Apple Mulling Preview of New Modular Mac Pro at WWDC in June

[Steve121178]

Remember when they stacked the Mac minis last year? Why not have a modular system like that where you can buy different modules, depending on what you need/expand.

Why not just make a small tower like you have been able to buy since forever? In fact, why not make a smaller Mac Pro & a large tower Mac Pro for those that want to throw in loads of storage etc?

The PC market has been getting it right for over 35 years by giving users a CHOICE.

 

[thevault]

What ever it is it's too little to late, even Greyscale Gorilla moved on to PC... On a professional level unfortunately Mac is just not an option any more. I bought an iMac Pro but was fairly disappointed, and shocked by the price. I think by the time this thing comes out we'll have switched most of my company over to PC. Apple just does not want pro's and I need to have a working environment that makes money, I don't care what brand my phone is, as long as it works with a very fast 3d rendering maschine. I bought the first Apple in 1993, and I think I am seeing that earl going to an end.

I'm waiting until June for a possible release but I believe I'll be disappointed. 2020 is just to long away and I've already moved some computers over to PC. ( started with Quadra950)

 

[Manzanito]

Apple obviously does want pros, or they wouldn’t be putting this much time and effort into making sure the new Mac Pro is optimized for those workloads (and workflows).

We don’t really know the amount of effort apple has invested in the mac pro. Time, on the other hand... Yes they put a lot of time.

But I think you’re right, they could have released the iMac Pro and call it a day, instead they chose to make an actual mac pro, so they must care at least a little bit about pros.

 

[1738]

This is the most intrigued I have ever been by an Apple product. This is the dealbreaker. I'll keep my 2012 Mac Pro til 2020, so I'll know if they keep it updated yearly.

If its modular, then who cares if its updated yearly. Also, Intel hans't updated the XEON processor yearly.

 

[PickUrPoison]

We don’t really know the amount of effort apple has invested in the mac pro. Time, on the other hand... Yes they put a lot of time.

But I think you’re right, they could have released the iMac Pro and call it a day, instead they chose to make an actual mac pro, so they must care at least a little bit about pros.

Read the TechCrunch article if you’re unfamiliar with the effort Apple is going to.

https://techcrunch.com/2018/04/05/apples-2019-imac-pro-will-be-shaped-by-workflows/

 

[Manzanito]

Read the TechCrunch article if you’re unfamiliar with the effort Apple is going to.

https://techcrunch.com/2018/04/05/apples-2019-imac-pro-will-be-shaped-by-workflows/

Yes, I know what they said they were doing.

I just don’t think the wealthiest company in history can’t come up with a solution to build a computer in two years if they really were working as hard as they said they were working.

 

[PickUrPoison]

Yes, I know what they said they were doing.
<snip>

Do you? Because it doesn’t seem like it. You said you didn’t know how much effort Apple’s expending on the Mac Pro. When you read the article, it details the effort quite clearly, no? They’re not just cranking out a piece of hardware, are they? Do you not believe they’re actually doing what they said they’re doing?

In my experience, involving outside parties tends to slows things down. Working with third party developers, whether on applications or graphics drivers, isn’t a process that lends itself to being able to go faster just by throwing more Apple resources at it.

Of course you’re free to interpret the facts in any way that suits you. If you want to believe Apple isn’t working hard or devoting sufficient resources to the Mac Pro, that’s your prerogative. But it seems it’s possible you don’t have sufficient data to draw that conclusion.

 

[daveedjackson]

I have to be honest I wouldn’t even know where to start looking a custom PC not from Dell/HP I don’t wan to move, my whole infrastructure is Mac, but I need a more powerful system for design. Adobe and Maxon software. It depresses me but I think it’s my next move.

 

[Manzanito]

Do you? Because it doesn’t seem like it. You said you didn’t know how much effort Apple’s expending on the Mac Pro. When you read the article, it details the effort quite clearly, no? There not just cranking out a piece of hardware, are they? Do you not believe they’re actually doing what they said they’re doing?

