I can’t speak to what the other five types of users need, but I have a pretty good idea of what I’d want as an iOS developer who uses a Mac every day. Not that anyone in Cupertino is asking me, but if they did I’d say this is my dream Mac.
A very nice article on what’s needed from a developer’s point of view.
It’s a good list. I think a LOT of Podcasts are getting boring complaining about this whole MacPro and Apple doesn’t care about the Pro market. ATP is one of the biggest culprits, Marco being the person who has spent multiple episodes bitching about it. Thank God Siracusa is on that podcast as the voice of reason. But it also has filtered to podcasts like Cortex with CGP Grey. It really sounds like 5 year olds saying that they want the new shiny firetruck that everyone else has.
For me, I’m still using a 2008 MacPro (Siracusa style one). I have upgraded many things on it, but it still works JUST FINE. I can mix multiple Logic and ProTools tracks with a fairly heavy load of plugins without issue.
What I would want is a MacPro that you could upgrade things on. Internal storage and RAM mainly. The GPUs I guess are important to Final Cut users, but until Logic or other audio apps start using the GPUs for things (and I don’t think they use them for anything at the moment) then whatever GPU is fine but it should be upgradeable.
The thing I would want is access to high speed storage. Now, it doesn’t need to be internal. External is fine, but I should be able to access it fast without slowing down other things. So it shouldn’t share a bus or pathway with other things like USB C. Or if it is USB C/Thunderbolt, then make sure every port has it’s own dedicated pathway.
That’s all. I’m sure it will be a great machine when it comes out, I’ll continue to use my 2008 MacPro even though 2/3 of ATP considers it ancient technology (sorry, we all can’t afford Teslas and getting new tech every week). It’s not the new shiny firetruck, but it is a workhorse and hands down the best Mac I’ve owned (started with a Mac II, then a Quadra, then a 9600, then an iMac, then my MacPro). Hopefully it will last for another year until I can get my hands on a new MacPro.
I think the hardware side is relatively easy. It’s likely going to be the OS integration that makes or breaks the next Mac Pro. Getting graphics drivers sorted and IO operations optimized is what will likely make the biggest difference to professional workflows.
Some form of novel support for VM-based workflows could be interesting, but I don’t see that happening.
I’m no dev, but this kid’s pretty congruent with me.
Yeah that’s the list. It really isn’t too hard from a hardware feature point of view and I do worry that they’re trying to over-engineer this. Honestly, it needs to be a box with a motherboard that lets you do the things he outlines. Make sure you’re using the fastest version of things like RAM, SSD and video connection. Toss in 6 or 8 USB-C ports, an Ethernet port. Let people add in cards via PCI-e (and, as he says, perhaps not even worry about covering that under AppleCare…. ) and boom, you’re done.
As a video editor / multimedia producer (one person company), I’d agree with these points.
What I’d like:
enough so i can simultaneously attach three screens, an old usb-keyboard, a usb-mouse, 2 portable external drives, one external raid, 1-2 card readers; enough bandwith to attach additional usb/thunderbolt hubs if necessary.
things i’d maybe still use, but can do without (use adapters, external solutions) for the sake of progress/nice design
things i personally don’t need:
– small footprint
– dual ethernet
– internal card-reader (a sd-card reader is nice to have, but i’d need at least one for other card-formats anyway)
– separate headphone/audio out
– a keyboard with the current hardly-any-travel/scissor mechanism
i’d also take a stackable design where i could exchange/add features at will (e.g. another core computing unit containing ram, cpu, mainboard; a pci-unit, a gpu-unit, a connectivity unit, a storage unit,…), or a rack-mounted solution where you’d just connect the busses of the components – but i guess that’s probably not very practical nor cost efficient from a design-standpoint.
“If you’re going to give me a modular system, I’m going to want to move my Time Machine backup internal…”
How to tell when someone’s unfamiliar with the concept of backups.
The GTX 1080s are what I have my eyes on for upgrading my PC desktop to. I’d gladly take one in my Mac Pro too.
I don’t need multiple GPUs personally. I’m just a software developer
who doesn’t do any game work. I just want to ensure that I have the best
GPU I can get when I buy this so that I can ensure that macOS performs
as well as it can for a few years. No stuttering when I toggle Mission
Control!
Crazy.
For a modular tower, the entire point is options.
A GTX 1080 is $500 retail, and for “developing” non-game stuff, it’s utter ludicrous overkill.
I assure him a 1050 or 950 will keep Mission Control happy for the life of his computer.
… aren’t the needs you described perfectly handled by an i7 iMac with a Thunderbolt drive array or the like?
Their RAM is upgradable, and an internal flash drive shouldn’t need to be poked at.
I mean, if a 2k8 Pro is working great, the current i7 iMac would be a big step up at less-than-pro prices.
Plus a brilliant monitor built in.
The “Big Mac” issue with PCIe has always been drivers, I’ve found.
(I’d love to see if Apple has any data on Mac Pro usage, especially “what percentage of users ever put in even a single PCIe card”.
I’d be surprised to see it in double digits, and bet serious money it doesn’t exceed 20%.)
Not if he’s using it as poor-man’s revision control or “oh, damn, I need that original from my workflow, now deleted”.
Not TM’s primary purpose, and not the tool I’d pick, but for Emergency Oopses it works?
i think his post is about upgradeability and sustainability. for $3k it would be nice to have a machine that is faster than the imac because it trades speed for the imac’s monitor (which you have to throw away with the machine).
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would have worked for me last year, when my internal data-hd crashed and then I dropped an external backup-drive a few days later. probably not the ideal solution but if you’re somewhat familiar with the concept of backups there’s always the second, off-site backup anyways.