[FireBeyond]

You're wise to do so.

People believe (speaking of photography / video YouTubers) that Apple generally doesn't give pre-release or demo units to users (except the "inner circle", shall we say - Daring Fireball, etc.).

Odd, then, how a whole bunch of photography vloggers, the vast majority of whom made absolutely no mention of loaner / demo units, promotional consideration, etc, all got launch day Mac Pros.

"Much anticipated", people might argue, so of course they pre-ordered.

Odd. They must have all got together and talked. Because on my YT subscriptions list I counted no less than eight photography vloggers who somehow, coincidentally, managed to get the EXACT same configuration:

The 24 core, 384GB, 4TB, Vega Pro II Duo, with a Pro Display XDR, nano coated.

Now, not only is this an overkill for ANY photography editing, even 100mp medium format, it's also a $25,000 (33 when you count the display).

I'm willing to guarantee that these were all Apple loaner units and that at some point they bought their own with the specs they really wanted, and "subbed it in" to their setup, later.

[sgerenser]

As long as they were actually loaners and not just given to the vloggers I honestly don’t see much of a problem. The vast majority of magazines, for example, would do reviews based on products loaned from the manufacturer (with Consumer Reports being a notable exception). While all else equal a review from someone who shelled out their own money seems more trustworthy, I wouldn’t write off a review just because the product was loaned.

[FireBeyond]

> I wouldn’t write off a review just because the product was loaned.

Neither would I. I _would_ be skeptical of the motivations, be they vanity or otherwise, of a review that _does not disclose_ it as a loaner.