Mac Pro status

[William Hohauser]

And here is a test with two GPU cards in an eGPU box on a 2013 MacPro and a new laptop. This is a different card:
Mac eGPUs with GeForce GTX 1080 Ti
A very modest improvement with the noise filter on an HD clip over the stock MacPro. Absolutely a downgrade playing 5K. The MacPro cards beats two higher quality GPU cards linked together. What does this mean? That programming these cards is very complex and that 3D rendering performance doesn't translate into video playback performance.

[Jim Feeley]

Seems to me the trashcan Mac Pro is still a decent machine. Heck, I work on one with some regularity and some friends edit on their for hours on end. They get the job done. People who own one of the higher-end models are set.

The question for me is not if there's a way to upgrade the trashcan MPs (since I don't own one), but if it's worth buying one new now. And on that front, I'd say probably not.

Bummer Apple doesn't have something newer now.

[Pete Cofrancesco]

Originally Posted by John Nantz

Besides space savings, (the 1,1 > 5,1 towers are quite large) one of the selling points was energy savings and in that respect it did very well. A fringe benefit was reduced noise from cooling fans. Unfortunately, UHD 4K and 3D all take more computer resources and, hence, more power.

The Government and large corporations are all trying ways to reduce energy consumption so a design that saves energy and space (smaller cubicles) would be a good selling point. After all, the private sector can write it off so cost may not have been as critical as it would be to consumers.

It be like Ferrari spinning an under powered car as gas efficient. It's not the type of computer corporations or governments deploy in cubicles. The energy efficiency is just a side effect of trying to make it small while not over heating.

As far as dual cards performance when installed internally they make a significant difference rendering and encoding.

[Jack Zhang]

Yeah, the last tower Mac before the trash can should still support the new Pascal cards with Nvidia Web Drivers.

[Steven Davis]

Well, I'm looking at possibly replacing my 5 year old iMac since I want to do a switch to the Adobe Cloud and learn Premiere/AE since it looks like FCPX is having a mental meltdown in design, IMO.

I just put 32 gig of ram in my iMac, but it does hang on image processing, and FCPX does lag in edit, even off a Thunderbolt G-Drive.

I'm wondering if I shouldn't give the thing a chance with the cloud, because I too have wondered why Apple hasn't updated the trash can. It's crazy expensive, much more than the PC I have at my feet.

This is a good and informative thread.

[Pete Cofrancesco]

It probably be easiest and cheapest to buy the latest imac, followed by a modded mac pro, and finally a trash can.

[Steven Davis]

Thanks Pete. I'm going to test a bit till the end of the year. I'm just leary since it sounds like Apple hasn't changed the trashcan since 13. I wish I knew the future. lol

[Boyd Ostroff]

Here's a pretty good wrap-up: https://www.macrumors.com/roundup/mac-pro/

The good part is that we know a completely new design is coming. But here's the bad part:

"Apple has only said that it will be coming sometime later than 2017, so a launch will happen in 2018 or beyond. Work on Apple's Mac Pro is in the early stages, and according to rumors, development on the machine only started a few weeks ahead of when it was announced by Apple. For that reason, it could be late 2018 or even 2019 before the new Mac Pro launches."

[Boyd Ostroff]

No new Mac Pro this year. At least he was honest enough to admit that the real reason for this "transparency" is to sell more iMac Pro's. ;)

https://techcrunch.com/2018/04/05/ap...-by-workflows/

“We want to be transparent and communicate openly with our pro community so we want them to know that the Mac Pro is a 2019 product. It’s not something for this year.” In addition to transparency for pro customers on an individual basis, there’s also a larger fiscal reasoning behind it.

“We know that there’s a lot of customers today that are making purchase decisions on the iMac Pro and whether or not they should wait for the Mac Pro,” says Boger.

[William Hohauser]

I had a major breakdown with my 2013 MacPro at the beginning of March, the dual video boards failed. In the time it took Apple to replace them (that's another story) I was left without a workhorse workstation. The Apple Store people tried to get me interested in the iMacPro. It was very tempting, it's really fast for real-time effects, but I ended up choosing the top of the line 15" MacBookPro to replace my 17" MacBookPro that still worked but was straining to play some of the timelines I was working on. Also the 17" MBP doesn't have enough ports to connect my desktop accessories. I'll tell you, the 15" MacBookPro really competes well against a 2013 8-core MacPro in real-time editing. Some of the final rendering was slower and the 8-core is better with Compressor tasks but I am impressed. The larger trackpad is sort of a hindrance so I had to train my lazy thumb from accidentally activating it.

After a couple of weeks using the MBP as my main workstation, the MacPro was finally fixed (the Apple Store service reps were great, I can't say as much for the techs at the east coast Apple facility that repairs MacPros but they finally came through) and I'll wait until 2019 to see what happens with the next version. I don't really need PCI card space but hopefully the new MacPro will come with two video cards as a default. The present iMacPro could clearly replace my MacPro in a snap and I would get improved rendering performance but I can wait.

[Ricky Sharp]

One thing to watch out for (at least for direct Apple support/repairs) is that they will not fix a machine greater than 5 years old from purchase. So in June 2017, my 2012 Mac Pro reached that status. Thankfully, it lasted until Dec when I picked up the iMac Pro.

[Steven Davis]

Well, Apple gave birth to mine and it was delivered by a stork today. All I've done so far is transfer stuff, and fiddle with FCPX. I'll try and update feedback here as I go. The only upgrades I did were the machine ram to 64 and the video ram to 16. I decided this after months of research, the information here of course, reaching out to Adobe, BHphoto, Black Magic and a few others.

For the price, this thing better fly like a butterfly and sting like a bee. Since I already have FCPX, I'm going to stick with it and see how it goes. Thank you, everyone, for your input.

[Boyd Ostroff]

Originally Posted by Ricky Sharp

One thing to watch out for (at least for direct Apple support/repairs) is that they will not fix a machine greater than 5 years old from purchase.

Well (happily) I don't have personal experience with getting an old computer repaired, but Apple's official policy would seem to be at odds with what you have posted. This is how they classify old computers. Note that the date of purchase is not the criterion, it's the date when they stopped manufacturing that model.

"Vintage products are those that have not been manufactured for more than 5 and less than 7 years ago.

Obsolete products are those that were discontinued more than 7 years ago."

Here's a list of the computers they won't service anymore and the 2012 Mac Pro isn't on it. If they refused to service your computer, it would be interesting to hear how they justify that... https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT201624

[Steven Davis]

As a side note. According to my Apple store, Apple is not going to repair or upgrade the new iMac Pro, I and other parents will have to take it to a licensed Apple repair shop. Good times.

[Jack Zhang]

Not to mention Apple is shifting away from using x86 soon and using their own custom ARM processors exclusively in 2020. Trash can may be the last Mac Pro. They won't make a ARM based Mac Pro cause ARM is for their consumer based products, and Apple intends to abandon Intel and not even consider AMD processors.