You should be able to continue running Logic X for a while, even if the 5,1 stops receiving OS updates. As of today, you just need 10.11 to receive the latest Logic update. And you can dual boot to Windows if you choose!
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Where are you guys heading to after 5,1 discontinuation?
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You should be able to continue running Logic X for a while, even if the 5,1 stops receiving OS updates. As of today, you just need 10.11 to receive the latest Logic update. And you can dual boot to Windows if you choose!
To be honest the situation has largely improved though I do maintain the quality on Windows isn't always quite the same as what one gets on macOS.
Right now the main thing I need a replacement for is Sketch but I'm hoping maybe the Windows version of Affinity Designer or Adobe Illustrator or the new Adobe Experience Design could fit in there.
To be honest I don't know what I will do after... Apple simply does not offer any computer that offers the things I want.
Even the new Macbook Pro's are a let down for me. I was looking for an upgrade there as well.
In terms of suitable replacements for the cMP, the situation is even worse. iMacs are simply not able to replace the mac pro.
For me, hardware is very important. I don't want to replace my whole system every 2-3 years. There is no reason to do so, at least not if you are looking at CPU performance. Look at cMP's, they are still very capable with upgrades, even after almost 8 years.
The important thing is the ability to upgrade Ram, storage, gpu's etc. GPU's especially. The performance gains year after year are impressing.
I will keep my cMP for as long as it serves its purpose. After that, I may switch to windows and build myself a custom pc. We'll see...
Even the new Macbook Pro's are a let down for me. I was looking for an upgrade there as well.
In terms of suitable replacements for the cMP, the situation is even worse. iMacs are simply not able to replace the mac pro.
For me, hardware is very important. I don't want to replace my whole system every 2-3 years. There is no reason to do so, at least not if you are looking at CPU performance. Look at cMP's, they are still very capable with upgrades, even after almost 8 years.
The important thing is the ability to upgrade Ram, storage, gpu's etc. GPU's especially. The performance gains year after year are impressing.
I will keep my cMP for as long as it serves its purpose. After that, I may switch to windows and build myself a custom pc. We'll see...
Even when the Mac Pro 1,1-5,1s were current, the number GPU options were very limited. It was a huge, huge lift to the community when Nvidia began releasing their web drivers. But now that they don't seem to have any interest in releasing drivers for their newest GPUs, what would you upgrade to?
RAM and storage are not huge obstacles for the 6,1s to overcome.
Same here. I bought a 13" nTB Macbook Pro and returned it.
It was.....utter junk.....FOR ME.
I absolutely hated the keyboard. I do work where using the keyboard all day is required.
Not just ever so often or for 10 or 20 minutes, I mean all day!
And the keyboard on the new MB Pro is - for me - complete junk. I tried and tried again for as long as I had a return period.
So I went back to my trusty 2014 MB Air and am going to get a Lenovo X1 Carbon.
I LOVE the Lenovo (IBM) keyboards. They have a real key travel and I can type on those all day without getting major pain shooting up my arms.
I tried a friends 2016 X1 Carbon and didn't want to give it back.....lol....so I'm getting a 2017 asap.
Still limited to 16GB RAM, my 2012 MBP has that. Two standard USB3.1 ports would have been nice too. Too soon for all USBC ports. And personally, I would miss the ethernet jack. It's like I need a dongle for everything.
In fairness I don't have any major problems with the new MacBook Pro. If I used one I'd probably be happy enough with it, keyboard aside.
But Apple's current direction does scare me. They haven't said anything about the Mac Pro and I'd be willing to bet we won't see one this year, if ever. I'm not entirely convinced that Apple are that interested in the Mac at all right now - macOS still has longstanding issues and their first party software (looking at you Logic Pro) is comically buggy at times. It amazes me that macOS is still using such an ancient version of OpenGL.
I'd be tempted to switch to Windows, simply because Microsoft have, if nothing else than because it is in Microsoft's interests to build a good desktop experience.
But Apple's current direction does scare me. They haven't said anything about the Mac Pro and I'd be willing to bet we won't see one this year, if ever. I'm not entirely convinced that Apple are that interested in the Mac at all right now - macOS still has longstanding issues and their first party software (looking at you Logic Pro) is comically buggy at times. It amazes me that macOS is still using such an ancient version of OpenGL.
I'd be tempted to switch to Windows, simply because Microsoft have, if nothing else than because it is in Microsoft's interests to build a good desktop experience.
From what I understand, the 16GB limitation is a chipset limitation. Of course, they could have gone with DDR4, but then everyone would be complaining about how bad the battery life is. Can't blame Apple for what Intel does...
