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

[-hh]

With pricing having been a major issue lately with Apple... Would an excessive price put people off? I mean - they've never come cheap... but - this thing is being built in the USA... it's having a s-load of R&D put into it... And although Tim may have admitted he's got it wrong with the new iPhone pricing... what if they push the price too high.?

Short answer: yes.

Historical answer: Mac Towers have had starting prices as low as $1599.

Longer answer: the "Apple Tax" gets particularly onerous for certain "Pro-esque" workflow needs.

Personal anecdote: I did an insurance coverage cost estimate awhile back (before the Trash Can was insultingly out of date) and found that for "replacement Mac" vs "replacement PC" and ignoring the Monitors, the Mac was 36% more expensive; approximately $2K per seat.

OSX is nice, but at +$2K/seat extra and no longer any OSX-Only Killer Apps for my workflow needs, there's very little reason to not move the production machines over to Windows too.

 

[DYER]

$799 for the base Mac mini, with 8GB RAM and 128GB SSD is overpriced, and it just gets worse from there. Upgrading to 16GB is $200; you can get a 8GB stick for under $50, and a 16GB stick is around $100.

1TB is an $800 add-on from Apple. A top of the line, 1TB Samsung 970 Pro is $350, and you can find slower (but still very fast) 1TB NVMe SSDs for $150-250. A 2TB NVMe can be had for $550 or less; Apple wants $1,600 extra for that.

Move away from NVMe, and you can get 2TB for under $300. But of course a 2.5 inch SSD won't fit into the Mac mini, because Apple focuses so much on making it, well, mini. But then to add storage at an affordable price, you've got to go to external storage, as you suggested. At this point, why do I care that the mini is mini? I'm not saving any space on my desk, and now I've got an additional tangle of cords. And so much for the speed advantages of NVMe.

And what an odd pairing high performance NVMe SSD is with low-end, integrated graphics. Want better performance? Throw an external GPU on your desk and credit card. Now your computer isn't looking so mini in size or price.

The Mac mini reflects the worst of Apple right now. Too expensive to be entry level, too limited to be high end. Add external devices to overcome the limits, and its compactness is no longer an advantage. What is the niche Apple is trying to fill here?

I fear the next Mac Pro will take everything wrong with the mini and crank it up a few notches. We don't need an "modular" Mac; we need an upgradeable one. There's a simple elegance to being able to easily add memory and storage, and to keep everything neatly contained inside a single box, so you don't have a tangle of cords and devices. I could do that with my PowerMac towers. Even my 2009 iMac I was able to upgrade with an SSD and an internal hard drive (I removed the DVD).

As I said before, this doesn't need to be complicated, but Apple insists on making it so. Apple's hubris is to blame. They think they must "innovate" for the sake of being different when tried-and-true solutions are not just less expensive, but superior. And they are looking for ways to milk their customers. Why allow people to install their own RAM for $50 when we can charge them $200? Why allow them to upgrade later when we can sell them a new machine (if we ever get around to releasing a new machine)?

I'm not going to say, that's it, I'm moving to Windows. I won't. I hate Windows. I love macOS. I used to love Apple. Which is why it's so frustrating to see them with their heads up their you-know-what. The irony is that they'd produce better machines if they tried a little less hard. If I sound frustrated, it's because I am. It's hard to believe that such a group of smart, talented people can be so stupid.

I'm not sure I agree, sure I own a Mini so must have biased opinions bla bla bla, but actually I think looking at raw internals and going I can get X for Y means the mini is overpriced is complete rubbish.

Look at the cost of the iPhone vs cost of it's internals, you're paying for a lot more than raw internals. Personally, for my workflow the Mac Mini represents good value, sure I might add an eGPU if I can really benefit from it, but so far, it's doing everything I want it to do pretty quickly.

Looking at a windows equivalent, if I bought a midsize tower with similar specs I'd only get £400 back for what I paid for my Mini (though admittedly with a relatively decent Nvidia card thrown in)...

Coming back to the Mac Pro, I'd happily take a nice big cased monster with user up-gradable everything, I'd have had one of those (probably in poverty spec) instead of my Mini if I had the choice. But I doubt we'd get one of those, so the cost to entry would probably have been to steep, so with the Mini I stick. I like the idea of a modular device, as long as they get the modules right...