In my experience, involving outside parties tends to slows things down. Working with third party developers, whether on applications or graphics drivers, isn’t a process that lends itself to being able to go faster just by throwing more Apple resources at it.

Of course you’re free to interpret the facts in any way that suits you. If you want to believe Apple isn’t working hard or devoting sufficient resources to the Mac Pro, that’s your prerogative. But it seems it’s possible you don’t have sufficient data to draw that conclusion.

As I said, I’ve read that article. I don’t think they’re doing all they can to have a replacement for the mac pro, even if they claim otherwise. Companies with much less resources than apple manage to have their computers updated in a timely manner, after all.

Maybe you’re right and they’re telling the truth and they’re doing everything that can be done to get the thing ready, but the way they’ve treated the mac pro doesn’t make apple look so good.

Lastly, I don’t want to believe apple is treating the computer line as a second class citizen. As a matter of fact, I’d love to believe the opposite, because I love my macs and I hate the idea of moving to windows. But trust has to be earned, and apple has done a lot to loose credit in the last five years.

So yes, I hope you’re right and I’m wrong. But for the time being, I can’t trust apple. I’d be delighted to be proven wrong.

 

[PickUrPoison]

As I said, I’ve read that article. I don’t think they’re doing all they can to have a replacement for the mac pro, even if they claim otherwise. Companies with much less resources than apple manage to have their computers updated in a timely manner, after all.

Maybe you’re right and they’re telling the truth and they’re doing everything that can be done to get the thing ready, but the way they’ve treated the mac pro doesn’t make apple look so good.

Lastly, I don’t want to believe apple is treating the computer line as a second class citizen. As a matter of fact, I’d love to believe the opposite, because I love my macs and I hate the idea of moving to windows. But trust has to be earned, and apple has done a lot to loose credit in the last five years.

So yes, I hope you’re right and I’m wrong. But for the time being, I can’t trust apple. I’d be delighted to be proven wrong.

I hear you, believe me... I’ve said many times plenty about how bad I think Apple screwed up the Pro. (They didn’t do so great with the mini either, though I’m pleased with the October update.)

If they were doing a simple CPU or cMP refresh, I’d be complaining right along with you. But I take them at their word that they’re making a major effort to fix the Mac Pro and give us something that we’ll want to pay (the Apple premium) for. Otherwise they may as well not have bothered, and users could move forward with alternative plans/platforms.

For me, they’ve said enough about what they’re doing to believe they’re making a real effort to fix the problem. Others (including you) understandably might not agree with me and that’s fine; I’m just trying to explain where I’m coming from and my thought process. I tend to give the benefit of the doubt as long as I think they’re being upfront and truthful.

I have a reasonably refined BS detector, and I’m not sensing any. I think they know where they went wrong and how badly they screwed up, and that they’re legitimately trying to fix this. We’ll certainly hear an update at WWDC (unless they want a riot) including the release timeframe I would assume.

tl;dr: I hope I’m right and you’re wrong, too

 

[-hh]

As I said, I’ve read that article. I don’t think they’re doing all they can to have a replacement for the mac pro, even if they claim otherwise. Companies with much less resources than apple manage to have their computers updated in a timely manner, after all.

When a company has the resources to add a half billion to their R&D budget in a single year, there's absolutely no possible question in the universe of there being more than generous resources available ... if, that is, that they actually have the interest to give the initiative anything more than lip service.

Maybe you’re right and they’re telling the truth and they’re doing everything that can be done to get the thing ready, but the way they’ve treated the mac pro doesn’t make apple look so good.

Lastly, I don’t want to believe apple is treating the computer line as a second class citizen. As a matter of fact, I’d love to believe the opposite, because I love my macs and I hate the idea of moving to windows. But trust has to be earned, and apple has done a lot to loose credit in the last five years.

