Apple Mac Pro MD878LL/A Desktop..
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47 of 50 people found the following review helpful.
By Joe Crescenzi
While most of the buyers of the Mac Pro line will be looking for a custom configuration, the 6 Core model with dual D500 GPUs will likely be the one that has the best mix of price and performance.
If you are unfamiliar with the new Mac Pro line, there are quite a few combinations of options that can produce a range of prices from $2999 to nearly $10,000.
Currently there are only TWO "Stock" configurations:
$2999 gets you a Quad Core Xeon with dual D300 GPUs, 12 GB of RAM and 256 GB of Solid State Storage
$3999 gets you a Six Core Xeon with dual D500 GPUs , 16 GB of RAM and the same 256 GB of Solid State Storage. This is truly the "Goldilocks" configuration... the middle of the road.
In a custom configuration, which you can only get directly from Apple (which takes time), each of those components can be upgraded, however only some can be "User Upgraded", so you must be aware of that when you buy, because you will not likely change them later.
Here are the things you CAN upgrade AFTER you purchase:
1. RAM - You can upgrade the RAM on all models, from 12 GB all the way to 64. There are 4 card slots, however you can't mix chip sizes. So, if you buy the 12 GB model, it uses 3 cards of 4 GB each leaving 1 slot open, so you can upgrade it to 16 by adding one more card. If you want to increase it beyond that, you will be removing all of the 4GB cards, and replacing them with 8's or 16's.
This means that the 16 GB model comes with 4 x 4 GB cards, so any increase in that configuration will involve getting rid of all 4 of the 4 GB cards and starting with 8's or 16s. I think it's a shame Apple doesn't start with 2 x 8GB cards, so you could keep your existing memory and add two more... or even better, if it had 1 x 16GB card, so you could add up to 3 more.
Anyhow, with this base model, if you want to upgrade to 32 or 64 later, just be prepared to toss out the old.
2. The Solid State Drive is upgradable too, however since this is new technology, it's not easy to find them right now. My guess is in a year or two, there will be plenty of third party SSDs out there. In particular OWC has already committed to making a line of Mac Pro friendly storage.
3. The CPU... oddly IS upgradable, however you will not likely change this for a long time, because the Xeon chips in these models are super expensive. The top of the line 12 core that fits this socket costs well over $3000. In either case, it's nice to know you can. So in a year or two, you may be able to double your CPU cores for $1000 or less as chip prices drop.
Among things you CAN'T change (easily).
1. The Dual GPUs. The GPUs in this model technically are not soldered in, so although upgrades are potentially possible, I don't think there will be any third party upgrades on the horizon. So, if you think you need ultra-high end 3D rendering or GPU intensive power for image processing or CAD, get the GPU card you want from the start. You won't be able to change it.
They don't have a "Stock" configuration with the top of the line GPUs, which are the D700s, but the "Goldilocks" configuration has the D500s, which are right in the middle, and they are super powerful. Years ago, that kind of horsepower could only be found in a super computer.
Although some people consider the Mac Pro to be expensive, the reality is the GPUs alone are based upon existing cards which actually cost just as much as the entire computer. These are not the run of the mill graphic cards you would find in a typical gaming computer. These are world class workstation grade powerhouses and they are NOT cheap.
Who should consider the low end package?
Anyone who would've considered the iMac or the Mac Mini, but wanted something more upgradable. Right now, those other models do not have anywhere near the expansion capabilities of this model. At best, you can upgrade the RAM in the Mini to 16, and the iMac to 32, the rest are literally locked in and not accessible, much less upgradable.
Also, the iMac and Mac Mini do not have Thunderbolt 2, which is the next generation in high speed expansion. Thunderbolt 2 is twice the speed of the prior generation and it is capable of speeds of up to 20 Gb/s, which is not only 4 times faster than USB 3.0, but it is also a direct path to the motherboard itself. Unlike USB which is just a communication protocol, Thunderbolt is actually more like the internal card bus in traditional PCs, except it's self contained in a cabling system. In fact, there are actually products made today that take the Thunderbolt bus, and give you traditional card slots, so in a sense, it's even more expandable than the older tower configuration.
8 of 8 people found the following review helpful.
By Geek guy
Well thought I would write a review of this beast of a workstation. Note I bought from another another site to save on taxes.
I have a 2008 Mac Pro and felt it was time to upgrade to the latest model. I use the Mac Pro for everything from 3D art to work and some gaming and normal web and email.
For work I use the MS RDP client app to connect to the Microsoft world via Gateway and works perfectly.
Also I have three 55inch TVs that I connect to the Mac Pro and in this case is where the Mac Pro had issues. Connecting the TVs you need to have a Active dongle to make the third TV function. In the older Pro 2008 I added another video Card and had no issues, In this case you will rack your brain trying to find the answer. Oh and do not go to the Apple Geniuses for this as they have no clue nor does apple sell the Active dongle. Third party.
But other then the dongle issue its been flawless. A normal render of my 3D art on the old Mac was about 15min to complete at the highest level. The new Mac Pro less then a min big difference in my world.
Current game is Elder Scrolls online and they support both Windows and Mac OSX and works flawlessly as well.
The old Mac Pro has a lot of fans and you can hear it. Its was not as loud as normal Window workstation but still.. The new Mac Pro can not even tell if it is on. Even under load still can not hear it.
I have heard people trying to build a a system that is equal to the New Mac Pro then Hackintosh it.. I did this a five years ago and it worked but was not worth the time and money spent.
