Mac Pro Now Unavailable for Purchase from European Apple Online Stores

[antonis]

Does anyone know how much profit Apple makes on the Mac Pro?
What percentage of revenue of the CPU's are Mac Pro's?

All the arguments here are plausible:
• Pro users need MAX horsepower
• Why does anybody need more power than a maxxed out iMac?
• X-Plane 10 needs more grfx power than a GeForce 680 MX
• Time and effort spent on Mac Pro R&D is better spent on iDevices R&D
• Apple can't eliminate their only Workstation
• Apple is already abandoning Pro-users, see the software lineup
• etc, etc.

Bottom line (duh): Apple is trying to decide what gives more profit:
1. High margin, but very small customer base?
2. Lower margin but for the "masses"?
3. What are the consequences of the choice?

I seriously don't know. But allowing the current situation that in the EU countries you simply cannot buy the Mac Pro says a lot.

I hope Apple has a surprising "Pro" update for us in the pipeline. But it has to show itself quick. Damn quick!!

All these points are valid, but I think there's one more side of that matter that is still missing: Apple cares about their profile, they've proved that in the past. It's not a given that they always make a decision strictly based on raw profit. By abandoning pro market for good, they are going to lose much of their traditionally high prestige and I don't think they are willing to. Musicians, designers, photographers etc were a target group that Apple always took under consideration.

All that said, for this moment (future might prove me wrong of course) I'd bet that they are still going to present a new Mac Pro within 2013 and make a come back.

 

[prowlmedia]

Yeah, I'm sure Pixar has an iMac render farm...

Well to be fair they have mostly Linux based blade servers - not sure who makes them though.

They do use a lot of Mac Pro's tho and Linux workstations. They have a mac pro server farm too but waaaay smaller than the main render farm.

 

[rmwebs]

That is a very short sighted view and again the view of a consumer not as a business owner.

Not really. I use Mac Pro's all the time in my business.

I bought one 2 months ago - And it made it's money back + 40% profit after Tax in a single 2 week job. And now it's just making me money every day.

Thats nice. We've had them make their money back on their first day. Hardly relevant to the cost to quality ratio though. I was merely stating that the current Mac Pro is not good value for money when it comes to its rather poor specs. Even a maxed out one is pretty poorly powered by todays standards.

It's a device to make money with... Not to view you tube.

And where exactly did I say otherwise? Dont make assumptions

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Yeah, I'm sure Pixar has an iMac render farm...

Pixar have a LINUX render farm actually - look it up Most of their work is done on Linux.

 

[Bubba Satori]

The 680MX is the 3rd most powerful GPU in the world currently.

No it's not.

 

[antonis]

Pixar have a LINUX render farm actually - look it up Most of their work is done on Linux.

Can't blame them, Linux is great for building network rendering farms. I bet they've replaced their Xserve farm with Linux. Heh, anyone still remembers the Xserve ?

 

[StarHunter]

The new Mac Pros will likely not be out until the 2nd half of the year since that is when ivy bridge e will be out, unless they decide to launch with sandy bridge e and then just a few months later update them again. Doing updates just months apart would likely upset people in the pro market so I dont think that option is likely.

 

[BornAgainMac]

Introducing the new Mac Pro. Same great CPU but now in 5 incredible colors.

 

[blackcrayon]

Because the iMac makes noise.
Because the iMac is impossible to repair
Because the iMac is impossible to upgrade
Because the iMac is just a consumer product (nothing pro about it)


Pro's don't want something smaller, sleeker, more portable (its a desktop for christ sake!). They want something useful.

Should I continue?

You're fighting hyperbole with hyperbole though. not "useful"? Lots of pros use MacBook Pros to get their jobs done, which sortof implies iMacs would be good for at least some of these jobs (ones not needing portability). "Pros" means more than high end video and audio editors- not that none of those could get their job done on an iMac which is twice as powerful as the Mac Pros they can still get their jobs done with

(Now, I'd like to see the Mac Pro updated as much as anyone, just took exception with the iMac being 'useless' for all pros).

 

[Keerock]

You guys have actually convinced yourselves that you need 12 cores?

Why are you in a computer forum if you have no idea for what computers are used? Not everyone just browses the web and posts to Facebook. Some people actually use applications that are faster with more cores ...and for those who actually earn money, less processing time = more money.

 

[TallManNY]

is the mac pro sales so small that apple can afford to lose business.. it's a shame really.

Who in the world would be buying this outdated machine at these prices right now? Yes, I suspect that the sales volume is teeny.

But the new version is coming. And it is going to get shipped from the USA!

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All these points are valid, but I think there's one more side of that matter that is still missing: Apple cares about their profile, they've proved that in the past. It's not a given that they always make a decision strictly based on raw profit. By abandoning pro market for good, they are going to lose much of their traditionally high prestige and I don't think they are willing to. Musicians, designers, photographers etc were a target group that Apple always took under consideration.

All that said, for this moment (future might prove me wrong of course) I'd bet that they are still going to present a new Mac Pro within 2013 and make a come back.

