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You are here: MacNN Forums > Hardware - Troubleshooting and Discussion > Mac Desktops > MacPro - Still No Thunderbolt (COME ON ALREADY)

MacPro - Still No Thunderbolt (COME ON ALREADY) (Page 2)
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subego
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May 28, 2012, 04:18 PM
 
Under a rock?
     
angelmb
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May 29, 2012, 11:13 AM
 
     
Eden Aurora  (op)
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May 31, 2012, 05:02 PM
 
MacPro! MacPro!
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cgc
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Jun 1, 2012, 09:38 AM
 
Good breakdown of the reasons Apple needs to perpetuate the MacPro.
     
angelmb
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Jun 2, 2012, 02:59 AM
 
Mac Pro !!
Mac Pro !!
     
Eden Aurora  (op)
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Jun 2, 2012, 08:22 AM
 
I know Apple like secrecy, but for a core product (once upon a time) like the MacPro - with so many people thinking the product is dead or will be dead; Apple is acting like an idiot for saying nothing. A simple, yes a new one is coming out in the future, would work. i'm not asking for specs or even a time frame, but the consumer needs to know if their products future is over.

For example, i would just go ahead and purchase a pimped out iMac, or am i waiting another 2 years, or waiting 2 years to then find out it's dead.
I eat turtle soup for breakfast
     
Person Man
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Jun 2, 2012, 08:31 AM
 
Originally Posted by Eden Aurora View Post
A simple, yes a new one is coming out in the future, would work.
The Osbourne Effect.

This is why Apple will never say "Yes, a new one is coming."
     
angelmb
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Jun 2, 2012, 05:16 PM
 
Source: Apple won't kill the Mac Pro

Jim Dalrymple of The Loop has put a damper on speculation that Apple could be preparing to kill off its Mac Pro desktop line. During his "Amplified" podcast with Dan Benjamin, Dalrymple responded with a simple "No" when asked if he though there was any chance that Apple would end the Mac Pro line. Dalrymple is said to have good connections within the secretive company, and he has a solid track record with regard to Apple predictions.
     
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Jun 5, 2012, 10:26 AM
 
An update at WWDC is starting to look likely. Now that the likely GPU for the top iMac has been released (GTX680M/GK104M) and Intel is shipping motherboards that support Thunderbolt with discrete graphics, all the pieces seem to be in place, and there are enough rumors that SOMETHING is coming down the pipe to start thinking that there's an awful lot of smoke. I simply cannot believe that they'll skip the MP if they do make updates of everything else.
The new Mac Pro has up to 30 MB of cache inside the processor itself. That's more than the HD in my first Mac. Somehow I'm still running out of space.
     
Eug
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Jun 5, 2012, 09:53 PM
 
Apple Pulls Mac Pro Stocks from Most Retail Stores Ahead of WWDC

Apple began recalling Mac Pro stocks from its retail stores several weeks ago, with retail store staff having been instructed to inform customers that they may still order the machines online.

A quick survey of roughly 100 U.S. Apple retail stores for availability of the entry-level stock Mac Pro model shows that nearly all of them are indeed out of stock for in-store pickup, although we did find four California stores and one Texas store with machines available for immediate pickup.


After nearly two years without an update, Apple to finally revamp Mac Pro next week

MD770LL/A – K5BPLUS,BETTER, BTR-USA
MD771LL/A – K5BPLUS,BEST,BTR-USA
MD772LL/A – K5BPLUS,ULTIMATE,BTR-USA
     
subego
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Jun 6, 2012, 01:12 AM
 
I want to believe...
     
FireWire
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Jun 6, 2012, 02:13 AM
 
Why recall them? Isn't it better to simply stop sending new machines and sell the remaining inventory?
     
BLAZE_MkIV
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Jun 6, 2012, 07:26 AM
 
They use them for warranty replacements.
     
Waragainstsleep
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Jun 6, 2012, 08:55 AM
 
I don't think they kept all that many in stock anyway.
I have plenty of more important things to do, if only I could bring myself to do them....
     
