2013 Mac Pro timeframe

Damn, June is a long time away. I don't understand why they can't build a Mac Pro with Sandy Bridge E and then update the Mac Pro when Ivy Bridge E is release. WHY?!!!!!!!!!!!?!!!!!!!!!!

Dj Lee said:

Damn, June is a long time away. I don't understand why they can't build a Mac Pro with Sandy Bridge E and then update the Mac Pro when Ivy Bridge E is release. WHY?!!!!!!!!!!!?!!!!!!!!!!

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Because it's fairly obvious that while there might be something allegedly of interest to pros there will be no new Mac Pros.

scottsjack said:

there will be no new Mac Pros.

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or very 'special' Mac Pro's...

JesterJJZ said:

Just re-read one of the last "official" tidbits from Apple.

https://www.macrumors.com/2012/06/1...c-pro-and-imac-designs-likely-coming-in-2013/

Going by that, it seems as the MacPro should be the next Mac released.

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That presumes that Apple has been working on a new Mac Pro in late 2011 or very early 2012. If they started late then they probably will release late.

However, any excuse that the design team was fully occupied with other Mac products had to have ended at some point in 2012. So the Mac Pro should be next in the queue as every other model model released in 2012. But that was also true in 2011 (although Apple made no statements about Mac Pro in 2012. )

Since the Macbooks were last updated in June, it would be safe to say the MacPro should be out before they are refreshed, probably in June again, coinciding with them at the very least.

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It would be highly unlikely the Mac Pro would refresh in June. Unless it was a pre-announce refresh (announce but no shipments for a month or more) which is unlikely. The new Xeon Ivy Bridge E5's are (or were ?) roadmapped for July by Intel. Now that Haswell has slipped to June (and uses the same process technology) it would be very unlikely that Intel would launch Ivy Bridge Xeon E5's early for a June Mac Pro launch. Even the roadmap's July target is highly suspect. That launch too will likely slide in conjunction with the Haswell slide.

If there is no Mac Pro by the March timeframe then Fall is a much more likely target.

JesterJJZ said:

Just re-read one of the last "official" tidbits from Apple.

https://www.macrumors.com/2012/06/1...c-pro-and-imac-designs-likely-coming-in-2013/

Going by that, it seems as the MacPro should be the next Mac released.

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Going by what?!? I see nothing that specifically states it is next up to be refreshed... It just states that "next year" and that Apple PR stated that the Mac Pro would be updated next year and not both the iMac and Mac Pro (which turned out to be true since technically the iMac was updated in late 2012).

Nothing in that article states that it is the "next" Mac to get an update. All it states is that "next year" (meaning 2013) at some point there will be an update.

No mention of Mac Pro whatsoever in this timetable in recent news:

https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/1526274/

At this point it's feeling exactly like the stretch where Final Cut 7 wasn't getting updated, and we all know what happened next. My guess is the new Mac Pro is a Mac Mini with better specs.

Given that 6,1 Mac Pro references have been found in bootcamp for a while now and that 10.8.3 has support for 7XXX graphic cards I'd say that the extended testing of 10.8.3 coupled with it's new card support which can't be for Mac Mini, iMac etc - it's new Mac Pro time. I think we'll see it in February.

All Taken said:

Given that 6,1 Mac Pro references have been found in bootcamp for a while now and that 10.8.3 has support for 7XXX graphic cards I'd say that the extended testing of 10.8.3 coupled with it's new card support which can't be for Mac Mini, iMac etc - it's new Mac Pro time. I think we'll see it in February.

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Please be right :crossed fingers:

Not a gambler usually but is there any waging if there will be a new MP? Bookies may have some insight?

clamnectar said:

At this point it's feeling exactly like the stretch where Final Cut 7 wasn't getting updated, and we all know what happened next.

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That Apple scrapped a 10 year old, legacy design foundation that wasn't aimed for one that is primarily aimed at the next 10 years.... Yeah probably.

My guess is the new Mac Pro is a Mac Mini with better specs.

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That is a poor guess. The size and power constraints for the next 10 years haven't really changed all that much so a "Mac mini" centered view would not be forward looking.

Mid range GPU cards are now hotter on average then they were 10 years ago. Not lower.

CPU's haven't really changed much either due to the 'core count' chase. The types of cores x86 versus GPGPUS/Vector may change over the next 10 years in workstation space, but the number is extremely likely to continue to go up. Therefore an unlikely large change in TDP requirements.

Shorter perhaps by 2-3 inches but that is hardly "mini" design centric.

Loosing ODDs isn't either. If holding onto rectangular shape the ODDs aren't the primary drivers of size in the upper , power supply focused thermal zone. That space easily be purposed with no huge size reduction. It is similar to the not being held prisoner to backwards looking legacy devices. There is very little to diminishing small justification for two OOD bays though.

Neither is an embedded GPU as long as there are slots and options to add a 2nd or 3rd GPU (or GPGPU ) card. Apple made add "mini" PCI-e slot form factor capabilities (Thunderbolt ) but it is unlikely if stick with Xeon E5 class CPUs that all the slots will disappear.


This hardware change is also deeply different from Final Cut Pro because Intel provides design reference boards. Apple doesn't have to re-implement the core structural design foundations from the ground up by themselves. The updates stopped being distributed to users while Apple rebuilt FCP from the ground up. That is fundalmentally different from work stopping.

There is absolutely nothing substantial in the rumor/news sphere that indicates that Apple was actually working on anything during the entire delay. In fact it is far more likely that that just stopped working on it altogether if the delay goes further than March of this year.


There will be a much better Mac Mini in 2013 and 2014. That doesn't say anything about the Mac Pro level workload space though. It does for the users whose workload does not now demand a Mac Pro level of performance. Most of those folks are going to move to mini's anyway if there is a new Mac Pro or not.

