Let's rev up some excitement for the 2014 Mac Pro!

[All Taken]

Just a twist on the 2013 thread.

I wanted to ask the community the following, as Professionals using the machine to make a living, do you foresee yourself sticking with the Apple ecosystem in future if Apple does not introduce a 2014 Mac Pro?

That is if we have such a long gap between updates as presently seen. I see many users complaining, rightly so, about the lack of updates thus far but many also say 'This time only, if they do this again i'm out'

So i'm curious - will you stick with the Mac Pro line if Apple maintain such a large gap between updates?

The 2013 Mac Pro I'm sure will be different, fingers crossed in a good way - but looking forward....

This thread is not to spark unrest it's just a genuine question on what YOU would do.

[elvisizer]

I'm still happily chugging along with my much-upgraded early 2008, so I'm firmly in the 'my work doesn't require CPU updates every year' camp.

[Badagri]

Originally Posted by elvisizer

I'm still happily chugging along with my much-upgraded early 2008, so I'm firmly in the 'my work doesn't require CPU updates every year' camp.

Sadly though Mountain Lion is the last OS for this model, regardless of it being upgradeable and 64bit EFI/cpu's. :/

That is just pathetic.

[Lesser Evets]

I'm fine with my 2006, having been upgraded with 2 used processors.

It's snappy! Snappier than these current desktops just released. I'm fine through 2014 sometime. Then I need to update to a new MacPro.

They can do releases of Pros every 2 years and I'd be fine. 3 years is the edge of unease. If they drop the Pro... I might drop Apple.

[elvisizer]

Originally Posted by Badagri

Sadly though Mountain Lion is the last OS for this model, regardless of it being upgradeable and 64bit EFI/cpu's. :/

That is just pathetic.

um, whut? I've seen no hardware reqs for 10.9 yet, so what are you basing that statement on?

[GermanyChris]

Originally Posted by elvisizer

um, whut? I've seen no hardware reqs for 10.9 yet, so what are you basing that statement on?

it's based on the posters 4th point of contact.

[elvisizer]

lol, had to google '4th point of contact', never heard that before!

[Spink10]

Originally Posted by GermanyChris

it's based on the posters 4th point of contact.

lol - thats a good one. Had not heard that expression in a while.

[scottsjack]

Originally Posted by Lesser Evets

I'm fine with my 2006, having been upgraded with 2 used processors.

It's snappy! Snappier than these current desktops just released. I'm fine through 2014 sometime. Then I need to update to a new MacPro.

They can do releases of Pros every 2 years and I'd be fine. 3 years is the edge of unease. If they drop the Pro... I might drop Apple.

I'm pretty much where your at. On one hand if Apple gave me back my three grand I would probably get a maxed out HP h9. It looks just about perfect.

On the other hand I'm still extremely happy with my 2010 3.2 quad Mac Pro. A $500 investment on a 3.33 hexacore and an the addition of an SDD would put its performance way past what I really need.

[Wardenski]

I really don't understand how a Mac Pro can be much different to what it is aside from form factor. I think the gullible are waiting for the "Apple magic".

[bearcatrp]

Originally Posted by elvisizer

lol, had to google '4th point of contact', never heard that before!

Join the military. Used often there. For the uneducated, its your ars!

[thekev]

Originally Posted by Badagri

Sadly though Mountain Lion is the last OS for this model, regardless of it being upgradeable and 64bit EFI/cpu's. :/

That is just pathetic.

It may be, but that's not something you can really know at this point.

[Dr. Stealth]

I make my living with my MP.

I recently upgraded from a 2007 MP 2,1 to a 2010 5,1. A 5 year stretch. I would still be using my 2,1 had Apple not voted me off the Island with 10.8.

That said, I'm perfectly happy with the 5 year use of my MP and can't imagine having to update my current MP for another 5 years.

I did a stint at IBM recently in Boulder, CO and actually came across a document that stated that current computer hardware has a average life of 5 years. As simplistic as that sounded, as a general statement I could not disagree.

I still believe most of the people complaining are not the pros making a living but the "computer enthusiasts" that constantly seek bleeding edge tech. And I don't think it will ever change.

[d-m-a-x]

wish i had some rev left. the news that 10.8.3 supports 7*** amd graphics did nothing for me

[Slow Programmer]

One choice is missing - "Have already moved to a different platform."

[All Taken]

Originally Posted by Slow Programmer

One choice is missing - "Have already moved to a different platform."

This is a Poll for users still using a Mac Pro and waiting to update in 2013 - it is then asking if no update after 2013 for X years would you leave the platform etc etc.

[Badagri]

Originally Posted by thekev

It may be, but that's not something you can really know at this point.

Apple doesn't seem to make it a habit supporting older computers unless it's 2 years. Look at the 2006 Mac Pro's that got the heave.

The 2008 Mac Pro was the last model on the list for Mountain Lion. I wouldn't be surprised if it's ditched next year for 10.9.

[slughead]

Originally Posted by Badagri

Apple doesn't seem to make it a habit supporting older computers unless it's 2 years. Look at the 2006 Mac Pro's that got the heave.

The 2008 Mac Pro was the last model on the list for Mountain Lion. I wouldn't be surprised if it's ditched next year for 10.9.

