"In addition to the new iMac Pro, Apple is working on a completely redesigned, next-generation Mac Pro architected for pro customers who need the highest-end, high-throughput system in a modular design, as well as a new high-end pro display."
https://www.apple.com/newsroom/2017/06/imac-pro-most-powerfu...
Also, I want that black keyboard!
I'm sure those people will be happy. But what I want is an upgradable / self-servicable machine that costs under $3k.
I hope Apple isn't about to miss the plot again.
The fact that they aren't building commodity-style boxes for hobbyists is very very minor in comparison. The market for these things is shrinking, and it's dominated by price-sensitive people that are not very valuable customers to begin with. If this is what you want, then there's no point in wishful thinking: start looking at Windows / Linux yesterday.
Was worried about how stable it would be and took good care of researching all the parts that were verified by the community[1]. It's been going good for 3-4 months now. Took some effort to get it all setup but am very happy now. I use this for Video/Photo post-processing, web development mainly.
My concern is upgrading. For people with hackintosh experience what has the longevity experience been like? Do things break each major upgrade? Are things slow moving to get to the latest version?
I'm worried it might be like Linux desktop back in the day. I've found modern Linux to be very stable while using cutting edge versions of Linux. Largely thanks to Archlinux. But I've been interested in having a seperate OSX install for Photoshop and Sketch to have an OS for doing design and having Linux for programming/everything else.
With today's MacBook upgrades, I've ordered a 'real' Mac and reverted my desktop tower back to Windows gaming box duties - the 'fun' of hackintoshing quickly fades once you've done it for a few years and just want to know your computer is always going to boot when you press the power button, especially if like me you use OS X 99% of the time.
Maybe I'm just stupid, but as far as I'm concerned folks with hackintoshes who haven't had a boot breaking issue occur are either lucky, or it has yet to happen to them. I deliberately built the most 'golden' of mainstream hackintosh builds (close to identical to the Dan Benjamin one folks are linking here), no custom kexts, used Clover, still had the occasional issue.
Given Apple are moving to ever more intertwine custom hardware into Macs (touchbar, touch id, secure enclave etc), I think the future of hackintoshing is probably going to be harder than it is today.
It gets annoying quite fast and the only thing that kept me using it was the fact that Apple was so bad with updating their product line, which is over now as I will buy the new 5k iMac.
May I ask what type of hardware you are using?
Yeah that's never going to happen. The Pro iMac starts at $5k. When the Mac Pro does come out it will at least start at that as well, if not higher.
Clarity: "The new iMac Pro will start at $4999 and be available in December."
http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,2817,1545383,00.asp
Fun article from 2004! Article subheading:
> Get used to the idea of a terabyte-plus server in your home. It's closer than you think.
:)
And Machrone's law is: the machine you want will always cost $5,000.
It's been years since Apple has made anything that was upgradable/self-serviceable at any price point. To expect that to change now is just unproductive wishful thinking. Either find an alternative or figure out which of Apple's products comes closest to meeting your needs.
To me this machine is a sign that they had. It has the exact same problems as the Mac Pro design with even less modularity (Pro could swap out drives and ram).
Although I also think this was supposed to replace the Mac Pro line entirely and only in about jan/feb they decided that they still needed a stand alone Pro. So I guess time will tell if they finally release the "xMac" people have been asking for the past 10 years.
I would not hold my breath. If Apple are going to give you something serviceable and upgradable, expect whatever you would have spent servicing and upgrading (at the time of purchase) a "normal" machine through them to be added to the price.
If you want upgradeability and self-serviceability, build it yourself.
Please, Apple, sell me a big Apple motherboard, a quality case, and write OS-X with boot and driver software that supports various CPUs, RAM, storage, GPUs, power supplies, and peripherals. You know, like Windows and Linux have done for years. Whitelist or blacklist as necessary to make it reliable and dependable, but no more than necessary. The model works - but Apple doesn't work with the model, which is why my current machine isn't a Mac anymore.
