Is the new Mac Pro a failure?

[whodatrr]

For me, the professional apps I use are easy to move. MS Office, Photoshop, other Adobe Creative tools, and a variety of video editing stuffs. All of that is pretty easy to move, with much of it being better in the Windows world anyhow.

The problem I have is with the ecosystem stuff at home. Photo organization is a challenge, since we've been stuck on iPhoto for so long. But again, as our local libraries are now harder to share without forking over money for iCloud, I guess I need to start looking. iMovie is also going to be challenging, since its what the kids use and, frankly, most of what I use for the little bit of work video stuff I do. Music is the one thing I guess I don't hate Apple's recent moves with - that subscription is an OK value. But iTunes blows chunks on Windows. I guess it's time to start experimenting? Funny, there are thousands of articles and sites on migrating to a Mac, but very few about migrating from it... LOL And I've been primarily a Mac guy, since the early 90's.

I think I will put off my nMP/iMac upgrade, in favor of this experiment. I already planned on upgrading my SP3 to the SP4 (waiting on my i7/16/256) to get in. I figure throwing about $1,500 towards a PC tower will also be a nice start. I really don't need to go Xeon, but need something with solid 2-D graphics that's capable of driving 3-4 big displays. That should be pretty easy? I also look forward to chunking a bunch of SSDs and 3.5 spinners into a tower... been a while since I could do that easily. Really, I don't care whether my tower looks like a futuristic CNC trash can, or a plastic box - it will be sitting under my desk.

Then I would recommend you start investigating a migration away from the Mac soon. Making a move can be time consuming so better to start seeing what's available and what's involved before you're forced to. If I were a professional who relies on Mac products for a living I'd be doing so. Apple has signaled they don't care about professionals any longer.

 

[biker4mac]

Then I would recommend you start investigating a migration away from the Mac soon. Making a move can be time consuming so better to start seeing what's available and what's involved before you're forced to. If I were a professional who relies on Mac products for a living I'd be doing so. Apple has signaled they don't care about professionals any longer.

The problem is - migrate to what?

Windows? No thank you. I was forced into that quagmire in all the offices that I worked in. Not a week went by without having to track down some issue that just wasted hours of time.

UNIX? Unfortunately, still not quite ready for prime time for most professional users. Again, too much time spent messing around to make things work. It’s getting better, but you can’t just pull stuff off the shelf and use it on UNIX.

If Apple isn’t going to make a customizable computer, they should allow others to fill the niche. Hackintoshes meet with varying levels of success. Of course, the issue is that as soon as you start using “non-standard” components, you run into the same issues that Windows has with trying to make everything work together.

 

[theSeb]

It's a failure for this particular audience.

 

[theSeb]

If Apple isn’t going to make a customizable computer, they should allow others to fill the niche.

They did. It didn't work out very very well.

 

[996085]

The problem is - migrate to what?

Windows? No thank you. I was forced into that quagmire in all the offices that I worked in. Not a week went by without having to track down some issue that just wasted hours of time.

UNIX? Unfortunately, still not quite ready for prime time for most professional users. Again, too much time spent messing around to make things work. It’s getting better, but you can’t just pull stuff off the shelf and use it on UNIX.

If Apple isn’t going to make a customizable computer, they should allow others to fill the niche. Hackintoshes meet with varying levels of success. Of course, the issue is that as soon as you start using “non-standard” components, you run into the same issues that Windows has with trying to make everything work together.

As a user of all three my recommendation is to look into Windows again. I don't buy the whole "Windows has too many problems" as my experience has shown otherwise. Or am I the only person who turns on, uses his Windows systems, and then shuts them down without having any issues?

 

[996085]

They did. It didn't work out very very well.

That was when they were a computing company. Given computers are no longer their primary business it might be something to revisit.

 

[lowendlinux]

I think it's doing fine, if there actually is another one then we can call it a success.

 

[pat500000]

The problem is - migrate to what?

Windows? No thank you. I was forced into that quagmire in all the offices that I worked in. Not a week went by without having to track down some issue that just wasted hours of time.

UNIX? Unfortunately, still not quite ready for prime time for most professional users. Again, too much time spent messing around to make things work. It’s getting better, but you can’t just pull stuff off the shelf and use it on UNIX.

