The beautiful and powerful Mac Pro 2019

Yes, it has been several weeks since the announcement of the new Mac Pro 2019 with all sorts of comments, especially about that silly $1000 monitor stand. But aside from that, I’m really excited by the new Mac Pro, even though I have no plans or financial means to get one. At least not for several years when they go on sale on eBay.

I love what Apple has done for a variety of reasons. It’s an incredibly powerful machine that basically has no equal. There isn’t a “desktop” on the market by another vendor that even comes close to the processing power or memory capabilities of this machine. You need to look at a server class machine to compete with the cores and ram. But that machine is more expensive and certainly won’t fit on or under your desk. And what sort of software will it run? Servers aren’t known for their graphics capabilities either.

We first have to stop thinking of it as a desktop. It’s a workstation. It’s a culmination and extension of the Silicon Graphics workstation, the Pixar workstation, and the NeXT workstation all rolled into one. With that in mind, you know exactly who’s going to get them.

Pixar and Industrial Light and Magic, both owned by Disney, who is also allied with Apple, will snap up these machines for CGI work.

Pure speculation on my part, but I wouldn’t be surprised if parts of Toy Story 4 were rendered on prototype Mac Pros. What better way to test it’s video and audio capabilities?

That aside, the possibilities of this machine seem endless. There isn’t a processing task that it won’t be able to handle.

While I’m not a fan of VR in most respects, think of the possibilities of advancement this machine offers. Additionally, the development capabilities of the Mac Pro know no bounds. It’s a supercomputer for your desk.

And now that Apple has thrown down the gauntlet, I can’t wait to see what other vendors put together. Will the union of HP and Cray be the closest competitor?

A lot has been said about the cost. Without a doubt, it’s expensive. But it’s not for everyone. You don’t buy this to read email and look for cat videos. This is big league hardware for big league tasks. If you don’t already need one, then you don’t need one.

It’s also neat to see that the “standard” macOS will be used to power this machine. It won’t require a “server” or “datacenter” version to take advantage of all the power.

I would love to have one of these machines, but it’s specs and price are out of my league. Perhaps in 5-7 years, I will pick up a used one from eBay. Even then, with it fully loaded, it will outclass new machines. It will take a lot to overpower 28 cores and 1.5TB of ram.

This is an amazing new benchmark for computers. Apple should be applauded for the work they’ve put into it and the boundaries they have completely eliminated.