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Simon Brodkin How To Kill An Hour

Episode 328 Simon Brodkin

New Mac Pro

The NEW Mac Pro – Apple gives us what we want!

The Mac Pro has finally arrived and despite the mammoth computing company getting a roasting online for it’s cheese grater look. It’s the insides that make all the difference. It’s the Mac Pro we’ve all been waiting for. The interior is structured for modularity, designed to be upgraded any time a consumer wants. Bringing with it huge flexibility in terms of how much power a consumer wants and needs at the time of purchase. While still being able to upgrade if they needed to going forward.

28 Cores. That’s what the Mac Pro will be capable of. 28cores of new Intel Xeon Processors. It’s going to be powered by 300W and heavy duty cooling. Therefore allowing it to be fun to it’s fullest capabilities at all times, without the worry of it over heating. Not too sure if I’d want to do that for too long though! Maximum RAM is a HUGE one and something that we are very very impressed by, it’s a number we didn’t even think was possible too! So, what is it? 1.5TB of RAM. Yes you read that correctly. 1.5 TERABYTES! It’s able to do this with six-channel memory across 12 DIMM slots.

Furthermore there are 8 PCI Express slots, while 4 of them are double wide to allow larger expansion cards. Other connectivity features are 2 USB-C / Thunderbolt 3 slots. There are also 2 USB-A slots on the rear and 2 USB C /Thunderbolt 3 slots on the top of the machine.

While that’s not all either! Apple are launching a custom expansion module. They’re calling it an MPX Module. So, you connect it via a dedicated Thunderbolt 3 slot, which Apple have built into the motherboard. Consequently this delivers additional power and high spped connectivity to components.

So what is a MPX Module?

The MPX Module is a giant quad-wide PCIe card which houses 2 graphics cards. It has it’s own dedicated heat sink and has a custom Thunderbolt connector to hook into the computer. So, this isn’t some ProSumer device. This device is built for your production houses, but it pays to dream! Don’t believe us? Well Apple will also sell an optional “Afterburner” dedicated video editing card. This video editing card uses FPGA to process up to 6billion pixels per second. Again. This device is a beast.

The power supply maxes out at 1.4kw. There’s 3 large fans at the front which sit behind an aluminium grille. This will provide air to the components and the sysyem at a rate of 300cubic feet per minute. Worried it is going to sound like it’s going to take off? Apple says the device remains quiet. Impressive.

Apple also sell the Mac Pro with optional wheels, if you want to move it easily.

Releasing this autumn it comes with a hefty price tag. $5,999. That’s a base line. So the maxed out device could be astronomical! Base model is a 32GB of memory, an octa-core Intel Xeon CPU, Radeon Pro 580X graphics card and 256GB SSD.

Apple also announced a high grade monitor too, a 32-inch 6K Pro Display XDR, which is priced at $4999. It comes without a stand though, which is priced at $999.

So taking all that into account. We can but dream about these devices. Production Houses, you’re being spoilt. They look sooooo goood!

(The Verge)

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Picture of Marcus Bronzy from the How To Kill An Hour Podcast

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