# FaceBook page for demanding new Mac Pro's



## Jack Weaver (May 24, 2012)

https://www.facebook.com/MacProsPlease

Saw this link on AppleInsider.com - it looks like it's gaining some traction. People are demanding to know when/if there is going to be a new Mac Pro or if Apple is planning to discontinue the product.

Those interested might want to put in their 2 cents.

Here's the link to the article on AppleInsider:

http://www.appleinsider.com/article...s_traction_as_pro_users_seek_information.html

.


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## Waywyn (May 25, 2012)

Thats one of the reasons I am going PC soon.

The other reasons are:

- the general RAM system on OSX works different as it does on PC. Basically you can load more stuff on PC (even though it is not groundbreaking much). Please correct me if I am wrong, but this is what I heard many times from experiences of others

- the SSD "pipes" on Mac are slower than on PC, meaning the drives get slowed down because the busses are not able to handle the speed (yet). Again, please correct me

- The price. My new configured PC is 10.000 EUR LESS than the Mac (which not that good configurations)

I feel that Apple will dumb the pro market since it is not generating that much money, compared to what the company has to built. Meaning, an iPad is much cheaper and faster produced than a Mac Pro ... and an iPad will obviously sell much more than a Mac Pro.

Again, please correct me if I am wrong with anything. I am not about spreading some weird rumors, but all these things I heard from many people independently.


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## Ryan Scully (May 25, 2012)

I gave of hope of there being a refresh which is why I bit the bullet and purchased a new 6-Core this past March. I wanted to stay within the OS and Logic Pro and I couldn't be happier with it's performance thus far..




Ryan :D


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## Tatu (May 25, 2012)

Waywyn @ Fri May 25 said:


> Thats one of the reasons I am going PC soon.



Same here, though I've been on the verge of doing that for a couple of times in the past, mostly because of the true value of hardware that comes in the box. And Apple's policy to slowly prevent "anything" from working unless there's a 9,99$ extra cable or switch between the standard and Apple's choice.

What has prevented me doing so, thus far, has been the fact that Cubase just doesn't feel like my toy next to Logic Pro (and AFAIC that's the only option to me on Win environment).


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## Waywyn (May 25, 2012)

... but isn't "feel" something which can be adapted pretty quickly?
I mean it just takes a few days to completely change and get used to something ... but that Cubase on MAC and the hardware in general works worse than on PC will always stay. I mean even back then on the change from a dual core to my 8core Mac it felt that Cubase worked fine and cool ... but all in all I didn't see any significant improvement on the GUI itself ...


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## Simon Ravn (May 25, 2012)

Waywyn @ Fri May 25 said:


> Thats one of the reasons I am going PC soon.
> 
> The other reasons are:
> 
> ...



RAM - not true. Kontakt etc. use the same amount of RAM on PC/Mac as far as I can see. And it frees it properly after use. The problem is with PLAY on Mac that is still a POS software - if you only load samples once, all is good. If you switch to another project that requires PLAY, it will not free the RAM it used in the previous session. So loading a patch, then removing it, then loading it again, PLAY will use 200% of the RAM needed.

The SSD - guess you are talking about SATA 3gbit or 6gbit - correct, the current Mac Pros only have 3gbit throughput but that is still a LOT of samples streaming. And if a new Mac Pro surfaces, we can be pretty sure it will have 6gbit.


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## jamwerks (May 25, 2012)

When DP & PT go 64bit Windows, I imagine many will abandon Logic. PC is so much less expensive.


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## EastWest Lurker (May 25, 2012)

http://www.filmmusicmag.com/?p=8886


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## Carillonac1 (May 25, 2012)

Waywyn @ Fri May 25 said:


> - the general RAM system on OSX works different as it does on PC. Basically you can load more stuff on PC (even though it is not groundbreaking much). Please correct me if I am wrong, but this is what I heard many times from experiences of others
> 
> - the SSD "pipes" on Mac are slower than on PC, meaning the drives get slowed down because the busses are not able to handle the speed (yet). Again, please correct me



The RAM issue, and I've heard others talk about this, comes from fact that OSX was much slower into the full 64bit world then Windows so it's not relevant anymore. 