So yes, I hope you’re right and I’m wrong. But for the time being, I can’t trust apple. I’d be delighted to be proven wrong.

Its all too easy to be optimistic that Apple is going to drop something utterly fabulous when you're young and naive ... but as time passes and you've been around the block a few times, you get to read between the lines -- weather you want to or not -- as to what's more likely to be the real deal.

The real deal here is that with each passing week that it doesn't ship, the more likely it is that Apple is merely making another basically irrelevant but $7499 "20th Anniversary Mac" art project...

 

[Average Pro]

I maybe one of the few that is not upset the MacPro has not been updated since 2013. I've been saving my money and now I'm ready for the next generation Pro as well as the monitor.

 

[daveedjackson]

The issue is, and I think I speak for a lot of professional. When you use the computer so much, to make money, you really need the best tool. For me it’s been the nMP since launch. But as my work had developed my needs for speed and more power has increased. Far exceeding the MacPro as it stands. I custom built and chose every upgradable option in the 12 core. I’ve recently bumped the ram to 128gb but it’s still not good enough. Of course I am throwing bigger and bigger projects at it, and it’s churning through well. But it does need to be upgraded, sooner rather than later. I fear I will have no option to move to a pc, if the Apple offering doesn’t a. Come soon or b. Deliver on it’s promise. Without an astronomical price tag.

 

[sektor]

I moved away from windows around 2005 (after windows Vista) and I haven’t looked back ever since, until now.

I need a solid and very powerful machine for a music studio. I was forced to get the MacMini 2018, which is fine (but definitely overpriced) but the only reason I did that is because the audio interfaces we use at the studio (Metric Halo) only work with MacOs. But they do have a beta driver for windows. And yes, graphics on the Mac mini are horrible.

If I could build a windows PC I would. And most probably will at some point.

I like MacOS a lot but there’s no solid solution for professionals.

I fear the new MacPro will be ridiculously overpriced.

 

[LordVic]

I have to be honest I wouldn’t even know where to start looking a custom PC not from Dell/HP I don’t wan to move, my whole infrastructure is Mac, but I need a more powerful system for design. Adobe and Maxon software. It depresses me but I think it’s my next move.

There are many great resources for custom building a computer built for you. a great place to start would be http://www.pcpartpicker.com

There are a lot of machines people have put together you can choose from, or select parts directly yourself.

 

[daveedjackson]

There are many great resources for custom building a computer built for you. a great place to start would be http://www.pcpartpicker.com

There are a lot of machines people have put together you can choose from, or select parts directly yourself.

Sorry I should have been specific. I’m in the UK, So there aren’t that many.

 

[zzzachi]

Bah, Apple just does not get it. We do not need a Shiny 10x10cm Box, we don't need separate hardware modules making everything way more expensive. We certainly don't need childish inventions like the touch bar. We also don't need any new non-standard hardware needing pro software companies to rewrite everything (again) just for macs.
because of the software the pro world of windows and macos is close together. if apple drifts away, the software will need time to adjust or maybe it never does. people earning their living with their workstations wont stay if a player constantly reinvents the rules.
What we need is a simple expandable and affordable Workstation and this is really not rocket science.
An updated cheese grater with modern components is all there is to it and a chinese manufacturer designs such a workstation in a blink.
The fact that apple needs so much time is showing that they use all their smartness to invent the next f..k up.
I bet that they come up with a) something totally unwanted by the pros or b) something usable, but oddly complicated and 10 times more expensive than a pc workstation or probably even c) the combination of a and b, unwanted, unusable and super expensive.
the reality is that the heart of the mac users is bleeding out to windows because apple just doesnt get it.
i bet by the end of this year i'll be one of them.

 

[Patternmaster]

Not having ****, I've gotten off the pot. I don't care what they do, I will just get a new mini to replace the 2009 one which has served quite well and do whatever else in the cloud. This will be a classic of waiting too long.

Apple is considering previewing its upcoming redesigned Mac Pro at its Worldwide Developers Conference this June, according to a new report by Bloomberg today.

