Comment by wtallis | Hacker News Reader

Comment by wtallis | Hacker News Reader

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The problem with the base model of the new Mac Pro is that all the non-upgradable components are extremely high end, but the CPU, RAM, GPU and SSD capacity are low-end. You can max out a consumer-grade desktop platform and end up with a much better system for a third of the price. But that system would have no headroom for further upgrades. The Mac Pro gives you six DRAM channels instead of two, several times the IO bandwidth, supports several times as many CPU cores, and a power supply that delivers more than twice the wattage any consumer desktop ever needs. But the base model doesn't use any of that functionality.

Apple can't do anything about the underlying technological reality that there's a big difference between current consumer desktop platforms and current workstation/server platforms. They're also being hurt by the fact that the base configuration Mac Pro is quite different from the typical configuration Mac Pro. For consumer PCs, it's common for the base model to be one of the most popular configurations, but for the Mac Pro the base model is a niche product that relatively few customers will opt for. This defies the expectations of people who approach the Mac Pro as if it is a consumer product.

> The Mac Pro gives you six DRAM channels instead of two, several times the IO bandwidth, supports several times as many CPU cores

That's not true. Threadripper has more cores, supports more memory, has 6-channel memory, more PCIe-lanes and so on.

Even the AM4 socket will soon have 16-core CPUs and PCIe4, so it will probably have more bandwidth than any Mac Pro, for a few hundred USD. The world is moving fast, that's for sure.

Threadripper obviously is not a consumer desktop class platform; it's one of the workstation/server platforms that is substantially more expensive than consumer desktop platforms. It's not quite as overpriced as Intel's workstation and server platforms, but it's in the same general category. (It also has only four DRAM channels, which contributes to its lower prices than Intel's 6-channel platforms.)

And yes, AMD's consumer desktop platform is getting a substantial update next month that will put it well ahead of Intel's current consumer desktop platform. But PCIe 4 is also driving up the cost of that platform quite a bit, at least in the near term.

Threadripper is expensive by consumer standards but you can still buy a 32 core 2990WX workstation with 64GB quad channel RAM, 1TB NVMe SSD, etc. for less money than a base model Mac Pro.

Presumably the next gen Threadripper platform with PCIe 4 will launch not too far off the time the new Mac Pro does.

> for less money than a base model Mac Pro.

As has already been pointed out, the base model is pretty much irrelevant and that Threadripper system would probably be maxed out. Also that systems wouldn't run Mac software.

Everything you say is entirely true, but most people buying these new Mac pros simply won't care because it's not relevant to their actual requirements.

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