And they did try this model back in the clone days where Power Computing went straight after their high margin customers and nearly killed the company. Great for consumers. Terrible for Apple.
https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/store/d/surface-keyboard/8r3...
I won't weigh in on quality of typing experience. Everybody I know says that I type like I'm trying to beat my keyboard to death, so while I like typing on them quite a lot, I don't know if that'd transfer to someone else.
Only hiccup I've found is that you need Bluetooth 4.0 for the new low-power state, so you'll probably have to buy a dongle even if you have a brand-new fancy laptop.
I bought a cheap-ish Mac-specific (not that it should matter) powered USB 2.0 hub off Amazon. Plugged the kbd, mouse, and my HiFiMeDIY DAC into it. All now work well without nearly as many issues.
The previous scissor switch keys were OK. A big improvement over their previous garbage membrane keyboards in fact. But the new keys are really a necessary evil to make thinner laptops - why hamper the desktop experience with them?
On the desktops they have the luxury of non-portability, so why not a new mechanical keyboard design for the iMac and Mac Pro?
Personally I think the new keyboards are really good, there's a lot less travel on each key which makes typing more efficient. Going back to an old keyboard with full travel feels like hammering on a typewriter.
Apple could build a mechanical keyboard with their characteristic design and build quality.
I think the new butterfly switch is useable, but I don't share your enthusiasm. I have not been able to fully adjust to them and I still make typing errors from my fingers sliding off more than I'd like.
Matias isn't the only vendor and that's not the only model of mechanical keyboard they make. If you're a mechanical keyboard enthusiast you're living in the golden age of options. You can custom-build your own keyboard, pick individual keycaps, switches, and more.
There's vendors like http://www.wasdkeyboards.com that are basically "Build-a-Bear" for keyboards.
But it feels great and wears like iron. Source: I've used one for the past 7 years.
https://input.club/whitefox/ + http://pimpmykeyboard.com/dsa-think-different-keycap-set/
Why even bother begging Apple for this sort of thing when you can support independent creators happy to serve these niches.
Just a different kind of sub-market, I think.
My 3 monitors have been used for 4 generations of Macs, though. Definitely agree that monitors live longer than the underlying computer.
Compared to 2006's ACD, new monitors have bigger brightness, better saturation, far wider color gamut, better viewing angles, AND double+ the resolution.
Unless you're doing machine learning and then chances are you're either doing it in the cloud or you already have a specd out white box. Otherwise Macbook Pro has been more than sufficient.
We can make use of all the computing power we can get.
Releasing the iMac Pro in December 2017 may as well be considered a 2018 release.
People who would have bought the Mac Pro. I think it's obvious that this was supposed to replace it in the lineup.
With the announcement that a Mac Pro is back on the cards I think this becomes a confused product. Locking $5Ks worth of computing power into a disposable shell boggles my mind a bit.
That makes the targeting simple: People who want the power of a *pro series device but don't care much about the upgradeability beyond storage and memory.
CG artists, graphic workers and everyone that require a fast computer with a great screen but is not interested in being an hardware hobbyist. There's life beyond HN.
I'm not sure how that matters? This iMac in most cases won't be portable, so the only people who see it will be the ones using it or at least working with those who do.
You sort of make it sound equivalent to the old thing about how Macbooks had lit-up Apple logos on the shell and people would know "oh this person spent thousands on their Apple laptop..." But I don't think it's the same situation here.
b) Big execs want to have the best and show it off to staff as well
is this satire?
I mean, there's no lack of cool looking mechanical keyboards, even ones that match Apple products: https://input.club/k-type/
(That one is even USB-C and fully programmable/hackable with an open source firmware.)
Not sure what you have in mind, but split and "ergonomic" keyboard designs have never been shown to prevent or limit RSI. They're just a marketing gimmick.
http://www.healthytyping.com/articles/why-you-should-not-use...
Am I missing something?
Meanwhile, my black MacBook Air keyboard looks nearly the exact same as it did when I bought it four years ago.
Like OP, I also thought that the black keyboard was long overdue.