If Apple isn’t going to make a customizable computer, they should allow others to fill the niche. Hackintoshes meet with varying levels of success. Of course, the issue is that as soon as you start using “non-standard” components, you run into the same issues that Windows has with trying to make everything work together.

Eh? what issues?
Anyway...the choices are limited. It is what it is.

 

[Average Pro]

It's quiet, faster, expandable, smaller, requires less power, and runs at a lower temperature. It fulfills every professional requirement I need for my business (photo & videography). I can patiently wait for Apple to release new updates and products because I know it will work. Another satisfied customer.

 

[DEMinSoCAL]

I voted failure, not because creative artists can't use it to do their work...they can. I voted failure because it doesn't live up to Apple standards of innovation and longevity. It's already legacy in many ways, and no real ways for mere mortals to upgrade it. For the price, I think one is paying more for looks and less for function.

It's quiet, faster, expandable, smaller, requires less power, and runs at a lower temperature. It fulfills every professional requirement I need for my business (photo & videography). I can patiently wait for Apple to release new updates and products because I know it will work. Another satisfied customer.

I assume your comparisons in your first sentence are directed against the classic Mac Pro? The cMP runs pretty quiet, so being quieter isn't a major advantage in my mind. Upgraded cMP's can be faster than nMP's. There are threads here discussing that. The nMP is expandable, but only if you want to waste money on expensive Thunderbolt peripherals. I prefer sliding cheap HDD's or SSD's into a cMP for just a few dollars. Smaller and less power? Yes, but those aren't big selling points. And lower temp? Well, have you ever felt the plume of heat coming out the top of the nMP?

Not only will you patiently wait for Apple to release updates, I fear you will grow old waiting.

 

[996085]

It's quiet, faster, expandable, smaller, requires less power, and runs at a lower temperature. It fulfills every professional requirement I need for my business (photo & videography). I can patiently wait for Apple to release new updates and products because I know it will work. Another satisfied customer.

Faster than what? The previous Mac Pro? I'd hope so. Expandable? It fails miserably in that aspect. Smaller? Of course...you don't get as much with it. Less power? Again...of course...because it doesn't offer nearly the capability of the previous version. Lower temperature? What does that mean?

 

[linuxcooldude]

And this is basically true, because in the workstation market many of the people who know what they need and want are no longer Apple customers. The MP6,1 is a poke in the eye to many of these people.

I seriously doubt that there will be an nnMP - the MP6,1 could be the end. No Haswell-EP upgrade, pretending that Radeon desktop GPUs were Firepros,....

Apple wants to be out of that market, and the weak MP6,1 offering is their exit strategy.

Apple wants to get out of the market by designing a new Mac Pro from the ground up, designing all their base apps to use it. Exit strategy...lol. If they wanted to kill it, they would kill it, just like the X-Serve.

 

[AidenShaw]

Apple wants to get out of the market by designing a new Mac Pro from the ground up, designing all their base apps to use it. Exit strategy...lol. If they wanted to kill it, they would kill it, just like the X-Serve.

You can kill it by designing a system that fails to meet the market's needs, then killing it because the sales numbers for that weak system are low.

Much easier to spin in the "No More Mac Pro" press release.

And, by the way, "designing all their base apps to use it" kind of loses its punch after Apple announced that OpenCL was dead, and they're moving to a new framework.

 

[linuxcooldude]

You can kill it by designing a system that fails to meet the market's needs, then killing it because the sales numbers for that weak system are low.

Much easier to spin in the "No More Mac Pro" press release.

And, by the way, "designing all their base apps to use it" kind of loses its punch after Apple announced that OpenCL was dead, and they're moving to a new framework.

You were talking about Apple doing this on purpose to get rid of the Mac Pro. Seems they are fully invested in continuing it on many fronts. Changing to new API's is not new and also to updating the apps to use them.

 

[MacVidCards]

Pity that the Kool Aid stains don't buy them more votes.

 

[AidenShaw]

You were talking about Apple doing this on purpose to get rid of the Mac Pro. Seems they are fully invested in continuing it on many fronts. Changing to new API's is not new and also to updating the apps to use them.

This would be a lot easier to believe if the current nMP had a Haswell-EP processor, 256 GiB of DDR4 memory, 10 GbE and T-Bolt 3.

 

[CapnDavey]

I think it is other Apple failures need I say more!

