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posted by Fnord666 on Wednesday December 18 2019, @02:29PM   Printer-friendly
from the sudden-outbreak-of-common-sense? dept.

iFixit surgeons dissect Apple's pricey Mac Pro: Industry standard sockets? Repair diagrams? Who are you and what have you done to Apple?

DIY repair site iFixit has announced the results of its teardown of the 2019 Mac Pro – the latest eye-wateringly priced, professional-oriented computer from fruit-branded-biz-turned- kitchenware supplier, Apple.

And while the Mac Pro looks like [a] cheese grater and costs a lot of cheddar, you'll be delighted to discover it's no stinking bishop[*]. With PCIe slots galore, and modular RAM that isn't soldered to the motherboard, Apple's latest tower is delightfully easy to repair and upgrade, or so iFixit found.

The screwdriver botherers bestowed the Mac Pro with a repairability score of 9. That's pretty much unprecedented for Apple's latest crop of machines. The 16-inch MacBook Pro, for example, has a score of just one, with most components either soldered or glued in place.

In its teardown, iFixit commended Apple for the ease in which punters can open the case, remarking that some simple procedures require no tools at all.

It also lauded Apple's decision to use industry-standard sockets and interfaces, as well as its publication of repair diagrams and instructions. Both moves will allow owners of the ultra-pricey boxes to repair their kit without making an appointment at the Genius Bar.

Or, you could just purchase one fully-kitted out from the start for only $53,000. (Display not included.)

[*] Stinking Bishop cheese.


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  • (Score: 2) by fyngyrz on Wednesday December 18 2019, @06:53PM (4 children)

    by fyngyrz (6567) on Wednesday December 18 2019, @06:53PM (#933843) Journal

    Color me pessimistic but I'm not buyin into this "Apple has reformed" story line.

    Nor should you. For your $50k+, you'll get a machine that Apple will prevent from upgrading to the latest OS X within just a few years — even though it is fully capable of running same.

    They will artificially and intentionally prevent the OS X upgrade from installing. Just as they have been doing all along.

    So even though this machine is powerful, maintainable, and reliable, it won't be up-to-date within a very short span of years.

    Real world example:

    2010 Mac pro, 12/24 core, 64 GB RAM, 2.9 GHz, 4 TB of drive space... yeah, Apple has disabled its ability to run the last several releases of OS X.

    --
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  • (Score: 2) by RedGreen on Wednesday December 18 2019, @09:05PM (2 children)

    by RedGreen (888) on Wednesday December 18 2019, @09:05PM (#933902)

    "Real world example:

    2010 Mac pro, 12/24 core, 64 GB RAM, 2.9 GHz, 4 TB of drive space... yeah, Apple has disabled its ability to run the last several releases of OS X."

    Only the latest was on the scummy side of that statement. Catalina cannot be used without work around, but Mojave can if you put in a Apple recommended ATI card. My 2009 4,1 flashed to 5,1 will use it with no problems once my rx560 is in it. If I wanted to run the latest all that needs to be done is set a no compatibility check flag in the nvram and it will boot then run it with no problem.

    --
    "I modded down, down, down, and the flames went higher." -- Sven Olsen
    • (Score: 2) by fyngyrz on Wednesday December 18 2019, @10:07PM (1 child)

      by fyngyrz (6567) on Wednesday December 18 2019, @10:07PM (#933945) Journal

      Does any of that sound like "it just works"?

      My machine works fine with the video cards it has now. Four of them. I'm not about to go buying four new video cards to access an unsupported OS, where Apple has intentionally attempted to block my use in the first place, and might get more emphatic about it at any time, as locking out older hardware is obviously their long-term policy.

      I'm totally unimpressed with Apple's customer relationship practices; they are shameful.

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      • (Score: 3, Insightful) by RedGreen on Thursday December 19 2019, @05:23AM

        by RedGreen (888) on Thursday December 19 2019, @05:23AM (#934102)

        "Does any of that sound like "it just works"?

        My machine works fine with the video cards it has now. Four of them. I'm not about to go buying four new video cards to access an unsupported OS, where Apple has intentionally attempted to block my use in the first place, and might get more emphatic about it at any time, as locking out older hardware is obviously their long-term policy.

        I'm totally unimpressed with Apple's customer relationship practices; they are shameful."

        Yes that 10 years of support now ended has you so hard done by. Like you did not know this going in with Apple they have made no secret about how they work. They abandon the hardware at the first chance they have, have done so forever, the lock in has been there all the time too. With their various scummy practices like firmware locked peripherals, quick OS turnover to force the upgrade. The real shock is people put up with it for as long a they do, like I have as well too. Too bad them morons in Linux would not get it together and actually do something useful like work together to get something usable. But they always get close, then oh, there is the new shinny lets go chase that for awhile, then the next... Seems like they will never do it.

        --
        "I modded down, down, down, and the flames went higher." -- Sven Olsen
  • (Score: 2) by Reziac on Thursday December 19 2019, @02:56AM

    by Reziac (2489) on Thursday December 19 2019, @02:56AM (#934074) Homepage

    [whispers something about how MacOS runs just fine on a Dell Optiplex]

    --
    And there is no Alkibiades to come back and save us from ourselves.