Is anyone else slightly aroused by the new Mac Pro?
polycounter lvl 9
I mean I'm no fan of Apple due to their restrictive 'walled garden' philosophies but this thing makes me more than a little excited. I imagine it'll be priced at about 2x the cost of buying the actual parts separately, which is what would stop me from buying it, but damn I'd buy the thing just for the brilliance of the design. Not just aesthetically but this unified thermal core is brilliant (assuming it works as awesomely as they say).
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Wow, only 10 inches tall and 6 1/2 inches across... that thing is tiny.
Ok... I am slightly aroused.
Seriously though, now that I'm using Maya instead of 3ds Max I can at least consider dropping Windows.
seriously though, outside of the case its the same thing as any other companies computer, with a higher markup.
Actually I think this is really slick. The design is small, clean, and the engineering that went into it is actually impressive, especially the thermal core, which makes a lot of sense (although I wonder if one overheating component could affect the others). I doubt I'll buy it because I dislike Apple's business model and their price tags, but I'll be tempted.
Ah, I've heard that Maya on a Mac is no where near as smooth as an experience as on a windows machines.. I've spoken to more than a few 3D modelers using maya that switched to PC just for the added stability
.
on a side note, every studio I've worked at or visited have used Dell or HP machines, which have never really impressed me. Having an IT department build machines from components could be a bit expensive, what do other games studios out there use?
Does it look nice? Arguably. (I'm not a fan, but I can understand the aesthetic choices)
Is it more practical than the current case? No.
Silver lining: if this actually arouses you, there's a hole to put your penis in...
Oh, you're right, I didn't noticed the updated on their website
At the end of the day it's just computer parts, they can play the elite card when they stop building this stuff in China.
I know someone is going to get mad at this post but I cannot stand Apple.
As for expandability, 6x Thunderbolt 2 ports capable of controlling up to 6 devices in daisychain each... yeah thats not going to be a problem.
I do not care if I cant put a few hard-drives into the case it self.
That would just generate more heat inside the box.
Just like I do now with my NAS setup, I like having my storage seperate and securely away from my workstation.
As for the price.. Yes you pay premium but keep in mind that a custom built PC on a similar level is not going to be cheap.
You cant just built a PC with gaming grade stuff in it and compare it side by side.
You have to include things like ECC memory, XEON cpu´s and one or two FirePro´s or Quadro cards.
That stuff is not cheap.
Silent and super small while being very powerfull.. color me interested.
Why is it ugly? Because it's a cylinder and not a box? All that matters in the long run is the specs and operation itself...
A year and a half ago I spent a lot of money on a Mac Pro, with 12-cores, 24GB of ram, and it's seriously the best computer I've ever purchased. It truly is hard to buy a computer this level of quality straight from the factory. All of Apples other quality products work perfectly with it and I'm super happy. And the build quality is generally unsurpassable by any custom PC out there... and absolutely surpasses any other factory PC. Especially their laptops.
-Yes, I'm fully aware that I could build a 'faster' computer for cheaper, but the thing is... I have to build it. It would end up being a 'gaming' computer though. A lot of people are not capable of it, or they just don't want to do it. I built my first computer in the 90's, and many many more since then. And I'll probably never do it again... I'm just tired of dealing with it.
-Another part of my like/appreciation it is OS X. I'm used to that, I enjoy programming(my job) on OS X way more than I do Windows. Even doing 3D Art. It was 2003 when I switched to OS X, and never went back. I also have the option to simply install Windows if I truly need it. I also love the support I get from Apple as a developer.
But, it's all a matter of preference. It's hard to take the opinion from someone who has never actually really used OS X and a Mac Pro before :P
But yeah, Apple isn't doing something different because it's better, only because you know apple snobs everywhere will HAVE to have one, or else they won't be cool anymore.
The next computer "revolution" I'll get excited over will be for one of these:
except that the box design has been evolved over decades and proven very useful for most users. Now we're back in the old home computer days where everything external is yet another box in its own weird design with its own connector cable and power supply.
