Apple is sending a set of Mac Pro posters to select journalists, according to TechCrunch. Writers at CNET, Dallas Morning News and TidBITS have all received copies of the posters, which feature images of the Mac Pro's radical cylindrical design along with the following message:
It's the computer we were insane to build. The one that turns conventional thinking on its head, then kicks the living $#&% out of it. We challenged all our assumptions. Abandoned our preconceptions. And blew away limitation after limitation. This is the new Mac Pro. It's like no Mac we've created before. And we can't wait to see what you create with it.
Images courtesy of TidBITS' Jeff Carlson
Apple on occasion sends promotional materials to members of the press. Earlier this year, the company gave select journalists gift cards featuring 100 handpicked songs to celebrate the company's 10th iTunes anniversary and Apple also sent out a 5th anniversary App Store poster as well.
First announced in June, Apple's redesigned Mac Pro starts at $2,999 and comes in several different configurations. The entry-level version includes a 3.7 Ghz quad-core Intel Xeon E5 processor, dual AMD FirePro D300 GPUs, 12 GB of memory, and 256 GB of PCIe-based flash storage.
With configure-to-order options, the Mac Pro can be customized with an 8-core or 12-core Xeon E5 processor, FirePro D700 GPUs, up to 64 GB of memory, and up to 1 TB of flash storage. While Apple has yet to provide a solid release date for the Mac Pro, it is expected sometime in December.
Not trying to be cynical, but besides form factor, what's revolutionary about this Mac "Pro"? They've done it before with iCube, the iMac on the stick (with a dome base, in face of predominantly square computers back then and even today). But otherwise, what's revolutionary here, I just don't see it?
With quicksilver PowerMac G4 - it was revolutionary, because unlike PC (and I've always build my own PCs), it could be opened in one motion with all expansion slots very easily accessible. To a bit lesser degree same was with Mac Pro G5. But G5 had innovation that on top of easily expandability, it had smart cooling and almost no visible internal wires.
What's innovative about new Mac Pro? They designed cylindrical from factor with a turbine inspired cooling, venting through the top... OK. Custom design proprietary motherboard to fit into small space (ala dome base iMac) - OK. But that's nice for a light consumer computer, where looks are super important. Heck for Apple pro-user, looks are really important. But what does it bring to the usability that pro users need? How does it improve my workflow when I cannot add graphics card, expansion cards, more hard drives - while retaining the elegant minimalistic looks?
It seems to me Apple thinks Mac pro users really don't need pro features, they THINK they need. Time will tell. But given that, there is no technological barriers this thing broke. Anyone with enough budget can design custom electronics to fit into a specific shape, especially if there is no requirement for extensive expandability.
Wednesday April 24, 2024 3:39 pm PDT by Juli Clover
Apple today released several open source large language models (LLMs) that are designed to run on-device rather than through cloud servers. Called OpenELM (Open-source Efficient Language Models), the LLMs are available on the Hugging Face Hub, a community for sharing AI code. As outlined in a white paper [PDF], there are eight total OpenELM models, four of which were pre-trained using the...
Wednesday April 24, 2024 2:05 pm PDT by Joe Rossignol
Apple is set to unveil iOS 18 during its WWDC keynote on June 10, so the software update is a little over six weeks away from being announced. Below, we recap rumored features and changes planned for the iPhone with iOS 18. iOS 18 will reportedly be the "biggest" update in the iPhone's history, with new ChatGPT-inspired generative AI features, a more customizable Home Screen, and much more....
Apple has announced it will be holding a special event on Tuesday, May 7 at 7 a.m. Pacific Time (10 a.m. Eastern Time), with a live stream to be available on Apple.com and on YouTube as usual. The event invitation has a tagline of "Let Loose" and shows an artistic render of an Apple Pencil, suggesting that iPads will be a focus of the event. Subscribe to the MacRumors YouTube channel for more ...
Apple has dropped the number of Vision Pro units that it plans to ship in 2024, going from an expected 700 to 800k units to just 400k to 450k units, according to Apple analyst Ming-Chi Kuo. Orders have been scaled back before the Vision Pro has launched in markets outside of the United States, which Kuo says is a sign that demand in the U.S. has "fallen sharply beyond expectations." As a...
Apple is finally planning a Calculator app for the iPad, over 14 years after launching the device, according to a source familiar with the matter. iPadOS 18 will include a built-in Calculator app for all iPad models that are compatible with the software update, which is expected to be unveiled during the opening keynote of Apple's annual developers conference WWDC on June 10. AppleInsider...
Best Buy is discounting a collection of M3 MacBook Pro computers today, this time focusing on the 14-inch version of the laptop. Every deal in this sale requires you to have a My Best Buy Plus or Total membership, although non-members can still get solid second-best prices on these MacBook Pro models. Note: MacRumors is an affiliate partner with Best Buy. When you click a link and make a...
Top Rated Comments
You do realize there's more than a CPU in it right ?
3000 for a quad core. I'm trying hard to keep a straight face.
lol nice.
With quicksilver PowerMac G4 - it was revolutionary, because unlike PC (and I've always build my own PCs), it could be opened in one motion with all expansion slots very easily accessible. To a bit lesser degree same was with Mac Pro G5. But G5 had innovation that on top of easily expandability, it had smart cooling and almost no visible internal wires.
What's innovative about new Mac Pro? They designed cylindrical from factor with a turbine inspired cooling, venting through the top... OK. Custom design proprietary motherboard to fit into small space (ala dome base iMac) - OK. But that's nice for a light consumer computer, where looks are super important. Heck for Apple pro-user, looks are really important. But what does it bring to the usability that pro users need? How does it improve my workflow when I cannot add graphics card, expansion cards, more hard drives - while retaining the elegant minimalistic looks?
It seems to me Apple thinks Mac pro users really don't need pro features, they THINK they need. Time will tell. But given that, there is no technological barriers this thing broke. Anyone with enough budget can design custom electronics to fit into a specific shape, especially if there is no requirement for extensive expandability.
Marketing talk, that what it is.
I am insane.
;)