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Why are YOU buying a nMP?

I'm likely buying one because:

1) want to stay on OSX
2) don't want to support a hackintosh
3) want to get something that will last another 5+ years

Caveat here... I'm on a stock 1,1 oMP right now, and I don't feel that spending $1k to upgrade it to have a 2,1 is really a great investment now. If I had a 4,1 instead, I might upgrade my existing hardware instead.

Personally, from all i've seen here, I think that the 3,1 systems might be the break point between upgrading an old system or ditching it and getting a new one (assuming you haven't been doing upgrades to your hardware along the way).
 
Cubemmal said:
I've considered this, however ...

  • Initial reviews may or may not cover your use case. For example, I use link aggregation with Cisco 300 switches, maybe the MP would have a issue with that, or some other piece of equipment I use. So waiting for other reviews isn't a guarantee of anything. Plus you are the only one testing your computer. Many problems aren't systematic, but individual to the device.
  • However Apple has a 30 day return policy
  • Therefore I can be my own reviewer, and just plan on thoroughly testing it the first month.

The ideal time to buy a device is late in the cycle, right before refresh. However that is when Apple devices are the worst value, they are the best value when just released.

Regardless giving it a month or two before buying isn't a bad idea. I've gotten burned by that too by the way, I bought a 2011 MBP a month or two in and it still had a hardware problem that didn't really blow up until a few years later. Guess what though? I got the motherboard replaced for only $225 - Apple does have a fantastic repair system.

All together I'm likely to buy one at the gate because I need and want it.
Click to expand...

Of course no reviewer will cover your case of usage. But that's true for any generation of a product. So a second gen Mac Pro will have as many user specific issues as the first gen. What you want to know is if there are any major issues experienced by many.

I have had hardware issues with many Apple products I've bought, but certainly not only for first generation products. All Apple products like all computers are prone to failure. Interestingly the only product I've bought that didn't have any issues was the first generation retina MBP, at least so far.
 
Why are YOU buying a nMP?

I'm not. It looks like a really nice machine if I upgrade my external storage to TB but I'm just not interested in one. I don't do much photographic work any more so I may replace my MP 5,1 3.2 quad with an iMac.

Even my 2012 MBP kicks my MP's butt in everything except video performance. The 5,1 is a really convenient package to store a Blu-ray drive, separate Maverick and W8.1 boot drives and a few storage drives. The problem is that it is really out-of-date, hard to upgrade and comparatively really slow.
 
For 3d, both real-time and VFX work. Some 2d comp work. Some FCP and encoding.
 
Wont be buying this round of Mac Pro Mini

I'll simply say I would have liked to see the base system set up differently as I think more line with need might be -

Base system for me would be better if there was only ONE GPU and a larger default SSD around 500 gb. This would have served me far better than what is being offered. Then again, if only one GPU was put in, I would like the "space" to be used for some offering to plug in a card or traditional SSD.

For those that are getting the new Mac Pro Mini I hope you enjoy and get tons of mileage out of it.
 
Audio production using Logic. Current "workhorse" is 2007 MBP with Logic 8 and 10.6. Want to upgrade to newer computer running Mavericks and Logic 10. Want to get maximum tracks/plugs without maxing out Logic.

Looking for headless Mac and only other option is Mac Mini, which (I am guessing) has significantly less computing power.

Waiting for data from the field quantifying approximately how much better the nMP is in running Logic, than other Macs.

I wish Apple had an intermediary "headless" Mac between the mini and Pro (e.g. GPU is not a concern for my work).
 
I'm buying two.

For a client as primarily Windows workstations running 7x64 each driving a pair of Dell 3014 monitors (soon to be upgraded to 4k when a true 4k panel is released)

Probably the higher spec d500 models with 1tb SSD in one 512gb in another.

I wish that bootcamp support isn't going to be such a PITA as I fear it will be :eek:
 
It meets all my needs.

I primarily work as a designer and developer, and am the director of a design studio in Australia.

I also DJ and produce music outside work hours, and finally I do some video editing.

The nMP bests my heavily upgraded 2009 Mac Pro in all ways.

I currently have 1TB of 6Gbit/sec SSDS with 2 x 512GB Samsung SSD 840 Pro's in Raid 0 on a Sonnet PCI Card. The new nMP is faster than that out of the box, without any fancy PCI card and Raid solution.

I store everything else on a Mad mini with DAS 24TB of Lacie 4Big Quadras..

It's going to be quieter. Cooler. More energy efficient. Smaller.

My Mac Pro is currently empty except for one magnetic disk inside it which is used as a 2nd time machine drive. But between my external Time Machine, my DAS, and the Time Machine backing THAT up, I am covered.

