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Perhaps the new Mac Pro fits in with their requirements.

Perhaps it does...but that does not excuse them from then trash-talking everyone else's use cases.

Why do you think that your needs and desires are the same - or should be the same - as everyone else's?

Yes, we're all different...but even so, when one gets into specific hardware solutions (eg, the new Mac Pro), the various Use Cases can get aggregated into various patterns and consequent issues. For example, the change in internal storage options has consequences for all use cases which rely on fast local storage and pedantially while TB does provide the capability, it does so at an appreciably higher cost, which clearly has an adverse effect on the Value metrics of the hardware.

We won't know how much of an issue this is for our personal Use Case until Apple announces the MSRP Retail Price and we are then able to run the numbers.

To notionally illustrate, for a Use Case that relies on ~4 internal 1TB HDDs, the price jump in third party solutions from 4x1TB internals to a Pegasus R4 with the same 4x1TB is roughly an extra $900, so unless the nMP costs $900 less than the current, there's an averse cost impact which - - at least for but this single metric - - results in a lesser product value.


I have some misgivings about the new Mac Pro, but that doesn't mean that anyone who disagrees with me (either thinking it's perfect or thinking it's completely unsuitable) is wrong or that their arguments make "no sense".

Thank goodness for that.


It's possible to disagree or have a proper discussion about this thing without being insulting or rude. Just because someone is enthusiastic about the new Mac Pro doesn't mean they are a shill or are being paid by Apple to flood the forums with gushing praise.

True, but unfortunately, the dialog on MR has gotten far beyond merely 'enthusiastic': it has gotten so rude and downright unprofessional to the point where other possible motivations for it do have to be brought to bear as reasonable possibilities.

Classically, we do know that the action of purposefully "poisoning" discussions that aren't going favorably for a publicist has been a marketing strategy for decades, and there's a whole variety of logial fallacies and gambits which get used, which have utterly no place in a reasonable discussion or debate. The casualties are not only civility, but also objectivity.


-hh
 
Regarding storage performance though, I think the new Mac Pro is pretty well covered as USB3 is fast enough for RAID-0 HDD arrays of up to four disks, and you could happily have multiple if you want. And Thunderbolt can happily handle much larger and/or faster arrays. In some respects the new Mac Pro is more expandable with regards to storage, it just sucks if you've used RAID cards up until now.


So I dunno, it could still be a very good choice, we'll just have to see for sure :)

eSata and Fiber Channel arrays are a huge problem too. My problem, there is currently no TB hub that has Firewire and eSata. USB and HDMI are built in but to connect my cameras and my external drive array I need two TB hubs or replace my drive array chassis. :(
 
Jumping the gun, perhaps. With lots of virtual machines I would think that lots of individual devices (dedicated volumes for VMs) and lots of memory would be keys. I wonder if you'll care about GPU performance if the price is right and the memory limits permit.

I also wonder why you'd use a MP if you could run a bunch of VMs on a Linux box far cheaper. Given networking who cares what OS they run on?

Maybe because he also virtualizes other Mac OS X instances or needs Mac OS capability? One great thing about virtualizing on a Mac is that you can virtualize any x86 OS plus still have Mac OS X and even create different Mac OS X VMs. So if you are a developer you can test against pretty much any platform/OS.

It is all going to come down to price. Sure I would have preferred a scaled down tower were I could still have 2-3 other internal drives, an internal ODD drive (that could be used as another drive bay for those who no longer need a ODD), the ability to upgrade the CPU and GPU down the line, and be able to secure one physical box. But if the new Mac Pro comes in at $1500 I'd consider it. But I highly doubt it will start below $2500.
 
Jumping the gun, perhaps. With lots of virtual machines I would think that lots of individual devices (dedicated volumes for VMs) and lots of memory would be keys. I wonder if you'll care about GPU performance if the price is right and the memory limits permit.

I also wonder why you'd use a MP if you could run a bunch of VMs on a Linux box far cheaper. Given networking who cares what OS they run on?

I could do that. I could also use cloud services to run those boxes - maybe that's what Apple wants. Maybe the market for workstations which have strong CPU, storage and memory capabilities but minimal graphics card requirements is vanishingly small.

Personally, I work from home much of my time and having one box on which I can run both my Windows dev environments and also Mac apps appeals to me a great deal. Up until now the Mac Pro has worked really well for me. I bought my octo-core 2.26Ghz box four years ago and from a CPU perspective it still isn't comprehensively beaten by anything which Apple currently sells. As an aside, since I live in the EU so I can't even buy another Mac Pro.

My overall concern about the new Mac Pro is that it seems unbalanced for my use cases. I don't really care about graphics grunt. It seems my options will be:

1. Buy a next-gen Mac Pro+ thunderbolt raid array thus spending a significant chunk of cash on components which matter little to me.
2. Buy an iMac which is only a little faster than my current Mac Pro plus a thunderbolt raid array
3. Buy a Mac Mini which is slower than my current Mac Pro plus a thunderbolt raid array.

Personally, I'd have been happy with a refreshed Mac Pro with USB 3 and Thunderbolt.
 
Personally, I'd have been happy with a refreshed Mac Pro with USB 3 and Thunderbolt.

Me, too. I decided on a 5,1 hex core and have just finished the transition from my old 3,1 octo. I'll wait and see what the pricing is on the nMP before I decide.
 
Being a fan of user upgradable computers full of hard drives I'm not interested in the new Mac Pro either. In a sense it's like an iPad to me, possibly an excellent product but just one that I'm not interested in. I've got nothing against anyone who wants either of those things.
 

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The new Mac Pro is not my cup of tea. I stay with my MP Hex 3.33 as long as I can. I have never been so
disappointed in Apple as now. I want an upgradeable and expandable Mac. :mad:
 
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