So this is something I've been thinking about for a while now, and my theory was proven right by Apple's decision to discontinue the Mac Pro.
In 2013, Apple released the trashcan Mac Pro, a machine that's now loved by enthusiasts, but back then every professional hated the thing. And for a good reason. Expandability was basically nonexistent, the SSDs were proprietary, the GPUs would fail and the whole Mac would often overheat in demanding workflows.
So after getting insane amount of pushback, Apple decided to bring back the classic Mac Pro in 2019. Then, in 2021 Apple released the Mac Studio. For me, it was immediately clear that this was Apple's way or resurrecting the trashcan Mac Pro from the dead, now that they have the efficient architecture that allows it to run cool, and be extremely powerful and compact thanks to ARM. It still didn't have expansion, but for a lot of Pros that was okay by 2021, since most professional gear was now running perfectly fine over Thunderbolt anyways.
However, what I did not understand is what the hell Apple was thinking in 2023. The Mac Pro still had such insane potential, they could have released an M2 Extreme version, or combined two M2 Ultras, or give it like 512/1024GB of unified memory for the ever growing AI industry.
But instead, they completely **** the bed. They basically put the Studio in a big case, and gave it PCIe slots. That's 3,000$ extra for ya.
So obviously nobody bought it, because why would anyone?? It is the first Mac Pro that was completely non-upgradeable, it only had 192GB of unified memory compared to the Intel MP, even though they had more than enough space for more memory. And if they did price it on par with the Mac Studio, I'm almost certain it would have sold better than the Studio.
I don't understand why they didn't repurpose the Mac Pro for AI. There are lots of people in AI now building Mac Studio "clusters", so the market would absolutely be there for an AI supercomputer that would be even more powerful than the Mac Studio.
I don't understand this decision. Why did they even release the Mac Pro in 2023 in the way they did? If they were planning on killing it off anyways, why bother bringing it over to Apple Silicion?
Right now the only professional workstation you can get from Apple is the Mac Studio, because they even replaced the powerful 27-inch iMac and the iMac Pro with this lousy ass 24-inch iMac with absolute base specs, so basically unusable for any demanding workflow.
Curious to hear your thoughts on this, it seems questionable to me.
In 2013, Apple released the trashcan Mac Pro, a machine that's now loved by enthusiasts, but back then every professional hated the thing. And for a good reason. Expandability was basically nonexistent, the SSDs were proprietary, the GPUs would fail and the whole Mac would often overheat in demanding workflows.
So after getting insane amount of pushback, Apple decided to bring back the classic Mac Pro in 2019. Then, in 2021 Apple released the Mac Studio. For me, it was immediately clear that this was Apple's way or resurrecting the trashcan Mac Pro from the dead, now that they have the efficient architecture that allows it to run cool, and be extremely powerful and compact thanks to ARM. It still didn't have expansion, but for a lot of Pros that was okay by 2021, since most professional gear was now running perfectly fine over Thunderbolt anyways.
However, what I did not understand is what the hell Apple was thinking in 2023. The Mac Pro still had such insane potential, they could have released an M2 Extreme version, or combined two M2 Ultras, or give it like 512/1024GB of unified memory for the ever growing AI industry.
But instead, they completely **** the bed. They basically put the Studio in a big case, and gave it PCIe slots. That's 3,000$ extra for ya.
So obviously nobody bought it, because why would anyone?? It is the first Mac Pro that was completely non-upgradeable, it only had 192GB of unified memory compared to the Intel MP, even though they had more than enough space for more memory. And if they did price it on par with the Mac Studio, I'm almost certain it would have sold better than the Studio.
I don't understand why they didn't repurpose the Mac Pro for AI. There are lots of people in AI now building Mac Studio "clusters", so the market would absolutely be there for an AI supercomputer that would be even more powerful than the Mac Studio.
I don't understand this decision. Why did they even release the Mac Pro in 2023 in the way they did? If they were planning on killing it off anyways, why bother bringing it over to Apple Silicion?
Right now the only professional workstation you can get from Apple is the Mac Studio, because they even replaced the powerful 27-inch iMac and the iMac Pro with this lousy ass 24-inch iMac with absolute base specs, so basically unusable for any demanding workflow.
Curious to hear your thoughts on this, it seems questionable to me.