 

[pl1984]

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.

Not sure how you would know that. I expect they'll "release" it in December and shipping will begin "early" in 2020. Doubtful they'll upgrade it by the end of 2020.

 

[truthertech]

Apple are just 'mulling' this over?? Their lack of commitment to the Pro market is astounding (but sadly not surprising)!!

Whoa, slow down and relax. You're getting wrapped around the axle over a blog post that some unidentified person, who may not be in a position to know anything about Apple's plans, speculated to a blogger at a magazine that Apple may, or may not be demonstrate a new product at an event. Again, take a deep breath.

 

[pl1984]

Whoa, slow down and relax. You're getting wrapped around the axle over a blog post that some unidentified person, who may not be in a position to know anything about Apple's plans, speculated to a blogger at a magazine that Apple may, or may not be demonstrate a new product at an event. Again, take a deep breath.

The lack of commitment to the pro market has little, if anything, to do with said blog post. The fact Apple hasn't updated the Mac Pro for over five years and has provided almost nothing about the modular Mac Pro has everything to do with it. In an industry that moves so quickly the fact the Mac Pro has remained stagnant for so long is beyond ridiculous.

 

[thevault]

Just a preview in June and 2020 release........I think I'm done with Mac Pro's......started with Quadra950 and ending with a 2010MP.

Screw all the fanboys.....

 

[jimothyGator]

I'm not sure I agree, sure I own a Mini so must have biased opinions bla bla bla, but actually I think looking at raw internals and going I can get X for Y means the mini is overpriced is complete rubbish.

What does "overpriced" mean if not "overpriced compared to the available alternatives?"

I'm not saying "I can get a much better specced PC than a Mac," although that's true. What I am saying is two things: Ideally, I'd like to be able to upgrade RAM, GPU, and storage on a reasonably priced desktop Mac myself. Barring that, if I have to pay Apple to do that at the time of purchase, at least make those prices reasonable. Two to three times retail costs is not reasonable.

I understand some of the tradeoffs Apple made with the iPhone and even the MacBook. Making the storage expandable via a microSD slot would compromise compactness, room for battery, and waterproofness. These were reasonable tradeoffs (I'm also not so naïve to realize this is also to encourage you to purchase an iPhone with more storage). To a lesser degree, these apply to MacBooks.

But these tradeoffs are not important whatsoever in a desktop computer that is going to sit in one spot. And if you have to tether things to the Mac mini to work around Apple's design decisions, then theirs no purpose to the Mac mini's size.

In fact, I see little justification for the Mac mini as a whole If it were cheap, I could call it a good entry level computer. If it were vastly powerful, I could justify its price. If it were easily expandable, I could justify its anemic base configuration. But it's none of these things.

You acknowledge yourself that the Mac mini isn't really the machine you wanted, but Apple doesn't, and likely won't, sell what you want. That's my point: Apple's desktop offerings are a mess right now, and I don't expect the Mac Pro will be any better.

 

[mudflap]

If half of you whiners that threaten to move to Windows PCs with every single post actually pulled the trigger these forums would be so much less annoying these days.

 

[thevault]

Another Fanboy!

 

[SuperMatt]

I am wondering if this WWDC will be a chance to reach out to developers with powerful new hardware. A 16.5" Macbook Pro and a new Mac Pro? That should really get them psyched.

 

[PickUrPoison]

With pricing having been a major issue lately with Apple... Would an excessive price put people off? I mean - they've never come cheap... but - this thing is being built in the USA... it's having a s-load of R&D put into it... And although Tim may have admitted he's got it wrong with the new iPhone pricing... what if they push the price too high.?

People have been complaining about Apple’s prices for at least 35 years. They complained about pricing for the iMac Pro, and certainly they’ll complain about the 2018 Mac Pro pricing.

But I don’t see a “major issue” with any of these pricing decisions over the last year, do you?

• Mac mini 8GB/128GB SSD priced at $799, but that same config was $749 for the previous model. So a $50 increase. (Sure, they eliminated cheaper 4GB RAM and HDD/Fusion models, but discontinuing low performing models isn’t the same as raising prices on those that remain.)

• MacBook Air went from $999 to $1,199 while gaining a retina screen and TouchID. That may or not be worth $200 to any given buyer, but it is a huge display upgrade.

