“One year after its release, Apple’s radically redesigned Mac Pro remains a source of frustration for some video-focused professionals whose workflows are being interrupted by rendering glitches apparently caused by problems with the unit’s ATI graphics system,” Sam Oliver reports for AppleInsider.
“An AppleInsider reader spotlighted the problem this week, but the issues — which center primarily around OpenCL-driven color corrector DaVinci Resolve — first began to appear in May of this year, manifesting as application lockups and visual artifacts on exported video. At the time, Apple’s OS X Mavericks 10.9.3 update was pegged as the cause, with affected users urged to wait for a new update or downgrade to OS X 10.9.2,” Oliver reports. “Problems have continued, however, even after the release of OS X Yosemite.”
Read more in the full article here.
ATI/AMD Graphics.. Issues for years, it’s not just on Apple.
My 2011 iMac’s ATI graphics card crapped out earlier this year (Known issue)
I’ve been hearing these issues with ATI and Apple since at least 2006/07 (20 and 24″ iMac graphics issues)
But i’m sure someone could dig up ATI *and* NVIDIA issues in Apple products over the years, I’ve just heard more ATI issues in the past few years.
Fully agree. My 2011 iMac has the same issue. Starts with artifacts, artifacts increase, graphics card locks up. For the first time ever, I’ve built a Hackintosh. I never would have considered going the DIY route had it not been for the ATI card going bad and crazy expense to replace.
For the first time ever I’m considering switching to an HP Z840 (for video, graphics, compositing) even though the thought of it makes me sick. The lack of PCIe3 16X on the Mac Pro which is about 6X faster than Thunderbolt 2 is one of the reasons. Thunderbolt 2 maxes out 20 gigabits per second. PCI express 3.0 has 16 gigabytes per second aka 128 gigabits per second. These ATI issues aren’t helping either.
At any rate I await whatever improvements Apple might make before my zero hour need arises.
I saw many of these ati issues working at the store level. Apple should acknowledge issues and deal with them in a responsible timely manner. They have the money and resources they should have a quick resolution, instead they become silent and slow to resolve. Apple isn’t the angel fanboys love to idolize in many respects. Apple should be held more accountable. Maybe force jony to make a video explaining his cunning design and philosophies on everything but use ability and function as well as dependability. Or force mr cook to get off his overly active drive for all things gay and and knuckle down on running a tighter ship. My fully loaded iMac has been cursed with non resolved ATI issues. I hate to hate this about Apple. There is no excuse for high priced equipment with these failures and flaws.
This kind of thing is bad news for those of us who own Apple stock. Arghh.
Mac Pro sales account for much less than a penny a share in profit.
That is not the correlation between the two.
Really strange is these issues are not only reserved to Mac Pro users who spent more than 5k on a machine that promises to be “the graphic beast”
Macbook Pro users are f***** when it comes to games, because almost every cool game on the App Store does not support the 2GB Nvidia GPUs that are built in.
3.5k for a laptop that does not support gaming? REALLY?
Screw you TIM !
Awesome how your name is a symbol of divine love and human self-sacrifice and you end with “screw you.”
Perhaps he wants to crucify him. 😉
Maybe people who spend $3.5k on a machine are not very interested in playing games. I do think Apple has identified its target audience as being creative professionals; you are unhappy that the machine that best serves them doesn’t best serve you. Given that you can’t change the machine nor Apple’s marketing strategy, why not do something useful with your time?
Apple used to sweat the details- every last detail.
A story widely reported on the internet involved Steve Jobs requiring pre-production iPods that were to be used as media loaners to have the headphone jacks replaced just shortly before the launch event. The jacks did not have a positive enough physical feel to meet Steve’s expectations- they worked fine but felt cheap. That is the Apple that left it’s death bed and grew into the monster it is today.
That demand for excellence and respect for the end user has largely gone away. From the fiasco surrounding the launch of iMovie Pro X Vista Edition to the Mac Mini Pro Home Theater PC – d.b.a the New Mac Pro- Apple has forgotten what engendered such loyalty among customers.
I have been using Apples and owning Macs since way back in the day. I didn’t switch to the Mac or come home to the Mac- I never left. I and many like me stuck it out even when it was expensive and highly inconvenient to do so. I stood in line at the opening of the 4th Apple Store opened- not as a fanboy but as a relieved customer tired of dealing with clueless 3rd party resellers.
I am an proud Apple shareholder- the car I drive was purchased completely with the profits from the sale of a small portion of my Apple stock bought back in 2001 on the cheap and the shares I still hold are a large portion of my retirement portfolio. The company has done many great things and promises to do more in the future but is far from perfect. Apple charges a premium price and that leads to expectations of premium quality, support and performance.
When people like me criticize Apple it is not because we hate Apple or are trolls in the service of Samsung or Google- it is because we know Apple has the ability and resources to do better. The cash pile and reputation Apple has earned mean it should have resources to do things right every time if the leadership demands it and holds feet to the fire. Under Tim Cook important things have been allowed to slip that should not have.
Fish rot from the head.
Excellent comment, DavGreg. Just excellent! As long as Tim Cook sits in the CEO chair, AAPL will languish – Wall Street does not see him as a dynamic, capable leader of the world’s most valuable company. The steady decline in “it just works” is all at the feet of Tim Cook.
Continued support for him on this forum comes from so many in denial and they base their support on the company’s amazing sales, profits, and the price of the stock. Amazingly, they don’t grasp the reality of how much better all that would be under the leadership of a CEO capable of taking the company to a higher level and putting any competition far back in the rear view mirror.
Alas, we have a situation that defies a solution and it is very, very frustrating.