Been using Apple hardware for the last 10 years and everything that I have bought from Apple still works today.. Even that first Mac Mini. Yea the cost is much higher but the quality is much better. I also have used Vm-ware for Windows VM’s but I have not used it on the new Pro as I try to stay away from the windows world. I might have to support Windows OS for work but do not use it for my personal stuff.
If you are on the fence because of the price I understand I was too, but so far it is worth every dollar and the OSX is a much better OS then Windows ever could be.
Will be upgrading the memory very soon to the 64Gigs and max the system out. Note on memory I noticed this in all of my Macs that Run Maverick. I found that the Apps do not release the memory so like in my Macbook Pro 17 with 8gig I would run out after using several apps. Got a memory manager on the App store for 99 cents and fixed the issue. So its a OSX issue not a hardware problem.
Oh one more kind of issue for me was the plugs that hang off the new Mac Pro since they are in a tight area there are a ton of cables coming out the pro.. So cable management is differently needed here.
Overall I’m very pleased and will keep the five star because even with the Monitor issue and the little things mentioned. The New Mac Pro is the king of workstations and the size amazes me. Its no taller then my IPAD so extremely small and a ton of power.
9 of 10 people found the following review helpful.
By Joshua Glowzinski
A few things before my review. First, I have had 5 computers in my 29 years of life. The first was a DOS system my godfather gave me. Then an HP with Windows 98 my grandparents got me. Then I got three more over the next decade or so. All but the DOS one had Windows. So, I am no expert of Macs or the OS that is on it. I read the Steve Jobs bio and decided to switch to Mac. I save my money for a little over two years. I was going to get the best last gen Mac Pro I could. After I saw the new one was coming out, I realized I would have enough to get the best one of the new generation. So I pre ordered. I got an email saying it would arrive from the 10th of March to the 12th. I got it on the 6th!
Now for the review. But first, a good laugh. When I first got the thing, I had no clue how the hell to turn it on. It took me 15 minutes to figure it out. Haha I actually almost broke the thing. I had it in the air. I hit a button and it was the button that unlocks the shell. If it had not been for the cables hooked into it, the entire computer would have fallen out onto my floor. I would have just looked and cried. Haha
Ok, so the tower itself feels solid. It is a good weight. The outside gets really cool. When I go to turn it on in the morning, it almost feels like it has been sitting outside. The power button is on the bottom left side of the back. When I first turned it on, I heard a sound. It came from the tower. I looked at my monitors and the freaking thing was on. It actually comes on faster than my iPad 3. I just sat here and stared at it. My PC I had been suing took like two minutes to come on.
After setting everything up, it was time to play. It is amazing. Nothing freezes or pops up randomly. No screen full of software that I've no need for. Just a simple clean look. The icons on the bottom tray are a nice thing. Instead of filling up my desktop with a thousand icons, they are nice and clean on the bottom. I did put a few things on my desktop, but I had the choice. Even for me, who has never really used Mac, though I do have a laptop, I never use it. I got it randomly one day, everything is easy to figure out. I LOVE the setup and look of the software. It actually almost reminds me of my iPad. Say you open your email. Well, unless you close it, you can mineralize it and when you get a new email, it pops up on the top right of your screen. The same thing happens when someone replies to something I write on facebook. Very cool. Everything is right there when you need it.
I have two monitors. One is a Cintiq 21 UX. I was worried it would not work. It is important to me because I am writing a series of kids books. I use it all the time. Well, I got two DVI to Thunderbolt two cables and they work fine. I was mad at first. The Cintiq, while working fine as a monitor, would not let me write on it. I realized that stupid me did not have the USB cable hooked in. haha But the monitors work great. The main software that I used in windows works with this OS. For that which does not, I got a program called Paralles. I had Windows 8 sitting here and installed it. Worked great.
The one thing that bothered me was the available storage. I got the most I could and it is 1tb. That is more than enough for some. Not for me though. I have almost 12,000 songs on my computer. Thousands of TV shows, hundreds of movies and books and thousands of Apps. The art I do takes up a good amount of space. I save it in Photoshop format as well as jpeg. I also do a lot of video stuff as well as music and some Flash. But, I found the solution. Western Digital. I found something called a My Cloud EX 4. It is a 12 tb external drive of sorts. Hooked it up and it worked right away. I've not even done anything with the Mac yet. I am just putting stuff onto that drive from Blu-Rays. But that was the only problem. Well, that and I could not get my TV tuner to work. But, I found the solution to that and got one from eBay.
As far as programs go, never have I had a system that loads things as fast as this. I mean, I click it and it opens right away. There is no wait time. I can have 10 things going at once and everything is just flowing like water through a stream. It is an amazing thing to see.
The Mac stays so quite. I cannot even hear it now and it is just below me. I had it one for hours and hours over the past few days and while it may feel a little warm, it never gets hot. It is just incredible.
What I now have is the fastest, most well balanced system I have ever had. It does what I need it to without problem. It is easy to set up and once you are all through with the set up, you can sit back and just look at the cool, relaxed look that the OS is. For anyone who has ever liked Apple, or for those who want to give it a try, this is the best system I've ever owned. It makes me mad only for the fact that it took me so long to give Mac a change.
Just a quick update.
I was transferring stuff from blu ray, to my Mad, then to my My Cloud EX 4. I had pictures. 17.5 gigs. I started at like 8pm. My Mac Pro had been on since about 5pm. It did not finish until 11 something in the morning. My Mac Pro did not feel hot. After being on for such a long time. Good to know.
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