Apple Mac Pro

[WildWestDesigns]

Interestingly the 2012 Mac Pro does come with an Xeon, but it was one that was released in 2009. It does stomp that years i5 in some aspects.

Xeons are one of those that are actually behind the times on some specs. They are inline with the previous generations specs (and in some ways top it), but if compare current release to current release, they don't do as well in specs on some of the chips. That's really not what the benefit of them is.

Stability in handling intense tasks is something that I prize in this line versus the consumer line. Coupled with ECC Ram (which isn't listed as such on my System About screen shot, but they are ECC) that really adds to the stability. Very little chance of getting a BSOD with regard to a memory issue. Although I really haven't seen those since the Vista days (and I actually liked Vista as well).

I'd been wondering what you're main rig is, I knew it had to be impressive! Has the xeon line seen any really impressive gains since you put that together?

The biggest benefit now in conjunction with ECC, is that the actual testing for errors is not only just done with RAM, but with the CPU as well. So the checking is actually quicker. Now, if there are errors, then it's all RAM, but just checking, the CPU is able to help out.

Now, if I really wanted to eek out more gains, I would use a lighter weight DE. I tend to favor Gnome or Plasma. While they aren't overly bloated like Windows is, they do even idle at a gig or slightly more. If I were to go with something like XFCE, I could knock that down to 500MBs and that would really help out with speed. I just like my heavier DEs what can I say. I like the extensibility of the heavier DEs especially.

 

[WildWestDesigns]

You know, I'm kinda curious, given the subject of this thread.

How many on here are following what's going on in Boston right now?

Anyone?

 

[GAC05]

You know, I'm kinda curious, given the subject of this thread.

How many on here are following what's going on in Boston right now?

Anyone?

Are you talking about this?
https://www.thebostoncalendar.com/events/all-levels-flamenco-with-isaac-de-los-reyes--3
You bet I'm on it...

 

[bannertime]

How many on here are following what's going on in Boston right now?

I'm not. So I googled around and didn't see anything that appears to relate to this?

 

[WildWestDesigns]

Boston State House Bill 218.

Mainly about the right to repair ( as it specifically relates to electronics of this nature), which is essentially what one is doing when trying to bring back to life, even if it's modernizing everything internally, an older computer.

Control over the appliance after the sale.

At least as it applies to pre-configured computers, or even ones with limited customization. I doubt this would affect the custom build market as those are already geared to a different market, but for those that like to get pre built computers, tweak a few things here or there, I would be concerned.

I doubt that things like this would affect this particular computer, this is more about how things may go going forward, even if the opposite was true.

I remember one person that didn't like the lack of options out there today for certain computers compared to how things were a few yrs ago. This could very well be another lack of option depending on how brands handle things like this.


But that's enough of the tin foil hat talk this very early morning.

 

[Johnny Best]

Glad I do not live in that state.

 

[WildWestDesigns]

Glad I do not live in that state.

What starts in one state, or doesn't start in one state, can very well likely filter to others. There have been other states that were contemplating right to repair legislation with regard to the same electronic devices and didn't.

That was actually brought up in this particular one as well.

There were a couple of people from New York that were at this one, hoping that depending on what Boston does well filter to their area as well. Right to repair that is. And based on your info in the top right corner of your post, that would affect you.

Companies (for economy of scale) aren't going to want to have to deal with particular issues in one jurisdiction and not in another and vice versa. They are going to want something that streamlines the whole process (and hopefully in their favor).

 

[bannertime]

Ah yeah. Mainly following what Louis Rossman has said about it in the past. Haven't seen anything on it recently.

 

[WildWestDesigns]

Ah yeah. Mainly following what Louis Rossman has said about it in the past. Haven't seen anything on it recently.

Oh yea, he is usually on top of these things.

I think he has actually been to this party as well. I could have sworn I saw him testifying to the panel, maybe I'm remembering wrong.

