Mac Pro: A computer for those who understand why it is needed. And only for them
When I was asked to write about Mac Pro, I initially refused. Not because the new wonder-computer Apple is not interesting, not at all. It is simply not very correct to evaluate professional tools if you are not a professional of this kind. Roughly speaking, if a fifth-grade music school student is given a Stradivari violin to practice, he is unlikely to appreciate it and demonstrate all its advantages.
In response to the refusal, I heard that many thousands of people around the world are waiting for my assessment of Mac Pro. Blatant flattery is an effective tool of persuasion, and after a couple of days, this perhaps the most unusual desktop computer in the world came to the editorial board of Mira PC.
')
I already wrote a little about him in a report from the October Apple press conference, where Mac Pro was first shown alive , without a glass cap. Nowadays, when stationary computers are of little interest to anyone, Apple managed to attract serious attention to its creation even against the background of the new iPad and MacBook Pro. Still, it’s never so powerful, I would even say that the uncompromising computer was not so compact and quiet. Yes, and the exterior to match, which has nothing to do with traditional system blocks.
But as they say, there is a nuance. When we see the Pro next to the MacBook, we understand - it is written for fun. In fact, using such a laptop in full growth can not only a seasoned designer or video editor, but also an amateur posting photos of food and cats on social networks. The screen, the speed of work, the powerful battery, the convenient keyboard - all this is good for solving absolutely any problems. But Mac Pro - it really sharpened by professionals working with complex 2D and 3D graphics, processing video with the highest resolution, recording multi-channel sound, etc. etc. A lover of cats may not notice any difference at all, for example, with Mac mini. That with at least a fivefold difference in price can cause conflicting emotions.
Official portrait
I'm just a Mac mini user. The older version of this wonderful little computer has been on my desk for about a year and, in spite of the past generation processor, satisfies my home needs completely and completely. A set of texts, processing RAW-files from the camera Sony DSC-RX100, occasionally - editing video in Full HD. And, of course, fierce, indomitable Internet surfing. There was an idea to replace the classic hard drive with an SSD, but after increasing the amount of RAM from 4 to 6 GB, the small slowdowns completely disappeared, and I decided to just wait for the new version on Haswell.
And now Mac Pro. It is sold in a completely compact box that can be put in a corporate bag and carried home in hand. Weight - about five kilograms, not much tired. Inside we are suddenly greeted by ... pieces of foam. Of course, they are quite elegant against the background of fellows from under the boxes with TVs and monitors, but I personally did not come across foam plastic in Apple packaging before. Perhaps, to get in touch with such an exquisite device, it was worthwhile to use a cork, since the task of austerity in this case was clearly not the case. But - as it is. In the box are only the computer itself and the power cable. Everything else is offered to purchase on their own, based on their own needs and capabilities.
The six Thunderbolt connectors are, of course, very cool. But here I would personally like more USB.
And you can buy a lot of things. Keyboard, mouse, trackpad - this is understandable. And a decent speaker system (with or without wires), a monitor (up to three standard ones with resolutions up to 4K, or as many as six using the Thunderbolt interface), external drives (USB or Thunderbolt, as you see fit) and so on and so on will not hurt . By the way, if you, like me, have a newfangled monitor with a resolution higher than Full HD, you won't need special expensive adapters to connect your Mac Pro to you, just an ordinary HDMI cable is enough. Thanks to Apple for introducing support for HDMI 1.4.
I ordered to study the younger version of Mac Pro, although even its characteristics make a strong impression. 4-core Intel Xeon E5 with a base frequency of 3.7 GHz (under load up to 3.9 GHz), 16 GB of RAM, two AMD FirePro D300 graphics cores with two gigabytes of GDDR5 VRAM on each (for those who do not like big names, I’ll clarify analogs of Radeon HD 7850). Only the amount of SSD (256 GB) hinted that we have a basic model. But, given the six Thunderbolt connectors, there is no problem connecting an external drive and using it at the same speed as a regular internal HDD or SSD. I emphasize - it is just ordinary, because your SSD in Mac Pro is simply prohibitively fast, and it’s impossible to catch up with something external. 900 megabytes when reading and writing - this is not a joke.
With the cover removed, Mac Pro looks almost more impressive than with it. It's just some kind of engineering orgasm. Everything is not only thought out to the smallest detail, but simply beautiful.
Even the textolite memory modules - and the one in tone!
And could put the usual Hynix, like everyone else.
