back to article Dodeca-core Apple Mac Pro coming next month

Apple hasn't - contrary to expectations - updated the Mac Pro, but it did today promise to do so soon. The new version will sport one or two CPUs for a total of four, six, eight or 12 cores, all Intel 32nm Xeon workstation and - on the dual-processor rigs - server chips. Since they have HyperThreading on board, that makes for …

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  1. Matt 13

    disappointing

    I love the Mac Pro, but the spec is a little meh for a quality workstation... yes, it looks pretty, but only 32gb of ram? I would have expected atleast double that... and isnt the 5870 a gaming card, not a proper workstation card?

    1. Anomalous Cowherd Silver badge

      Meh? MEH?

      When did 32GB and 16 cores become "Meh" for a workstation? Sweet Jesus man, what kind of workload are you running?

    2. Nexox Enigma

      Yeah

      """but only 32gb of ram?"""

      Exactly - if it can do 6 core Xeons, then it should be running triple channel memory, which doesn't even allow for 32gb. I guess dual channel is still good enough for Apple? Seems like just about any 2 socket Xeon 56xx series box should support up to 96GB at least.

  2. IanPotter
    Jobs Horns

    UK Price

    Anyone want to make a bet on the UK price being £2499?

    1. jonathanb Silver badge
      Jobs Horns

      Re: UK Price

      I'll bet on it being about £2,200.

  3. Si 1
    Jobs Horns

    That's a pretty nice spec

    It's a shame Apple's desktop stuff lags so far behind the PC when it comes to gaming, even with the introduction of Steam for OSX. Put two ATI 5970s in there and you've probably got a rig capable of running all games at fully max'ed settings even on a 2560 x 1600 Apple Cinema display.

  4. Anonymous Coward
    Unhappy

    no usb 3?

    bummer :(

  5. Anonymous Coward
    FAIL

    Still fail!

    No USB 3.0 or BluRay drive!

    1. Ted
      FAIL

      no need

      it has 4 FireWire 800 ports, so USB 3.0 isn't really necessary. And Apple is never going to add BlueRay, there is no point now that wireless as taken over for video.

  6. Ian Ferguson

    Still no Blu-ray

    Anyone know why? I'm sure it's a deliberate move on Apple's part, but I don't understand the motivation.

    1. Eddy Ito
      Jobs Halo

      Psalm 16:9

      Thou shalt not watch movies derived from blu-rays of light, for they are unclean. Favor instead movies sourced from the ether high on mount iTunes beyond where the sins of the blu-ray grow. And thou shalt also not look into the blu-ray with remaining eye. Go now and watch in peace.

    2. Andre Thenot
      Black Helicopters

      Bluray requires trusted computing

      You can get a Bluray burner and reader for your mac. But I presume you're talking about the ability to view BD discs that are protected. If I'm not mistaken, that requires trusted computing to ensure that the decryption process isn't tampered with. OS X doesn't have that built in (and in my opinion, it's just as well as I prefer to remain in charge of my machine).

  7. Barry Lane 1
    WTF?

    What! No beige?

    No Blu-ray, USB 3, no umpteen-port card reader or cup-holder?

    Sheesh! Apple, eh?

  8. Dave 129

    @Ian Ferguson: Still no Blue-ray

    Apparently his Jobs-ness has decided that Blu-ray is dead already and will be super-ceded by 1080p digital download / streaming - so why bother now? Allegedly. I think I read that on Macrumours (here in fact: http://www.macrumors.com/2010/06/30/steve-jobs-suggests-blu-ray-not-coming-to-mac-anytime-soon/).

    I am due a PC upgrade this year and am seriously considering a Mac Pro - though I would get a memory upgrade from Crucial and HDDs from anywhere else - Apple take the piss with their upgrade charges :(

  9. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    I spy a few more wasted afternoons ahoy

    as I spec up the world's ultimate Mac Pro and then fall on the floor at the price of it

  10. dogged
    Thumb Up

    hmm

    If this thing can be bootcamped or better yet, totally de-Macintoshed, I want one.

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Puzzled...

      Why wouldn't you be able to use Bootcamp on it? Or just format it and install Windows outright if that's your sort of thing?

      (I understand some people enjoy morris dancing too)

  11. Hugh McIntyre

    Prices even in the US....

    I'm sure the first Mac Pro was $2499 for the base version and $2999 (if I remember) for the top of the range CPU. This time, on the other hand, the range is from $2499-$3499-$4999, which seems pretty steep.

    And as for extra disk drives, asking for $550 for an extra 2GB drive seems pretty excessive, to put it mildly.

    1. Lance 3

      Performance

      It is also much more powerful as well though. The CPU's are not cheap at all. Look at the cost of some of the 6-core processors.

      2GB, who makes 2GB drives anymore? When was any manufacturer cheap on the add-on prices?

  12. Sean Timarco Baggaley

    Blu-Ray is pointless for most people...

    ... as is USB 3.0. There aren't many USB 3 accessories which don't also offer eSATA connections, and you can buy an eSATA card for a Mac Pro for pennies today. Hell, you can buy an eSATA ExpressCard for a Macbook Pro for about the same price too.

    Apple take a very minimalist approach to design. There's a saying among artists that the secret to good art is what you leave *out* and you see this approach in other fields, like sports cars, where even a basic CD player is often considered a luxury too far.

    Microsoft (and, therefore, most of Apple's rivals), have an "all you can eat" approach, which is an engineer's approach. It's a very different mind-set, where everything including the kitchen sink is slathered on in an attempt to lure customers by sheer weight of features—never you mind how bastard hard they are to actually use, it's only the feature count that matters!

    Neither USB 3 nor Blu-Ray have a massive user base, but if you want to add either technology to your Mac Pro, you're free to buy the kit. Apple won't stop you. (Also, Apple's iTunes and iDevice approach is clearly centred on *downloadable* content, so Blu-Ray is unlikely to appear in Apple's computers until Blu-Ray drive prices drop to the point where it no longer makes any sense to keep making DVD drives.)

  13. Stephen 10

    @Sean T-B

    "Hell, you can buy an eSATA ExpressCard for a Macbook Pro for about the same price too."

    Good luck plugging it into a unibody Macbook Pro though - ExpressCard was deleted from these

  14. Peter 48
    FAIL

    why bother?

    Or just get a dell (or any other PC) with an even higher spec for roughly 3/4 the price and with a workstation graphics card. Apple should just stick to making pretty looking tech fashion accessories.

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