Taking a look at the site and the walk around, it eases most of my problems, but not all of them:
- The RAM looks accessible enough that it can be changed/modified with ease.
- That's true for the built-in drive as well, it looks like one of the "blade" type SSDs that comes in the rMBP. Even if its a slightly different form factor, I've got faith OWC will come up with solutions. Will be slightly miffed about losing a "No SSD, give me the cheapest mechanical drive" purchasing option, but there it is.
- My real concern is the GPUs. With the new thermal profile and the walk around, those really don't look like off the shelf parts. I'm pretty sure you can't easily swap them. I'd prefer an nVidia option generally, and more importantly the FirePros will likely be optimized for graphics work, and terrible for gaming (yes, I do sometimes game on my Mac Pro) and not optimized for scientific computing, which would be my other use case.
It's just enough to make me like the new Mac Pro, but also hesitate because of the GPU.
That's where I'm at now. A FirePro is a graphic design GPU. I don't want a graphic design GPU. That's not what I do. I certainly don't want to pay for two of them.
And at the prices the Mac Pro will go for, we're also talking about comparable systems with a Titan in them. I'd much prefer that GPU, except Apple's going with a bespoke design by the looks of it.
- The RAM looks accessible enough that it can be changed/modified with ease.
- That's true for the built-in drive as well, it looks like one of the "blade" type SSDs that comes in the rMBP. Even if its a slightly different form factor, I've got faith OWC will come up with solutions. Will be slightly miffed about losing a "No SSD, give me the cheapest mechanical drive" purchasing option, but there it is.
- My real concern is the GPUs. With the new thermal profile and the walk around, those really don't look like off the shelf parts. I'm pretty sure you can't easily swap them. I'd prefer an nVidia option generally, and more importantly the FirePros will likely be optimized for graphics work, and terrible for gaming (yes, I do sometimes game on my Mac Pro) and not optimized for scientific computing, which would be my other use case.
It's just enough to make me like the new Mac Pro, but also hesitate because of the GPU.