Eug
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Jun 6, 2012, 10:43 AM
 
Originally Posted by subego View Post
I want to believe...
New part numbers suggest Apple may refresh most of Mac lineup at WWDC

     
subego
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Jun 6, 2012, 03:39 PM
 
What's with the "standalone kit"?

Kinect-like sensor bar?
     
Eug
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Jun 6, 2012, 05:23 PM
 
Apparently accessories.
     
subego
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Jun 6, 2012, 07:40 PM
 
For what?

That's a ass-load of SKUs.
     
Eug
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Jun 6, 2012, 07:43 PM
 
Well, eSKUs me. J/K. I have no idea.
     
Waragainstsleep
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Jun 7, 2012, 04:48 AM
 
Apple thunderbolt RAID and/or PCI-E expansion chassis. To go with the rack-mountable Mac Pros. Heard it here first.
I have plenty of more important things to do, if only I could bring myself to do them....
     
Eden Aurora  (op)
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Jun 7, 2012, 09:06 AM
 
I eat turtle soup for breakfast
     
mduell
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Jun 7, 2012, 10:56 AM
 
Will they finally put a decent number of RAM slots in them?

Xeon E5 supports 12 slots/socket; most pro workstations only have 8 slots/socket while the servers have 12.
     
Waragainstsleep
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Jun 7, 2012, 11:51 AM
 
If you google 'apple standalone kit' the most common hits are for graphics cards. Most of them are for 5870 cards.
I have plenty of more important things to do, if only I could bring myself to do them....
     
Waragainstsleep
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Jun 7, 2012, 11:53 AM
 
Do many Mac users really need 400GB of RAM? There was a case for it when the G5s were powering supercomputers and bioinformatics clusters but I can't see many photoshop users or FCP guys would need that kind of RAM. Maybe Logic users but even then its a bit of a luxury.
I have plenty of more important things to do, if only I could bring myself to do them....
     
mduell
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Jun 7, 2012, 12:29 PM
 
Originally Posted by Waragainstsleep View Post
Do many Mac users really need 400GB of RAM? There was a case for it when the G5s were powering supercomputers and bioinformatics clusters but I can't see many photoshop users or FCP guys would need that kind of RAM. Maybe Logic users but even then its a bit of a luxury.
It's not so much about getting to 400GB (you'd want 12 slots/socket for that anyway), as it is affordably getting to 64-128+GB which is where today's pro workstations needs to be over their lifecycle. 8GB modules are triple the price of 4GB modules, 16GB modules are triple the price of 8GB modules, etc.
     
SierraDragon
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Jun 7, 2012, 01:29 PM
 
Originally Posted by mduell View Post
It's not so much about getting to 400GB (you'd want 12 slots/socket for that anyway), as it is affordably getting to 64-128+GB which is where today's pro workstations needs to be over their lifecycle. 8GB modules are triple the price of 4GB modules, 16GB modules are triple the price of 8GB modules, etc.
Exactly!
     
P
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Jun 7, 2012, 02:11 PM
 
AI has some updates on exact prices and likely updated computers.
The new Mac Pro has up to 30 MB of cache inside the processor itself. That's more than the HD in my first Mac. Somehow I'm still running out of space.
     
Waragainstsleep
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Jun 7, 2012, 05:29 PM
 
Even 64GB seems a hell of a lot right now though. I don't think I've ever seen more than 20GB in a Mac and that was only the one.
I have plenty of more important things to do, if only I could bring myself to do them....
     
Eug
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Jun 7, 2012, 05:52 PM
 
Just wondering: What is a 128 GB workstation used for?

I don't think I've ever heard anyone complaining about only having 8 memory slots in the Mac Pro.
     
mduell
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Jun 7, 2012, 06:15 PM
 
4 in the single socket is more of an issue than 8 in the dual.

A big benefit of a lot of RAM with a modern OS is disk caching. It's really nice when your 40GB of video footage or RAW photos are cached in inactive memory instead of read from disk.

FEA also loves a lot of memory for models/solvers, but there's not much of that being done on Macs.
     
