictate high product prices in the name of Apple.
- Apple Spyware, fully cloud capable and fully trackable to spy on you and your content, including a "dead man switch, facial recognition and digital cryptocurrency hardware wallet for the post WW3 era (Siri on Steroids/Hall 9000)
Watch this for a wakeup call regarding your current cell phone technology. It will help you to put it into perspective when you reflect the technology in your pocket - your iPHONE...
imagine what the new Mac Pro can do for THEM
I can only hope that Apple will include a TB3-powered tinfoil hat in the standard configuration. You'll have to wear it for the machine to log you in.
Just for some traction - Z-series upgradeable towers start at $1479, and can be purchased with up to dual Nvidia Quadro GV100 Volta GPUs with 32 GiB each.... (Dual GV100s give 10240 CUDA cores per system)
Will the MP7,1 again come with Radeons mislabeled as FirePro? (or whatever new labels ATI is using to confuse the boundary between consumer and professional cards)
(Of course, a Z4 with an 18 core CPU, 256 GiB RAM, 1 TB NVMe SSD and a pair of Quadro GV100 Voltas is just over $27K online price
. It could go a lot higher, but I didn't max out the extra internal disks, 10GbE, or other PCIe options. Update: I went through again, ticking all of the boxes. $52.5K list, $33K online.)A 20 to 1 or 30 to 1 ratio (or more) between entry price and max price is quite reasonable for a pro workstation. 10 to 1 means that the entry is overpriced, and forces entry users to buy options that many won't need or use. Of course, Apple does this all of the time to bump ASP....
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That's the thing - you can get into a Z system for a low price, and start getting work done, then grow it as your throughput increases, you don't have to commit the price of a car upfront. Apple wants you to wear the risk of the system's overall life cost if you can't succeed using its gear, HP is prepared to accept the risk that you won't buy upgrades from them if you can.
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If you're going to describe strong pornography like that, you gotta show the pics ;P
Back in 2008, you could get a Quad Core Mac Pro for $2000 brand new from Apple. Then you can upgrade it on your own dime as you see fit.
I really hope apple keeps this concept alive where you can downgrade stuff you don't care about or can upgrade yourself for far cheaper. Not everyone wants to be forced to buy two Xeon CPUs.
As soon as 2008 ended, you were forced into paying nearly $3,000 for all Mac Pros and didn't have much, if any downgrade options at the BTO page.
I really hope apple keeps this concept alive where you can downgrade stuff you don't care about or can upgrade yourself for far cheaper. Not everyone wants to be forced to buy two Xeon CPUs.
As soon as 2008 ended, you were forced into paying nearly $3,000 for all Mac Pros and didn't have much, if any downgrade options at the BTO page.