 

[ProjectManager101]

The thing is that one of the reasons of the Mac Pro was the PCI ports and you could have extra internal drives. Today you do not need PCI ports anymore, all the ports that I have in my Mac Pro have no use anymore. Instead I am using USB or Thunderbolt.

It would be fun to have the new Mac Pro with capacity for internal drives but that would be it.

I believe that the new Mac Pro can be different but is not a failure, a failure is Apple Watch. Still today I have seen more nMac Pros around and still no a single Apple Watch... and I live in Miami with the most shallow and show off people in the entire U.S. and not a single Apple Watch. Probably in N.Y. or who knows. But the nMac Pro has a use, Apple Watch does not.

 

[MacVidCards]

The thing is that one of the reasons of the Mac Pro was the PCI ports and you could have extra internal drives. Today you do not need PCI ports anymore, all the ports that I have in my Mac Pro have no use anymore. Instead I am using USB or Thunderbolt.

It would be fun to have the new Mac Pro with capacity for internal drives but that would be it.

I believe that the new Mac Pro can be different but is not a failure, a failure is Apple Watch. Still today I have seen more nMac Pros around and still no a single Apple Watch... and I live in Miami with the most shallow and show off people in the entire U.S. and not a single Apple Watch. Probably in N.Y. or who knows. But the nMac Pro has a use, Apple Watch does not.

Don't need "PCI ports anymore"?

You might want to get in out of that FL sun. Just about everything the nMP can do can be done on CMP via a PCIE Slot, and markedly faster. A drive array can be 4-6 times faster, as just shown at Barefeats.com.

 

[996085]

The thing is that one of the reasons of the Mac Pro was the PCI ports and you could have extra internal drives. Today you do not need PCI ports anymore, all the ports that I have in my Mac Pro have no use anymore. Instead I am using USB or Thunderbolt.

It would be fun to have the new Mac Pro with capacity for internal drives but that would be it.

I believe that the new Mac Pro can be different but is not a failure, a failure is Apple Watch. Still today I have seen more nMac Pros around and still no a single Apple Watch... and I live in Miami with the most shallow and show off people in the entire U.S. and not a single Apple Watch. Probably in N.Y. or who knows. But the nMac Pro has a use, Apple Watch does not.

You speak for everyone?

 

[ActionableMango]

Today you do not need PCI ports anymore, all the ports that I have in my Mac Pro have no use anymore.

Plenty of people need PCIe slots. Just look at this thread:
What's occupying your PCIe slots?

 

[scottsjack]

Ultimately failure or success has to do with individual purchases, whether a single unit by a consumer or hundreds of units for a company. My my case the new Mac Pro led me to first upgrade my 2012 MP and then to switch to an HP Z23 tower. For sure Mac OS still has some really nice advantages but it is crystal clear that Apple doesn't care about that market anymore.

The Z230 has been a dream. Windows 10 is very enjoyable to use. My main apps, Photoshop and Office work better under Windows than they do under El Capitan. My Mac Pro is now relegated to storage, EyeTV and iTunes. My 2012 mini just sits on the desk doing absolutely nothing.

 

[NT1440]

Well, every single one of the teams at work uses them....an extremely large video/audio/magazine company that you all know.

Not really sure how some of you can claim that its not for "pros" when your definition of "pro" seems to be computer nerds who are into their tools rather than those that just use the damn tool and let the IT guys (like me) worry about said tools....

 

[ZombiePhysicist]

Well, every single one of the teams at work uses them....an extremely large video/audio/magazine company that you all know.

Not really sure how some of you can claim that its not for "pros" when your definition of "pro" seems to be computer nerds who are into their tools rather than those that just use the damn tool and let the IT guys (like me) worry about said tools....

Right, because your sample size is the right one. And an entire forum dedicated to Mac Pro usage is an irrelevant data point when 2/3s views it as a failure. Good to know we have perspective of others going on here.

 

[zephonic]

Right, because your sample size is the right one. And an entire forum dedicated to Mac Pro usage is an irrelevant data point when 2/3s views it as a failure. Good to know we have perspective of others going on here.

Well, to be fair, there is a large number of users here who like/own/use the nMP. But they don't post as much as the detractors, for whom this forum seems to be the primary outlet for their grief and disenchantment.

So I'm taking the results of your poll with a pinch of salt. (I haven't voted btw, I don't think it's either).