Much better Jay. You see we aren’t all lemmings here. DavGreg’s made an excellent point “Apple used to sweat the details- every last detail.” That’s a Steve Jobs trait and it’s not an easy task to follow.
But Jobs has goofed as well (Oh the hockey puck mouse). That’s part of being human. Now if Tim Cook is on the ball and I think he is, he will address these issues and soon. It’s not a reason to fire him.
I personally don’t mind AAPL stock floundering. In fact the day that AAPL stock gets into bed with Whore Street is the day I really start to worry about the leadership.
Hey I thought you said you were leaving and the truth shall remain a while back and yet here you are. Jay Morrison speak with forked tongue?
Wait. You’re saying that when APPL stock begins to perform well (“gets into bed with Whore Street”) is the day that you worry about leadership? That’s weird. Stock reflects confidence in a company which derives largely from its leadership.
Tim Cook routinely demonstrates poor judgment: iWatch, iOS 7, Yosemite, and involving Apple in the promotion of homosexuality (Alabama bill, for instance) are just par for the course.
What the hell are you talking about? Apple stock all time high range and the MOST VALUABLE COMPANY IN THE WHOLE FREAKN WORLD. I can’t figure out if you lot are just stupid or trying to be ironic. Tim is the CEO of the year for the balancing act he as pulled off while growing Apple to the place it is now. There will always be a long list of complaints and gripes power users have that are legitimate. However, if you think the stock is floundering or that Tim is bad for Apple then you simply don’t know how to read a stock chart or add numbers together.
Yeah, really? You’ve been “using apples” for years. Not buying it.
I really don’t give a sh*t if you buy it or not.
From my Mac Pro typed on an Apple Keyboard viewed on an LED Cinema Display via an AirPort Express wireless bridge to an AirPort Extreme with Improved Dual Band Antenna sitting next to my iPad Air, iPhone 6 and iPod Touch 5th Generation.
My first Mac was bought in 1985, my first Apple computer was a II/][/2. I have also owned/used Amigas. Commodore VICs and 64’s, TI 99/4As, Commodore PETs, TRS-80s, Sinclairs, Franklins and any number of white box computers running everything from BeOS to various UNIX flavors. You ever used a Data General Eclipse, Digital (DEC) Vax, a Wang, Burroughs B25, Grid Compass? I have.
I got paid to use a lot of stuff, but what I bought for primary home use has been and is Apple. I didn’t have to switch as I bought my first Apple when Dick Caveat was doing radio commercials for Apple with the tag line “The Most Personal Computer”.
Not everybody here is 25 years old. Some of us grew up with the personal computer revolution. I learned how to program in BASIC writing on cassette drives as a Freshman in 1979. Some of us used to get terminal time late at night on the University Mainframes that were linked to other mainframes in the late 1970s-early 1980s.
Cavett
not Caveat
If you care enough to correct his spelling, do you care enough about your integrity to admit that you were wrong about him using Apples for a long time?
My sentiments exactly. You would be hard-pressed to find a household that has more Apple products than mine. But while that won’t change any time soon, I’m seeing a bad trend. Apple is making poor decisions under Tim Cook. In many ways, it is regressing. It took a lot of hard work and dedication to put Apple where it is today. I hate to see it slipping away.
Many are in denial regarding this trend but it’s true. Remember that the big Apple position and profits did not appear until long after all the hard work and dedication. Similarly, the losses will lag the current poor leadership and abysmal decision making. It’s the direction Tim Cook is taking Apple.
My biggest problem with the new Mac Pro is that I do not own one!
Please fix this, Apple!
I hear on the grapevine that Apple have a fix sometime this century.
Pro users are the wolves who make the eco system work. Apple’s treatment of these is completely wrongheaded and dangerous to its long term future.
Agreed.
Apple’s top software talent is spread too thin on all the newer devices.
Time for Tim to tap the talent of the top video coders for a quick run on this problem.
Its more than likely an issue with ATI, probably hardware based and while software maybe able to compensate, its iffy..
However, the unanswered question is, how many are actually affected? 1%, 10%? If the answer is very low, then Apple should try and replace these units, and what are the affected people doing? Have they had replacements, and had no affect? Did some get fixed? without knowing the answers to those questions, this is merely yet another problem tossed out there with no clear facts as to whether its really a serious issue or not.
But, but , but….it looks cool, everything else doesn’t matter, right? Pftttttt
I have a 2008 Mac Pro. I had to lug the sucker to the Soho Apple store about five years ago to have the ATI graphics card replaced. Argh!
They won’t look at it now.
You know Apple has been compared to BMW a lot (i.e. high-end computer maker vs. high-end auto maker). Imagine taking your 2008 BMW to the dealer and they tell you that they don’t work on those anymore and all you can do it take it to the scrapyard.
Luckily, many parts on your 2008 Mac Pro are easily replaceable (another feature that is disappearing under Apple).
2015 better be the year of Apple refocuses on the Mac. I get why Apple prioritized iOS over the Mac last year, but now that they’ve made absolutely everything about iPhones and iPads awesome in 2014, it’s time get back to the laundry list of everything Mac that needs improving.
Apple should release new Mac Pros, Mac Mini, Yosemite updates, and a Mac Mini Tower, addressing all the major complaints on Mac in fell swoops.
Top of my list is releasing at least one affordable desktop with a dedicated graphics processor. I’m a gamer, not a video professional, and I’m sure I’m not the one who wants a Mac desktop. It’s a huge opportunity for Apple, there’s for the taking, if they’ll just sell us the machine we want already.
The Mac Pro “trashcan” is the worst hardware design for a professional computer ever produced by Apple.