MP 7,1 What do you plan to do with the imminent release of the 2019 Mac Pro

[DearthnVader]

DosDude's patchers allow you to download the macOS, Apple hasn't blocked the downloads.

Is installing a later macOS than your mac officially supports "stealing"?

I mean, Apple only makes money off newer macOS versions when you buy new Macs.

Last I check the license agreement said something like Apple labeled or Apple branded hardware.

My G5 came with an Apple sticker, so if I slap that on my hackintosh am I in the clear?

Surely I don't need 100% Apple hardware, I can replace my PCI-E cards, my SATA/NVME drives, you get the picture.

I build PC's in Mac cases all the time, they are Apple labeled computers.

I have an Apple labeled WIFI/Bluetooth card in my Ryzen 7 virtual machine, tho I don't think the macOS license allows to be run in a hypervisor.

"Stealing" the macOS is pretty grey, as you can download it from Apple's servers without having to agree to any licensing terms.

Anyway, as to the original question, it depends on the price of the CTO options, we only know the price of the base model, and I think most agree, it's pretty much a rip off.

 

[tsialex]

DosDude's patchers allow you to download the macOS, Apple hasn't blocked the downloads.

Is installing a later macOS than your mac officially supports "stealing"?

I mean, Apple only makes money off newer macOS versions when you buy new Macs.

Last I check the license agreement said something like Apple labeled or Apple branded hardware.

My G5 came with an Apple sticker, so if I slap that on my hackintosh am I in the clear?

Surely I don't need 100% Apple hardware, I can replace my PCI-E cards, my SATA/NVME drives, you get the picture.

I build PC's in Mac cases all the time, they are Apple labeled computers.

I have an Apple labeled WIFI/Bluetooth card in my Ryzen 7 virtual machine, tho I don't think the macOS license allows to be run in a hypervisor.

"Stealing" the macOS is pretty grey, as you can download it from Apple's servers without having to agree to any licensing terms.

Anyway, as to the original question, it depends on the price of the CTO options, we only know the price of the base model, and I think most agree, it's pretty much a rip off.

You can download without agreeing with anything, but you have to agree to the licence terms to run it, that's the question, not the download.

 

[flaubert]

Day one buyer here, and I am punching baby elephants until its released

OMG, I don't think I'll ever justify buying a 7,1 but this comment just made my day!! @Korican100 wins the Internet today.

 

[thisisnotmyname]

DosDude's patchers allow you to download the macOS, Apple hasn't blocked the downloads.

Is installing a later macOS than your mac officially supports "stealing"?

I mean, Apple only makes money off newer macOS versions when you buy new Macs.

Last I check the license agreement said something like Apple labeled or Apple branded hardware.

My G5 came with an Apple sticker, so if I slap that on my hackintosh am I in the clear?

Surely I don't need 100% Apple hardware, I can replace my PCI-E cards, my SATA/NVME drives, you get the picture.

I build PC's in Mac cases all the time, they are Apple labeled computers.

I have an Apple labeled WIFI/Bluetooth card in my Ryzen 7 virtual machine, tho I don't think the macOS license allows to be run in a hypervisor.

"Stealing" the macOS is pretty grey, as you can download it from Apple's servers without having to agree to any licensing terms.

Anyway, as to the original question, it depends on the price of the CTO options, we only know the price of the base model, and I think most agree, it's pretty much a rip off.

Feel free to be a test case but I can tell you from other suits involving pirating that you - and everyone else trying to find edge cases to justify IP theft - have a very slim chance of succeeding. But by all means, send a letter to Apple's legal team declaring your intent, you'll get a cease and desist, respond that you've ignored them and proceeded to use MacOS in what you believe to be a legal manner, they'll have to bring suit and you can let the courts decide. Maybe you can get EFF to cover part of your legal fees. If lightning strikes and you win the case you'll be a hero to people everywhere that like to use others' work without paying for it. Good luck!

 

[mmomega]

I'll watch MKBHD and other techtuber videos about it and glance at it at the Apple Store but that's about as close as my personal experience will get. I can't justify 13 grand minimum on a base computer and monitor. I could afford it but I know I wouldn't be able to make it pay for itself. Few years from now I may be in a different boat but not by end of 2020.

Enjoy fellas. I'll be living through your experience.

 

[McTaste]

I own a copy of macos that I could move to new hardware. Where is that unbiased poll option?

 

[ZombiePhysicist]

I own a copy of macos that I could move to new hardware. Where is that unbiased poll option?

Here you go:

Is the new 7,1 Mac Pro a failure on arrival

The 7,1 cheese grater will arrive with a maximum of 28 cores and PCIe 3.0 in a market selling 64core (and even intel has 56core chips now) PCIe 4.0 machines. It's been over 5 months since the announcement and still nothing. By the time the machine ships we may see PCIe 5.0 mother boards. In...

forums.macrumors.com

 

[Macdctr]

I will watch others buy the new MacPro. I myself can't justify the over $5k price tag for one of these. I'm content to use my 5,1 MP instead.