The real issue with OSX is how it handles multiple cores and C-states on the Intel chipsets, which is not as well as Windows in repeatable tests on cross platform software. Also with their current Mac Pros they went for 8 dimm slots when the chipset spec was for triple channel memory mode.

SSD drives really need to have a SATA III connection otherwise they are limited by the connection, also Trim support has bee slower coming in OSX, I think you still need some 3rd party application to get full Trim for aftermarket SSD you've added


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## Waywyn (May 25, 2012)

Thanks guys for clarifying! However, still lots of brainfarts going on with Macs (performancewise - thought I'd never say that )


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## Simon Ravn (May 25, 2012)

Regarding TRIM, that is of no relevance when talking about sample streaming, it only relates to a lot of writing.

And the Mac Pro supports tripple channel RAM transfers as long as you don't put RAM in all 4 slots - even if you do, I doubt that will have much impact on sample streaming, although it might decrease CPU efficiency a bit.

That said, I hope Apple come out with new MP's soon with 6gpbs SATA, Thunderbolt and of hopefully also USB3. I would still be more than happy to pay more cash than and "equivalent" PC because of OS X and how it (most of the time) just works 8)


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## Tatu (May 25, 2012)

Waywyn @ Fri May 25 said:


> ... but isn't "feel" something which can be adapted pretty quickly?



That is very much true, but you know, we're only humans so sticking with something familiar is the easy - not always cheap - way. And I'm rather pleased with my current MP, so I haven't really, truly and madly had the need to do the final switch. 

But I know it's inevitable if the things go as speculated... Though, that Jay's link had a good point in it.. so we'll see  Life's a one big mystery o/~


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## synergy543 (May 25, 2012)

Unless more people LIKE that page, the Mac Pro desktops will certainly go the way of the do-do. 

The current number of 8648 isn't even a blip on the internet radar. You'd think with social media, Mac artist around the world would be able to pull together in bigger numbers.

Where are all the pirates when you need them?


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## jleckie (May 25, 2012)

This site just proves Apples point of abandoning the Mac Pro line.


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## synergy543 (May 25, 2012)

Yes, Microsoft wins.

Apple is just an iphone company now. 

I don't mind a switch, its just the cost and time of doing so that concerns me. I end up becoming an IT librarian.


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## José Herring (May 25, 2012)

Unfortunately, 8648 is about the amount of people around the globe who even give a damn about the Mac Pro.

It's not Apple's fault.

Honestly, You can't blame Apple. The new xeon chips are utterly unimpressive spec wise and really can't be used for much more than for server use. Not only that the fastest new xeon chip running at the pretty slow speed of 2.7ghz cost over $3000. So you'd be looking at at least a $12,000 mac pro if they where to build it. Not too many people are going to hop on board.

If your'e a die hard mac fan I'd start look at the next gen Imacs using the I73930k chips. It will be faster than your current mac pro. With 8 gig sticks it could probably hold a decent amount of ram. Get an external sample drive and audio interface and you're good to go.

But, as it's looking now. New mac pro's that will out perform the current set in real world applications won't be out for at least another 1 year, given the time table that Intel updates its chips.

But given the direction of hardware, a new Mac pro will be a dinosaurs upon release. Even with 16 cores, Logic still doesn't do well with multiple cores, OS X is not doing so great with multiple cores, and the clock speed isn't that impressive on the next gen xeon chips. So, your plugins which still only use one core will eat up that 2.7ghz in no time.


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## jleckie (May 25, 2012)

iMacs are poorly designed to keep the heat inside. I would never even think about one for a pro studio.


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## Nick Batzdorf (May 25, 2012)

> Unfortunately, 8648 is about the amount of people around the globe who even give a damn about the Mac Pro



It could also be the number of people around the globe who even give a damn about petitioning Apple on a Facebook page. 

All I personally give a damn about is that Apple continue offering high-end machines that do what we need them to do. Given that the machine I bought in September 2008 is still kicking total arse, I can't see the urgency for them to come out with a new overly expensive machine.

(Overly expensive does not mean overpriced, it means too expensive for a freaking computer.)

As I've posted before, the tower design is getting longer and longer in the tooth. My prediction is that five years from now it'll be considered quaint.


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## midphase (May 25, 2012)

I agree with Nick...and make that right now.

I can't wait to get rid of my tower...the future is here, and it's portable!


