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A World Without the Mac Pro

Times are rough for Mac Pro fans. I sincerely hope we see a new Mac Pro in 2017 that addresses the needs of the Pro users.
 
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Theophilos said:
Here is a wonderful post from Marco Arlene that captures what we are all feeling.

A world without the Mac Pro - Marco.org
https://apple.news/AoWDvjHEsM5mq44p5CeSAbg

We need to be more vocal and let Apple know this is where we stand.
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Great article. Makes some excellent points. I almost want to go and buy one before they stop making them :) I do love the silence of them. And I bet it would work nice with my Dell 4k monitor.
 
Cape Dave said:
Great article. Makes some excellent points. I almost want to go and buy one before they stop making them :) I do love the silence of them. And I bet it would work nice with my Dell 4k monitor.
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I'll stick with my cMac Pro as long as possible.

This article is better than one I read on MacWorld recently. That author said the current Mac Pro is all one really needs because it's so easily upgradable and can utilize external eGPU. Maybe his last job was at Jiffy Lube.
 
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fastlanephil said:
Maybe his last job was at Jiffy Lube.
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God forbid, he sounds under-qualified.
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zephonic said:
I guess you guys don't know who Marco Arment is, huh? Maybe look up who he is before you ridicule him?
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No, I hadn't heard of him.

I agree with most of what he says, but I certainly don't want an 5K iMac pretending to be a MacPro, any thing that runs that hot isn't even good for making coffee.

If I thought the nMP was better than nothing, I would have bought a few of them by now.

Of course Apple could release such an utterly awful upgrade, that makes refurbs look good.
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Starlock said:
Times are rough for Mac Pro fans. I sincerely hope we see a new Mac Pro in 2017 that addresses the needs of the Pro users.
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That's what I was hoping for in 2013, I gotta tear up that "Hope" poster.
 
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This article says most of what some of us heavy duty users want out of a macpro system. Thunderbolt is great but no way does it approach the PCIe standards. Want us to move the internal storage outside the chassis ? Fine. A thunderbolt raid rack or even jbod will suffice. There you just got rid of some space hogging components without compromising speed.

It isn't as if the current needs of most users isn't being met with the rest of the lineup.But the demands of other industries have crept up, at times exceeding what is possible with the sleek cars in the garage. At times you need to bring out the heavies. The Mac Pro remains the only one in Apple's lineup that can fulfill that role.

AR/VR, 8K video, high end VFX, The ever increasing demands of 3D games. The industry is marching forward, putting more pressure on creators to keep up with it.

If Apple wants to kill the Mac Pro line, just kill it and get it done with. The only thing holding me back is the OS.
 
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This paragraph is the one that sticks out for me;
Current sales aren’t an indicator of future sales. Apple shouldn’t use the (presumably) low sales of the current Mac Pro to justify discontinuing the line entirely. The 2013 Mac Pro was introduced with a substantial price increase, far less internal expansion, fewer and more expensive processor options, and a forced dual-workstation-GPU configuration even for buyers who would’ve been fine with a single GPU. Then it was abandoned for three years, during which 5K displays finally came to market, but without a good option for Mac Pro buyers.

The 2013 Mac Pro was a victim of limited configuration options in a market that values versatility and edge-case handling, poor timing behind the 5K transition, and years-long neglect. A 2017 Mac Pro need not suffer from the same issues, and could sell far better.
 
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H2SO4 said:
This paragraph is the one that sticks out for me;
Current sales aren’t an indicator of future sales. Apple shouldn’t use the (presumably) low sales of the current Mac Pro to justify discontinuing the line entirely. The 2013 Mac Pro was introduced with a substantial price increase, far less internal expansion, fewer and more expensive processor options, and a forced dual-workstation-GPU configuration even for buyers who would’ve been fine with a single GPU. Then it was abandoned for three years, during which 5K displays finally came to market, but without a good option for Mac Pro buyers.

The 2013 Mac Pro was a victim of limited configuration options in a market that values versatility and edge-case handling, poor timing behind the 5K transition, and years-long neglect. A 2017 Mac Pro need not suffer from the same issues, and could sell far better.
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Apple is not going to drop the limited config options with a new Mac Pro. You still won't be able to update the graphics card in three or four years time when it becomes dated. That's just the way it seems to work at Apple. I have a nMP. I like it, but it sure made me realise it is not meant for heavy duty users in the end. So I just bought myself a 12-core HP Z840 workstation with the latest NVIDIA Titan X. Sure, the interface of Windows is imo not as user-friendly, but it runs circles around the nMP. if Apple really believes they are catering to the pro market with their under-specced laptops, the 2013 nMP and their once in four years you might get an update policy, then they are deluding themselves.
 
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jclmavg said:
Apple is not going to drop the limited config options with a new Mac Pro. You still won't be able to update the graphics card in three or four years time when it becomes dated. That's just the way it seems to work at Apple. I have a nMP. I like it, but it sure made me realise it is not meant for heavy duty users in the end. So I just bought myself a 12-core HP Z840 workstation with the latest NVIDIA Titan X. Sure, the interface of Windows is imo not as user-friendly, but it runs circles around the nMP. if Apple really believes they are catering to the pro market with their under-specced laptops, the 2013 nMP and their once in four years you might get an update policy, then they are deluding themselves.
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Yep, I know that. I’m in that camp that is being deluded. I don’t use my Mac pro for anything serious any more but I liked the fact that it was powerful enough to run a good few apps, (including a bit of moderate gaming in Parallels), while having other things on the go.
I liked that I could runHandbrake in the backgorund with no significant slowdowns, (except while gaming of course).
I was hoping the cMP replacement would be a little smaller, quieter and really just updated with faster internals and more. Not that appliance type one trick pony thing they’ve released.
 