 

[DoofenshmirtzEI]

Work will pull the trigger, well, probably not day one, but they need to gnosh on the BTO stuff, but ASAP. For me personally, I will pull the trigger but probably not day one, because I need to see it working for a bit to figure out where the sweet spot is for me. That said, I consider mucking around with new technologies to be professional development, and mucking around with AWS has convinced me that Apple is getting left out in the cold on cloud compute. Maybe with the rackable version we'll see Workspaces for MacOS on AWS. This would be delightfully humorous because my first job out of college was for a company that ran about 100 terminals off of a minicomputer. What's old is new again, and the folx back then who insisted having the computer on your desk was bad got left behind, and now those who insist not having the computer on your desk is bad will get left behind again.

 

[deconstruct60]

.... That said, I consider mucking around with new technologies to be professional development, and mucking around with AWS has convinced me that Apple is getting left out in the cold on cloud compute. Maybe with the rackable version we'll see Workspaces for MacOS on AWS.

Not completely in the cold. But definately playing in the minor league ( on much smaller players).

https://www.macstadium.com/
http://www.macincloud.com/
https://baremetal.flow.swiss/ ( xcloud.me )



Also a bit of the funny irony is that the top end cloud player are also server "vendors" now too. Only just 'sell' to themselves. (increasingly don't buy servers from the traditional server vendors. ) . So cracking their data centers actually gets harder. Allocatling a "Mac" corner" in their centers would get harder and harder as the centers just take only internal systems. ( and then with the big player zone ... fail over so would need identical corners in mulitple centers. ).

The rack option I suspect is more so to feed the "minor leagues" where Apple already has a toehold. Plus 'private clouds'. That mixed macincloud Azure agent option may be bigger play than just raw AWS because Azure has some mixed deployment modes.

P.S. also not sure if Apple is asleep at the wheel on the hypervisior API . Or where the new system falls in the EXSi or some of the other bare metal hypervisors. ( T2 will likely be a stumbling block there. ) Apple isn't ready for the 'deep end of the poo'l either on the software front.

 

[deconstruct60]

for a company that ran about 100 terminals off of a minicomputer. What's old is new again, and the folx back then who insisted having the computer on your desk was bad got left behind, and now those who insist not having the computer on your desk is bad will get left behind again. ...

Cloud is physical location independent more so than simply physically located "far away".

"...
Most of the time, these Macs sat idle. We had to remember to regularly update them with macOS revisions, security patches, and new versions of tools and SDKs needed by our CI and CD. These were an administrative burden for our team when compared to the low maintenance of cloud-hosted Linux and Windows build agents.

Last month, we rerouted our builds to the new VSTS cloud-hosted Mac agents. Since then, we haven’t had to think about the Mac minis. ..."
https://devblogs.microsoft.com/devops/cloud-hosted-mac-agents-for-ci-cd-pipelines/

Apple could work better at coupling to cloud vendors also as opposed to simply trying to physically infiltrate their data centers.

 

[DoofenshmirtzEI]

The rack option I suspect is more so to feed the "minor leagues" where Apple already has a toehold. Plus 'private clouds'. That mixed macincloud Azure agent option may be bigger play than just raw AWS because Azure has some mixed deployment modes.

I know that once they become available, we will see some racks at work. We desperately need that CI/CD sort of workflow and get that stuff off our desks. Some of my younger colleagues are bucking the whole cloud thing ("it's a fad"), but they haven't been through multiple wholesale shifts of the computing landscape like I have. When I started out, "storage" was often punched holes in paper and it has been absolutely necessary to keep my eyes down the road instead of only where my next step would be. No one can survive more than a decade in tech if they aren't willing to ride where the optimization wave takes the industry. That includes my young colleagues *and* Apple. Microsoft stumbled badly on this, but had the money and captive audience to get themselves out of the corner they painted themselves into. Apple has plenty of money, but they don't have the massive industry base dependent on them the way Microsoft does. Nokia didn't make it out. Check back in five years or so to see how Apple is doing.

AWS builds their own servers, they've even started rolling their own CPUs (custom ARM chips). But I have to give them credit, their marketing about "laser focused on the customer" appears to be the real deal. If there is demand for MacOS in the cloud from customers, and Apple builds systems they can use (the rack mounts look tantalizing), they will do it. But beyond the physical form factor there are a few musts: 1) Security. They have to be able to securely divide the box between customers who want a smaller experience than the full box. They have not only their own standards for security, but also have to pass audits from various security standards bodies. 2) They have to be able to bring up a slice *with* the customer's environment quickly. 3) Any legal clouds about multiple customers running MacOS on the same box have to vanish. If Apple doesn't want this done, they can easily throw plenty of legal wrenches into the gears. I'm sure there are more, but those are the ones I can easily identify.

It not being AWS hardware is irrelevant, AWS doesn't build their own hardware out of NIH idiocy. They built their infrastructure on off-the-shelf hardware, they can deal with Apple boxes not having their WhizzBang Nitro stuff. BTW, I highly recommend their presentation about how they designed and built their VPC infrastructure. Some of the stuff frankly took my breath away and left me delighted to be sharing the planet with people that capable.

