Mac Pro Dead Or Alive?

[tony3d]

Check this out!
http://image.promax.com/webinar/promax_one/campaign2/campaign2.html

 

[Feed Me]

It runs windows...

 

[xgman]

It's also not SB based.

 

[sigmadog]

It's also quite ugly.

 

[eurekor]

It is also not required.

 

[steveOooo]

I hate promax- much cheaper to just drink milk....

 

[thekev]

We really needed another speculation thread.

 

[tony3d]

This was new to me. I never heard of it.

 

[codymac]

Child's play. My Hackintosh has twice as many drive bays.

 

[deconstruct60]

This was new to me. I never heard of it.

Probably because it wasn't announced until recently.

http://www.prweb.com/releases/2012/3/prweb9289737.htm

Extremely curious to introduce a Westmere workstation (March 21) after Intel does their soft introduction for the E5 series( March 7 ) Yeah, I suppose you can put in an order ( while the E5 Mac Pro you can't ), but still.
Rather telling that this vendor also doesn't have a E5 solution shipping.


Even more curious that this "Mac Pro isn't coming" webinar isn't posted on their website. ( I suppose since they are a VAR reselling Mac Pros that wouldn't be so great for business. )

In general, smacks of a vendor who has decided to ride the AVID fueled, "Apple hates pros" FUD bandwagon. At this point, I suspect it is immaterial to them whether Apple ships a workstation or not. There was a post XServe webinar ("Where is Apple going" ) and a post FCPX introduction on FCP 7 'future'. This doesn't look like a sudden move for them.

If the future of the Mac Pro was riding on this company's specific niche then it was already doomed.

 

[Zwhaler]

http://www.prweb.com/releases/2012/3/prweb9289737.htm

I'd like to point out that the "ProMAX ONE has more processing power than the current 12-core Apple Mac Pro®" claim isn't true, the machine runs 2x 2.93GHz Westmere.

 

[Yebubbleman]

Check this out!
http://image.promax.com/webinar/promax_one/campaign2/campaign2.html

If it's shipping with Windows, then I can just build my own rig for that kind of cost/usage.

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If it's shipping with Windows, then I can just build my own rig for that kind of cost/usage.

Now, if it were known to be very easily Hackintoshable, that'd be another story entirely.

 

[derbothaus]

Now, if it were known to be very easily Hackintoshable, that'd be another story entirely.

Someone had to bring up Psystar.

 

[Yebubbleman]

Someone had to bring up Psystar.

Well to be fair, a PC workstation designed to look like a Mac Pro doesn't do much for anyone.

 

[deconstruct60]

I'd like to point out that the "ProMAX ONE has more processing power than the current 12-core Apple Mac Pro®" claim isn't true, the machine runs 2x 2.93GHz Westmere.

I think they are referring to the fully tricked out 'Hero ' version that comes with " .... 12 Core Dual Intel X5690 3.46 GHz
(With Turbo 3.73 GHz) ... "

http://www.promax.com/s-154-promax-one-tech-specs.aspx


What it extremely likely doesn't do is operate as quiet as a Mac Pro. I'm sure once the 8 drives , LTO tape , blu-ray , and every other super-duper option is cranking full tilt that the fans are groaning. Its operating temperature tops out at 131 F ( Mac Pro tops out at 95F ) . Why you want to put your disk media in a 131 easy bake oven is up to the user.

 

[Jst0rm]

thats the ugliest computer I have ever seen.

 

[Zwhaler]

I think they are referring to the fully tricked out 'Hero ' version that comes with " .... 12 Core Dual Intel X5690 3.46 GHz
(With Turbo 3.73 GHz) ... "

http://www.promax.com/s-154-promax-one-tech-specs.aspx


What it extremely likely doesn't do is operate as quiet as a Mac Pro. I'm sure once the 8 drives , LTO tape , blu-ray , and every other super-duper option is cranking full tilt that the fans are groaning. Its operating temperature tops out at 131 F ( Mac Pro tops out at 95F ) . Why you want to put your disk media in a 131 easy bake oven is up to the user.

