The Psychology of Our Lust for the New Mac Pro

I want a new Mac Pro when it ships this fall.

You probably want a new Mac Pro.

Lots of Apple customers want a new Mac Pro when it ships this fall.

But most of us can’t afford one. Let the whining begin.

Be the First on Your Block

Let’s be honest. There is constant marketing pressure on us, by every conceivable company, to have the latest and greatest (fill in the blank.) Moreover, several generations of Mac enthusiasts have grown accustomed to being able to afford the most powerful Mac in the lineup. It’s the male equivalent of the “mine’s bigger” syndrome.

But there’s also the aesthetics of a finely crafted tool that’s gawdawful fast. It’s why many of us admire and covet a McLaren. Or Lamborghini. Or Ferrari. There is sheer joy in owning one of these  cars.

But most of us can’t afford one of those supercars either. And therein lies the problem with the 2019 Mac Pro.

With some extreme heating of one’s credit card (and perhaps spousal blessing), a base model of the 2013 Mac Pro was possible for many who have previously paid $3,000 for a maxed out MacBook Pro. If the Mac Pro suited one’s needs.

But a base model 2019 Mac Pro starts at US$6,000. This is where one-upmanship breaks the bank, and we’re pissed. By golly, we’ve been loyal customers, indeed enthusiasts, for decades.

We darn well deserve a new Mac Pro that we can afford. Perhaps Apple could tweak the base model and get the price down to $3,000.

Riiiiight.

Just reduce the base RAM from 32 GB to 16 GB. Done. Half the sticker price.

Computational Power

The fact is, the power of the 2019 Mac Pro comes into play with special software designed to exploit the hardware. That’s how the many teraflop numbers are arrived at. And the cost of the hardware to achieve 50+ teraflops is great.

For the rest of us, we’ll never use or write LINPACK class code. Or code that exploits more than eight cores. We’re technical landlubbers gazing at a sea of computational power we’ll never need.

But we want our yacht. It’s so beautiful.

Apple’s Responsibility

Apple consulted with creative and technical pro users. Apple designed a system with few limitations. No more geting painted into a thermal corner. The new Mac Pro is simply the most powerful Mac possible within reason. Those pros, in government and enterprise, with a need for it will amortize its cost quickly.

More to the point, given the design point pro customers asked for, Apple is under absolutely no obligation to deliver a watered down version that meets some arbitrary price point that some vocal customers insist on with heaping spoonfuls of self-entitlement. McLaren doesn’t build at $50,000 version of the 720S. It wouldn’t be a McLaren if that were done.

We wanted the best possible Mac Pro and we got it. If it’s unaffordable by the masses by previous standards, that just punctuates the fact the previous Mac Pros were not really, fully pro class.

Becoming accustomed to the computational facts and overcoming our own tremors of lust are just part of our own maturing viewpoint.

And Apple’s.

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