Modular Mac Pro concept from Curved.de​

Apple has said it is working on a high-end high-throughput modular Mac Pro for its pro user base that will be easily upgradable and will feature components for the most system intensive tasks.

According to sources who spoke to well-connected Bloomberg journalist Mark Gurman, Apple has "internally weighed previewing a new version of the high-end Mac Pro" at this year's WWDC, although no firm decision appears to have been made.

According to executives Craig Federighi and Phil Schiller, Apple is committed to making the Mac Pro the highest-end desktop system able to accommodate VR and high-end cinema production. Apple has also put together a "Pro Workflow Team" to tailor the Mac Pro and other Apple products to its professional users.

The modular workstation is expected to ship alongside an upcoming Apple-branded pro display, which rumors suggest will be 31.6 inches with a 6K resolution and have "outstanding picture quality" enabled through a new Mini LED-like backlighting design.

We still have no word on when in 2019 the Mac Pro is coming, but Apple did promise a 2019 launch date in early 2018. If it's anything like the last Mac Pro in 2013, we should indeed get further information at WWDC, which Apple is planning to hold from June 3 to June 7 in San Jose, California, based on permit filings uncovered by MacRumors.

Article Link: Apple Mulling Preview of New Modular Mac Pro at WWDC in June

 

[AcesHigh87]

An updated cheese grater with modern components is all there is to it

Amen. The current gen Mac Pro had flash on launch, I'll give it that. It looked pretty, it sounded powerful on paper, but it underperformed and ultimately it's small scale (which no one needed) became a detriment. Give me the 2010 Mac Pro Case with new components and I'll buy it in a heartbeat. Hell if you need more space rip the optical drive out (no one will miss it) and install the drive sleds up there; that'll extend the usable space enough to potentially accommodate 2 double width GPU's. Give me that with TB3, Modern PCI, NVME, etc. That's all I want and I know most pros are the same. There's a reason these machines have stuck around so long: they work great and they can be upgraded. We don't need pizzazz, we need function and upgradability.

 

[subi257]

Amen. The current gen Mac Pro had flash on launch, I'll give it that. It looked pretty, it sounded powerful on paper, but it underperformed and ultimately it's small scale (which no one needed) became a detriment. Give me the 2010 Mac Pro Case with new components and I'll buy it in a heartbeat. Hell if you need more space rip the optical drive out (no one will miss it) and install the drive sleds up there; that'll extend the usable space enough to potentially accommodate 2 double width GPU's. Give me that with TB3, Modern PCI, NVME, etc. That's all I want and I know most pros are the same. There's a reason these machines have stuck around so long: they work great and they can be upgraded. We don't need pizzazz, we need function and upgradability.

I'm with you on that, I need a modern version of the cMP that runs the latest/fastest version of TB3 USB3.1 Gen 2 Has 4 or more full length PCIe slots, runs the latest Xeon CPUs slots for multiple P6000 GPUs 4 drive bays.....maybe even a few M.2 slots. I know that there seems to be a lot of "pros" that are saying that is crazy and mucho dinero. So, I guess there are different levels of "pro", because when I got our 3 2012 cMPs new they were in the $12k range from a BTO order. 2.93 12 core, 96GB RAM, 5870 GPU. At the rate it's going I might have to dump the 3 cMPs and make the order for 3 HP Z8s 6 instead, even though they are $21k each, because the cMPs are holding the Avid upgrades back.

I'm hoping for the best in options and that I will be able to do a BTO to make them fly.

 

[Marx55]

Apple, just give us a box we can open easily, that we can add RAM and storage (both SSD and HD) ourselves, with an upgradeable GPU. You did this a decade ago, and every other PC maker does this today. You can differentiate yourself from the others by making the box not ugly, and of course, with Mac OS. It's not that complicated, so stop making it so.

Exactly. And Apple could have done it years ago, and even each year. As does with other hardware like iPhone or iPad.