Alli n all, the nMP is a nice little package for me and I do not have a need for all the expansion my current Mac Pro has. In 5 years, maybe I will regret not being able to update my nMP.. who knows?''

I will likely be buying the 6-core or 8-core model. I spent well over $12k on my current setup back when I purchased it. I don't REALLY want to spend that much again. I have a feeling an 8-core model with D700 GPUs and 1TB SSD will be pushing my budget, but we'll see. I'm still running dual 24" Cinema Displays, and I kinda want to sell them and go 4K. So I need cash for that!
 
1.) Because my credit card is paid down to zero and it is screaming at me to give it some exercise and buy something.:D

2.) 3D rendering

3.) TB so I can move large amounts of files to and from my work horse and my Mid 2012 MBP I use when traveling easier. vs my current 6 year old MP
 
Apparently not since it cant contain drives inside or swap out gpu for consumer grade gaming cards.. :rolleyes:... because every pro i know uses workstation storage and not redundant NAS :rolleyes:
 
shaunp said:
Nah, 'Pros' use proper workstations! ;)
Click to expand...

So in your view, what's it missing? If you say storage I will laugh! ;)

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Gav Mack said:
I'm buying two.

For a client as primarily Windows workstations running 7x64 each driving a pair of Dell 3014 monitors (soon to be upgraded to 4k when a true 4k panel is released)

Probably the higher spec d500 models with 1tb SSD in one 512gb in another.

I wish that bootcamp support isn't going to be such a PITA as I fear it will be :eek:
Click to expand...

Why do you think Bootcamp will be a PITA Gav? I'm looking at the nmp for the same reason + OSX for general office duties, as with both my current machines.

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scottrichardson said:
It meets all my needs.

I primarily work as a designer and developer, and am the director of a design studio in Australia.

I also DJ and produce music outside work hours, and finally I do some video editing.

The nMP bests my heavily upgraded 2009 Mac Pro in all ways.

I currently have 1TB of 6Gbit/sec SSDS with 2 x 512GB Samsung SSD 840 Pro's in Raid 0 on a Sonnet PCI Card. The new nMP is faster than that out of the box, without any fancy PCI card and Raid solution.

I store everything else on a Mad mini with DAS 24TB of Lacie 4Big Quadras..

It's going to be quieter. Cooler. More energy efficient. Smaller.

My Mac Pro is currently empty except for one magnetic disk inside it which is used as a 2nd time machine drive. But between my external Time Machine, my DAS, and the Time Machine backing THAT up, I am covered.

Alli n all, the nMP is a nice little package for me and I do not have a need for all the expansion my current Mac Pro has. In 5 years, maybe I will regret not being able to update my nMP.. who knows?''

I will likely be buying the 6-core or 8-core model. I spent well over $12k on my current setup back when I purchased it. I don't REALLY want to spend that much again. I have a feeling an 8-core model with D700 GPUs and 1TB SSD will be pushing my budget, but we'll see. I'm still running dual 24" Cinema Displays, and I kinda want to sell them and go 4K. So I need cash for that!
Click to expand...

Your gonna be happy on price, if today's predictions are right?!?! - https://www.macrumors.com/2013/12/16/mac-pro-build-to-order-upgrade-pricing-revealed/
 
I had the 12 core model lined up, but wanted to wait for 32GB DIMMS to become available so I could kit it out with 128GB. Over the last week or so I've had a rethink and decided the hardware doesn't work for me, so I'm ditching Logic Pro and have spec'd a Windows machine with dual 8 cores at 3.4GHz and 128GB ram.

Sorry Apple, I've had 4 Mac Pros over the years, but I don't believe this model works for music professionals.
 
Trailerman said:
I had the 12 core model lined up, but wanted to wait for 32GB DIMMS to become available so I could kit it out with 128GB. Over the last week or so I've had a rethink and decided the hardware doesn't work for me, so I'm ditching Logic Pro and have spec'd a Windows machine with dual 8 cores at 3.4GHz and 128GB ram.

Sorry Apple, I've had 4 Mac Pros over the years, but I don't believe this model works for music professionals.
Click to expand...

Interesting... How many years have you invested in developing skill with Logic Pro? Did that weigh in the decision? Is what you're doing easily relearned on Windows? What App? Have you actually used Windows lately? Do you enjoy working in Windows? I personally find it jarring and frustrating every time I have to login on a Windows box.
 
VirtualRain said:
Interesting... How many years have you invested in developing skill with Logic Pro? Did that weigh in the decision? Is what you're doing easily relearned on Windows? What App? Have you actually used Windows lately? Do you enjoy working in Windows? I personally find it jarring and frustrating every time I have to login on a Windows box.
Click to expand...

