Apple Apologizes About Mac Pro's Lack of Upgradability, Ensures It's Still Committed to Pros

[Stig McNasty]

This makes me deliriously happy

Maybe pester power, moaning, hackintoshes, reasoned argument and so on has got us to this announcement. Here's hoping more is revealed at WWDC.

At least the elongated timeline gives me time to save up the sponds in my piggy bank!

 

[My iPhone3G]

Phil Schiller 2013: "Can't innovate my ass!"

Phill Schiller 2017: "Sorry."

Seriously though, I appreciate them realizing their mistake, and admitting it, even though it took a long time. I'm really looking forward to seeing what a base model modular Mac Pro might entail. If I can get in the door with six cores, 32GB RAM, solid GPU and 512GB SSD for $2999 by early to mid 2018, then it's worth the wait. I could even get by with 16GB and upgrade it myself. Hopefully the 5K display is only $999, as prices will fall over the coming year. But even $1199 wouldn't be horrible for an Apple-branded, beautiful display when compared to that LG turd.

3K for that? That would only be worth it if it was dipped in gold...

 

[ThisIsNotMe]

Step 1: Dust off MacPro plans from 2012.

Step 2: ....Oh wait, there are not more steps.

 

[happyslayer]

This is good news. Pro users don't want to be surprised so much by new tech. They want to be able to plan for future upgrades and expenses and know what they need to budget for. It'll be nice if Apple can really come through with the new Pro transparency concept. However, the question is then why repurpose/terminate all the business reps at the stores since I'm betting more businesses buy Pro stuff then the average consumer? Strange.

 

[gtaylor1023]

Anyone else thinking Ryzen iMac's after the "geared for pros" comment. Would be interesting if that 499 1800x got them thinking a little bit about Big Red. However, intel's road map is also very interesting.

Note: I completely understand they are in bed with intel for thunderbolt, however, could price points ditch that relationship?

 

[FasterQuieter]

Happy for Mac Pro users. Bit bummed I still don't know about the Mini. All I want/need is a Kaby Lake Mini with 4K 60hz and the HEVC decoding/encoding that chip offers. Come on Apple!

 

[ThisBougieLife]

A modular Mac Pro is really exciting. They never should've gotten rid of it.

 

[Quu]

This is certainly a turn about face. I had been saying for a while now that the main reason we haven't seen updates to the Mac Pro is because they made it too proprietary and Phil Schiller has said exactly that. I'm happy to see them focusing on a more upgradable model in the future so we can have more frequent updates.

 

[btrach144]

I reject Apples apology. How about they actually put their money to their mouth and actually release some hardware updates instead of doing nothing, once again.

 

[- rob -]

I suppose the "can't innovate anymore my ass" is now a regrettable comment.

 

[Breaking Good]

However, the question is then why repurpose/terminate all the business reps at the stores since I'm betting more businesses buy Pro stuff then the average consumer? Strange.

How many businesses have an employee walk into a retail store to buy a computer?

Most businesses have dedicated account reps (who work on commission) they call when they need something. Although the truth is that since the dedicated account reps work on commission, they are usually calling their accounts on a weekly basis (if not more often) to see if they need anything.

 

[ThisBougieLife]

I reject Apples apology. How about they actually put their money to their mouth and actually release some hardware updates instead of doing nothing, once again.

They're going to. They're working on it. It's in the "pipeline". You just have to wait more

In all seriousness: at least they actually admitted they're working on it. Until today I considered that they might not be working on a new desktop at all.

 

[aaronhead14]

THIS IS SO AMAZING! I'm going to be the first in line next year to get the new modular Mac Pro!
I'm also so glad that Apple has learned something about humility! They've finally swallowed their pride and have decided to be more transparent with us!
I can't believe some of you are complaining. This is Apple being the best they've been in years! They're caring about us pro users now! At least the wait won't be as painful now, because we know for certain that the new Mac Pro is coming! 2018!!!

 

[puma1552]

sounds like they are finally feeling the heat and unrest. can't ride that reputation forever, eventually you have to start delivering the goods again.

 

[deadlystriker]

HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHHA....
Wait, April fools was 3 days ago!

Maybe the interview was done days ago on April Fools and all this is just a big joke.

 

[architect1337]

I'm still running my 2009 Mac Pro. Still a great machine. All they have to do is upgrade the internals and they'll have another winner. Call it the 'for the fans' edition.

 

[RyanA]

Next up: Hopefully an apology for removing the headphone jack!

 

[IPadNParadise]

Apple didnt mention an update to the iPad Pro, did they? If not, then no, they arnt reading this Forum

 

[robeddie]

The magic is gone at this company.

Rather than surprise and delight, they've disappointed so many times that they feel guilty enough to come out and tell people what's in the product pipeline.

Imagine the product introductions years ago... not a single thing mentioned before the curtain was lifted. Now we have a circus sideshow.

Who gives a crap about the 'surprise' element. That lasts for a day. What we need to know if we should look to buying a windows workstation or not. Now that it seems Apple is still in the desktop game, I can relax and wait, rather than wonder.

 

[Corrode]

The magic is gone at this company.

Rather than surprise and delight, they've disappointed so many times that they feel guilty enough to come out and tell people what's in the product pipeline.

Imagine the product introductions years ago... not a single thing mentioned before the curtain was lifted. Now we have a circus sideshow.

People are never happy. You want the mythical Jobs era back. iUnicorn

 

[MacCurry]

Come on Phil and Tim. Make the Mac Great Again!

 

[VulchR]

The one thing I do not understand is that, given Apple has huge cash resources, why it seems like it has only one engineering team working on one product at a time. Given that Apple has diversified into mobile phones, tablets, watches, Apple TV, etc. you'd think they'd have active A-list teams working on each gadget, but that does not appear to be the case.

An example: We're in OS 10.XX and yet the columns in the Finder do not automatically adjust to show full filenames, in spite of the fact I have a 27" screen with plenty of room for the Finder window. That's just amateurish.

 

[macduke]

I'm just glad they acknowledged us. It's a small thing, and it goes a long way towards building good will. I think for Pros it's important to layout a general roadmap as we upgrade more frequently. It would be nice if they could say something like this: New components every year (such as GPUs, CPUs that are compatible, SSDs if they're blades), new main board every three years (for the latest processors, SSD and GPU bus speeds, newer RAM standards such as DDR4, faster Thunderbolt, newer connectors, etc). That's something we can plan for. And even machines older than three years could still upgrade GPUs (to a certain extent based on connectors), SSDs, and RAM. For instance, after a year I could see myself upgrading the RAM. After two years the SSD, after three years the GPU, after four years the CPU to whatever is fastest that works with that machine, after five years the RAM again, and at six years buy a new box. Rinse and repeat. Something like that would be fantastic. It would be so nice to just upgrade where my machine is lacking. And they won't lose any sales for MacBooks, because many Pros use those in addition to their desktop. Personally I'd love to have a high end desktop, whether Mac Pro or iMac Pro, and a low end MBP (or iPad Pro if they get their crap together when it comes to doing work) for when I need mobility.

 

[gugy]

Kudos to Apple for at least giving a heads up. Very surprising what they did Today but due the severity of the issue, I am glad they are not giving up on Pro users. Can't wait for the new MP and displays.

 

[TMRJIJ]

Tim must have finally read my email. Told you that you made poor choices!

Kinda amuses me when people say this. It literally takes 3+ months for normal (unimportant) people even get a read from Cook and it probably would've just went to Apple Support.
Last and only time, I emailed the CEO, it took five months to get a reply...and it was Craig that replied back (or at least that's what they want me to believe).
Your email was about as useless as your vote in the 2016 election.