I was quite enthusiastic about thunderbolt originally, but so far it seems it leads a similar life as the original firewire (minus any camcorders that use it). Maybe Apple wants to push its adoption?
Sadly it has taken untill now for most PC motherboard manufacturers to wake up and start using this.
Hell, most of them are still just jumping on to the USB3 bandwagon with most motherboards mostly having USB2´s with 2 back and 2 front placed USB3´s.
Never got why they didn´t just go full USB3 since they are fully backwards compatible anyway :P
And the box design really has not evolved very much at all.
Most ATX tower cases are almost identical to my first PC tower that was a 486.
Same kind of HD placement, same placement for the PSU, same button arrangement and even the same dinky plugs that go onto the motherboard for the power button, LED´s and such.
I have yet to see a tower case that does anything really different.
G4/G5 Mac towers tried to change things with the side lid that housed the motherboard for super easy access, and the old mac pros with their custom motherboards separated different elements on the boards to distribute heat through the case in a more even fashion and have things more modular.
PC motherboards are largely the same as they were in actual form design as they were in 1990.
Actually, the best PC case I have ever had was my pre-assembled Pentium 90 machine from Tulip computers.
Easilly my favorite so far. The side panel opening included the top of the tower, and the hard drives were installed sideways at the very top so heat flowed out of the case correctly and did not go from one HD to the next one above it.
It was also tool less, but locked with a key-system.
god damnit.. now I wish I hadn´t sold that box since it would have been ATX compatible and I could be using it today instead of my ugly ass Zalman monolith of a case :P
exactly. It evolved. slowly and steadily adapting to whatever tech it had to house. The idea is still the same when you compare eg. a Mac IIfx case or a PC XT case to a current HP or Dell tower cases. They evolved to accommodate new storage options, new mainboards, new ports and new designs. The radical changes to this evolution were things like the Mac mini or the iMac's all in-one, or corporate rack space or blade PCs.
If you compare it with all other workstation/consumer PC designs it's a pretty good design giving you expandability, standardization and a fair amount of customization. It doesn't really excel in any of these, but it's probably the best compromise the PC industry has on all those. While I really like Apple for trying new things (and they succeeded with a lot of them), I'm not really sure about this. Mac cube anyone?
Can't blame then. The innovator's gone.
I'm sure we'll see 7 shades of iPhone next.
Edit: Gusti, there are case makers making non square units. Case in point.
http://www.lian-li.com/v2/en/product/product06.php?pr_index=625&cl_index=1&sc_index=25&ss_index=62&g=spec
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811163176
service friendliness is going to be an issue in areas with no legit apple service centres around, not that much in most of Europe and the US I guess?
and I don't think they honestly really care much for those parts of market anyway.
But maybe Pixar and Disney with their server/storage farms have need for a box like this. I can see some advantages if you have a fiber network in your office, work off the network and have your own standardized apps that don't bitch about stuff like requiring a nVidia card. And your company is rich enough to replace the entire box if something fails rather than sending a repair tech down who fiddles with swapping hardware.
I could also see it in some scientific areas, like the old NeXT cubes. Maybe engineering too, if there's any CAD apps on OS X?
How come? It's a beast of a machine that guys working with video would love. It's designed to handle 4k footage which makes sure that all bandwidth between the components have to be top notch. I wouldn't mind working with it for 3d either.
I can not imagine what kind of sound will emit this turbine.Why do not slightly larger but with all water-cooled system. Design here, for the sake of design.
lolno.
Why would people fall for this crap at all?
They must market to the stupid!
"
Guys, you listening guys? Guys, this is serial.
The new Mac- you listening?
The new mac is a cylinder.
*fan boys orgasm*
"
You can do the exact same thing on any desktop/mac but they market this shit as revolutionary. Christ when will people learn?
Apple isn't about the components. Apple products are fashion and status symbols. They are functional, and the OS works really well, but they aren't about keeping the cost down. They market to people with money, not people who comparison shop every component.
An Apple fan would look at your home-built PC square box and have no idea why someone would want something so ugly in their house. It's a different crowd. Deal with it.