The iMac Pro in the USA starts at $4,999…
The Mac Pro is starting at $5,999…
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That makes the entry level MacPro seem like a comparative bargain but what’s the performance difference between the two? Personally I have zero idea of the relative specifications.
Having had some time to think about this further…
…I like the enclosure. Overall, it seems like a nice, hopefully robust box.
However as Linus Media Group pointed out, that 8-core base configuration would perform comparable to a standard 8-core Intel Core i9 based system, and when matched in graphics, memory and storage capacity, it’s almost double the price ($3,160 USD vs $5,999 USD). Even adjusted for inflation, compared to the Power Mac G5 and previous generations of Mac Pro, it’s the most expensive entry-level configuration for a professional computer they’ve ever produced, and by a decent margin.
So even if the professionals love it, the finance departments may not.
At the top end, it’s a little more enticing, since it’s the only machine that can deliver 128GB of HBM2 video memory (in 2x Dual Radeon Vega MPX Module configuration), and so anyone that wants those capabilities won’t find a better workstation at any price. Either NVIDIA or AMD could change that by the time the Mac Pro is released though, depending on their respective product roadmaps.
The SSDs are proprietary, which kind of blows, given the otherwise user-expandable nature of the machine. Of course the reason would be that Apple has moved a lot of the storage logic into the T2 chip. (I can’t stand that T2 chip in any machine given how restrictive it can be, but that’s a discussion for another time.)
General consensus is the Pro Display XDR is a good deal compared to other high end monitors, but someone in the marketing team dropped the ball in deciding to sell the stand separately, or at least presenting it the way they did. (Arguably it wouldn’t have seemed as bad to say “$5,999, or $5,299 for a VESA version”, compared to selling the $999 stand as a separate accessory.)
Proprietary SSDs???
Is that a first in Apple-land?
That’s crazy…
If you ever plan to run a PCIe slot based SSD(s) or need two GPUs there are benefits of a “workstation” than just a typical desktop may it be an AIO(iMac Pro) or a mainstream desktop board(Intel 8th/9th Gen or AMD Ryzen 2000). Keep in mind higher-end consumer AMD & Intel boards geared for gaming/content creation typically only have one 16x PCIe slot, one 8x slot and the other slots drop in PCIe lanes depending upon if you use the M.2 for a NVMe SSD–Intel boards with Thunderbolt 3 typically takes away 3-4 PCIe lanes(my Skylake system is extremely PCIe slot limited due to that). AMD Ryzen/ThreadRipper provide more PCIe lanes as Intel’s workstation platforms(HDET/Xeon) but there are unique trade-offs of OEM support-a big one is even after Intel opened up the possibility of Thunderbolt over USB-C for non-Intel platforms, it hasn’t taken off on AMD Ryzen/ThreadRipper.
Looking at the base specs you’re paying the premium for the extra engineering of a larger than “average” power supply(1280W) to handle all the PCIe slots being used, motherboard which supports lots of RAM(24-28 core model) and plenty of PCIe slots which many people in creative fields cried over since the shift from PowerMac 9600 to PowerMac G3 era.
As much as I laugh at Linus Tech Tips, they do have a point on the Core i9 but if someone needs to do serious work on a Mac you can’t Hackintosh. I would note there are plenty in the media industry who only use Final Cut X and Logic X due to the pain in the rear nature of waiting for Avid to do their own OS+hardware certification.
Good catch. My bad. I guess that means $8.5k starting here? 
$8500 would be a straight conversion from USD to AUD… But the AUD is dropping, so Apple AU will apply some degree of buffer.
Maybe it will only be $500 - ie $8,999… But I still think they will go higher. This isn’t going to be a fast moving machine in AU - at least, I’d bet they shift fewer units than previous Mac Pros due to the price / current exchange rate…
People are still getting decent mileage out of 2008 Mac Pros in 2019, so…
https://twitter.com/timweston/status/1135654118754795521
Hell of an outlay though.
Proprietary SSDs started with the 2013-era MacBook Pro / MacBook Air if I recall - NVMe drives with the connector pinout swapped around so an off-the-shelf drive couldn’t be fitted. (Adapters have since become available.) The non-Touch Bar Pro uses a removable SSD with a proprietary connector as well.
The difference - I believe - is that these SSDs are completely electrically proprietary as well, not just a different connector. A standard SSD integrates the NAND chips and the controller onto the module, but these Apple modules contain just the NAND chips, while the T2 chip on the Logic Board serves as the controller. The iMac Pro uses the same arrangement.
It’s theoretically possible for another manufacturer to produce NAND modules, but they’d need to be compatible with the T2 chip, and knowing how locked down it is, I’d be surprised if it were that simple.
There’s no service information out yet, so I suppose we’ll find out more when the first units start to ship.
