The new Mac Pro
 

Yeah yeah, it doesn't travel well - I know. But daaaaaamn that is one nice looking machine. Slightly disappointing that it loses the PCI slots, but I'm sure that'll push vendors to make more Thunderbolt accessories. 12 core Xeon and dual 4K compatible video - If it is semi-reasonably priced, I'd love one.

Hmm, I have to be honest, nice looking wasn't really my first thought. The first picture I saw of it my first reaction was along the lines of "why would anyone make a computer look like a trash can?" Now that I've seen a few more shots, I'd change trash can to ash tray. The old Mac Pro wasn't stylish, but I'm not overly convinced that most people that choose a Mac Pro really feel that it *needs* to be overly stylish. I guess the real question is going to be whether mac pro users are going to like the 2 to 3 other boxes they're going to have to have with it if they need to do any expansion.

Performance obviously should be pretty good, but I wonder if it's enough for the premium that Apple is going to want for this. I'd guess minimum starting price is going to be around $2500. I've got two users in my department that do actually use mac pros, it'll be interesting to see what their reaction is.

I'm bummed there was no MacBook Pro announcement today. :(

I think it's a poor move. It's a ridiculous form factor for a product line that was supposed to be Apple's bastion of expandability.

Agreed.

I'm bummed that the retina display wasn't released on the air. :(

If you read the release notes carefully, you'll realize that there is a major functional reason for the design, which has NOTHING to do with being an "overly stylish" form factor.

I think it looks interesting, but I'm curious how a desk full of "external upgrades" is going to look.

Well, that is clearly not true - reading the comments from the audience, they are not impressed. You can't swap out the video cards (no PCI), everything relies on Thunderbolt and even the storage will go externally. Also, going with AMD for video instead of nvidia was a poor choice - again, from the perspective of the intended audience.

This is most definitely a form over function design.

Of course they had a functional reason for the design - but the foundations behind that functional reasoning are flawed for their audience. Yes, the cooling system and ports are all impressive, but someone who does a lot of video work or audio will have a tall stack of drives and ports next to the machine, entirely defeating its purpose.

Yeah, they have a functional reason for what they do. Whether or not it was a real problem that needed to be solved is probably somewhat debatable though. I'm not convinced that the real functional reason for the design isn't more along the lines of "what can we do to make the mac pro as hard to tinker with on the inside as an imac is?"

After doing more reading, I'm also not as confident in what I said I thought the starting price point would be. I'm now thinking significantly higher, maybe around $4k. There's some stuff in there that's pretty pricey.

Also a little odd for Apple to announce something like this so far ahead of when you can actually buy it. Normally when they announce computer hardware, it's available to buy right now.

(And I agree with another comment someone made, a little disappointed no retina display on the 13" air. Although I'm still tempted to get one to replace my older macbook that I use periodically.)

I am a big Mac fan, and I agree with most everyone here. It does look like an ash tray/trash can and I just hope they learned their lessons from the Cube.

I just want a current-design Mac Pro with an updated backplane, but it doesn't look like we will get it. I know Thunderbolt will offer expansion, but what is the point if you have to get an external thunderbolt enclosure to get a slot you need for X or for Y?

AMD was a poor choice on the GPU. They also should have offered a dual processor config.

Apple has proven before they can be stylish without imposition, but this time form definitely won over function. I gave up waiting on a new Mac Pro and went with a 15" retina and a Thunderbolt display. There are not many days now I miss the Pro, and being able to go portable is a bonus.

Notice the adjective that I bolded in my original post. I did not write " THE major reason...", nor, "the ONLY reason...", I chose "a" intentionally.

So, I'll say, It is clearly not true, that it "is clearly not true.".

If I were considering buying a Pro, I would probably have a lot of the same concerns/questions, however, I try to avoid coming to conclusions before seeing something in the "flesh".

Time will tell whether it is a flawed design, or not. Until then, I'll reserve judgment.

fusion
 

Honestly, I was at first a bit concerned seeing it, taking me back to the clear plastic mac tower - but once I got a look at it and more detail THIS is what I envision a personal home NUCLEAR FUSION REACTOR is going to look like!!

I want one too, and don't even NEED it..

not have the PCI doesn't really concern me, I'm sure with TB2 one can put an external PCI bus out there and plug in anything one wants into it..

I'm just hopeful that it doesn't start at 5K or something for a base model. Also, hopefully, it won't produce too much heat or noise.

With the new OS SeaLion improvements, for multi display use this will prove to be a very nice machine indeed.

The form factor is quite innovative, I must say. But good luck hitting the power button when you have a rat's nest of cables after utilizing every every port.

I won't ever turn it off.

who turns off a computer anymore? sleep it when you're not using it.