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Anyone going to wait until Snow Leopard ships before buying a Nehalem Mac Pro?

J

jjahshik32

macrumors 603
Original poster
Sep 4, 2006
5,366
52
I'm starting to come to the conclusion that I want to wait until snow leopard ships before buying a Nehalem Mac Pro.

That way I'd get it for free along with the Nehalem technology and by then it will be utilized more + prices may come down in 4-6 more months later for the Nehalem Mac Pros, maybe even a silent speed bump.
 
Prices will not come down, there will be no speed bump.

The demographic for the Mac Pro depends on their purchase being the best possible for just over a year. Apple cannot update these machines in three months.
 
Prices wont come down, but if you can hold out until SN ships then i'd say save yourself $99 and wait. They might offer another graphics card or something by then.

But price dips and speed updates won't happen
 
I dont know, I think if prices dont come down, a silent speed bump would likely suffice. Apple's Nehalem machines are released pretty damn early though if you think about it. Early adoption always costs more.
 
if I were getting a Nehalem, I'd wait til SN ships for that exact reason. bets are that it should be out by WWDC, which is less than 3 months away. Even though Apple may not drop the retail price, a silent upgrade _may_ be possible (though not guaranteed) and having them in stock at more 3rd party retailers makes it more likely that you may see deals there (amazon, macmall, etc.)
 
jjahshik32 said:
I'm starting to come to the conclusion that I want to wait until snow leopard ships before buying a Nehalem Mac Pro.

That way I'd get it for free along with the Nehalem technology and by then it will be utilized more + prices may come down in 4-6 more months later for the Nehalem Mac Pros, maybe even a silent speed bump.
Click to expand...

I'm waiting for Snow Leopard.

I doubt that the prices will be coming down but I also believe that Apple is paying a premium to be the first to get the processors and that the processor cost will be dropping to the Intel listed prices (no idea of the timeframe). Since I doubt Apple will drop it's prices but it also wants to increase sales, I think that Apple will come out with another 2009 release before the year is up (same price more value). I'm not waiting on a price decrease or hardware update but I'm just waiting on snow leopard.

Note - I realize that Apple has not dropped prices or upgraded the Mac Pro more then once / year. Just because they have not done it in the past, doesn't mean they will not do it in the future. If Mac Pro sales are way down / non-existent, they will do whatever needs doing to improve the situation.
 
fluidedge said:
But price dips and speed updates won't happen
Click to expand...

In 7 months... you get a 2,66 Mac Pro for the price of the entry octad, because the 2,66 will be the entry model. A light speed bump with 2,66, 2,93, 3,2 models in fall.

I'm waiting for Snow Leo and then I will buy a new Mac Pro.
 
I'm actually just waiting for when intel officially releases the chips at the end of this month. I want to see if they are dropping the prices any to align with their 5400 series
 
fluidedge said:
???

you're rather matter of fact about all of this
Click to expand...

I'm just saying that the Mac Pro is marketed toward businesses and larger facilities that buy multiple machines at once, sometimes to be able to spend what they need to spend for tax purposes. These facilities rely on the companies from which they buy their machines to keep their purchases current–to give them a sense of stability.

The Mac Pro is NOT aimed at single end-users.

If Apple starts updating it every six/four/three months, it represents instability to these businesses.
 
Tallest Skil said:
There won't be another hardware update this year. No one would buy it, as Apple would be seen as an unstable company for workstation users.
Click to expand...

Just like in the stock market, past performance is not an indicator of future performance. Just because Apple has not done it, doesn't mean they will not do it. If the Mac Pro sales are tanking, they will do something. It's only my opinion but I think that Apple will update the Mac Pro in 2009 rather then dropping the price (Note - I'm talking a small update).
 
Plutonius said:
Just like in the stock market, past performance is not an indicator of future performance. Just because Apple has not done it, doesn't mean they will not do it. If the Mac Pro sales are tanking, they will do something. It's only my opinion but I think that Apple will update the Mac Pro in 2009 rather then dropping the price (Note - I'm talking a small update).
Click to expand...

They will not do anything because the MacPro is a really small business either way.
Who needs a Mac Workstation will buy the MacPro no matter if it is more expensive or not.

