The Mac Pro has arrived at MelroseMAC. Here's a round up from various review sites and some of our first impressions.
Performance
Almost as soon as the new Mac Pro was available to configure, select reviewers around the world began to receive their custom machines.
One such configuration was a 3.0GHz 8-core system with 64GB of memory, a 1TB SSD, and dual AMD FirePro 700 GPUs delivered to FCP.co. In a 24-hour hands on video they posted, the team found read speeds of 880MB/s from the PCIe-based solid state/flash storage, with impressive write numbers of 985.5MB/s.
They also discovered that new machine coupled with the new release of Final Cut Pro X 10.1 could effortlessly handle RED's RAW 4K format with as many as 18 color corrections and effects applied in real time without dropping a single frame. Impressive!
What else is remarkable, according to Macworld, is how quiet the new Mac Pro is, even when it's flexing its muscle.
"In normal use, it’s nearly silent: If you put your ear next to the vent on the top (which is right above the fan), you hear only a very quiet hum. And during an Apple demo, a high-end Mac Pro, complete with upgraded processor and graphics cards, was live-rendering multiple 4K videos, and we couldn’t hear the fan over the normal room noises."
The Mac Pro, assembled in Austin, TX, represents the first computer Apple is manufacturing stateside in a long time.
"As a major reseller of Apple Mac Pro systems, these impressive benchmarks and initial test results are a fantastic indicator of the speeds and workflow efficiency our customers will experience," said Martin Vann, CEO MelroseMAC. "When paired with the software such as the updated Final Cut Pro X 10.1, machines of this caliber have the potential to exceed many expectations and will make many owners and users very happy."
Appearance
At MelroseMAC, we began to receive our base configurations on Christmas Eve and like well-behaved children we were allowed to open our present early.
When we unboxed the unit, we were amazed at how compact and dense it was.
Space is at a premium and it is used wisely. The design of the Mac Pro focuses on the addition of workflow peripherals rather than a chassis with the space to expand. The cylindrical computer is devoid of any physical features except for its ports situated in the rear of the machine, which illuminate by a pulsing light when the unit is turned.
As expected, the Mac Pro is tiny compared to the previous generation. In our Hollywood store, we paired this it with the 27" Thunderbolt display, which dwarfs its 9.9” stature even more.
For a computer of this density, it handles heat extremely well by taking air through vents in bottom, carrying it through the thermal core and expelling it out the top with nothing but a slight hum from the fan.
Despite the photos posted online the Mac Pro is not jet black as many expected. It is closer to a cross between chrome and the Space Gray finish of the new iOS devices as of late.
We will be adding more to this workflow including 4K footage and the updated Final Cut Pro X 10.1. If there is a piece of equipment you would like to test out, we'd love to see it in action too.
