Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.
Probably not, unless you're doing big, bleeding edge video, audio or cgi work with multiple 4k monitors, massive renders and huge data transfers.
I have a question: When referring to large data transfers, unless you're reading/writing to really fast storage such as PCI-E, TB2 vs TB3 wouldn't make a difference at all would it?
 
In regards to AI/AR, one thing Steve Jobs once said, was you don't skate to where the puck is, you skate to where the puck will be. Here's hoping that that sentiment hasn't been lost with Apples leadership/incubator program.
 
An informative video that proves how utterly pathetic the Mac Pro really is compared to the cost. A PC cost WAY less, the guy even have to throw in a ton of toys like VR headsets etc just to reach the price of the Mac Pro, and still the PC finish any multi threaded tasks 4-5x faster than the Mac Pro. Not that its any secret, but buying a Mac pro today, or any mac for that matter, you clearly can't care about hardware internals at all.
 
  • Like
Reactions: Aldaris and rdav
An informative video that proves how utterly pathetic the Mac Pro really is compared to the cost. A PC cost WAY less, the guy even have to throw in a ton of toys like VR headsets etc just to reach the price of the Mac Pro, and still the PC finish any multi threaded tasks 4-5x faster than the Mac Pro. Not that its any secret, but buying a Mac pro today, or any mac for that matter, you clearly can't care about hardware internals at all.
Looks like Tim has to cancel another project then, huh?
 
  • Like
Reactions: JimGoshorn
An informative video that proves how utterly pathetic the Mac Pro really is compared to the cost. A PC cost WAY less, the guy even have to throw in a ton of toys like VR headsets etc just to reach the price of the Mac Pro, and still the PC finish any multi threaded tasks 4-5x faster than the Mac Pro. Not that its any secret, but buying a Mac pro today, or any mac for that matter, you clearly can't care about hardware internals at all.
What's pathetic is that Apple sells 3 year old hardware for brand new prices. That's probably my biggest gripe with Apple is what they charge for outdated computers.
 
  • Like
Reactions: xmonkey and rdav
I think Apple looks at this the way car manufacturers do. They don't drop prices just because a model is two or three years old. That is really specific to the cut-throat PC and consumer electronics business.
The retarding update cycle may be annoying, but technically speaking there aren't material performance gains to be had by keeping up with Intel's marketing-driven release schedule.
If there is a clear leap forward in performance or architecture, I'm sure Apple would be among the first to adopt it. They have consistently done so in the past.

I think it is sensible they don't cut prices and keep Macs on a longer lifecycle. You don't get to brag about having the latest CPU, but the upside is better resale value.
 
I think Apple looks at this the way car manufacturers do. They don't drop prices just because a model is two or three years old. That is really specific to the cut-throat PC and consumer electronics business.
The retarding update cycle may be annoying, but technically speaking there aren't material performance gains to be had by keeping up with Intel's marketing-driven release schedule.
If there is a clear leap forward in performance or architecture, I'm sure Apple would be among the first to adopt it. They have consistently done so in the past.

I think it is sensible they don't cut prices and keep Macs on a longer lifecycle. You don't get to brag about having the latest CPU, but the upside is better resale value.


Well, clear leap ? We are talking 3-4 times the speed in rendering, Photoshop tasks, and in general all multi threaded tasks for a lot less money. If Apple dont consider that a leap forward since 3 years ago, they should just stop making computers.

And, sure they keep the prices like car brands, I understand. But at least car brands release a new car every year. Nobody would buy a 3 year old Audi or BMW for the full price....
A 3 year old computer which hardly is upgrade able in todays technology driven society where there are constant improvements, ...is pathetic and a hoax. And to sell it for the same price, well thats just Rip-off to the borderline of being a crime IMO.
 
You are comparing different things. Sure, if Apple made a dual-processor machine with room for 4 GPU's...

...but they don't.

The correct comparison would be between the single-CPU 12-core MacPro and an equivalent current Xeon 12-core (I believe Haswell is the current gen? or is it Broadwell?). The GPU situation is different and harder to compare, and it has been discussed ad nauseam here.

Car models are typically around for five to six years. Cosmetic mid-cycle refreshes have become more common, but introducing new models takes about five to six years (production lead times simply take that long). The US custom of making minor changes to differentiate between model years of the same car is a marketing tactic, the car itself remains the same. And prices remain constant.
 
