The Mac Pro Lives

Daring Fireball ^ | Tuesday, 4 April 2017 | John Gruber

[PIF]

Apple is currently hard at work on a “completely rethought” Mac Pro, with a modular design that can accommodate high-end CPUs and big honking hot-running GPUs, and which should make it easier for Apple to update with new components on a regular basis. They’re also working on Apple-branded pro displays to go with them.

These next-gen Mac Pros and pro displays “will not ship this year”. (I hope that means “next year”, but all Apple said was “not this year”.) In the meantime, Apple is today releasing meager speed-bump updates to the existing Mac Pros.

[dayglored]

> I am trying to convert the mac disciples. Convert them over to the dark side.

Best of luck. Apple fanboys are almost as stubborn as Windows fanboys. LOL

[Swordmaker]

Really? It was Apple tech support that told me I couldn't do it. I sure tried.....Maybe my new iMac was using a newer OS, and that's why I couldn't do it.

You can actually go into the Time Machine files and pickup the individual files by hand if you want.

[Swordmaker]

Some of us do not want to plug in some devise that draws 900 watts as the older Pros do.

One of the advantages of that 900 Watt power supply on the older Mac Pro is that it could drive and POWER eight 30 inch HD monitors without batting an eye, while doing live rendering light ray tracing to each of them of a different animation scene. Of course that power supply alone would set you back around $600 if one were to try and build an equivalent PC at the time. I priced that out. A lot of critics were claiming they could build an equal system with a $40 P/S.

[Swordmaker]

Spec wise it is dead, they made it impossible to update memory and it is no walk in the park to change a hard drive either. I have an i7 core 4 Mini and it runs pretty well especially if you use an SSD, the newer ones are dogs in comparison. If you need one get the older ones they are a much better value.

The Mac mini was changed to be a headless MacBook for the desk. Inside it's a Low-end MacBook Air without a screen or keyboard. Even with a 1.6GHz processor, it's still a pretty powerful computer for those who don't need lots of horsepower. It does great for those who need word processing, email, and browsing the web.

[PIF]

Yeah I know - but it is a $ issue with the wattage. Love to have one but just draws too much current for my now limited needs.

[Drago]

My 2009 MacPro won’t die. It is old fashioned thinking to want to keep a machine til it breaks. Maybe need to rethink this. Upgrading it to Sierra will strain its creaky joints so maybe it’s time.

My 2008 (3,1) Mac Pro runs Sierra just fine! Although I did add an SSD and 16 gigs of RAM. "GeekBench" of 12,500 or so, similar to some 2017 Win 10 boxes with an i7 (Intel Core i7-4960HQ). Best $800.00 I ever spent! (Got it "used" 2 years ago from a navy sailor/Hornet mechanic, got a discount because it had a dent in the upper aluminum handle).

[itsahoot]

I think AAPL has seen the light on upgradability - at least I hope so.

If you look at the iMac G5 where three screws opens up the machine to any repair or upgrade you wanted to make.

Then Apple immediately moved to the closed box system that made the iMac about as repairable for owners as the new iPads.

[itsahoot]

for those who don't need lots of horsepower. It does great for those who need word processing, email, and browsing the web.

The new iPad is a much better value for that purpose. If one needs bigger screen we will have to wait for the inevitable docking station I guess.

iFix it adventure with new Mini.

Last weekend, I performed an invasive and meticulous operation on one of my more valuable gadgets: a late 2014 Mac mini. You see, it was slow and hampered by its components, and in desperate need of a speed boost. So I decided to replace its spinning hard disk drive with a solid state one. Yet because the product is made by Apple, a seemingly simple procedure turns out to be a day-long adventure into the deepest, darkest parts of the DIY computer repair community.

[Swordmaker]

Yeah I know - but it is a $ issue with the wattage. Love to have one but just draws too much current for my now limited needs.

That is a good point. . . 900 Watts is peak potential draw. They usually cruise along drawing about 100 to 125 Watts.

[The Westerner]

Nice! I’m kinda tired of the heavy frame of Pro 09 and will probably buy on sale an Air that’s a year old.

[TheBattman]

Well - yeah... maybe sometime, soon, or not...

Something is amiss at Apple regarding product development. I’m none too thrilled.

http://www.zdnet.com/article/apples-desperate-mac-damage-limitation-message-hints-at-a-divided-company

[TheBattman]

What about video? Does it share memory with the system? What sort of GPU?

