It’s more likely the new Mac Pro uses the as-of-yet unannounced (but leaked [1]) Xeon W-3xxx CPUs. The current Xeon W fare doesn’t have the core counts Apple is advertising.

[1] https://www.tomshardware.com/news/intel-xeon-cascade-lake-w-...

Xeon W-3175X is 28 cores (and 250W)..

But yes, I would expect a dual die 64 core monster like the 92xx series they recently announced. Of course the 300W power/thermal solution apple was talking about seems a bit limiting in that case.

Yes, but Apple lists 12, 16, and 24 core Xeon W options, none of which are currently available from Intel but do match those leaked for Cascade Lake Xeon W. So it’s quite doubtful Apple is using Skylake Xeon W since the majority of the specs don’t match.

Don't forget that Apple can see AMD and Intel's future roadmaps.

AMD definitely has a superior offering with Threadripper 3 but we haven't seen what Intel is going to offer in comparison. And switching CPU manufacturers is never trial.

Intel’s public roadmap has been highly unreliable. They’ve been delayed by years, and that was before the recent vulnerabilities were discovered. I’m not convinced about the value of their roadmaps.

That being said, if you were only allowed to pick one platform to sell to your customers, in a machine which should last years, then Intel would definitely be the safer bet. It’s also the platform most of the software providers are likely gonna optimize first.

I'm not sure why they'd consider Threadripper for the Mac Pro. This machine fits into Epic's target cases and could possibly live up to the asking price of the whole package at that point. Given how the rest of the mac ecosystem is going, I'd only expect the most stubborn of professional communities pick this up (film editing folks seems to still buy the Apple hype).

I’d consider this a “v1” Apple product. Everyone knows you wait for v2.

Film editing kinda makes sense because there is probably a lot of lock in on the software for people who don't like the Adobe monthly charge BS.

I'd be surprised if the monthly charge is a problem here. We're talking about a machine that costs more than 6 years worth of subscriptions (for the entire suite, business price, ~1/3 less for just premiere pro, business price) for the lowest tier machine (which isn't all that great for the stated use case).

Maybe there is a technical reason but the story I've gotten from people I know doing this is that they are looked down on if they're PC users. It could be that Apple's software is that much better but it seems much more likely that they're charging what they know they can based on the generally stubbornness folks have around their software and workflow. I partly can't blame them, if your job is in a creative space the last thing I'd want to do is constantly rework a workflow and deal with the machinery itself rather than the content and output.

Do these roadmaps include running at half a speed after a couple of months due to (arguably purposeful) design flaws ?

So Threadripper 3 has not been (effectively) cancelled? (Disappeared from all roadmaps.) Any links?

I so want to buy that CPU, but I'm starting to suspect it might never be released.

Great, so it changed recently. Before that, the silence was deafening for a long time. Can't wait for my future Threadripper system.