 

[fastlanephil]

I’ll wait for a kit that will allow me to install the next Mac Mini update into the Dune Pro case along with my storage devices.

 

[Flint Ironstag]

BTW, I highly recommend their presentation about how they designed and built their VPC infrastructure. Some of the stuff frankly took my breath away and left me delighted to be sharing the planet with people that capable.

Would like to watch. Link, please?

 

[thisisnotmyname]

I’ll wait for a kit that will allow me to install the next Mac Mini update into the Dune Pro case along with my storage devices.

I think you're being sarcastic but I wouldn't put it past someone to do this. Apple users are often put up as the poster children for superficial focus on looks yet the fact that Dune exists if proof that there's at least one audience even more shallow still.

 

[Mago]

Sadly on my current workflow the Ikea Mac Pro don't fit (yet).

I need it either mature along macOS also watch for nVidia/Intel/etc next moves about compute accelerators in user space as its unlikely apple to allow again for 3rd party GPGPU API .

Alternatively 3r party (or Apple's) could bring support for native SyCL Tensorfow PyTorch .

Meanwhile I hold on my current Mac until a new iMac iMac Pro is ready.

 

[macguru9999]

I think you're being sarcastic but I wouldn't put it past someone to do this. Apple users are often put up as the poster children for superficial focus on looks yet the fact that Dune exists if proof that there's at least one audience even more shallow still.

I don't know , that sounds like a really good idea, if you can fit an egpu and mac mini in there why not ? I am not suggesting its a substitute for a new mac pro, but its a good project

 

[Blair Paulsen]

Day 1 - hell no. That said, by Q2 2020 I'll have enough real world metrics from the usual suspects - including several fellow posters on this forum - to spend wisely.

IMO, the wild card for 4K/8K video is the Afterburner. How much will it cost and what, specifically, does it bring to the party? Once that is a "known", I can determine GPU resource needs a lot better.

FWIW, as an independent video pro for more than 20 years, I've learned that "expensive" is a relative term - not a fixed number. If, purely as an example, a $15K MP build saves me 3 hours a day vs an iMP at $7,500 - not to mention making client supervised edit/color sessions smooth enough to ask market rates - it's a deal in my world. Moreover, since I don't have an IT guy on staff, untangling the latest Windows update monkey wrench in my workflow is a non-starter.

Frankly, I'm the guy the 7,1 is aimed squarely at. 30+ years on Macs (enough Windows at worksites to make me hate it) doing content creation has shown me the real world advantages of a tool that just gets out of the way and lets me work.

 

[Slash-2CPU]

Going to wait for a while to be sure there’s no day 1 bugs or glaring expansion (storage) support problems. Also, there’s still one 32-bit custom app I need to have rewritten for 64-bit. Development will almost cost more than the 7,1. I won’t be signing the submittal on the work until I see the 7,1 is a quality machine that meets my storage needs.

 

[arch1t3cton]

The top of the line Mac Pro won’t be able to compete with low end TR. Apple should have been more open/flexible with their cpu supplier for this particular model.

Also Catalina... 😞

 

[thisisnotmyname]

The top of the line Mac Pro won’t be able to compete with low end TR. Apple should have been more open/flexible with their cpu supplier for this particular model.

Also Catalina... 😞

Cite your sources please

 

[fastlanephil]

I think you're being sarcastic but I wouldn't put it past someone to do this. Apple users are often put up as the poster children for superficial focus on looks yet the fact that Dune exists if proof that there's at least one audience even more shallow still.

Yes, somewhat sarcastic. It’s probably possible but not really practical. For me it would be much better just to hide that pathetic looking Mac Mini and drives enclosure behind my keyboard controller and buy the Dune Pro case for the coolness factor(SJ). Finally something to use one of those Apple stickers for.

 

[majus]

...buy the Dune Pro case for the coolness factor(SJ). Finally something to use one of those Apple stickers for.

You will probably have a lot of company. The Dune Pro case would make an excellent enclosure to hide other peripherals inside too. In fact I thought about doing that.

 

[ct2k7]

I’ll plug it in and begin gaming whilst my fiancé will compile her apps. Eventually I’ll begin compiling my weather simulation stuff again

 

[ssgbryan]

Cite your sources please

The "low-end" Threadripper 3960X specifications are pretty clear:

24 cores @ 3.8Ghz base clock (before OC) vs 28 cores @ 3.0Ghz base clock (4 more cores, but running at around 20% slower - not to mention a lower IPC)

88 PCIe 4.0 lanes vs 48 PCIe 3.0 lanes (WX Navi workstation cards are now available for TR. Apple? - still on Vega - in addition, TR has the ability to use Nvidia cards, if your workflow requires it.)

142.25Mb cache vs 24.75Mb cache

3200Mhz ram vs 2933Mhz ram

The ability to move to a 32 core/64 thread TR running @3.7Ghz base is yet another advantage. As is the ability to move to Zen 3 based TRs at the end of 2020 (SMT-4, hmmmm.....)

Of course, if your workflow is Ride or die with AVX-512 then Intel is still (and should be) the preferred choice.