SierraDragon
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Jun 7, 2012, 06:22 PM
 
Originally Posted by Eug View Post
Just wondering: What is a 128 GB workstation used for?
Graphics/images work.

I don't think I've ever heard anyone complaining about only having 8 memory slots in the Mac Pro.
As stated earlier, larger DIMMs cost much more. E.g my MBP is paging out at 8 GB RAM, so 2 slots is forcing me to relatively expensive larger DIMMs. The pricing concept also applies to MPs.

• RAM is (finally) cheap.
• 64-bit operation is (finally) mainstream and largely functional among OS, apps and hardware.
• Memory bandwidth is (finally) improving.
• Under OS X apps like Photoshop have been capable of benefiting from at least 32 GB RAM for many years.
• Digital image file sizes continue to get larger. E.g. Nikon just upped the ante in files sizes with 36 MP images from the relatively inexpensive D800 DSLR. Others will follow.
• DSLRs now produce video - which adds Mac processing not previously needed. Every photog now does video.
• Image processing continues to get more complex.
• 3D is becoming much, much more mainstream.
• More and more, lower level graphics folks are accessing pro-level tools.

Given the above, IMO designers must incorporate accessing large RAM amounts into their designs. Buyers should plan accordingly.

The life of a pro box is 3-5 years; appropriate RAM slots are not about what happened last year, they are about 2013-2017. Of course we will see demand in the range of 32-128+ GB RAM during the life cycle of MPs not yet even announced.

My 02.

Edit: All that said, 8 slots may remain adequate as DIMM densities increase. If 8x32 becomes cheap quickly enough maybe we do not need more slots.

-Allen
( Last edited by SierraDragon; Jun 7, 2012 at 07:10 PM. )
     
mduell
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Jun 7, 2012, 07:35 PM
 
I don't see 32GB DDR3 becoming reasonably priced.
But it should be with DDR4, which is coming: final spec this year, adoption 2013, volume 2014.
     
subego
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Jun 7, 2012, 09:54 PM
 
Originally Posted by Waragainstsleep View Post
Apple thunderbolt RAID and/or PCI-E expansion chassis. To go with the rack-mountable Mac Pros. Heard it here first.
Why so many SKUs?
     
P
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Jun 8, 2012, 03:25 AM
 
Oh man you guys are going to be disappointed when the MP arrives with one slot per channel...
The new Mac Pro has up to 30 MB of cache inside the processor itself. That's more than the HD in my first Mac. Somehow I'm still running out of space.
     
Waragainstsleep
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Jun 8, 2012, 04:49 AM
 
Originally Posted by subego View Post
Why so many SKUs?
One storage chassis like an Xserve RAID replacement
One FCP box with video capture and a GPU
One Logic Pro box with various audio cards
One general purpose PCI-E expansion box

How many were there again?

I have plenty of more important things to do, if only I could bring myself to do them....
     
SierraDragon
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Jun 8, 2012, 10:23 AM
 
Originally Posted by P View Post
Oh man you guys are going to be disappointed when the MP arrives with one slot per channel...
I would love to see >1 slot per channel. It seems to me that extra slots in the box would be cost-effective for users.

However IMO one slot per channel is OK for 8 or more cores so long as RAM prices keep falling like they have for decades. And of course the supported addressable RAM per core needs to be at least 16 GB; as of today Apple still says "Mac Pro supports 8GB registered DIMMs (R-DIMMs) for up to 64GB of memory in 8-Core and 12-Core systems." Stating just 64-GB in a 12-core system is totally lame.

In reality it was the 4-core that was the main issue. That box at its selling price was an insult.
( Last edited by SierraDragon; Jun 8, 2012 at 10:34 AM. )
     
mduell
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Jun 8, 2012, 01:40 PM
 
Originally Posted by P View Post
Oh man you guys are going to be disappointed when the MP arrives with one slot per channel...
I know, at least with 4 slots/socket in the new box we'll have 1 channel/slot.
     