Sources:
The true reason the MBP doesn't come with ddr4 or 32gb of ram, more technical then you think. : apple
MacBook Pro’s lack of 32GB RAM option could also be blamed on Intel’s Skylake chips
For better or worse, reducing the different types of ports and minimizing has been part of Apple's modus operandi for a long time. This goes back many years. Apple eliminated floppy drives, optical drives, ADB, FireWire, etc.
I realize that everyone uses their laptops differently, but, personally, I can't remember the last time I connected my laptop to ethernet and I would imagine that would be the same for the majority of laptop users. For those who really do need to do so, the option is there, albeit necessitating a dongle.
In my opinion, going with all USB 3.1 is a good thing and will only help accelerate its adoption. If I were spending $1500-2500 on a new laptop, a few $4 dongles would not be a concern for me.
Don't know, there is not anything I could upgrade to at the moment, since nvidia has not released drivers. As I said, I will keep mine for as long as I can. If there is nothing on the horizon, I will build a custom PC with all the hardware I want. Windows is not Mac OS, but I can get used to it
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I know they are not bad. But I had it with this "it has to be as thin as it possible" stuff. It's supposed to be a pro notebook. And honestly, there are not a lot of reasons to upgrade from a 2012 retina. GPU's are not great, CPU's are only a marginal improvement (that's not apples fault though).
And then there is the dongle mess. You now need a dongles for everything and those are not cheap.
While the touch bar is a cool feature, I doubt that it is a game changer.
I would like a MBP that is maybe a little bit thicker, but with better battery life, GPU's, better IO etc.
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That's my point, if there are no aftermarket graphics cards that will work with macOS, the need for PCI-e enabled Macs will be greatly diminished. Like I said, even when they were current, (I think) the Mac Pro 1,1-5,1 only saw three retail Nvidia and one ATI cards that we were able to upgrade to.
The most common complaint I see about the new MacBook Pros are dongles...
Well, yes. There were not a lot of aftermarket GPU's. Some Quadro's, Geforces and one or two ATI cards.
But then again, there were at least some options after a few years. You cannot get anything for the 6.1. eGPU's can be an option, but nothing is officially supported.
I know that there are some great Thunderbolt/USB C docks on the market. But If you don't have it with you, you cannot even transfer something from a USB flash drive anymore.
Also, I don't like the fact that there is no magsafe anymore. I think that was the best charging port ever designed for notebooks, period.
Yeah I've seen this one. Good somebody makes this. Can't understand why apple didn't do this in the first place.
Perhaps I'm crazy, but I'm considering swapping my 4,1 -> 5,1 3.46GHz 6-core for the dual 6 (12) core 3.46GHz - either by selling the entire machine and buying a dual core 2,26 4,1 or the 5,1 equivalent and upgrading etc, or buying the CPU trays etc. The dual processor CPUs are still expensive, but at least I can do this slowly, bit by bit.
I'm stuck to Logic X too, and would love a DIY PC, but I really do not want to switch DAWs - I've used it for 15 years.
I have a PCIe audio card from Solid State Logic, and they are not going to offer support from Sierra onwards for Mac, because Apple dumped PCIe. I'm not sure about the future of that...
In absolutely any case, it's going to be expensive...
I'm stuck to Logic X too, and would love a DIY PC, but I really do not want to switch DAWs - I've used it for 15 years.
I have a PCIe audio card from Solid State Logic, and they are not going to offer support from Sierra onwards for Mac, because Apple dumped PCIe. I'm not sure about the future of that...
In absolutely any case, it's going to be expensive...
Yes, it *is* Apple's fault, absolutely.
Look at a Dell PMW 7510 15" laptop:
- Xeon E3-1575M v5 processor
- Quad core, hyperthreaded (4C/8T)
- Base 3.0 GHz, turbo 3.9 GHz
- TDP 45 watts (can be constrained to 35 watts)
- Nvidia Quadro M2000M 4 GiB GPU
- 64 GiB 2133 MHz DDR4 ECC RAM
- 1 TB NVMe SSD boot drive plus 2 TB spinner
- 3840x2160 4K screen
- builtin 4g LTE WWAN
- TBolt3
- 6 lbs
Well...
Two weeks have passed since I wrote that thing above (and some other dejected stuff about how Apple's letting it's chance slide by), and as so happens, even though I've been on vacation in between, and have only twice powered up my MP 5,1, I've actually come to a conclusion of sorts (if you just want the conclusion, jump to last two paragraphs), but a MAJOR caveat has to be mentioned: This is my solution, based on MY needs, and will not necessarily apply to any of you...