If you lack the capabilities of the listed hardware, and the money is still full, Apple offers many interesting opportunities to spend them. First, pay attention to the second standard Mac Pro configuration with a 6-core Xeon E5 and two AMD FirePro D500 (3 GB of video memory per chip). Finally, for the most demanding and wealthy people, it is possible to create their own configuration with a 12-core Xeon E5, 64 GB of RAM, a terabyte SSD and two AMD FirePro D700 with 6 GB of GDDR5 video memory on each. The size of the computer will not change.
Impressive? Personally, me - right to shiver. Especially considering the fact that the Mac Pro is virtually silent. The heat under load lightens properly, so I would not advise putting chocolates on it. But it makes no noise. For those who work a lot (it works, and not just sits) at the computer this is a very important argument in favor of the new Apple product. Because it is easy to make a powerful system, but to force it to behave imperceptibly - the task is still there. And before it was believed that in such compact dimensions simply unsolvable. It also uses one large propeller turbine type, which is installed on top and pulls the air through the entire body. Perhaps this imposes certain obligations on cleaning the table and the room as a whole. Because it is much easier and cheaper to remove dust from a vacuum cleaner bag than to extract it from the depths of Mac Pro. By the way, the system is turned on with a sound that resembles the start shaking of the hard disk heads. Funny feeling.
Setting up a new Apple computer is traditionally simple - just connect to your home network and feed him the saved Time Machine image. After about an hour, all settings and applications from Mac mini were on Mac Pro. I sat behind him and began to do the usual things, listening to the sensations. The sensations were silent. There was no difference with Mac mini at all. More precisely, the presence of SSD significantly reduced the boot time, and the applications opened more vigorously, but in general - exactly the same picture.
Launched Photoshop CC, began to impose on photos favorite effects. And again I did not feel anything. As it was all fast - and left. Knowledgeable guys advised to open something 40-megapixel and create twenty layers. Then, they say, you will penetrate. But my designer career ended 14 years ago and, most likely, will not resume. Therefore, I did not experiment with the layers. But the performance of Mac Pro no doubt.
In video processing, Final Cut Pro X uses not only the processor, but also the graphics cores. Therefore, it is impossible not to notice the acceleration. It takes about four times less to create a finished video than on Mac mini with its mobile Core i7 and Ivy Bridge integrated graphics. But if in the case of Full HD, we just have a pleasant acceleration of work, then when switching to 4K resolution, Mac Pro becomes the only truly effective working tool in the current Apple clip. In the end, the difference between 10 minutes and half an hour is good, but not critical. But when you have a choice between half an hour and two hours ...
As for the advantages of high-quality sound editing, I repent that I don’t understand anything at all, and if so, I won’t even try to depict an expert. But knowledgeable guys say - sensible thing.
What is my conclusion on acquaintance with Mac Pro?
If you are a very wealthy person and at the same time, continuous editing of 4K video is not part of the tasks you solve on a computer, mixing albums of domestic pop stars of the first echelon and lifting the bust after photo shoots for glossy magazines, you shouldn’t buy Mac Pro. Kohl money harness pocket, buy an iPad, iPhone, a couple of MacBook Pro, Mac mini in every room of a country house and a 27-inch iMac in the office. Seriously, it will be much more confusing. Because in typical home office applications, the advantages of Mac Pro cannot be felt. Even in games, he fights on equal terms with the 27-inch iMac of the new generation, especially if you don’t be greedy on the GPU of the latter (by the way, my Mac mini sample overtook seven times in the new Tomb Raider). If you really simplify it, putting Mac Pro at home is as logical and convenient as cutting a bread with a medical scalpel. Your liking will make an impression on someone, but the majority will twist a finger at a temple.
Mac Pro is a product for professionals. For those who every day shovels serious amounts of data, no matter what kind - graphic, multimedia or scientific. Here for them (more precisely, for those of them who feel at ease in the OS X environment) this computer will become an extremely useful acquisition and - as a bonus - a solid decoration of the desktop. Taking into account the fact that there are no analogues on the market (I’m talking about a combination of performance and form factor), the price does not look too high.
By the way, about the price.
In the official Apple online store, the basic configuration of Mac Pro costs 124,990 rubles. As a bonus, you will receive free shipping to major cities in Russia. Improved configuration will cost 167 990 rubles. Well, if you roam, and using the configurator to set all the parameters to the maximum, Mac Pro will cost 413,270 rubles and one penny. This, I note, without any accessories and additional software, and with them (and with monitors) the price is easy to catch up with thousands to seven hundred.
Well, budgetary? Not really? So I’m saying that it’s strange to buy as fun. But if projects running on a computer bring you at least a thousand dollars, and if productivity increases, their number can even double - why not? Or, say, it will be possible to finish with work at seven in the evening, and not twelve ...
In general, we have one of the few devices where reference to professionals in the name is not marketing games, but a statement of fact. And if the unique design proves to be reliable, as much more cumbersome counterparts - honor and praise Apple.