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## Nick Batzdorf (May 25, 2012)

^ What Jay wrote in his article. Exactly. The idea that Apple won't offer something with the fastest processors and access to lots of RAM and storage is almost silly in my opinion.

Having said that, the iMac isn't the ideal solution for what we do. I see no reason to buy a new monitor every time.


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## midphase (May 25, 2012)

I agree with Nick...I wish that Apple made an option available to put the same processor in the Mac Mini as the iMac.

A Mac Mini with a 3.4GHz Quad-Core Intel Core i7 and 16 gigs of RAM would blow the doors off of my aging 8-Core Mac Pro!


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## midphase (May 25, 2012)

BTW, with a bit of filtering, I'm sure I could get my entire sample libraries to fit into a 256gig SSD drive (right now I have about 300 gigs of samples, but I sure as hell don't use most of them).

So 2 256gig internal drives in the Mac Mini (one for OS, other for samples) and I bet it would blaze!


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## José Herring (May 25, 2012)

Mac Mini would be cool, but if you get a powerful processor in there you'll burn it up. Good thing is that Intel is finding ways to use less power on the chips so we might be ripe for a i73930k Mac mini in the future.

I was only throwing the Imac out there to help soothe the tears.


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## Nick Batzdorf (May 25, 2012)

I'm sure there are also ways of cooling components in a small box, in fact it might be possible to use the heat to help drive a cooling system.


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## rgames (May 25, 2012)

Power computing is returning from whence it came: a niche that will be catered to by only a few specialty manufacturers. If Apple does drop the MacPro, it won't really be a surprise. In fact, as was already stated, I'd be surprised if many of the OEM houses (Apple or otherwise) continue to offer high-end computing hardware for much longer. I'm sure they'll gladly continue to take your money as specialty orders, but the day of mainstream power machines is probably behind us.

Power computing went mainstream because it was necessary for the things that most people do. Nowadays, 3-4 year-old-hardware is plenty sufficient and is matched by newer portable options. So why continue making those bulky tower systems?

It's not just Apple, that trend is everywhere in computing.

rgames


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## kitekrazy (May 26, 2012)

synergy543 @ Fri May 25 said:


> Yes, Microsoft wins.
> 
> Apple is just an iphone company now.
> 
> I don't mind a switch, its just the cost and time of doing so that concerns me. I end up becoming an IT librarian.



Not really. Those who use systems for audio, video and gaming are getting less attention. Portability is the main thing these days.

Just recently the AMD CEO announced they are moving towards those items as opposed to competing heavily with Intel's desktop processors.

We are a niche market which I think everything is going to be more expensive no matter which platform you use.


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## gsilbers (May 26, 2012)

its the old way of working. we are used to "a" way of working. 

my 2009 mac pro desktop pales in comparison to new imacs. and the new mac minis are about as fast. 

so whats different? well the sound card which requires PCIe. 

is thunderbolt faster than pcie? sure it is. (more expensive as well. ) 

but there arent many audio I/O with thunderbolt. once there is MADI thunderbolt interface im there. 

im guessing the next mac minis will be able to host more than 16gb of ram. 
HD space is also a bitch. itll have to be external drives which with thunderbolt, it shouldn't be a problem except that we'll need more ports.


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## Nick Batzdorf (May 26, 2012)

> We are a niche market which I think everything is going to be more expensive no matter which platform you use.



The Mac Pros are already much more expensive than they used to be.

These days they're $5000 by the time you're done. Yeah they last much longer (computer-years used to be 20 man-years, now they're more like ten), but the top-line machines used to cost under $3000.


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## NYC Composer (May 26, 2012)

Nick Batzdorf @ Sat May 26 said:


> > We are a niche market which I think everything is going to be more expensive no matter which platform you use.
> 
> 
> 
> ...



Since I know we have the same machine-sure I'd like more cpu cycles, but I still get by pretty well-you?


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## Carillonac1 (May 28, 2012)

josejherring @ Fri May 25 said:


> Honestly, You can't blame Apple. The new xeon chips are utterly unimpressive spec wise and really can't be used for much more than for server use. Not only that the fastest new xeon chip running at the pretty slow speed of 2.7ghz cost over $3000. So you'd be looking at at least a $12,000 mac pro if they where to build it. Not too many people are going to hop on board.
> 
> If your'e a die hard mac fan I'd start look at the next gen Imacs using the I73930k chips. It will be faster than your current mac pro. With 8 gig sticks it could probably hold a decent amount of ram. Get an external sample drive and audio interface and you're good to go.



