New Mac Pro photo gallery: Inside and out!

I'm saying that this radical so called "desktop" design is akin to the G4 Cube, which didn't sell well and I seriously doubt that this will, for the same reasons. It's got mobile components, there is no internal expansion, and while you can plug in all the external components you can fit, it will be a mess of cables and devices. May as well get an iMac because this isn't really a "Desktop computer" with any expansion capabilities. Not impressed. That's what I'm saying.

mobile components???

The single reason it will flop:
NO expandability aside from maybe RAM and Thunderbolt (which isn't taking off, just like Firewire)
It looks great, but it's certainly not a Pro machine in this regard. What if you wanted to upgrade your graphics every 2 years? Not happening.

Damn. I love the look of this. Looks like it belongs on the Death Star. If anyone wants to buy me one.... Sent from the iMore App

haha I agree, I REALLY like it with the cover off. I wonder if you will be able to buy translucent panels for it so you can see the inside. .....that being said, once it has a bunch of cables sticking out the back, I think it will loose it's great look & more. It's design will easily show the rats nest of cables behind it :(

So.... targeting the steampunk market?

Nope. Not brass. No rivets or wood.

Only Apple can do this ..it is amazing..

Correction. Only Apple can do this...and get away with it. :D

I have no doubt the new Mac Pros will be a beast compared to the current aging lineup, but this seems to miss the target market. Mac Pros are by now a niche market, but that niche is utilitarian; they want power and, to a lesser extent, expandability. Industrial design that compromises either of these two works against the needs of those users.

Fair opinion. Got me thinking here. Good point about niche market and expandability. Sent from the iMore App

Nailed it. Is this an attempt to make Macs less upgradeable/tinkerable? If so, what power user wants a machine they can't ever upgrade? Very cool looking, but utilitarian? I suspect not.

How do you know what can and cannot be upgraded then?

Unless Apple has perfected TARDIS technology, where the inside is bigger than the outside, the more compact dimensions preclude quite a few upgrade options available in the current line of Mac Pros.

Hmm.. I think this is a case, with 6 Thunderbolt 2 ports, where they are of the mind that TB can replace the PCIe slots of old for most and I think they are correct. I do think the original TB spec of 100GB would have been more welcome in a Pro device like this. Question is, can you bind TB ports to get more speed for external video cards, etc? Like SLI does for video cards? From this standpoint; it's just as upgradeable, if not more, because TB 2 is basically a PCIe on a cable. The question is, is it before it's time? Since we still only have a minor number of TB chassis and the like and they are expensive currently. Time will tell. EDIT: Thinking about it, the next logical step, is stackable Mac Pro's and add-on chassis, linked by even faster TB3 or newer tech.. As Thunderbolt catches up to the OLD PCIe form-factor, I think it has the potential to replace it, minimizing the need to get 'into' a case. Giving a system like this even more longevity and expandability. Just add on a new chassis that does 'X' or 'Y'.. Why buy a new Mac Pro unless your needs demand it?

Also, this thing, with the sides off, reminds me of the star trek computer core as displayed in Voyager series.. just a mini-me version. ROFL!

There is no question that Apple *wants* expansion to go this way, via thunderbolt devices, but forget thunderbolt 2 -- thunderbolt 1 has not exactly taken the world by storm (chuckle) since its introduction. Until the vendors are there, no matter how theoretically capable thunderbolt may be, the bus ain't as upgradeable. For things like the pro video users you mention, I would also question why they would want external expansion. Once you put in your video card of choice, it stays in -- rarely, if ever, changing. I would much rather that be secure in the internal housing of the computer than two separate devices connected via cable. That goes triple if I am one of the myriad production houses that keeps computers in racks alongside other gear. Of course, you also have the concern with this design that current racks and cabinets will not hold this one, necessitating another set of purchases. If the final product is like this design, we have some these drawbacks for power users, and I doubt those users feel a sleek rounded design makes up for those drawbacks. If Apple pushes thunderbolt only, I suspect eventually vendors will follow suit, and then customers. But it seems like inflicting unnecessary pain on your high-end users. But, as you say, time will tell.