And I still wait for the update Mac mini. Because my primary data center cannot yet be moved out of the skull.
In response to the refusal, I heard that many thousands of people around the world are waiting for my assessment of Mac Pro. Blatant flattery is an effective tool of persuasion, and after a couple of days, this perhaps the most unusual desktop computer in the world came to the editorial board of Mira PC.
')
I already wrote a little about him in a report from the October Apple press conference, where Mac Pro was first shown alive , without a glass cap. Nowadays, when stationary computers are of little interest to anyone, Apple managed to attract serious attention to its creation even against the background of the new iPad and MacBook Pro. Still, it’s never so powerful, I would even say that the uncompromising computer was not so compact and quiet. Yes, and the exterior to match, which has nothing to do with traditional system blocks.
But as they say, there is a nuance. When we see the Pro next to the MacBook, we understand - it is written for fun. In fact, using such a laptop in full growth can not only a seasoned designer or video editor, but also an amateur posting photos of food and cats on social networks. The screen, the speed of work, the powerful battery, the convenient keyboard - all this is good for solving absolutely any problems. But Mac Pro - it really sharpened by professionals working with complex 2D and 3D graphics, processing video with the highest resolution, recording multi-channel sound, etc. etc. A lover of cats may not notice any difference at all, for example, with Mac mini. That with at least a fivefold difference in price can cause conflicting emotions.
Official portrait
I'm just a Mac mini user. The older version of this wonderful little computer has been on my desk for about a year and, in spite of the past generation processor, satisfies my home needs completely and completely. A set of texts, processing RAW-files from the camera Sony DSC-RX100, occasionally - editing video in Full HD. And, of course, fierce, indomitable Internet surfing. There was an idea to replace the classic hard drive with an SSD, but after increasing the amount of RAM from 4 to 6 GB, the small slowdowns completely disappeared, and I decided to just wait for the new version on Haswell.
And now Mac Pro. It is sold in a completely compact box that can be put in a corporate bag and carried home in hand. Weight - about five kilograms, not much tired. Inside we are suddenly greeted by ... pieces of foam. Of course, they are quite elegant against the background of fellows from under the boxes with TVs and monitors, but I personally did not come across foam plastic in Apple packaging before. Perhaps, to get in touch with such an exquisite device, it was worthwhile to use a cork, since the task of austerity in this case was clearly not the case. But - as it is. In the box are only the computer itself and the power cable. Everything else is offered to purchase on their own, based on their own needs and capabilities.
The six Thunderbolt connectors are, of course, very cool. But here I would personally like more USB.
And you can buy a lot of things. Keyboard, mouse, trackpad - this is understandable. And a decent speaker system (with or without wires), a monitor (up to three standard ones with resolutions up to 4K, or as many as six using the Thunderbolt interface), external drives (USB or Thunderbolt, as you see fit) and so on and so on will not hurt . By the way, if you, like me, have a newfangled monitor with a resolution higher than Full HD, you won't need special expensive adapters to connect your Mac Pro to you, just an ordinary HDMI cable is enough. Thanks to Apple for introducing support for HDMI 1.4.
I ordered to study the younger version of Mac Pro, although even its characteristics make a strong impression. 4-core Intel Xeon E5 with a base frequency of 3.7 GHz (under load up to 3.9 GHz), 16 GB of RAM, two AMD FirePro D300 graphics cores with two gigabytes of GDDR5 VRAM on each (for those who do not like big names, I’ll clarify analogs of Radeon HD 7850). Only the amount of SSD (256 GB) hinted that we have a basic model. But, given the six Thunderbolt connectors, there is no problem connecting an external drive and using it at the same speed as a regular internal HDD or SSD. I emphasize - it is just ordinary, because your SSD in Mac Pro is simply prohibitively fast, and it’s impossible to catch up with something external. 900 megabytes when reading and writing - this is not a joke.
With the cover removed, Mac Pro looks almost more impressive than with it. It's just some kind of engineering orgasm. Everything is not only thought out to the smallest detail, but simply beautiful.
Even the textolite memory modules - and the one in tone!
And could put the usual Hynix, like everyone else.
If you lack the capabilities of the listed hardware, and the money is still full, Apple offers many interesting opportunities to spend them. First, pay attention to the second standard Mac Pro configuration with a 6-core Xeon E5 and two AMD FirePro D500 (3 GB of video memory per chip). Finally, for the most demanding and wealthy people, it is possible to create their own configuration with a 12-core Xeon E5, 64 GB of RAM, a terabyte SSD and two AMD FirePro D700 with 6 GB of GDDR5 video memory on each. The size of the computer will not change.