[TheBattman]

That is not my experience. Last time I upgraded MacBook Pro machines, I used the TimeMachine backup from my old one to “restore from Time Machine”.

[Uri’el-2012]

The R2D2 was cute;
but not as functional
as the modular aluminum.

I guess Tim got the message.
I'm not happy with his
design obsolesce.

I need a unix workstation
as a digital darkroom.

I' running OS X 10.9
on a Mac Pro 1,1 with
8 x 2.66ghz ; 32 gig of RAM
6 terabytes of hdd &
23" Cinema w. ATI 5770

it works just fine.

[Swordmaker]

The R2D2 was cute;
but not as functional
as the modular aluminum.

I have to disagree with you on the functionality of the 2013 Mac Pro. . . but you had to think out-side of the trashcan case. There was far more connectivity to the newer Mac Pro than the older model using the ports that were provided. To prove it MacWorld along with a video lab tried to max out an off the shelf Mac Pro and here's what they did:

Here’s a list (in alphabetical order) of the storage devices connected to one Mac Pro.

• Adata DashDrive SE720
• Akitio Neutrino Thunder D3
• Apricorn Aegis Portable 3.0
• Buffalo DriveStation DDR
• Buffalo DriveStation Duo
• Buffalo DriveStation Mini Thunderbolt SSD
• Buffalo MiniStation Extreme
• Buffalo MiniStation Thunderbolt
• CalDigit T3
• CMS BounceBack
• Elgato Thunderbolt Drive+
• Elgato Thunderbolt SSD
• G-Technology G-Dock ev with Thunderbolt
• G-Technology G-Drive Mini
• G-Technology G-Drive mobile USB
• G-Technology G-Drive mobile with Thunderbolt
• G-Technology G-Drive Pro with Thunderbolt
• G-Technology G-Raid
• ioSafe Rugged Portable
• LaCie 2big
• LaCie 5big
• LaCie Little Big Disk 1TB SSD
• LaCie Little Big Disk 240 SSD
• LaCie Little Big Disk 2TB hard drive
• LaCie P’223
• LaCie Rugged USB
• OWC Envoy Pro EX
• OWC Mercury Elite Pro Dual
• OWC Mercury Helios
• OWC ThunderBay IV
• Promise Pegasus R6
• Seagate Free Agent FW
• Toshiba Canvio Slim II
• Western Digital My Book VelociRaptor Duo
• Western Digital My Passport Pro
• Western Digital My Passport Slim

We connected 36 drives (19 Thunderbolt, 15 USB, 2 FireWire 800) with a combined capacity of 100.63TB. (Today, that could easily be Four to five times that capacity because of the ubiquity of 3TB - 4TB drives at low cost. — Swordmaker)

In addition to the drives, (they) also connected two Thunderbolt docks (the Belkin Thunderbolt Express Dock and the CalDigit Thunderbolt Station), an Apple 30" Thunderbolt Display, two Apple 30" Cinema Displays, and one HP Z 27" Display Z27i. All this to a single Mac Pro.

These were peripherals that MacWorld and the video lab had laying around their offices and they all connected without a hitch or any configuration required and the 2013 Mac Pro handled every one of them. The old 2012 and older could not have touched all that.

The sole area that the older Mac Pro would out do the new is that one series of the older models which had the 900 Watt power supply could drive up to eight 30" monitorshowever not eight 30" 4K or 5K monitors, simultaneously, , compared to the four 4k and 5k for the newer model, but it would require populating all the available slots in the case with video graphic cards, which would mean giving up any potential for other uses for those slots. However, the newer model can support more monitors with an external Thunderbolt Graphic card cage with more slots.

The newer Mac Pro, with add on peripherals is actually MORE modular than the old. Apple's vision was that a lot more third-party Thunderbolt externals would be forthcoming than actually appeared. That may, or may not, be Apple's lack of putting pressure on the third-party peripheral makers. I think that was part of the problem.

[tubebender]

Got my iMac back today and it is very very fast again. He reloaded the latest OS (10.12.4). He did not do a total wipe and reinstall...

[jimtorr]

According to Swordmaker, one must restore from Time Machine using the same OS version used in backup. There was a six month gap between the death of my old iMac and when I bought the new iMac. I had to save-up my limited income.

There was almost certainly a new OS version released in that period.

That may have been my problem.

[Swordmaker]

GREAT!

[Uri’el-2012]

Thanks for the update.