As John Siracusa said on ATP Live, no-one is using this machine in 4 years if there’s an ARM transition next year. 
Thanks for the breakdown, @iMic 
I recall now the concerns about the T2 chip… Living as I do in 2010 I guess I’d forgotten.
Given that this is promoted as an upgradeable machine… surely Apple have to realise people will want to chuck their own drives in??
I’m tellin’ ya, they want to be elite again. They want we povs to buzz off. They are no longer interested in selling to the lower classes (like me).
I am pretty disgusted with the way they are going. Its a shame I have so much invested in software… Still, if push comes to shove…
Yeah no doubt in short run benchmarking apps. If you were actually render the next avengers movie the difference would be embarrassing. In fact that Linus dude no doubt knows this but is just click baiting.
On the drive issue, the companies buying these machines would have a wall, if not a warehouse of external raids would they not?
Definitely a halo device like formula 1 has been for Mercedes.
I wonder though, if when this thing becomes actually available there will also be a surprise, more prosumer version that uses standard intel chips for the run of the mill photography/ developer and even gasp gamers?
With a decent quality 4K and 5k thunderbolt monitor to go with?
Nah. All external. Either a serious NAS setup, enterprise-grade network storage (rack mounted RAID) or Thunderbolt drives.
The Afterburner card would make up the performance difference on the lower configuration, but anyone rendering the next Avengers movie wouldn’t have the lower end model to begin with, so it doesn’t matter.
The higher configurations, from a technology standpoint, are impressive. The base model hardware isn’t particularly special, but I suspect that doesn’t matter. It’s a Mac with expansion slots, and that alone will make it worth the cost of admission to the faithful.
Also somewhat interesting to note is that a rack mount optimised version is coming soon as well:
For customers who want to rack mount their Mac Pro in edit bays or machine rooms, an optimised version for rack deployment will be available this spring.
If Apple hadn’t stripped macOS server of most of its features last year, that would have been an appealing option for the businesses, educational institutions and Xserve holdouts that wanted a macOS server, but something a little more capable than a Mac mini. I suppose many of those services could always be installed manually, if that’s an option.
With the announcement and release of the 7,1 Mac Pro I have reached the end of my Apple machine life.
I was hanging out and hoping that there would be an announcement regarding Nvidia driver support, but alas nothing.
I am a virologist and a lot of our pipelines utilise CUDA and AI learning.
I am currently experimenting with getting Ubuntu to boot off an external SSD on my MacBook Pro 2016 and using a TB3 eGPU enclosure with a GTX1080 to try and get my work done.
I have a 5,1 flashed 4,1 Mac Pro as well as a genuine 5,1 Mac Pro that are my main work and home machines. If my MacBook experiment is unsuccessful, then I will attempt to native boot ubuntu on one of these and see if I can get my work done.
My next machine looks like it will be a 64 core AMD thread ripper running Ubuntu with dual RTX2080Ti’s. Apple doesn’t offer me anything anymore.
New Mac Pro is nice, but it is purely a video production machine. Apple have left the scientific compute community behind.
Oh well, it was a good 20 years of using Apple products.
I’ve started testing a PC build myself for other reasons. I’m on a 3,1, and I don’t think I’m going to be going up to a 4,1 or 5,1. The cost even to that, at Japan prices, is too high. The 7,1 is a good decade or more out of my price range. Lots of people left out in the cold by the 7,1’s huge jump in price versus previous base Mac Pros, and 4,1s/5,1s still demand a premium here. The value just isn’t there.
As I now work in IT, I’ve been given a lot of the major components of what a computer basically is (motherboard, CPU, PSU, RAM) for free, so I’m collecting some of the unlikely-to-change components new for a build to eventually replace my 3,1, and I’ll be moving to Linux Mint as soon as I get video editing on KDEnLive set up how I like. I haven’t built a PC since 2004, so I need to relearn. Luckily, with the motherboard, CPU, and PSU being the most expensive components, I can test my ability to put stuff together for fairly cheap and not skimp too much on the looks department for when I swap out these old test components for newer components.
That said, I’m having issues with the NVidia drivers on Mint with my GTX 660, and my 950 doesn’t even post, so… but I am sure I will figure it out.
For the “look” I went with:
Sharkoon TG4 Red - 6000 yen
I’m not going to bother to upgrade the the free components until the 3,1 won’t run the newest OS. It’ll apparently run Catalina, like Sierra/High Sierra/Mojave before it, but I would be shocked if we manage to get 10.16 to run. So then I’ll just sell the 3,1 all patched with Mojave, with a compatible video card (probably the GTX 770 in there now, or the 680 if I can get un-borked) as a total unit.
Looking at eBay… (cos I still look at the 5,1’s waiting for a better one to come along on the cheap ), I wouldn’t say there’s been an influx of offerings yet from people looking to upgrade…