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Comment by brandall10 | Hacker News Reader

Just out of curiosity, what would you expect from a 'real' pro that couldn't be done in the studio? It seems the integrated RAM has put constraints on how powerful they can create the machine (ie. multiple ultra chips).

The point of the pro, at least in the past, was the ability to build an incredibly powerful, expandable computer, relative to the other offerings at the time. But Apple has moved further toward integration to get wins in perf/efficiency. It seems to be a product that no longer fits in their ethos.

That you can get a machine that's just 2x as powerful as a laptop - at 2x the cost - isn't particularly compelling.

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GPU, ML accelerator cards with real software support.

High speed interconnect, maybe proprietary.

Potentially multiple sockets if they can’t scale their current design.

Fast, redundant, hot swappable storage.

I super doubt that a low volume high end Mac is going to eschew the new unified memory architecture. Once Intel support leaves macOS, 100% of their kernel/gpu efforts across 100% of their devices will be based on an ARM SoC, so they can go on a code deletion/optimisation spree.

A few months ago there was a leak where they showed Apple had x86 servers running MacOS.

They have the source and can compile for themselves. I doubt x86 support will truly leave while it’s still the only way to do servers.

I'd be surprised if the Mac Pro sold more than 50,000 units/year.

There's no way Apple would invest in all that technology to sell its least popular Mac.

Investing in technology has an advantage of producing reusable tech down the line.

It is very difficult to predict which parts are going to be successful.

And if they manage to create a product definitively better that competitors (like the current gen ARM macbooks), they are going to sell a lot more than 50,000 per year. There are single companies which can afford to buy 50,000 units.

I think Apple would only invest in the tech that you listed if they also want to get into the cloud businesses. Other than that, I don't see it.

No idea, honestly. You're right, the product doesn't really make sense anymore. But at the same time, I can't see them simply dropping it. Maybe they'll surprise us.

Adding more GPU/ML capacity, and I seriously don't get why Apple was unable to put the SoC and RAM on some sort of exchangeable "carrier board".

From a "real pro" machine I expect to be able to upgrade it for at least three to five years. These things cost thousands of dollars ffs.

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