Not that they have a legitimate reason for dropping the older computers, but they have even less reason to drop the 2008 since it supports EFI 64... It'd be hard to justify.

[Lesser Evets]

The biggest pain in the ass for moving to Windows is buying the loads of expensive software suites needed to make that jump. Also the time to learn the Windows suites of what I use on Apple's Macs. Uhg. It's a double-no: time and money gone!

Originally Posted by Wardenski

I really don't understand how a Mac Pro can be much different to what it is aside from form factor. I think the gullible are waiting for the "Apple magic".

Gullible? Hopeful.

I agree, though. They might compact the internals and external design. We all hope the processors make a titan leap to 2x the processing power of the 2010s or more, in late 2013. And add in the USB 3 and TB, etc.

What would be best are Apple-designed über-performance Pro chips. Doubt it will happen, but it might happen later in the decade. Intel's rung of Pro-capable CPUs is so barren. Such a move might mean OSX is in the trash and iOS gets a layer added to make it an OSX-type operating system. It is the logical move which will happen before 2020.

[thekev]

Originally Posted by Badagri

Apple doesn't seem to make it a habit supporting older computers unless it's 2 years. Look at the 2006 Mac Pro's that got the heave.

The 2008 Mac Pro was the last model on the list for Mountain Lion. I wouldn't be surprised if it's ditched next year for 10.9.

It remains to be seen. They don't go out of their way to support older models, as in they won't do any extra work to keep them on the list. It's not quite a foregone conclusion. If someone asked, I would simply tell them not to count on support past ML. It's more significant to me today than it would have been in the past. A lot of software I use has moved to subscription models either in general or for upgrades. At the same time, if Apple doesn't support it, the developers don't either. It means I have to plan updates accordingly.

If we're talking about 4+ years, it's typically time for a new machine. The reason the 2008 could be seen as an exception is due to the kind of weak in between upgrades at similar price points. If we saw something based on Sandy or Ivy, it could be much more significant. A used machine would also be worth it if you need more memory. In 2008 applications were still basically restricted to 32 bit versions, so the crazy price of ram on that model wasn't as big of a deal.

[spock2112]

Why only "Move to Windows"? In my scientific research domain, *nix boxes are the norm and it's these heavy lifting workstations (rather than the office software) machines that would get replaced. I've already had to bring in one 16-core Linux box as more horsepower was needed in the lab. Currently, if one of the many Mac Pros dies, I'll replace it with a Linux box. Wholesale migration would be tough and if Apple comes up with a suitable replacement, I'll stick with Apple (it's so nice to have one box that does it all). But, if we're not seeing 16-core Mac Pros that'll do 128G or more of RAM, I'll be bailing. The question then becomes does the whole group (~30 machines) slowly slide off of Apple in the process?

[CarlHataway]

I have too much money invested in my 2010 Mac Pro to go back to windows or any other OS at this juncture.

[-hh]

Originally Posted by All Taken

This is a Poll for users still using a Mac Pro and waiting to update in 2013 - it is then asking if no update after 2013 for X years would you leave the platform etc etc.

Well, that certainly explains why the voting option of "...couldn't wait, so bought a 2012, so I can now make it to 2014..." wasn't listed.


-hh

[SDAVE]

You can definitely do the same things in Windows as you can under OS X.

However, OS X is a lovely OS (of course it has issues as well!) that I can't stand the Windows OS at all and will hinder my ability to do any work on it. Also the Macs are very good looking as well so they make your office/home/whatever look good

In the end, I'm definitely more productive under OS X than Windows. I was a Windows user for over 13 years before moving to the Mac. Would hate to go back and definitely won't.

[nilk]

Originally Posted by Lesser Evets

I'm fine with my 2006, having been upgraded with 2 used processors.

It's snappy! Snappier than these current desktops just released. I'm fine through 2014 sometime. Then I need to update to a new MacPro.

They can do releases of Pros every 2 years and I'd be fine. 3 years is the edge of unease. If they drop the Pro... I might drop Apple.

My 2006 is also doing fine. I just bought a pair of E5345 CPUs that I'm going to put in (replacing original 2.0GHz so this should make a big difference). I haven't even put SSDs in this machine yet, which I will do next year some time. I've got Mountain Lion running on it using Chameleon bootloader. And ATI 5770 works great for my modest graphics needs (Aperture and FCP X are the main things). I only have 11GB RAM, so there's still some room for improvement there, but it's not like RAM for the Mac Pro 1,1 is cheap, but I might add a little bit more after I add an SSD.

This should also last me through 2014, assuming I don't have issues running future versions of OS X. But I'm not sure if I'm going to buy a Mac Pro again. My next main machine may just be a MacBook Pro (probably a classic MBP so I can swap out the optical drive and have SSD + HDD) as I am starting to need portability more and would be better off putting more money into a more powerful laptop than spreading my money between a desktop and a laptop. Maybe the next major Mac Pro update will change my mind on this, but I think this is unlikely.

I'm actually disappointed with the lack of official upgradability of the Mac Pro (should've known that from the history of Apple, but I thought things would be different in a machine that was basically an Intel-based PC), so I'm not as enthused about the Mac Pro anymore, even though I'm able to keep it going with unsupported upgrades/hacks. Maybe I will do a Hackintosh instead some day...