Hopefully, with the new Mac Pros announced, vendors will release more thunderbolt peripherals. I don't mind getting one for my imac, but the prices are simply way too outrageous!

I think people are mixing up what "upgradable" is. If I want to upgrade the GPU, how could I do that here? Yes, it ships with an awesome one, but it's a computer that people want to be able to upgrade internally. What if *I* want to spend the 5 minutes it takes to replace the HDD instead of having to ship it to Apple? Yes, I can plug in an external to boot off of, but then I have to run two things off of my battery backup (the Mac "Pro" and the External HDD). What if I already bought a PCIE card I like, why buy it again with ThunderBolt? It might be outdated, but still. I think it's not only to stop upgradability, but to make it so you have to get everything upgraded by and from Apple. RAM is usually highly marked up by Apple (and most other computer companies too), but this way you *have* to buy their RAM, no competition.

It isn't so much about expansion, but crucial necessary expansion. Storage is now easy to do externally. GPU, no so much. The weak link here seems to be GPU, unless what it has matches your needs. A friend of mine immediately said, "What about CUDA?" (As he works with a lot of video pros). I used to work heavily in 3D animation. What it has may or may not be what I'd need, but even if it is, for how long? Being able to update the GPU in a graphics workstation is critical on a pro box for that field.

Even Nvidia is openly supporting OpenCL which is does much the same thing as CUDA while being consortium led via Kronos. Adobe's Mercury Engine uses the GPU and I'm assuming OpenCL. We'll see see about GPU upgrades but I don't think it's going to be a big deal to many production houses.

That's good to hear. I'd never heard of CUDA, but it was something a friend seemed quite concerned about (and that video professionals would be concerned about). My background in the pro-machine market is 3D animation and rendering. OpenGL was king there, so this should be great. The only issue is that GPUs last about 2 years, so someone looking to keep this longer than that, in that market area, would need some way to keep with the latest GPUs.

I checked back with a friend who works with many of these people. According to him, he's never met one doesn't hate OpenCL. They see it as a beta type thing going nowhere. CUDA is stable, and pretty much their only option. And, we're talking stuff like 15 minute instead of under a minute, without CUDA. For stuff like After Effects, he says that unless something drastically changes, no CUDA is a no-go. Maybe Apple will have GPU options?

CUDA coming from a single vendor and being first to market basically has enjoyed a maturity that OpenCL has had to work to meet. Late last year though there was a milestone release http://www.vivantecorp.com/index.php/cn/media-article/news/104-khronos-r... to 1.2 that cleaned up much of the API. It's definitely going somewhere because with CUDA you can only use Nvidia GPU...with OpenCL you're working on Nvidia, ATI, Intel and possible more graphics vendors product. If you were designing software for the widest possible reach OpenCL 1.2 is looking pretty good for the wide net it casts.

It looks like R2D2 went to the dark side. I like it.

I'm looking for the spot where Obi Wan turned off the tractor beam.

"The Death Star plans are NOT in the main computer...they're in the new Mac Pro!"

Honey… I Shrunk the Cray! http://dooki.com/supercomputers/cray/1/cray.1.6.jpg

I just got a Macbook Pro recently and I want this next. It has to be the baddest-ass computer on the planet right now and that's both in looks and performance. This thing uses Intel's workstation and server processors. That alone is huge! "Can't innovate my ass", said Phil. LOL That'll show the doubters! Oh, by the way, Rene make sure you offer a free one of these along with the usual iPhone and iPad.

Beautiful design, nice job Apple.

It's a beautiful piece of design but it does kind of look like a trash can in the fourth pic.

It looks exactly like a trash can with an apple logo and some cable connections.

It looks nice but now I wish I could add a solid state drive to my iMac and I can't like a regular desktop. Is this pro user upgradeable?

Mac Pro nickname candidates:
- The Tube
- The Ashtray
- Pony Keg Any more?