A "Mac mini Pro" would be just as unnecessarily cannibalistic of the iMac line up as a "xMac; Mac Pro half portioned" would be. Neither one is very likely to be released. There is no significant growth gap there at all.

All Taken said:

Given that 6,1 Mac Pro references have been found in bootcamp for a while now and that 10.8.3 has support for 7XXX graphic cards I'd say that the extended testing of 10.8.3 coupled with it's new card support which can't be for Mac Mini, iMac etc - it's new Mac Pro time. I think we'll see it in February.

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Oh god, yes if this is true...

I think its more probable we'll see it in March tbh, in time for the 'usual' ipad event

JavaTheHut said:

Not a gambler usually but is there any waging if there will be a new MP? Bookies may have some insight?

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Kuo (the "lastest timetable news" article referenced about) is about the closest you'll find to a bookie (folks handing out odds to stock pickers). And he isn't putting any dates on the release. That far more likely means it doesn't have a large set of blabber-mouth parts suppliers attached to it more so than lower likelihood of 2013 release. It is coming but he can't pick which quarter.

If he had extremely solid, grave dancing Mac Pro news I'm extremely sure than Macrumors would have leaked that along with the timetable since that would have generated an even larger number of ad views.

My guess is at a March media event.

PortableLover said:

I think its more probable we'll see it in March tbh, in time for the 'usual' ipad event

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There just was an iPad event. It is highly unlikely there will be another so sooner. Apple just recently just started selling the new iPads in China. they aren't going to squash those with even newer models just after initially selling them.

March is a bit too close to the April Intel Developer forums where intel and vendors will likely be doing some dog-and-pony demo shows with Ivy Bridge Xeon E5 hardware along with Haswell stuff. Apple would be "late" with Sandy Bridge stuff in Feb. The closer to where there are demos of next gen stuff the more pronounced the lateness will be. They also need several weeks to get out of the initial glitches state that is likely also to accompany something new.

After the first week of March, the likelihood of release actually probably starts to go down until get to July when it would go back up again.


The Mac Pro is so not even remotely close to be a iPad like financial factor to the overall company they can't possibly be looking to fill some revenue or profit target number with the Mac Pro. It is largely in the round off error range of their financials. [ Yet another reason heavy effort isn't put into supply chain intelligence for forward predictions. ]

The "March iPad" event will likely be the discontinuation of the iPad 2 ( the iPad mini having completely filled that role at that point in all geographic locations. )

Whatever they release, it will be overpriced and underwhelming compared to what is available for self builders of PCs and manufacturers.

I mean honestly people.. for all the expectations and talk about the 2013 models, you must realize that even if apple managed to put out a top of the line product, they would end up charging over $4,000.00 dollars for the thing.

Seems to me like users should be excited to find older model 2010s and 2012s in the next year that have dropped in price.

Phrygian said:

Whatever they release, it will be overpriced and underwhelming compared to what is available for self builders of PCs and manufacturers.

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At the lower or top end of the spectrum? Mainstream PC vendors HP/Dell/Lenovo margins and prices are right in line with Apple's when comparing Apple mid-high range offerings to comparable products.

As for the "trusty screwdriver and can of thermal paste" crowd... an Apples versus Oranges issue. The select from the Fry discount bin is cheaper than the other leading vendors also.

Seems to me like users should be excited to find older model 2010s and 2012s in the next year that have dropped in price.

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Far more likley 2006-2009 models will be dump in larger numbers (and hence significant price drops) than 2010 and 2012 models.

2006-2007 models are going onto the Vintage and Obsolete hardware list so those prices will drop almost whether Apple releases anything or not. 2008 is not far behind in that respect ( old front bus memory arch no one uses anymore and substantive I/O bandwidth limitations and a about a year away from Vintage status eligibility. A 2008 as a long term investment buy at this point is highly dubious. )

Unlikely most 2010+ models will be let go. As much as folks moan and groan about not moving past Snow Leopard (10.6.8) that will likely remain much tighter market. There will be a very minor drop but not a highly significant price change.

Some times I feel trapped in the convenience and great work flow of Mac OSX might move on to a hack if this keeps up... last resort move to Windozzzzzzzze

clamnectar said:

At this point it's feeling exactly like the stretch where Final Cut 7 wasn't getting updated, and we all know what happened next. My guess is the new Mac Pro is a Mac Mini with better specs.

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I think you may be spot on.
I don't see Apple releasing any more traditional workstations, their main focus is on iOS, Mac is less than 10% of their turnover.

My guess is late 2013 around around the Ivy Bridge E Xeons. I thought one of Apple's statements said late 2013 as well.

We'll see new Macbooks first.

The GPU drivers that keep popping up for desktop only PCI-E cards are pretty convincing for Apple releasing a desktop that at least features PCI-E slots.

I beginning to think that Apple doesn't have the guts to tell everyone, the Mac Pro is done.

goMac said:

The GPU drivers that keep popping up for desktop only PCI-E cards are pretty convincing for Apple releasing a desktop that at least features PCI-E slots.

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Just as likely that NVidia and AMD are keen to sell GPUs to people with existing Mac Pros...

24Frames said:

Just as likely that NVidia and AMD are keen to sell GPUs to people with existing Mac Pros...

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Not very likely, given the amount of work that would be required to port these drivers.

For the first time, I'm actually wondering how long this will be an 'active' section of the forums, so to speak. I know we have the PowerPC section, and then there's the Apple Collectors way down in Special Interests, so it will remain the same for a while yet... but it gave me pause.

How long will the Mac Pro be considered a "desktop" and not be pushed out into another category? I suppose when they are no longer for sale on Apple's refurbished section of the store, perhaps.