An informative video that proves how utterly pathetic the Mac Pro really is compared to the cost. A PC cost WAY less, the guy even have to throw in a ton of toys like VR headsets etc just to reach the price of the Mac Pro, and still the PC finish any multi threaded tasks 4-5x faster than the Mac Pro. Not that its any secret, but buying a Mac pro today, or any mac for that matter, you clearly can't care about hardware internals at all.
I watched that last night too, but it's just about always been the case.
 
You are comparing different things. Sure, if Apple made a dual-processor machine with room for 4 GPU's...

...but they don't.

The correct comparison would be between the single-CPU 12-core MacPro and an equivalent current Xeon 12-core (I believe Haswell is the current gen? or is it Broadwell?). The GPU situation is different and harder to compare, and it has been discussed ad nauseam here.

Car models are typically around for five to six years. Cosmetic mid-cycle refreshes have become more common, but introducing new models takes about five to six years (production lead times simply take that long). The US custom of making minor changes to differentiate between model years of the same car is a marketing tactic, the car itself remains the same. And prices remain constant.

Well the only reason why that guy on the video didnt compare it with the 12 core Mac Pro is because he wanted to at least try to keep the prices comparable. And, that should be an important factor. THat for the price of a 6 core Mac Pro you can get a pc workstation that performs a lot faster.

But, ok lets compare apples with apples then. I bought a PC for about half the price of the compared Mac Pro from the video. It has 6 cores of Broadwell-E - so the same amount of cores and threads as the Mac Pro. My photoshop benchmar took 9 seconds, so thats about 2/3 of the time it took the Mac Pro machine that cost TWICE as much. In addition I have a GPU that performs 5x as as good as the Mac Pro. THeres really no point in arguing that well, the Mac Pro has Dual GPU, because those dual GPUs are rarely used in any programs and even if they were they would perform less than a GTX 1080. Then ram, I have twice as much ram as what you can actually get on the Mac Pro which in addition is DDR 4 and 1000mhz faster....and I could keep going...

So, yes I understand he was comparing two different kind of machines, but he was trying to make a point from a pricepoint perspective. And even if he bought the ridiculous 1500$ more expensive 12 core, the PC would still run circles around the Mac Pro.

So no matter how you compare, from price, hardware or any kind of way, it simply doesnt justify buying the Mac Pro. And honestly, cars yes they make cosmetic changes in between big cycles, but thats an industry that has been around a lot longer with more incremental changes...and dare I say, more complex constructional costs. And apple doesnt even make their own internals, the hardware is available, they just like to sell you the old stuff...I honestly find it peculiar, how they still get those parts. I would assume for Intel to deliver apple 3 year old Xeons would be more costly than to give them new ones, since they are mass producing new models.
 
Last edited:
  • Like
Reactions: RuffDraft
The retarding update cycle may be annoying, but technically speaking there aren't material performance gains to be had by keeping up with Intel's marketing-driven release schedule. If there is a clear leap forward in performance or architecture, I'm sure Apple would be among the first to adopt it. They have consistently done so in the past.

The nMP (6,1) is now 1035* days old, but the Refurb discount is still just 15% off, which is bizarre. I was in a large Apple Store last week when someone (a rap artist) purchased a new Mac Pro right off the (back) shelf. A hush went over the place while the :apple:/staff all stared and whispered to each other - as if they had just seen a unicorn, blue-moon event. Apparently, they are lucky if they sell one /month!

IMHO the big stores should display a top-end MacPro with three 5k Dell monitors (mst) & some amazing motion-graphics. But they generally just have one entry-level nMP(6), which is relegated to a far corner and hooked up to one of the discontinued Thunderbolt Displays (now 1861 days old). Meanwhile, most of the smaller Apple-stores don't feature any at all. Sad.

What I also find odd is that the 3rd party sales (used, on eBay etc) are not that much less. Generally, they seem to run at about 20% off list (some with mods, ram-ups, applecare & software supplied). Based on the age of the technology, they should be really be at about 40% reduction (or more). But perhaps that will occur if/when the nMP(7) is eventually released.
 
Last edited:
  • Like
Reactions: RuffDraft
Register on MacRumors! This sidebar will go away, and you'll see fewer ads.