Eden Aurora  (op)
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Jun 9, 2012, 09:16 AM
 
I'm not entirely sure if the New MacPro that gets announced will be an enormous leap over the old one.
I would think that waiting this long (years) the new machine will dominate the old, but it may be just a minor update when all is said and done.

it may just be 20% gain. i'm looking for 50% gain after the long winter we had to endure.
I eat turtle soup for breakfast
     
mduell
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Jun 9, 2012, 01:19 PM
 
Are your tasks CPU-bound and well threaded? If so you should see a huge gain.

Are your tasks disk-bound and you're already on SSDs? If so you'll see very little gain.
     
SierraDragon
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Jun 9, 2012, 02:05 PM
 
Originally Posted by Eden Aurora View Post
I'm not entirely sure if the New MacPro that gets announced will be an enormous leap over the old one.
I would think that waiting this long (years) the new machine will dominate the old, but it may be just a minor update when all is said and done.
it may just be 20% gain. i'm looking for 50% gain after the long winter we had to endure.
Not to worry, gains will be substantial. Check here
Mac Benchmarks - Geekbench Browser
a few weeks after release for Geekbench scores.
     
Eden Aurora  (op)
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Jun 11, 2012, 02:57 PM
 
It's 3pm on June 11th. Conference just ended. No new Mac Pro's.
ARE YOU KIDDING ME?
I eat turtle soup for breakfast
     
Don Pickett
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Jun 11, 2012, 02:59 PM
 
Unfortunately, I would say it's time to stick a fork in the Mac Pro. It's probably done.
The era of anthropomorphizing hardware is over.
     
anthology123
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Jun 11, 2012, 02:59 PM
 
So much for all the predictions that the Mac Pro would be updated at WWDC. I guess it's onto the next Apple Event, or wait for a "quiet" update.
     
Person Man
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Jun 11, 2012, 03:06 PM
 
Originally Posted by Eden Aurora View Post
It's 3pm on June 11th. Conference just ended. No new Mac Pro's.
ARE YOU KIDDING ME?
Originally Posted by anthology123 View Post
So much for all the predictions that the Mac Pro would be updated at WWDC. I guess it's onto the next Apple Event, or wait for a "quiet" update.
Originally Posted by Don Pickett View Post
Unfortunately, I would say it's time to stick a fork in the Mac Pro. It's probably done.
WWDC is not over yet. That was just the keynote. If the Mac Pro is going to be updated it will probably be done quietly. The Apple Store isn't even back online yet. Let's wait and see what happens when it comes back.
     
Eden Aurora  (op)
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Jun 11, 2012, 03:23 PM
 
Apple Store is back online. No update to the Mac Pro.
Person Man, don't ever give me false hope again.
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Don Pickett
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Jun 11, 2012, 03:27 PM
 
There ARE new Mac Pros at the Apple store: same box, new processors.

Looks like nothing else changed: no USB 3.0, etc.
The era of anthropomorphizing hardware is over.
     
Person Man
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Jun 11, 2012, 03:40 PM
 
Originally Posted by Eden Aurora View Post
Apple Store is back online. No update to the Mac Pro.
Person Man, don't ever give me false hope again.
There ARE new Mac Pros on the store. Not much else has been changed other than the processors, it seems. Lame update.
     
P
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Jun 11, 2012, 03:41 PM
 
Something is off. I can see the "New" tag, but the specs seem to be the old ones?
The new Mac Pro has up to 30 MB of cache inside the processor itself. That's more than the HD in my first Mac. Somehow I'm still running out of space.
     
Eug
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Jun 11, 2012, 03:42 PM
 
Originally Posted by Don Pickett View Post
There ARE new Mac Pros at the Apple store: same box, new processors.

Looks like nothing else changed: no USB 3.0, etc.
Wow, that's pretty lame, esp. considering they start at US$2500. No wonder they didn't say anything about it.
     
Don Pickett
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Jun 11, 2012, 03:44 PM
 
Originally Posted by P View Post
Something is off. I can see the "New" tag, but the specs seem to be the old ones?
New processors in the dual-processor models: E5645. Looks like the same W3565 in the base model. Not sure if the six-core single processor system has the same W3680.
The era of anthropomorphizing hardware is over.
     
 
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