Impressive specifications aside, the question remains as to who needs the Mac Pro. While the groundbreaking, unique aesthetic and ingenious design may appeal to many, there is no doubt that the Mac Pro is a workstation-level system targeted squarely at creative professionals. With prices starting at $2999, the Pro is unlikely to appear at the top of shopping lists of everyone considering a new computer. However, a number of creative industries are still reliant on Apple’s hardware and software and, as a result, the new Mac Pro is sure to find a place on the desks of studios worldwide.
Originally launched in 2006, as reported by Engadget, the Mac Pro was the successor to the Power Mac and continued Apple’s position as the industry standard for computing hardware across multiple creative industries — a position largely stemming from software compatibility in the beginning. Desktop publishing package Quark, for example, was released for the Mac in the late-80s and quickly became the industry favorite. Later, Logic and Final Cut, both developed by Apple, were released exclusively for the Mac OS and are still regarded as some of the best packages in the music and film industries, respectively. Historically, Apple hardware has also been renowned for stability and reliability, inspiring peace of mind and confidence for studios deploying a large number of systems. However, after being somewhat neglected by Apple over the past twelve months (the most recent update to the Mac Pro was well over a year ago), many industry experts began to wonder if a new Mac Pro would ever see the light of day. These concerns were quickly alleviated though, when a significant update was unveiled, putting to rest any doubts that Apple intends to hold onto their crown.
So who needs the Mac Pro? Which companies and individuals are likely to benefit the most from the impressive specifications? The new Mac Pro will likely be of most interest to the following three industries: film and visual effects, music, and multimedia design. Of course there are many other professionals who rely on Mac hardware to carry out their daily tasks, such as writers and photographers, but these users may already be well served by Apple’s other offerings. The MacBook Pro and iMac, for example, are already capable machines and in most cases adequate for word processing and photo editing. The film industry, however, regularly depends on massive processing power for editing and post-production, while visual effects artists and 3D professionals in the games industry will often require heavyweight graphics cards to ensure consistently stable performance. These features are simply not available in other Mac lines, due in part to hardware size constraints. The support for multiple 4K displays is also likely to be a huge benefit to anybody working with visual media. Multiple high-speed storage solutions (up to 1TB SSD), a massive selection of connectivity options, and native support for Logic X will be the biggest draw for audio professionals.
The ultimate success of the Mac Pro remains to be seen, but with such high specifications and unique industrial design, not to mention a long history of proven industry standards, it is likely to pique the interest of a number of studios worldwide. Do you work in one of the aforementioned industries? If so, will you be making the jump to the new Mac Pro?
Image courtesy of Flickr
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