MP 7,1 Post Mac Pro announcement: What are the alternatives?

[CrysisDeu]

I am willing to pay a premium too. But $6K for 8 cores? PCIe3? A video card that will be 2 generations back on the day of release?

12 cores, PCIe 4, Base Navi video card and I’d be ok with $6K (assuming 2 years from now I could get a CPU with more cores).

One thing no one seems to have picked up on is Intel will probably change the socket in 2 years.

But navi is worse than vega II

 

[amedias]

Good question. Main thing is it can't be upgraded to the current operating system. I can't go to Mohave because of the graphics card.

If that's the main issue you can resolve that for ~£100 with a new GPU, and Mojave will run jsut fine. What OS are you on right now?

Plus when working on large files, the software seems to be taxing the system more than in the past.

How large is large? and if this is correct:

BTW, my Mac Pro has ...1GB 1066 MHz DDR3 memory

Was that a typo? cos if not then that's probably a huge cause of issues, nobody should be struggling on 1GB Ram in 2019 and it will be bottlenecking your machine massively. I just put and extra 64GB in my 5,1 and it only cost £45. Heck if you were local I could give you 16GB or 32GB from the spares pile.

Even if that was a typo, a ram and SSD upgrade alone might make all of your perceived performance problems just melt away...

 

[vel0city]

If the initial cost is too high, why not consider leasing? I use a company in the UK where I flexi-lease the hardware for two or three years, then have the option to keep it or return it and get the latest model as a replacement, including the display. Great way of staying current and not having to find the lump sum of cash up front.

 

[tobiastimpe]

I am facing a similar problem here, I am currently using a 2011 Hackintosh (2600K, 16GB, upgraded to an RX 570).
I do a lot of iOS software development, some music and some video production.
I would like an upgradeable desktop machine with two 27” Retina Displays, 10Gbit Ethernet, 32GB RAM and a CPU that is powerful enough for lots of plugins and synths in Logic.

Any idea on what I should buy?

 

[orph]

I kind of hope the 1GB ram is a tipo.

if you relay have 1GB of ram that is your problem, you relay need 16GB min and 32GB is a nice place to be.

even just using chrome will use 10GB of ram (why google )

I relay do recomendtrying a RAM upgrade if that is the problem.

 

[The_Interloper]

then DIY upgrade the ram (can you on imac?)

You can easily upgrade the RAM on the 27" iMac - there is an access door on the back of the machine. Open it, pop RAM in, done.

You cannot upgrade the RAM on the 21.5" iMac or iMac Pro. (Technically you can on the Pro but it involves removing the glued-on screen and likely invalidating the warranty; i.e. it's not regarded as user-upgradeable.)

 

[orph]

wow

imacpro why? ram is so easy to upgrade on the older ones

so 27' imac is a relay good option for easy ram upgrade.

@chuckidea can you check how much ram you have?
a ram upgrade on a CMP is a valid option and if you can last 1 year intel/apple will have refreshed the CPU/modles.

 

[The_Interloper]

wow

imacpro why? ram is so easy to upgrade on the older ones

Yeah, I'm pretty confident building/upgrading PCs (I've upgraded the CPU on a 2013 Mac Pro) but I wouldn't want to touch that. Way too many chances of causing damage. And look at that completely exposed power supply - yeesh. No shielding whatsoever. The average person should not be rooting around in there.

So, yeah, for a RAM upgradeable iMac stick with the 27" 5K.

 

[Strider64]

I've been hanging onto my 2010 Mac Pro waiting for the announcement. I use the Adobe Creative Cloud Suite--mostly Photoshop, Illustrator, InDesign, and occasionally Premiere Pro--with a calibrated NEC MultiSync PA302W monitor.

Now that we know what the configurations and price of the Mac Pro will be I'm thinking it might be overkill.

What Mac products would be an alternative?

(I worry the iMac monitor won't be accurate enough for print work.)

I bought an iMac Pro about 3 to 4 months after it rolled out and very pleased with it. However, if I was going to buy another Apple Computer now it would be just a top-of the-line iMac. I'm pleasantly surprise how good the 5K Retina Monitors on the iMac are when it comes to print work as this is the first monitor that matches to what I print pretty closely. Before the prints were always a shade darker than what the screen was showing and yes I do calibrate my monitors.

I think the new Mac Pro is geared for Professionals (notice the s at the end of the word) that are in a group environment, but for the individual designer/developer the Mac Pro is overkill not to mention expensive. An iMac with max specifications can easily handle what an individual throws at it. That is my opinion.