I've tried the "one computer to rule the all" - approach (one high-end MBP and high-end displays at home and work) in 2011, and it does not work for me. Two reasons, I really appreciate internal expandability and I antropomorphize hardware (which means, I do not like to hear fans scream, because it makes me feel I'm evil as I'm punishing the hardware). Basically that means, I've accepted that I have different computers for different user profiles/locations. Lucky we're no longer in the days when Zip-drives were considered modern. Dropbox, Megasync and other services make sure that I can pick up at one location, where I left off at the other.
My use profile varies somewhat over time, ranging from 50-80% mobile and 50-20% desktop. For some time (2014) I tried having a MP at work (5,1) as well as a MP at home (3,1), and was thinking of getting a third for my "second home" (many scandinavians have those) to supplement the laptop I had for travel uses (MBA13") but the drawback with desktops is that in order to get the full benefit, you always need stuff around them (displays, mice, etc.), while the main advantage of desktops (internal expansion, spacious storage) are in stark contrast with the basic need and m.o. of mobility...
Now, I'm happily working with a set of no less than four (+1) computers (the blessings of dropbox pro and megasync):
• A MP5,1 in the den at home permanently linked to my "permanent storage" setup (a 2009 Mac Mini managing a set of softraid, daisy-chained FW800 drives);
• A 2014 MBA at work(with 23" ACD);
• A 2015 MBPr for taking to the second home as well as serious off-site work; and
• A 2008 Unibody Macbook (which I am now writing on), for whenever I'm going places where hazards are galore (liquid spills, etc.).
All of the other components of my "electronic data processing" system, do rotate around the conceptual centre of the MP. This does not imply that any critical data would be "only there" (I'm not that stupid - I have both local mirroring as well as cloud backup for active files as well as off-site archiving for infrequently used files), but it means that it is the central node, which everything else rotates around and orients itself toward.
So, what am I going to do?
- Considering that I do like a computer which can take a load (and some internal upgrades and added hard drives) without running to mama
- Considering that the most probable fail points of my current MP 5,1 are PSU and logic board
- Considering that I already have some critical spares (RAM, GPU, CPU)
- I'll get another MP (a 5,1) to work as a worst-case backup. And maybe a third one. And entry-level machines will do,
=> Because whenever I need a computer which does 26000 in geekbench, I'll have one which can do so 24/7. And If for some reason the MP5,1 would be "obsoleted" and could not use the new killer app (hypothetical), I could use a laptop for that.
The cMP is a for factor and a set of abilities which suits me, and will probably continue to do so for the next 5 years.
RGDS,
This will have to change for the Mac Pro to receive any love
Without significant updates this year I expect that Mac percentage to slip to 5%.
This will have to change for the Mac Pro to receive any love
I'm not saying you're wrong in terms of how Apple see it now, but I hate that argument. I think the Mac Pro should be the flagship, standard-bearing mac that people point to as the most desirable computer Apple make. Even if it only sells a small (fraction of a) percentage of all macs. It should be for people who just want to buy the best, fastest, most powerful and expandable mac and don't mind it being a big bulky box of a machine (in fact that is an advantage).
Apple should be concerned that people on forums like these are talking about (or have already) ditched the mac for a Windows PC, or hackintosh, or something else. But it's not hard to understand why it's happen. It's old hardware at premium prices (even if it were new hardware!) which itself is less suitable for many previous models' owners. Add to that the stony silence on the Mac Pro even having a future at all beyond vague 'great desktops in the pipeline' type comments and it just all feels a little difficult to be optimistic about the Mac Pro now. And that makes me sad.
To answer the thread's question, I genuinely don't know right now. I could maybe live with a refreshed black nMP if the prices came down to something closer to what I paid for my cMP (£1899 in 2010 for a ~3 month old machine compared with today's £2999 for machine that's over 3-years old(!)), but honestly I'd prefer a return to the cMP form factor but with modern specs. I don't want to hackintosh and I know using an iMac or MacBook Pro as my main machine would always feel like a huge compromise compared to my MP in lots of ways, some large, some little.
I still hold out a tiny hope Apple will pull a nice surprise out the bag at the end of this year, but it's an ever-diminishing flickering candlelight of a hope.
The question is not actually Mac vs. iPhone as currently services is the one sector in that pie that's actually growing. Top leadership attention will be devoted to the growth business at the expense of stable businesses and it will be very hard for the same top leadership to focus on Planet of the Apps & Carpool Karaoke one one hand and a Mac Pro on the other.