The MacPro was too cheap in the past when compared to other manufacturers. Now they are on par.
 
milk242 said:
I'm actually just waiting for when intel officially releases the chips at the end of this month. I want to see if they are dropping the prices any to align with their 5400 series
Click to expand...

I think Apples cost will go down but I'm doubtful of a Mac Pro price decrease. I can't see Apple selling a lot of Mac Pros as it currently stands so who knows.

Note: I think it's more the state of the economy that hurt the Mac sales (i.e. companies/businesses will make due with what they have).
 
Nik said:
They will not do anything because the MacPro is a really small business either way.
Who needs a Mac Workstation will buy the MacPro no matter if it is more expensive or not.

The MacPro was too cheap in the past when compared to other manufacturers. Now they are on par.
Click to expand...

The margins on the 2008 and 2009 Mac Pros are about the same. I believe that Apple was getting a good discount from Intel on the 2008 processors.

You are ignoring the state of the economy. Many companies / businesses don't have the capital to get new Mac Pros and will make due with what they have. All manufacturers will have to work to make their sales (including Apple).
 
Tallest Skil said:
I'm just saying that the Mac Pro is marketed toward businesses and larger facilities that buy multiple machines at once, sometimes to be able to spend what they need to spend for tax purposes. These facilities rely on the companies from which they buy their machines to keep their purchases current–to give them a sense of stability.

The Mac Pro is NOT aimed at single end-users.

If Apple starts updating it every six/four/three months, it represents instability to these businesses.
Click to expand...

That's a pretty weird argument. For a start, Apple has hardly any
presence in the business market at all. Where's the evidence that
this wonderful stability strategy is working?

And then: businesses would rather pay more for older machines just
for the illusion that their machines are "current"?
 
Infrared said:
https://www.macrumors.com/2003/11/18/dual-1-8ghz-powermac-released/

followed by

https://www.macrumors.com/2004/06/09/apple-releases-new-powermacs/
Click to expand...

That was IBM. Now the point lies with, "To what would they upgrade?", as there is only the 3.2GHz available above the current offering until early Q2 2010.

Infrared said:
And then: businesses would rather pay more for older machines just
for the illusion that their machines are "current"?
Click to expand...

It would not be an illusion, as the machines would be the most current from that company. We have to think in terms of Apple here. Render farms that use Final Cut Studio have to use Macs (Yes, Final Cut Server's Windows client, blah, blah). Companies have budget quotas that they must fill; they can't wait on pins and needles halfway through a cycle if Apple starts updating every four months if they have to spend their money for the end of the fiscal year.
 
Agreed

MacClaus said:
In 7 months... you get a 2,66 Mac Pro for the price of the entry octad, because the 2,66 will be the entry model. A light speed bump with 2,66, 2,93, 3,2 models in fall.

I'm waiting for Snow Leo and then I will buy a new Mac Pro.
Click to expand...

I think you're right. We know a 3.2Ghz Nehalem chip exists, I think we may see the speed bump even sooner than this Fall.
 
Tallest Skil said:
Prices will not come down, there will be no speed bump.

The demographic for the Mac Pro depends on their purchase being the best possible for just over a year. Apple cannot update these machines in three months.
Click to expand...

Back in the Motorola days they were doing it every six months as a matter of course.
 
Tallest Skil said:
That was IBM.
Click to expand...

Ok. So Apple aims for stability unless they source from IBM? ;)

It would not be an illusion, as the machines would be the most current from that company.
Click to expand...

It is an illusion if you look around elsewhere.

We have to think in terms of Apple here. Render farms that use Final Cut Studio have to use Macs (Yes, Final Cut Server's Windows client, blah, blah).
Click to expand...

Well, yeah. That's the lock-in. But Final Cut Studio render farms
constitute only a microscopic market segment. I'm not sure you'd
want to base a whole argument on that.
 
Throck said:
I think you're right. We know a 3.2Ghz Nehalem chip exists, I think we may see the speed bump even sooner than this Fall.
Click to expand...

Maybe, but can it really be expected that the price on a 2.66 would drop $1400? Seems unlikely, but time will tell.
 
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