You could have got roughly equivalent PCIe expansion capabilities by using a threadripper 2nd gen (if you actually needed it) for not much more additional spend. You'd still be < 50% of the price.
There's an entire thread dedicated to this topic:
https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/is-apple-ing-themselves-over-the-threadripper-3-yet.2213157/
In retrospect, a lot of the demand for a “pro Mac” was really a desire for a “hobbyist” Mac. ie: a Mac that people could open up and tinker with to their heart’s content.
The old Mac Pro made sense when entry level computers were barely good enough to do “real work”. But today, even standard off-the-shelf configurations are good enough for the majority of what you need to get done on a PC.
Yup, you're kinda making your own point. Agreed.
The new Mac Pro and its crazy display have an audience, but none of them are present here.
Many of them are present here, since you're posting it to the Mac Pro forum. Many here actually buy Mac Pro and then have conversations about how to optimize it, what cards and 3rd party components work best, etc.
The remainder of content is just community; people who can't afford it complaining about price; why Apple is doomed and how an AMD box that costs $2K can kill the Mac Pro, etc, etc, etc... all the usual material that's always present.
Apple made the computer high-end professionals didn't know they could have. But they didn't make the computer that mid-level creatives (for whom it is still their profession) can afford and want because again, they are already served by the iMac (and iMac Pro) and MacBook pro.
So ultimately, the Mac Pro makes sense as a high-end option for users whom even a maxed out iMac Pro cannot serve, and it’s priced accordingly to match. Nothing less.
Again, you're making your own point.
My entire takeaway: Apple should make the mythical xMac or just "Mac" for consumers. This has been a running concept since forever, including when the 2009, 2010, etc, Mac Pros dropped and everybody complained about their pricing. Same story. You're asking for an xMac. This same conversation has been on these forums since forever. Apple isn't going to make one, about the closest you'll get is a Mac mini. If you just want to tinker and the time/money equation isn't part of the picture because it's a hobby, then build Hackintosh and experience happiness?
The only thing that shocks me is that Apple actually caved, did the math on how little money they expect to make, vs. how much it's going to cost them to support an "open" computer with 101 potential tech issues introduced by allowing 3rd party cards, which they're not used to, since they usually sell an entirely closed-box system completely under their control. And then they went ahead, listened to what Mac Pro owners want, and built another Cheesegrater.
Yes, its infinitely flawed and should have PCIe 4 (or 5, or 7 if at all possible), AMD CPUs with a card stuffed full of ARM chips, Thunderbolt 4, 8K display, WiFi-10 and BT 16, but they kinda had to eventually kick something out the door and ship it, which they did ... I'm quite happy with it. So are many on this forum who purchased one.
...
At the end of the day: everybody has a different life. There is no more middle-class in America, there's the Top 5% and then there's everybody else who is poor and whose quality of life would probably shock the average wage earner in a single-income family from the 1950s (on the flipside, despite being "poor" you can do 101 things every day which even those who had the most wealth couldn't even dream of 50+ years ago). Life and time move on. Gentrification occurs, look at the rent and real estate prices in different parts of the country. Income disparity exists, and for a lot of people dropping $10-$20K on a computer doesn't make a significant impact on their life, even if the only reason they want it, is just because they want it. High end car makers still sell high end luxury cars. Somebody buys them, when a Kia would take you from point A to point B just as effectively. Different target demographic (people who will buy the $1K XDR stand ;-) which is mostly
not pros, who will VESA mount everything).
Apple is perceived as, and does everything possible to remain, a "luxury" brand. It targets the lower 95% with all the iCrap, which oddly enough makes up the majority of their revenue ;-) Selling Mac Pros is not where the money is at, it's an ultra-niche market, no matter who the end-user is or what their reasons for buying it. It's just not ever going to sell that many units ... it's a very small drop in a gigantic ocean of profits for Apple.
Anyway, if you have any money whatsoever, you may want to follow the markets, and take a look at where stocks and oil are at right now, because it's all walked off a cliff, and it will be Buying Spree time sometime soon. You may wanna consider investing your money, so that a little bit later you can check off [x] everything, on your BTO Mac Pro, and then buy a 2nd one to stuff into your Tesla Roadster X with SpaceX Ignition pkg, just because you can.