 

[LordVic]

Exactly. And Apple could have done it years ago, and even each year. As does with other hardware like iPhone or iPad.

They could have, but they won't.

there's a reason Apple is moving towards as much proprietary locked down devices as possible. the fact that old Cheese Grater mac's are still being used because they're upgradible and maintainable by us, is exactly the reason they won't just do it again.

The MO is locked down as much as possible, so that when the machine is "slow" or "out of date" instead of swappin a card or a chip, you are forced to buy a whole new one.

This has been intentional. There is zero reason for soldered in storage in the MacBook Pro or soldered RAM in the Mac Mini. There's no reason why the laptop keyboards are bolted directly to the frame. Everything in the lineup right now is meant to be as user inaccessible as possible.

if Apple were to release a new Mac Pro with standard parts (full size GPU slot, full size RAM sticks, Standard CPU Socket, standard SATA and NVME ports, with standard 3.5" or 2.5" internal drive bays), they wouldn't need to take 3+ years to redesign it.

Especially when you have companies like Corsair, Dell, etc, who are releasing powerfull Small form factor computers using virtually all standardized off the shelf parts. Just look at the Corsair One for example. That didn't take them 3+ years and Billions of R&D to create (though could use a PCI-e riser).

 

[DCfilms]

They could have, but they won't.

there's a reason Apple is moving towards as much proprietary locked down devices as possible. the fact that old Cheese Grater mac's are still being used because they're upgradible and maintainable by us, is exactly the reason they won't just do it again.

The MO is locked down as much as possible, so that when the machine is "slow" or "out of date" instead of swappin a card or a chip, you are forced to buy a whole new one.

This has been intentional. There is zero reason for soldered in storage in the MacBook Pro or soldered RAM in the Mac Mini. There's no reason why the laptop keyboards are bolted directly to the frame. Everything in the lineup right now is meant to be as user inaccessible as possible.

if Apple were to release a new Mac Pro with standard parts (full size GPU slot, full size RAM sticks, Standard CPU Socket, standard SATA and NVME ports, with standard 3.5" or 2.5" internal drive bays), they wouldn't need to take 3+ years to redesign it.

Especially when you have companies like Corsair, Dell, etc, who are releasing powerfull Small form factor computers using virtually all standardized off the shelf parts. Just look at the Corsair One for example. That didn't take them 3+ years and Billions of R&D to create (though could use a PCI-e riser).

This is why, after 2 decades of using Mac for my creative studios and staff and finally gave up on them and swapped it all out for PCs (Dell).

We’ve since done full across the office upgrades without any issue. Everyone is much happier now and i only wish I’d done it sooner.

I came here out of nostalgia to see if things have improved with the Mac Pro. But wow, can’t believe Mac users are still in the same dark place!

I guess I should thanks Apple’s negligence and greed on the Mac Pro front for making me do this!

 

[David Taub]

Maybe this has already been suggested. Sorry didn't read every post.

How about offering the guts of their 27" imac without the screen in a mac mini-like box? Reduce the price a little. Leave space so we can add ram easily. Maybe room for one or two drives, ssd or spinning. Maybe just one slot for a card for video or more monitors or I don't know what.

It seems rather simple, easy, this offer. But I don't think apple is taking this very seriously. If yes, they would have updated the mac pro long ago.

The imac pro? Way too expensive for me. Not easily upgradeable, especially considering the price.

Ok. I'm tired. Waiting to see if anything is shown in June. I should write Tim directly. A 'how to revive the mac pro for the masses' letter. Then he could explain to me how way off base I am.

"Hey baby, I hear the blues a-callin',
Tossed salad and scrambled eggs..."

"Good night, Seattle, we love you."

 

[IlluminatedSage]

the wait for the update is kind of absurd at this point. one would hope new Mac Pro's a year ago, but alas... now nothing in sight even at WWDC. Apple doesn't care... nuts