 

[Bobby H]

Is this proposed legislation perhaps inspired by Apple and its tendency lately to glue and solder the computer components that were previously upgrade-able by end users? That's one of the big turn-offs for me regarding Apple-branded computers. IMHO if you buy a notebook computer or desktop system you should at least be able to swap out things like RAM modules, video cards, hard drives, etc. Apple's nasty policy forces a customer who might upgrade some components later to buy any possible upgrades up front when purchasing the computer system. And that almost always costs the customer more money. Which equals more profit for Apple. Naturally other electronics companies have no problem copying Apple, even if a new policy is blatantly onerous to the customer.

 

[WildWestDesigns]

Is this proposed legislation perhaps inspired by Apple and its tendency lately to glue and solder the computer components that were previously upgrade-able by end users?

If only that was the only thing that they were doing.

That's one of the big turn-offs for me regarding Apple-branded computers.

Should this really comes as a surprise to anyone? I mean really. The once great and worshiped leader of Apple was quoted as say "a customer doesn't know what they want until you tell them". I mean, they are just following along those lines.

IMHO if you buy a notebook computer or desktop system you should at least be able to swap out things like RAM modules, video cards, hard drives, etc.

I think ironically, for the mainstream users, most aren't going to want to deal with that (or can't for one reason or another). Nothing wrong with that, but I don't think a lot of people care about that. Even though the majority in this forum may care about that, we aren't representative of the mainstream computing population.

Apple's nasty policy forces a customer who might upgrade some components later to buy any possible upgrades up front when purchasing the computer system. And that almost always costs the customer more money. Which equals more profit for Apple. Naturally other electronics companies have no problem copying Apple, even if a new policy is blatantly onerous to the customer.

Customer still pay though. If one wants to make a difference in that regard, have to hit them in the pocketbook. Like with everyone else, that's how change is really to be had. How can any one expect them to change when people may complain, but are still willing to give them their money?

This whole rolling release model that Windows and Adobe CC is on is just has offensive and it may cause users to upgrade before they really need/want/afford to or they buy a bigger beast of a computer on the outset to hopefully future proof themselves for awhile.

The computing landscape has changed for the majority of users. People like us (prosumers or those that just don't want to change) aren't the target demographic anymore. I don't think that the traditional computing metaphor is going to go away anytime soon, it's just not going to be the same as it once was, what it should be for those that are in a production environment. It's a different animal then the mainstream computing population.

 

[rjssigns]

Got the latest holiday flyer from Costco. 21.5" iMac is $300 off starting today. 27" iMac is discounted $330. Decisions, decisions. I may just knuckle under and get the 21.5" and be done. Out the door for 1200 bucks or so. Nets you a 6 core processor, 8G ram and 1TB Fusion drive. Meh, it could be worse.

Just don't care for the fact it is not serviceable by end users. Unlike the old Mac Pro where you can fiddle to your hearts content.

 

[dypinc]

The iMac would be way too limited for my usage. With the amount of RAM programs are using now days I don't see how you could ever work with only 8GB of RAM. I have 48GB on my main workstation, 5.1 MacPro and I am always running out of RAM. I don't want to spend anymore on this old box. I pretty much set on getting the new 7.1 with at least 96GB of RAM. Just have to see the memory channel usage to decide for sure.

 

[WildWestDesigns]

My dad had an iMac for 3 wks and was ready to toss it. He hated it. It was underpowered and he wasn't ready to switch from Windows to Mac.

I agree, I wouldn't use less then 16GB of RAM.

Now, I have to wonder what all the multitasking is going on to be running out of ram with 48GBs. I run 3 OSs at one time and I still don't use up all of the 32GBs that I have, but I am using a host OS that idles at 500MBs (which is damn good for a 64 bit system) while Windows was well over 1GB at idle. And that is just at idle, imagine when running a normal full workload.

Be aware of doing so much RAM, so many Cores etc. Marginal utility and all that. Getting so much can be a waste depending on the program(s) that one is running.

 

[dypinc]

For what I do I tend to like less cores, higher speed and more RAM.

 

[rjssigns]

Up until my graphics card started to go I laid out wraps, high res work and did photo editing on my Dual Core 2.8Mhz iMac from 2009. Only 8G of RAM too. Sometimes it took a while to render, but it cranked out the work. Would still be using it if it weren't for the graphics card issue.

