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Apple May Not Launch Updated Mac Studio With M2 Ultra Chip Due to Similarity With Upcoming Mac Pro
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Just enter any kind of video production business and you'll see GPU-intensive workflows.
Which are much better taken care of by Windows workstations with Geforce RTX rather than whatever SoC Apple has to offer.
And those businesses loved Apple. They were historical customers during the PPC era, helped Apple stay alive before the iPhone was a thing.
Not talking for myself, I'm happy here with my 16" as my only machine, just stating how it is.
It makes enough sense in that it fits into the context of current Apple. This is not the Apple many of us become admirers of. This is a different team, with different leadership, and there has been a consistency of bad decisions up and down the entire roster since some time in 2013.
It would kinda make sense.
I have an M1 Ultra since May 2022, and I'll upgrade to a "lower end" mac pro next year.
I have an M1 Ultra since May 2022, and I'll upgrade to a "lower end" mac pro next year.
I have often argued that if Apple had released the trash can Mac in 2013 and called it the Mac Studio and still upgraded the tower Mac Pro with new Xeons and updated innards as most people were asking, the trash can Mac would have been a very popular computer. They could have made it with only one GPU to cut the cost and eliminate the thermal issue. It would have meant no need for the iMac Pro which I think was the better outcome.
I’ll try again: “…and we know it’s always a great idea to ignore or marginalize market minorities when they can contribute to your profits as customers and advocates to potential customers.”
Customer requirements changes.
They upgrade and buy the most cost effective solution
Better tools are being released constantly.
NewTek Video Toasters dominated the 90s.
Apple silicon started in Nov 2020. It will take time for devs to port their apps to Universal 2 binaries.
They know what they're doing.
Mac Pro's not that important. Indicator it does not get refreshed as often as the MBA or even iPhone.
All Apple needed to do from 2006 to 2020 was to offer a lower spec Mac Pro with desktop-grade CPUs instead of Xeons.
Something $1499ish. They did it all the time during the PowerMac era, you could buy a base G5 or G4 for $1499 and get an expandable desktop for iMac money.
But they preferred to screw over their historical userbase with trashcans, improbable thermal designs, T2 chips, non standard GPUs (on the trashcan), 5400rpm HDDs until 2019 (21" iMacs), the iMac Pro monstrosity, and all that kind of nonsense.
Meanwhile they even had Macbooks, iPhones, iPads to sell as cash cows, they could have developed something to keep their historical userbase happy as well.
I’m going to try to bow out of this inevitably never-ending thread here. If anyone thinks they’ve won in an argument with me, enjoy it.
I just want Apple to make better products, like they used to, so that I can benefit from powerful and humane technology. I stick with Apple not because they’re superior anymore but because they’re the least bad of all options. This industry is a disaster and almost nobody is willing or honest enough to acknowledge it.
I just want Apple to make better products, like they used to, so that I can benefit from powerful and humane technology. I stick with Apple not because they’re superior anymore but because they’re the least bad of all options. This industry is a disaster and almost nobody is willing or honest enough to acknowledge it.
IF they address the price or base specs, I will do the same. The thing that irritated me about the 2019 Mac Pro was the absurd price and specs at the base price. This is coming from someone that had the 2010 Mac Pro and found that reasonably priced.
I don't feel as strongly that they've consistently made bad decisions, especially re computers generally (this m1 Pro typing on now is the best machine I've had in years), but if you're referring to the Mac Pro line specifically (?) then yeah 100% the house has not been in order for a long time.
I think we are seeing that. These laptops and even the Mac Studio have been the best products I have used since the 2010 Mac Pro and the 2013 MacBook Pro Retina. The recent laptops prior to M* were a mess. iMacs would just get way too hot etc.
I agree with you, and I think Apple Silicon we are now seeing the best Apple products in a long long LONG LONG time. I was about to drop Apple. I hated their laptops, I hate all-in-ones, Mac mini was just a joke and Mac Pro was too expensive for what you get. My options were pretty much gone at that point. Now, I love their laptops, I love the Mac Studio even the Mac mini.
I hope a Mac Studio not only comes out, but comes out soon, so we can stop treating Mark Gurmam as a fount of reliable information.
Apple probably makes more money from the AirPods than the Mac Pro.
Indicator is how often the AirPods are refresh.
In the last decade the Mac Pro gets refreshed every 4-6 years?
I'd expect the Mac Pro to get refreshed by Dec 2023 to a M2 Ultra or M2 Extreme.
Apple Watch gets an annual refresh. Mac Pro' still a 2019 model.
2022 Apple released the Mac Studio... a Mac Pro without PCIe expansion slots. Apple knows that >50% of Mac Pro users do not use PCIe express slots.
I am not saying no one uses PCIe express slots but the customers who require it arent enough to bother a shorter refresh cycle.