Impressive? Personally, me - right to shiver. Especially considering the fact that the Mac Pro is virtually silent. The heat under load lightens properly, so I would not advise putting chocolates on it. But it makes no noise. For those who work a lot (it works, and not just sits) at the computer this is a very important argument in favor of the new Apple product. Because it is easy to make a powerful system, but to force it to behave imperceptibly - the task is still there. And before it was believed that in such compact dimensions simply unsolvable. It also uses one large propeller turbine type, which is installed on top and pulls the air through the entire body. Perhaps this imposes certain obligations on cleaning the table and the room as a whole. Because it is much easier and cheaper to remove dust from a vacuum cleaner bag than to extract it from the depths of Mac Pro. By the way, the system is turned on with a sound that resembles the start shaking of the hard disk heads. Funny feeling.
Setting up a new Apple computer is traditionally simple - just connect to your home network and feed him the saved Time Machine image. After about an hour, all settings and applications from Mac mini were on Mac Pro. I sat behind him and began to do the usual things, listening to the sensations. The sensations were silent. There was no difference with Mac mini at all. More precisely, the presence of SSD significantly reduced the boot time, and the applications opened more vigorously, but in general - exactly the same picture.
Launched Photoshop CC, began to impose on photos favorite effects. And again I did not feel anything. As it was all fast - and left. Knowledgeable guys advised to open something 40-megapixel and create twenty layers. Then, they say, you will penetrate. But my designer career ended 14 years ago and, most likely, will not resume. Therefore, I did not experiment with the layers. But the performance of Mac Pro no doubt.
In video processing, Final Cut Pro X uses not only the processor, but also the graphics cores. Therefore, it is impossible not to notice the acceleration. It takes about four times less to create a finished video than on Mac mini with its mobile Core i7 and Ivy Bridge integrated graphics. But if in the case of Full HD, we just have a pleasant acceleration of work, then when switching to 4K resolution, Mac Pro becomes the only truly effective working tool in the current Apple clip. In the end, the difference between 10 minutes and half an hour is good, but not critical. But when you have a choice between half an hour and two hours ...
As for the advantages of high-quality sound editing, I repent that I don’t understand anything at all, and if so, I won’t even try to depict an expert. But knowledgeable guys say - sensible thing.
What is my conclusion on acquaintance with Mac Pro?
If you are a very wealthy person and at the same time, continuous editing of 4K video is not part of the tasks you solve on a computer, mixing albums of domestic pop stars of the first echelon and lifting the bust after photo shoots for glossy magazines, you shouldn’t buy Mac Pro. Kohl money harness pocket, buy an iPad, iPhone, a couple of MacBook Pro, Mac mini in every room of a country house and a 27-inch iMac in the office. Seriously, it will be much more confusing. Because in typical home office applications, the advantages of Mac Pro cannot be felt. Even in games, he fights on equal terms with the 27-inch iMac of the new generation, especially if you don’t be greedy on the GPU of the latter (by the way, my Mac mini sample overtook seven times in the new Tomb Raider). If you really simplify it, putting Mac Pro at home is as logical and convenient as cutting a bread with a medical scalpel. Your liking will make an impression on someone, but the majority will twist a finger at a temple.
Mac Pro is a product for professionals. For those who every day shovels serious amounts of data, no matter what kind - graphic, multimedia or scientific. Here for them (more precisely, for those of them who feel at ease in the OS X environment) this computer will become an extremely useful acquisition and - as a bonus - a solid decoration of the desktop. Taking into account the fact that there are no analogues on the market (I’m talking about a combination of performance and form factor), the price does not look too high.
By the way, about the price.
In the official Apple online store, the basic configuration of Mac Pro costs 124,990 rubles. As a bonus, you will receive free shipping to major cities in Russia. Improved configuration will cost 167 990 rubles. Well, if you roam, and using the configurator to set all the parameters to the maximum, Mac Pro will cost 413,270 rubles and one penny. This, I note, without any accessories and additional software, and with them (and with monitors) the price is easy to catch up with thousands to seven hundred.
Well, budgetary? Not really? So I’m saying that it’s strange to buy as fun. But if projects running on a computer bring you at least a thousand dollars, and if productivity increases, their number can even double - why not? Or, say, it will be possible to finish with work at seven in the evening, and not twelve ...
In general, we have one of the few devices where reference to professionals in the name is not marketing games, but a statement of fact. And if the unique design proves to be reliable, as much more cumbersome counterparts - honor and praise Apple.
And I still wait for the update Mac mini. Because my primary data center cannot yet be moved out of the skull.
Source: https://habr.com/ru/post/213053/
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