H2SO4 said:
This paragraph is the one that sticks out for me;
Current sales aren’t an indicator of future sales. Apple shouldn’t use the (presumably) low sales of the current Mac Pro to justify discontinuing the line entirely. The 2013 Mac Pro was introduced with a substantial price increase, far less internal expansion, fewer and more expensive processor options, and a forced dual-workstation-GPU configuration even for buyers who would’ve been fine with a single GPU. Then it was abandoned for three years, during which 5K displays finally came to market, but without a good option for Mac Pro buyers.

The 2013 Mac Pro was a victim of limited configuration options in a market that values versatility and edge-case handling, poor timing behind the 5K transition, and years-long neglect. A 2017 Mac Pro need not suffer from the same issues, and could sell far better.
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Sadly, this hardware neglect strategy has been the norm since Steve died. The Mac Mini, nMP and to some extent the iMac all suffer from this kind of product neglect.

Those of us that remember the cube disaster also remember that it was quickly removed from the market when everyone (including Apple) realized it was a flop. Seems like the powers that be at Apple are too stubborn to admit how bad a mistake the nMP was. It's likely they will phase it out rather than go back to PCI slots.

Tim is a numbers guy, he doesn't care about computers. Plus, he really wants you to buy an iPad Pro anyway.
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jclmavg said:
Apple is not going to drop the limited config options with a new Mac Pro. You still won't be able to update the graphics card in three or four years time when it becomes dated. That's just the way it seems to work at Apple. I have a nMP. I like it, but it sure made me realise it is not meant for heavy duty users in the end. So I just bought myself a 12-core HP Z840 workstation with the latest NVIDIA Titan X. Sure, the interface of Windows is imo not as user-friendly, but it runs circles around the nMP. if Apple really believes they are catering to the pro market with their under-specced laptops, the 2013 nMP and their once in four years you might get an update policy, then they are deluding themselves.
Click to expand...

If you own or use a nMP and have the opportunity to use a real windows workstation, it's an eye opening experience. The 3+ year old gap in technology is hard to ignore.
 
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jeff7117 said:
Sadly, this hardware neglect strategy has been the norm since Steve died. The Mac Mini, nMP and to some extent the iMac all suffer from this kind of product neglect.

Those of us that remember the cube disaster also remember that it was quickly removed from the market when everyone (including Apple) realized it was a flop. Seems like the powers that be at Apple are too stubborn to admit how bad a mistake the nMP was. It's likely they will phase it out rather than go back to PCI slots.

Tim is a numbers guy, he doesn't care about computers. Plus, he really wants you to buy an iPad Pro anyway.
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I agree with this. I’d have much more respect for, especially Schiller and Cook, if they didn't lie.
I’d also spend more on and in Apple. These days, I if I spend on Apple goods I get them from elsewhere, if I buy non Apple goods I never buy from Apple and very usually not a dedicated reseller either, unless I’ve no choice. I use the iTunes and Mac App store to browse and then buy elsewhere.
 
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Didn't you guys know that nmp was meant for intensive web browsing? "Look at yahoo website...whoaaa intensive experience that requires 8 cores."
 
H2SO4 said:
Congrats, I still think it's crap though. Just my opinion you understand.
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Yup, that's certainly an opinion, since little of the statement "it's crap" is based in actual fact. Just because your workflow doesn't fit around it doesn't mean that other peoples workflows don't. :)
 
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poematik13 said:
Yup, that's certainly an opinion, since little of the statement "it's crap" is based in actual fact. Just because your workflow doesn't fit around it doesn't mean that other peoples workflows don't. :)
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My workflow could fit around it/it could fit around my workflow. Not sure which way you want to put it.
It’s extremely limiting in all but size. In my book that makes it crap.
 
I still contend that the Mac Pro will likely never be updated at this point. If Apple was going to update it, they would have done so by now. I'm no longer holding out hope, and it feels kinda good!
 
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smelly cat said:
I still contend that the Mac Pro will likely never be updated at this point. If Apple was going to update it, they would have done so by now. I'm no longer holding out hope, and it feels kinda good!
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I think it's the other way round. If they were going to discontinue it, they would have done so by now. My (anger and) hope is still up.
 
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smelly cat said:
I still contend that the Mac Pro will likely never be updated at this point. If Apple was going to update it, they would have done so by now. I'm no longer holding out hope, and it feels kinda good!
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If 5,1 becomes legacy..............,,.,run!
 
DrMickeyLauer said:
I think it's the other way round. If they were going to discontinue it, they would have done so by now. My (anger and) hope is still up.
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Yes. I think they will give it one more shot before giving up.
[doublepost=1478464048][/doublepost]I mean it isn't as if the market went away. Apple designed themselves into a corner with the nMP which is the main reason the macpros aren't selling as much as before.

They can move to a two year cycle if the tower form factor ( even if it is shrunk from the cMP model, with some design tweaks after the 3.5 and 5.25 slots are removed ) with PCIe expansion slots makes a comeback.
 
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