Hi, just to correct on this point, the latest Xeons are exactly the same tech wise as the i7 3920 (well running at 3.1GHz vs 3.2) but with 8 cores and the extra lanes to run 2 (so 16 cores, 32 threads). How many people need that sort of power? Very few, I would say more video then audio but just wanted to correct this as we hear it quite a bit and it's people comparing old gen Xeons with new gen i7s


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## vrocko (May 31, 2012)

I wouldn't take it to seriously, but here is some hopeful news.
http://forums.appleinsider.com/t/150392 ... ax-mac-pro


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## Nick Batzdorf (May 31, 2012)

> Since I know we have the same machine-sure I'd like more cpu cycles, but I still get by pretty well-you?



Yup. It's still holding up really well.


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## whinecellar (May 31, 2012)

On a somewhat humorous note, Tim Cook was quoted the other day as saying Apple is going to "double down on product secrecy."

That's like saying the pope is going to become even more catholic 

Good times!


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## rgames (May 31, 2012)

Nick Batzdorf @ Thu May 31 said:


> > Since I know we have the same machine-sure I'd like more cpu cycles, but I still get by pretty well-you?
> 
> 
> 
> Yup. It's still holding up really well.


Twice in the last year I've decided to replace my four-year-old DAW (i7 920). Both times I've decided it's not worth it...

Got some nice new camera gear, though!

rgames


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## midphase (May 31, 2012)

Cool...what did you get?


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## jleckie (May 31, 2012)

whinecellar @ Thu May 31 said:


> On a somewhat humorous note, Tim Cook was quoted the other day as saying Apple is going to "double down on product secrecy."
> 
> That's like saying the pope is going to become even more catholic
> 
> Good times!



That made my day. Lol


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## Frederick Russ (May 31, 2012)

Interesting dream I had last night (and who knows if there is any validity in it, just sharing although hesitantly) - in the dream, Mac Mini Quad i7s were placed in some kind of a singular massive array - and could be grouped to be seen as a single computer - and could be stacked in some kind of shared processing dynamic. Anyway, dream only, not to be taken seriously.

Currently for composing - aside from the Mac Pro, I have two Mac Mini i7 Quad slaves, 12G Ram with 6G SSDs in each - really exceptional performance, super fast, and in some ways, run circles around the MP. Would be cool if they could figure out a way for shared processing array to be seen as a single unit.


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## stonzthro (May 31, 2012)

or allow 32 GB RAM in those little babies!


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## rgames (May 31, 2012)

midphase @ Thu May 31 said:


> Cool...what did you get?


I shoot Nikon - got the 24-70 f/2.8 a while back then ordered the D800E in Feb. Supposed to arrive tomorrow - been so many delays on that one that I'll believe it when I see it. Probably going to need a new machine, anyway, not for the DAW but to handle those 36 MP images from the D800E...

rgames


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## JJP (May 31, 2012)

Frederick Russ @ Thu May 31 said:


> ...in the dream, Mac Mini Quad i7s were placed in some kind of a singular massive array...



Had to quote this because I don't think I will ever read that phrase again in my life. :D


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## midphase (May 31, 2012)

rgames @ Thu May 31 said:


> I shoot Nikon - got the 24-70 f/2.8 a while back then ordered the D800E in Feb. Supposed to arrive tomorrow - been so many delays on that one that I'll believe it when I see it. Probably going to need a new machine, anyway, not for the DAW but to handle those 36 MP images from the D800E...



Nikon guy huh? Canon here...am waiting to see what they announce this month before figuring out how badly I need a mkIII.


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## midphase (Jun 5, 2012)

It would appear that all you all's whiny wishes will come true next week! 

http://www.macrumors.com/2012/06/05/mac ... next-week/


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## jleckie (Jun 5, 2012)

midphase @ Tue Jun 05 said:


> It would appear that all you all's whiny wishes will come true next week!
> 
> http://www.macrumors.com/2012/06/05/mac ... next-week/



ah- yes.


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## synthetic (Jun 6, 2012)

Hey look at that, Facebook campaigns work!


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