Apple Pay reached a new level yesterday when the company finally launched the latest version of its Mac Pro. If you spec it fully (including 1.5TB of RAM!) you can expect to pay $53 grand. Oh, and that’s without wheels. They cost an extra $400. Add the new Pro Display XDR and you need to find a further $5,000.
Apple blog
Long-time Macfilos readers will know that the blog started over ten years ago as a place to write about iPhones, Macs and iPods. I was a super fan. The Mac in the name is, therefore, no coincidence, even though I got rather bored writing about technology and turned my attention to photography. No point in changing the name, though.
But despite the move to photography and Leica in particular, I have lost none of my enthusiasm for Apple and I remain a great supporter of the company and its products. Mac, iPad, iPhone, AirPods, Watch and Home Pod. I’ve got the lot.
What I don’t have, though, is $53k for a Mac Pro. There are limits. It could even turn out to be a pretty bad iDea.
Rest assured. Despite my love of fine things, I’m not about to break the bank by ordering a Mac Pro and XDR display. I did a check (see above) and the cost here is over $71,000 even without the display.
I think I’d sooner buy a new Porsche for the same money — if I had it to spare, that is. It would probably be more fun and it would likely come with wheels. It wouldn’t depreciate as fast, either.
A slightly more modest configuration of a 12 core, 48 GB RAM (in anticipation of 47MP images to render) and 1TB SSD is about AUD 12.5k. Still a lot of money compared to the closest equivalent in a MacBook Pro 16 inch model which is about half the price.
It’s always fun to max out everything and watch the price ramp up. I suspect most photo types will do just fine at $7k-ish.
For people I know in the video biz (not my thing), if the streams can be edited without up/down conversion, then even a $20K configuration is worth the price of admission. For those I know in the industrial world- pharma, climatology, geologic, nuclear, $53K is relatively cheap. 1.5 TB of ECC ram alone is critical for large data sets. ECC is not cheap, but worth every penny to avoid errors. As far as 256 GB SSD in the ‘entry’ level, I’m not sure that matters with up to 12 (I think) Thunderbolt 3 ports connected to RAID arrays.
And for those same people, OS security is critical. No windows bashing here, but they tell me that unix beats windows any day. So any Apple tax is a security wash- less grief for IT (again, so I’m told).
For one guy in a shop (me) doing photos and NO video (gasp), it’s probably overkill. I have the 2013 cylinder with calibrated monitors; works fine, but I do miss TB3. The iMac Pro is only moderately tempting me. I would like to see an intermediate model- something like the 2013 Mac Pro, but 2X the size for thermal, beefed up, and coming in at $4 ~ $6K. Sort of like the iMac Pro, but no display. But that won’t happen. Sigh.
I agree with all this. My comments were somewhat tongue in cheek. Max out and don’t let facts get in the way of a good story. You are right that there will be a market for intermediate models, even the $6,000 base version.
I also agree that Apple does need a good intermediate computer that isn’t as basic as the Mini and not as restricting as the iMac. I currently have an old iMac with 5k display sitting unused. The screen is still good to go but the processor is too slow. I much prefer a separate computer and screen since a good screen can last much longer and cover several generations of computer. But I don’t hold my breath.
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“..but the processor is too slow..”..? ..That’s presumably a late 2014 or a 2015 iMac – and the processor’s too slow for what, Mike?
Apart from getting that Mac Pro (2013) to run Topaz software, I do pretty much everything on this 2013 MacBook Air ..that is, Mail (doesn’t need much poke), Safari (ditto, I s’pose), video and audio editing (fullHD, aka ‘1080p’, Turbo.264HD video compression), photo editing (iPhoto, Viveza 2, Photo Ninja 2, DxO Optics Pro, SilverFast scanning software, PhotoShrinkr photo compression, as well as iWeb webpage creation software and dozens, no scores more.
Maybe it just needs a software tweak or a bit more memory (max memory in a 5k iMac: 32GB!) or extra graphics memory ..no?
It’s just me, David, I got fed up with it and can’t remember precisely why. It does have 32GB of RAM, though…. Anyone want a bargain?
For that price I will buy a spare set of wheels. Just in case I wear a set out. Lol. I take it, this is aimed at your average Hollywood producer, or Tarantino wannabe. Who else would have that much spare cash burning a hole in their back pocket.
For the rest of us, just looking at the more normally priced bits of Apple tech, they will suffice.
Just bought a 2nd-hand trashcan Mac Pro (..and just took it back, as the USB capability, wi-fi and bluetooth kept disconnecting after 45 seconds..) for, er, a 54th the price of this new cheesegrater. Reason why? ..I’ve been using – sometimes – Topaz Labs’ “Sharpen AI” (..though not for the sharpening capability, but for its Focus capability ..correcting poor focus because of slight movement of anything or anyone in the picture).
It takes quite a bit of effort (..fan(s) running at full speed..) on my MacBook Air for the Focus AI facility to sample regions of the photo, display a corrected image, then apply that correction to out-of-focus areas (sometimes needed an extra few times), so I thought I’d get a (used) more powerful Mac to run that program. It should give faster results, too, instead of two or three mins per picture.
[My old cheesegrater (water-cooled Quad whatever-it-was) still works fine, but is outclassed nowadays by even the cheapest mac Mini. But it does have lots of storage space (..four internal disc drives, used for video editing..) compared with the MBA ..and, of course, with the external-drives-only trashcan Mac!]
And, that’s what the new Mac Pro should excel at – high definition movie editing. Not just home – or TV video editing, but editing cinema movies.
My old cylinder Mac Pro still has lots of life in it, and is still at low level spec. I have had it six years now, which is extraordinary good value.
So, I will wait for the Lenny Kravitz model of the new MacPro sometime in the next couple of years.
I can just see that brassing now… that patina…. mmmmm.
If you look at some of the official pictures it looks remarkably like a box cheese grater. Maybe it’s a dual purpose piece of equipment. Grated cheese and apple? Perfect!
I could buy enough Leica equipment to complete my desirable Leica inventory, and still have a bit of cash left over. If I bought online, I daresay my new-ish Windows box (approximate cost £1400) would help me spend the money just as quickly and easily as this monstrously-overpriced Apple thing.
For once I have to agree on the monstrous bit. I can’t imaging anyone or (perhaps more to the point) thinking this essential. But you never know, I suppose. They will find buyers I am sure.
And I bet it still comes without an SD card slot, Magsafe and a glowing Apple logo. My old cheap MacBook Air has all three and works just fine with photos and an external drive for extra storage
Fits on the passenger seat of a Porsche with room to spare and is just as classic!
The only thing that glows is the buyer’s bank balance….
Agreed Mike. That’s what I was really hinting at. Like you I used to be a super fan but sadly, I don’t think the products ‘glow’ anymore. I’m just hanging on to the Apple products I own but can’t bring myself to buy the new stuff. When the Apple staff heard my complaint about no SD card slot ( it’s only a hole with a connection I said, how much trouble could it be to include that? ) they shrugged it off telling me that SD cards are not used much now because MOST serious photographers are using the new type pf cards. Really Apple? Wonder if they have told Leica about this?Maybe Apple employees only use Nikon Z’s or something.Whatever, they certainly don’t know their customers.
Yep my 2012 macbook pro is still operational and has all of these things, which I find convenient and useful Stephen.