No issues with basic 21.5" iMacs in the classroom either. Some students crank out poster art that creates a file close to 2 Gigs. Plows right through. RIP at the Indigo is the bottleneck.

Not sure what folks are doing to run out of RAM.

 

[WildWestDesigns]

Up until my graphics card started to go I laid out wraps, high res work and did photo editing on my Dual Core 2.8Mhz iMac from 2009. Only 8G of RAM too. Sometimes it took a while to render, but it cranked out the work. Would still be using it if it weren't for the graphics card issue.

Efficiency, efficiency, efficiency. If I'm waiting on a render and I have to stop multi-tasking in order to give the render the best chance to render (and render without error), that's taking an efficiency hit that I don't want to have to take.

I also have to wonder, are you using legacy program and are those legacy programs 32 bit? While your OS maybe 64 bit, may still be using 32bit programs. I don't, I'm just spitballing here. And 32 bit libs haven't been removed until Catalina's release (as far as I know).

I don't know how far back your software goes that you are running and newer software does tend to have different requirements for hardware, so what was good ten yrs ago, may not be so much now.

I mean I can run a program that was made for Win 98 SE on Win 10 (that has it's own concerns right there) and I could get by with 8 GB of RAM as well.

No issues with basic 21.5" iMacs in the classroom either. Some students crank out poster art that creates a file close to 2 Gigs.

Be interesting to know if anything legacy is being run there. It would be at the schools that I went to, compared to what was available currently at the time, but then again, they wouldn't be running Macs either, so maybe not.

 

[rjssigns]

Efficiency, efficiency, efficiency. If I'm waiting on a render and I have to stop multi-tasking in order to give the render the best chance to render (and render without error), that's taking an efficiency hit that I don't want to have to take.

I also have to wonder, are you using legacy program and are those legacy programs 32 bit? While your OS maybe 64 bit, may still be using 32bit programs. I don't, I'm just spitballing here. And 32 bit libs haven't been removed until Catalina's release (as far as I know).

I don't know how far back your software goes that you are running and newer software does tend to have different requirements for hardware, so what was good ten yrs ago, may not be so much now.

I mean I can run a program that was made for Win 98 SE on Win 10 (that has it's own concerns right there) and I could get by with 8 GB of RAM as well.




Be interesting to know if anything legacy is being run there. It would be at the schools that I went to, compared to what was available currently at the time, but then again, they wouldn't be running Macs either, so maybe not.

My iMac runs Adobe creative suite 5 or 6. Can't remember which.

No legacy stuff on campus. We added a huge addition for print technology. Including a wrap bay. Everything was updated including the iMacs. Equipment is just over a year old including the new UV flatbed, flatbed cutter, roll to roll(both solvent and aqueous) etc...
Combined with other capabilities on campus there isn't a sign shop that could compete.
Waterjet, laser, 3D print, prototype lab, engineering, weld/fab, paint the list goes on.
If we can't do it on campus it can't be done.

 

[WildWestDesigns]

My iMac runs Adobe creative suite 5 or 6. Can't remember which.

CS5 still had 32 bit versions outside of Premier and After Effects, they were 64 bit only. Ps might have been 64 bit, I know it was 64 bit before Ai. I skipped CS5.5, so I can't remember if 5.5 was when there were changes or not. Went from CS5 to CS6.

No legacy stuff on campus. We added a huge addition for print technology. Including a wrap bay. Everything was updated including the iMacs. Equipment is just over a year old including the new UV flatbed, flatbed cutter, roll to roll(both solvent and aqueous) etc...
Combined with other capabilities on campus there isn't a sign shop that could compete.
Waterjet, laser, 3D print, prototype lab, engineering, weld/fab, paint the list goes on.
If we can't do it on campus it can't be done.

Why go for all of that and yet get basic iMacs? What are the specs of the iMacs?

 

[Johnny Best]

So WildWest's Daddy had a Mac that he did not like and his wife had a MacAir that broke down so logic has it that Macs are not good. I am glad that is settled.