I have almost 20 years invested in my Logic skill-set, and I don't make this switch lightly. I have used Nuendo and Cubase throughout that period though and have been trialing Nuendo 6 over the last two weeks. There will be a hit in workflow no doubt, but I can factor it into my workload over the next 2 months, especially with the Christmas hiatus.

Ultimately, I believe Nuendo now offers a better feature set than Logic and once I'm familiar with it's architecture and have replicated my Logic key commands, I don't believe the loss in productivity, even in the short term, will be significant, and I think it has the potential to be more ergonomic for the kind of large templates I tend to use. Automation is handled better, mixer is easier to configure and more instant, multi timbral and multi-output VSTi's are also more elegantly managed and easier to access. I'm confident it will be a long term productivity gain, otherwise I wouldn't be considering it.

No fan of Windows, but I use Windows systems daily, and can live with it's quirks. Once I'm in any DAW, platform becomes largely irrelevant. We will still be using another Mac Pro (12 core 2010) with ProTools HDX.

The hardware benefits of the move tipped it for me in the end. I wanted to love the nMP, but after I'd factored in external chassis for drives and audio hardware, DIMM and CPU core limitations etc. I just couldn't make it work for me. Hopefully others will find ways.

Hope this helps.

Jules
 
LongSticks said:
So in your view, what's it missing? If you say storage I will laugh! ;)

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Why do you think Bootcamp will be a PITA Gav? I'm looking at the nmp for the same reason + OSX for general office duties, as with both my current machines.

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Your gonna be happy on price, if today's predictions are right?!?! - https://www.macrumors.com/2013/12/16/mac-pro-build-to-order-upgrade-pricing-revealed/
Click to expand...

Mainly because this is the most radical change hardware wise since bootcamp was launched. New chipset, tb2, PCIe storage, twin FirePro's in a configuration we don't know yet and have to support pro apps using the GPU's in Windows. I fear I'm going to be beta testing these bloody things :|
 
Gav Mack said:
Mainly because this is the most radical change hardware wise since bootcamp was launched. New chipset, tb2, PCIe storage, twin FirePro's in a configuration we don't know yet and have to support pro apps using the GPU's in Windows. I fear I'm going to be beta testing these bloody things :|
Click to expand...

Go brother! :D
 
Cubemmal said:
Regardless, since we expect (hope!) it goes on sale next week it's worth asking why are you buying one? Succinct summations please ...
Click to expand...

Primarily to replace my heavily customized Mac Pro 5,1, which will transition into a VM workhorse in my server room. The new machine will be used for movie editing with Premiere Pro. I don't ever and won't ever make any money with it, so it's purely a "for fun/hobby" thing.

IF I buy one: 8 core/256G drive/base RAM/D700s. I might buy Apple's 64GB upgrade depending on how expensive OWC's upgrade kit is.

But, I'm also going to have to buy $1200 in empty Thunderbolt drive enclosures, which will bounce the price of my machine upwards quite significantly. I'm not keen on that part.

If the prices that MR's staff have written about are correct, I'm looking at a $7K US system, give or take. That's... pricey. Some time ago, I did a brief exercise of assembling a Hack price list that also came to around $7K US, but it included 2 8-core IVB Xeons, 64GB of RAM, and 2 nVidia GTX780s, along with the associated case, liquid cooling for the processors, etc. That $7K spent will buy me a substantially more powerful machine than the new Mac Pro, with the YOOOOOGE caveat that: I'm on my own with respect to OS X installations.
 
Gav Mack said:
Mainly because this is the most radical change hardware wise since bootcamp was launched. New chipset, tb2, PCIe storage, twin FirePro's in a configuration we don't know yet and have to support pro apps using the GPU's in Windows. I fear I'm going to be beta testing these bloody things :|
Click to expand...
None of the things you've listed are entirely new; you can run the same Xeon processors under Windows, PCIe storage drivers already exist, likewise drivers for AMD FirePro cards, and I'm not sure if Thunderbolt even requires new drivers (as the controllers probably handle the allocation of channels, so all the drivers should need to do is handle the faster speeds).

All Apple has to do is be on the ball when it comes to packaging up the right drivers, but even so Windows will probably cope just fine downloading drivers itself; Microsoft have almost gotten good at that after years of driver hell. It's also in Apple's best interests to make it as smooth as possible.

Regarding two GPUs under Windows; I'm not sure what the issue is? Windows supports multiple GPUs just fine, the only real question mark is whether the D-series cards have support for Crossfire (either via a dedicated link or over PCIe), as that will determine whether existing Windows drivers will be able to use that feature.
 
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