That's cool that they offer that option, I didn't see it anywhere on the page. I'd just as soon put in 2x X5690s into my current machine (even though I'm really happy with the 2.93GHz)

 

[JesterJJZ]

thats the ugliest computer I have ever seen.

I guess you've never seen a Compaq...

 

[CaptainChunk]

I guess you've never seen a Compaq...

You mean like this one?

The cheap computer dark ages!

 

[tony3d]

All these new rumors about iMacs being released in June, and still nothing on the Mac Pro. This silence is pointing in only one direction if you ask me.

 

[xgman]

All these new rumors about iMacs being released in June, and still nothing on the Mac Pro. This silence is pointing in only one direction if you ask me.

It is hard to stay optimistic without so much as a crumb of info.

 

[dagomike]

This is dumb.

The CPUs in this thing are no better than the current Mac Pro. If you're wringing your hands waiting for Apple to update a Mac Pro, you'd be stupid to buy into this.

You'd be stupid to buy any Xeon workstation right now.

A lot of FUD out there right now and Promax is just trying to exploit it.

 

[mBox]

The Game...

For corporations (me) it doesnt make sense to play the waiting game.
However for the home/small shop users, I can see and feel your pain.
We stocked up on the most recent and ready for anything.
If our current Mac Pro's survive the next 5 years, we're good

 

[deconstruct60]

... I'd just as soon put in 2x X5690s into my current machine (even though I'm really happy with the 2.93GHz)

In a Mac Pro ? They aren't really compatible to the system design. There are a few reasons that Apple didn't pick the 5690s as an option.

1. It costs about $200 more per processor. ( not as much bang for the buck to extend out that extra ~400MHz for $400 + 30% markup. ) Substantially even fewer people were going to buy this option than the 5670 option.


2. It runs substantially hotter 130W ( vs. 95W). That's is an additional 70W to get rid of in the CPU thermal zone while still hitting the system design parameters for noise and internal temperate levels.

http://ark.intel.com/products/series/47915


ProMax would probably be lucky to sell 1/10000 as many "Promax One"s as Apple sold MacPros (wouldn't be surprised to see 1/80000 as many ) . They are in a low volume business. So issue 1 being relatively extremely low volume isn't an issue for them. Issue 2 isn't a big deal if primarily competing against screwdriver Windows boxes with lower noise constraint cooling either.

 

[Zwhaler]

In a Mac Pro ? They aren't really compatible to the system design. There are a few reasons that Apple didn't pick the 5690s as an option.

1. It costs about $200 more per processor. ( not as much bang for the buck to extend out that extra ~400MHz for $400 + 30% markup. ) Substantially even fewer people were going to buy this option than the 5670 option.


2. It runs substantially hotter 130W ( vs. 95W). That's is an additional 70W to get rid of in the CPU thermal zone while still hitting the system design parameters for noise and internal temperate levels.

http://ark.intel.com/products/series/47915


ProMax would probably be lucky to sell 1/10000 as many "Promax One"s as Apple sold MacPros (wouldn't be surprised to see 1/80000 as many ) . They are in a low volume business. So issue 1 being relatively extremely low volume isn't an issue for them. Issue 2 isn't a big deal if primarily competing against screwdriver Windows boxes with lower noise constraint cooling either.

Yeah the 3.33 and 3.46 models both run a lot hotter than the 5670, and the performance gain is pretty small (maybe 10%) however a few MR members have done this upgrade successfully. I wouldn't pay $3,000 to go from what I have to the 5690, but it's a viable option for users seeking the top end, particularly those upgrading from the 2x 2.4GHz option. As was said, the ProMax certainly won't be as quiet as a Mac Pro, which is one reason why I enjoy using the machine so much.