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Will there be a new Mac Pro in 2015?

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Stacc said:
Apple could also adopt MST over Thunderbolt 3 via streaming 2 displayport 1.2 streams over a single cable. Supporting evidence for this is the increased yosemite support for MST and the dell 5k display. It wouldn't surprise me to see an external display and refreshed iMac this fall that worked in such a way.
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That's very true, I'm just imagining that this could be tricky given the custom display controller Apple is using for the iMac implementation. The display isn't wired up to take two DP 1.2 signals the way the Dell one is. However, I'm sure it would be possible if Apple devoted time to it, I just doubt they will.

EDIT: Ah yes, of course, an updated iMac or refreshed retina display could surely work this way! Was speaking to the current iMac.
 
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jonisign said:
That's very true, I'm just imagining that this could be tricky given the custom display controller Apple is using for the iMac implementation. The display isn't wired up to take two DP 1.2 signals the way the Dell one is. However, I'm sure it would be possible if Apple devoted time to it, I just doubt they will.

EDIT: Ah yes, of course, an updated iMac or refreshed retina display could surely work this way! Was speaking to the current iMac.
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The "custom display controller" in the iMac is MST. The panel in the iMac is taking two signals.
 
goMac said:
The "custom display controller" in the iMac is MST. The panel in the iMac is taking two signals.
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Oh that's really interesting... a much simpler solution than was led on at launch. Do you have a source for that? I just think it would be interesting to read more on Apple's implementation.
 
Bradleyone said:
...
The Dell creative push has already begun to encompass me - a long time buyer of Apple (just how long I'll hint at in a moment) - when I recently bought a Dell UP2715K 27-inch "retina" display for my Mac Pro:
...
and let the higher-end creative market languish with the positively ancient "sandpaper to my eyes" Thunderbolt Display. ...
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This isn't a new trend. Apple has been out of the display business since 2010. It is similar to how they eventually got out of printers. What they have what has been called a "Display" over the last 5 years but it is really a Display Docking station. There is a cable+plug to power your Macbook something right on the "Display".

You can go back and look in the archives of this forum, but even before 2009 there is a fairly high mention/use/recommendation of several high quality 3rd party monitors. NEC, Ezio , high upper subset of HP and Dell. There are lots of viable options of a larger group's upper end offerings ( ASUS , LG , Samsung, etc. ). It isn't like Apple has to be present for there to be a viable market to upper end displays.


Apple introduced a Sharp 4K display right alongside the Mac Pro ( after leaking a bit a couple weeks early

https://www.macrumors.com/2013/12/0...arp-displays-in-european-online-apple-stores/ )

The dedicated display business? Apple got out about half a decade ago. It is highly unlikely they are coming back.


Now, Apple may redeem themselves later this year or early next with an Apple Retina 5K Display but for a company that once prided itself on innovations like these -
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Apple might introduce a new display docking station. If the 21.5" iMac goes Retina (4K) that is probably a more likely candidate for a new display docking station than 5K.

Technically some of new Gen 6 (Skylake CPU) iGPUs can output 2 DisplayPort v1.2 streams that Thunderbolt 3 could provision via MST to a 5K display. The overall Gen 9 graphics can
12-1.png


http://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2015...re-intel-is-still-gunning-for-dedicated-gpus/

If you just skip that HDMI 2 converter and couple both DP v1.2 outputs to the TB v3 controller inputs, it is doable. However, I'm not sure that is going to go all the way down in the Core M (Macbook) and Core i7 U ( Macbook Air ) zone with their implementations of Gen 9 GPU. Historically, Intel has trimmed off some of the display output range as move down to the lowest power implementations. Unless they can cover the MBA's for docking station usage, a 5K docking station product probably doesn't have a large enough market to be viable. Any Mac Pro couplings would be just "gravy on top" sales. The Mac Pro isn't the primary target of these docking stations. Hasn't been for a very long time.

I think the docking stations would do better if more affordable and a "Retina" 4K would be. This $999 price point isn't particularly viable when there are $600 5K displays out there.

http://accessories.us.dell.com/sna/productdetail.aspx?c=us&cs=04&l=en&sku=210-ADOF

Pretty soon there will be $500 ones and and even more affordable 4K ones at smaller sizes. The docking station is "nice" but if folks just want a Retina display for their laptop and they have two TB ports there are other ways to do it. If Apple can only manage to do just one display docking station then Retina 4K is better than 5K.

There are plenty of very good 5K displays to buy. There will be even more of them by Jan-May 2016 when the 2nd generation implementations will be in full launch mode.
 
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jonisign said:
Oh that's really interesting... a much simpler solution than was led on at launch. Do you have a source for that? I just think it would be interesting to read more on Apple's implementation.
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You can see it in the iMac Retina tear downs. There is simply a custom "double wide" cable that connects the to the panel. Simply just need a single cable to carry two sets of DP v1.2 wires. Apple gets semi custom cables inside of the system anyway so it isn't a huge leap.

Can also see that Apple supports "dual-cables" :
"...
Dual-Cable Displays

Some displays with resolutions higher than 4K require two DisplayPort cables to connect the display at full resolution. With OS X Yosemite v10.10.3 or later, the Dell UP2715K 27-inch 5K display is supported on the following Mac computers:

  • Mac Pro (Late 2013)
  • iMac (Retina 5K, 27-inch, Late 2014 and later)
  • MacBook Pro (Retina, 15-inch, Mid 2015) with AMD Radeon R9 M370X
..."
https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT202856

Same thing, just different "double cables" for the iMac internal connection.
 
jonisign said:
That's very true, I'm just imagining that this could be tricky given the custom display controller Apple is using for the iMac implementation.
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Dell's initial 5K discrete display use exactly the same controller that Apple is using. Not tricky at all.
Apple's custom glass is gorilla glass too. Apple's motion chip ( its rebadged 3rd implementation). Some the "Apple invented" hand waving they do at their dog and pony shows is exactly that ... hand waving.
 