Tim Cook told the President he was going to make Macs in the US. That is going to happen. Really the only easy Mac to make is the modular, spacious and expandable Mac Pro. So you basically have a guarantee from Apple to the President that the Mac Pro is getting refreshed. There is no question on this issue.

 

[Eadfrith]

Well this is terrible news for the five people planning on buying one.

 

[Lennholm]

That's a very valid point. They can't even cite the "easy open" nature of the case as a reason because exposed fan blades in an open case are still present in a lot of PCs. You could go to any number of sites and just pick a motherboard and CPU combo to show that the finished PC built around it has exposed fan blades, not to mention a spidery mess of internal cabling. I don't know why more systems from PC companies haven't been withdrawn for the same reasons at the same time.

PC's you build yourself are of course not regulated, only PC's that are sold pre-assembled.

it is unbelievable, but not for the reason you mention. In the many years the mac pro has been sold in Europe, how many times have customers been hurt by these unguarded fan blades? This is government regulation run completely amok.

It's you who don't understand the purpose of these preemptive regulations. It's not just about protection from potential harm, it's also to prevent frivolous lawsuits. When something is regulated and there are clear cut requirements the manufacturer can't be considered responsible for any mishap as long as they adhere to the regulations specified by the authorities. It will stop the kind of frivolous lawsuits that have been rampant in th US because the customer wont have any case against the manufacturer since they have done all that is required of them.
Regulations such as these are minor and that means it's not a big problem for the manufacturers to adapt to it. Everyone else have done it and Apple would've too if they didn't plan to replace the Mac Pro completely in the near future.

 

[linuxcooldude]

Can't blame them, Linux is great for building network rendering farms. I bet they've replaced their Xserve farm with Linux. Heh, anyone still remembers the Xserve ?

They already had a Linux render farm before Apple discontinued the XServe. Last time I looked they had Mac Pro's and Linux backends.

 

[Tsuchiya]

That's a shame...

I'd love to know how many of these Apple sell per month anyway.

Please refresh Apple!

 

[Mike Oxard]

The new Mac Pros will likely not be out until the 2nd half of the year since that is when ivy bridge e will be out, unless they decide to launch with sandy bridge e and then just a few months later update them again. Doing updates just months apart would likely upset people in the pro market so I dont think that option is likely.

Cause they wouldn't want to upset the pro market would they I think two updates within months of each other would make all the pro's very happy.

 

[KPOM]

Check your math. $600 per pci slot isn't very affordable.

Perhaps Apple will attempt to jumpstart the market by releasing their own, the way they did with the $29 Thunderbolt Ethernet adapter.

 

[antonis]

Cause they wouldn't want to upset the pro market would they I think two updates within months of each other would make all the pro's very happy.

Or very pissed, as they will invest on a brand new and expensive machine that will get a much better chipset 2 months later. But your argument stands for this one too: "Cause they wouldn't want to piss the pro market would they".

 

[Meandmunch]

INNOVATION THROUGH REGULATION!!! Chew on that righties!

 

[HurtinMinorKey]

You guys have actually convinced yourselves that you need 12 cores?

Try editing RAW video on a quad core with a mobile GPU, then come back and talk to me.

 

[HiVolt]

What I'd like to know what "protection of electical ports" means, and is everyone else doing it? How do you protect a USB port, or a DVI port? Put caps on them?

 

[skippermonkey]

Well this is terrible news for the five people planning on buying one.

Again: why are you even posting on here? I guess you're happy that people who rely on high-end Apple hardware for a living might have to switch machines, invest in new software and accessories. If so that's a petty thing to do for a cheap (and not even remotely funny or accurate) laugh.

Stick to playing Angry Birds.

 

[charlituna]

Well yes while that is true. Apple still requires this user base to actually create content for the mobiel devices...

You can write apps just fine on an iMac or a MBP etc.

And I suspect much of the other design work you speak of can be done just fine on the same.

The number of professionals that really need both the power and the expand ability of a Pro is likely not has huge as folks in this thread want to push. Sure the folks that want might be greater, but really need perhaps not so much. I would imagine Apple has numbers to back up their feelings on this way more so than any guesswork done here.

 

[phillipduran]

Unprotected fan blades? They spin at like 2 rpm sheesh.

A little bit over protective I think. At some point you need to let the consumer handle their own safety and just proceed with a warning such as "Hey dummy, don't put your fingers in spinning fan blades mmmk?" or "Don't open this case unless your brain is functioning properly."

 

[ElderBrE]

The saddest part about this is that those of us who need Mac Pros are now the laughing stock of the iOS people. We do not need the Windows crowd anymore to throw sarcasm at us, we have it right here, at home.

Jesus.

 

[charlituna]

Real simple. Mac Pro will most likely be announced at NAB to get back in the good graces of pros.

.

And then we'll have 20 pages of you and yours griping because you don't like how they designed it. You won't like the shape, you won't like any of the specs. You'll carry on even more about how Apple hates you and doesn't care about your needs, blah blah. Meanwhile they will set records for Mac Pro sales with their junk machine