Within the first week of owning it, I literally paid off my Mac Studio from increased productivity on the paid work I used it for.
I have no need to upgrade 10 months later, so these rumors are pointless to me.
When it’s time to upgrade in a couple of years or so, I’ll be looking at the CPU, GPU, RAM, and storage that meets my needs. The form factor is mostly an afterthought as long as it’s unobtrusive.
i had the 30" apple cinema display from 2007 for a decade. then i switched to Dell. the U4919DW is an awesome display. perfect for my M1 Mac Studio
He’s just wrong. Every 2019 Mac Pro is using at least one PCIe slot for the graphics card and another for Apple’s I/O peripheral card.
No refresh of Mac Pro for 3+ years.
Instead 2022 Mac Studio appears. A Mac Pro without PCIe expansion slots.
I challenge you... insist I produce a press release from Apple. 🤣
It is like insisting I prove the MBP 13" number of color choice is an indicator that it sells more units than the MBA.
It kills me every week how his mostly garbage email comes out then all the sites like MR slavishly report on it. But here I am commenting on it too 😱😆
Not too sure if Apple would still be doing an actual Mac Pro. I mean how would they do it? So far, no Apple Silicon macs have internal expansion slots. If Apple did one for the Mac Pro, then it should be a whole new Apple Silicon lineup. Maybe a completely redesigned Apple Silicon chip with a new branding to separate it from the M lineup, designed for expansions in mind, not tied to soldered RAM and storage.
I mean I bet most people who were waiting for a new Mac Pro probably now are served well with the Mac Studio. To justify the Mac Pro model (and its price), it better be a completely different beast instead of just a souped up Mac Studio Ultra.
I mean I bet most people who were waiting for a new Mac Pro probably now are served well with the Mac Studio. To justify the Mac Pro model (and its price), it better be a completely different beast instead of just a souped up Mac Studio Ultra.
New Mac PRO? How is that supposed to work out?
An Apple Silicon Mac Pro would first and foremost not have the modularity of a Mac Pro due to chip design.
If we talk 3rd party GPUs: Are there even drivers for that? Why would you need a 3rd party GPU in first place?
The Mac Studio is as much a Mac Pro as it can be given the architecture of the chip -with only one exception: PCIe Slots.
A Thunderbolt 4 enclosure for PCIe cards on the Mac Studio would add the only thing a Mac Pro could offer additionally.
However, going down the PCIe road would not make sense for Apple at this point anymore... If they can use only propreitary cards, they can as well design them to connect natively via Thunderbolt in first place -and therefore also make it compatible with MacBooks. With the latest TB/USB-C specs allowing 120Gbit/s in one direction, installing stuff INSIDE a computer slowly but surely becomes an obsolete concept.
That also goes for the PCs... the size of mid or high end GPUs doesn't even fit in many cases anymore anyway... and if it does, it blocks 3 other PCIe slots. Then again, one needs a ridiculous PSU to feed the monster over a long wiring that technically is barely fit for the job.
Outsourcing the GPU into a case with its own PSU with a high-amp capable connector or switching to e.g. 24V instead of 12V would absolutely make sense...
If that step is done PCIe will vanish from the average joes PC most likely...
My guess here is, PCIe as we know it will either become a dedicated GPU slot (as AGP was) for the average user or the PCIe lanes routed to Thunderbolt instead.
An Apple Silicon Mac Pro would first and foremost not have the modularity of a Mac Pro due to chip design.
If we talk 3rd party GPUs: Are there even drivers for that? Why would you need a 3rd party GPU in first place?
The Mac Studio is as much a Mac Pro as it can be given the architecture of the chip -with only one exception: PCIe Slots.
A Thunderbolt 4 enclosure for PCIe cards on the Mac Studio would add the only thing a Mac Pro could offer additionally.
However, going down the PCIe road would not make sense for Apple at this point anymore... If they can use only propreitary cards, they can as well design them to connect natively via Thunderbolt in first place -and therefore also make it compatible with MacBooks. With the latest TB/USB-C specs allowing 120Gbit/s in one direction, installing stuff INSIDE a computer slowly but surely becomes an obsolete concept.
That also goes for the PCs... the size of mid or high end GPUs doesn't even fit in many cases anymore anyway... and if it does, it blocks 3 other PCIe slots. Then again, one needs a ridiculous PSU to feed the monster over a long wiring that technically is barely fit for the job.
Outsourcing the GPU into a case with its own PSU with a high-amp capable connector or switching to e.g. 24V instead of 12V would absolutely make sense...
If that step is done PCIe will vanish from the average joes PC most likely...
My guess here is, PCIe as we know it will either become a dedicated GPU slot (as AGP was) for the average user or the PCIe lanes routed to Thunderbolt instead.