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jonisign said:
Oh that's really interesting... a much simpler solution than was led on at launch. Do you have a source for that? I just think it would be interesting to read more on Apple's implementation.
Click to expand...

The obvious sign is that they didn't come up with a custom GPU with it's own transport protocol. The GPU they have can either do SST or MST, nothing else, and if SST doesn't work...

The timing controller is external to the GPU. It's just wrapping the MST signal.
 
650$ Fury Nano. That is, hmmm, disputable. I was expecting 550 or slightly more.

Turns out to be slightly faster than even Fury, while using less power. That changes the view a bit, however, people buying HTPCs are not ones who are willing to pay 650$ for the GPU.

Also, AMD says that Nano will go to OEMs first.
 
Guys... I am no expert here, but I think you've been discussing the wrong GPUs. Fury Nano is a gaming card, not the kind you would expect in the nMP, imho.

I am pretty sure we'll see a down clocked version of the W7/8/9100 or, possibly, a new x200 generation. Easy to guess, again imho, AMD will call them Dx10 or Dx20. (D310...)
 
askunk said:
Guys... I am no expert here, but I think you've been discussing the wrong GPUs. Fury Nano is a gaming card, not the kind you would expect in the nMP, imho.
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It's all the same stuff. It's just marketing, drivers and a few features crippled or downscaled here and there.

E.g. Radeon R9 290 is "Hawaii Pro". FirePro W8100 is "Hawaii Pro". Etc.

These guys talking here about Fury (and other "gaming" cards) know that Apple isn't going to literally stick a Fury into the MP, but Fury's "Fiji" architecture might very well be the basis for the next MP GPU.
 
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koyoot said:
650$ Fury Nano. That is, hmmm, disputable. I was expecting 550 or slightly more.

Turns out to be slightly faster than even Fury, while using less power. That changes the view a bit, however, people buying HTPCs are not ones who are willing to pay 650$ for the GPU.

Also, AMD says that Nano will go to OEMs first.
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The 980Ti just laughed. And AMD benched it against a mini 970 that costs around half as much.
 
Barry Bishop said:
Sept 9th...updated MacPro or not?
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No. Apple tends not to mix iPhone and Mac announcements. September 9th will most likely be updated iPhones and an AppleTV. Look for a mac announcement in October closer to El Capitan's release. Of course, whether or not it contains an updated mac pro is anyone's guess.
 
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jonisign said:
I don't think we'll see an updated Mac Pro until Broadwell-EP is released. It's currently set for Q4 2015, so a November, March, or even a June WWDC 2016 announcement are all possible.
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Very unlikely a Mac Pro update will warrant stage time at any event. Save the few people here (including me) that are passionate about this product, news of a Mac Pro update is a snoozer. It will just appear on the Apple site when it's ready.
 
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VirtualRain said:
Very unlikely a Mac Pro update will warrant stage time at any event. Save the few people here (including me) that are passionate about this product, news of a Mac Pro update is a snoozer. It will just appear on the Apple site when it's ready.
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Eh it might get a passing mention when they update it, just like the Mac mini (or really most of their Mac hardware at this point, unless it's a significant redesign or update). But yeah, the Sept. 9th event is going to be chock-full of iPhone stuff. *Maybe* we get Mac updates alongside the iPad.
 
I think my money would be on a silent refresh. A MP is boring news to the masses, so unless it's a drastic redesign, which it wont be for many years, they'll keep it low key.

But i might be wrong. . . .
 
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^squirrel^ said:
I think my money would be on a silent refresh. A MP is boring news to the masses, so unless it's a drastic redesign, which it wont be for many years, they'll keep it low key.
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Therefore, you are implying TB3 will make its appearance with a new MacBook Pro some time before the nMP. Otherwise, I think, it would make no sense to launch a product with such an innovation within (and Apple is very careful about new I/Os) without making a fuss out of it. Don't you think?
 
askunk said:
Therefore, you are implying TB3 will make its appearance with a new MacBook Pro some time before the nMP. Otherwise, I think, it would make no sense to launch a product with such an innovation within (and Apple is very careful about new I/Os) without making a fuss out of it. Don't you think?
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I've been burned predicting new Mac Pros before, but I think if Apple was on the verge of releasing Thunderbolt 3 notebooks, they would couple Thunderbolt 3 with Haswell-EP on the new Mac Pro. Skylake is nice but not required for the Mac Pro.
 
SoyCapitanSoyCapitan said:
The 980Ti just laughed. And AMD benched it against a mini 970 that costs around half as much.
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That's based on the form factor and not price.

It's the fastest HTPC graphic card you can currently get in the form factor that will fit such a computer.

Not saying it's great or anything, just stating its intended market.
 
The Mac Pro has always been the only unit with dual monitor support and sufficient ports for external devices. I need one, but I think buying now would be a mistake.

Also - I wonder why they didn't offer 750GB internal memory as an option. That would hold the OS, my applications and provide sufficient swap space.

I need more than 500GB and don't need 1TB. Especially at the prices Apple charges.

Sure would be nice if they'd say something soonish. My fantasy.
 
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