• iPad Pro went up $150/200 but gained the very powerful (but low manufacturing volume variant) A12X CPU, in addition to FaceID/TrueDepth camera, USB-C, wireless charging for the Pencil 2, a new display, 18W charger and more.

• The July 2018 MacBook Pro stayed at $1,799/2,399 for the 13/15” Touch Bar models.

• the March 2018 9.7” iPad stayed at $329.

• The iPhone XR priced at $749, right between the $699/799 of the 8/8 Plus;

• iPhone XS stayed at the X price of $999, even with numerous improvements;

• The XS Max added a very nominal $100 surcharge for the larger screen/battery.

Yes, Apple revised revenue guidance after a sudden, drastic and unexpected drop in sales in China. Yes, Apple had record revenues in the United States, Canada, Mexico, Germany, Italy, Spain and Korea. Yes, people are keeping their iPhones for 3-4 years (my 6S is plenty fast and does everything I need). Yes, the market is becoming saturated and unit sales are flat (and have been for years btw).

And yes, there will always be complaints that Apple’s products are overpriced. But there’s a difference between being high-priced and being overpriced.

 

[jlocker]

I can not wait for the new mac pro! I am still running off my 2009 mac pro and it still runs great! That is what is good about spending more up front the system last longer. A $4000 computer has lasted 10 years! So the cost per year is lower then any other lower end mac or PC. So yes you spend a lot of money up front but you get 10 years out of the product. Mac Mini times 4, $4000 is is the same price. And i got a killer machine for many years.

 

[aaronhead14]

I cannot wait!!!

 

[truthertech]

The lack of commitment to the pro market has little, if anything, to do with said blog post. The fact Apple hasn't updated the Mac Pro for over five years and has provided almost nothing about the modular Mac Pro has everything to do with it. In an industry that moves so quickly the fact the Mac Pro has remained stagnant for so long is beyond ridiculous.

Your post seems like it was meant to be posted two or three years ago as it is very outdated. It is well chronicled how Apple boxed themselves in with the Mac Pro "trash can" design. But that's old news and Apple has recognized its mistake and moved on a couple of years ago.

it's disingenous to suggest they don't have a commitment to the Pro market, witness the heavy investments in recent pro products the past two years and the well received and increasing sales with the iMac Pro, MacBook Pro and iPad Pro. And of course, the two years of effort they are putting into redesigning the Mac Pro that will come out this year. Not to mention their well publicized pro work teams from various disciplines/industries they have integrated into the Apple design group to ensure they are meeting their needs.

 

[Naraxus]

That’s ok. Apple can continue to “mull it over” all they want to.

Meanwhile true professionals have moved on from the Mac platform after being relegated to third-class citizen under Timmy’s “leadership”.

 

[mjsmith1568]

What makes me nervous is all this talk about modular. What's the difference between having to buy a proprietary RAM DIMM that is specifically tailored for Apple for twice as much as a similar RAM upgrade for PC, or having to purchase a proprietary RAM Expansion Module for MacPro that is also twice as much as a similar RAM upgrade for PC?
Frankly, I'm worried that Apple cares SO MUCH about the bottom line, that they are unwilling to give up even the slightest margin to capture more of the high end market.

 

[Alan Wynn]

sure... and it will be available at the end of december 2019

I hope it ships before the 285th day of December 2019.

 

[jimothyGator]

People have been complaining about Apple’s prices for at least 35 years. They complained about pricing for the iMac Pro, and certainly they’ll complain about the 2018 Mac Pro pricing.

Part of the problem, of course, is that there is no 2018 Mac Pro, and we're left wondering when in 2019 we'll finally see a new Mac Pro.

But I don’t see a “major issue” with any of these pricing decisions over the last year, do you?

• Mac mini 8GB/128GB SSD priced at $799, but that same config was $749 for the previous model. So a $50 increase. (Sure, they eliminated cheaper 4GB RAM and HDD/Fusion models, but discontinuing low performing models isn’t the same as raising prices on those that remain.)

I could go on all day about what's wrong with the Mac mini, and if I'm not careful, I just might.

128GB is pathetic for a desktop computer. If it's entry level, give it an HDD. If it's midrange, give it decent storage. $799 is too high of a starting price, as as I complained earlier, things just get more ridiculous when you start to upgrade.

That the price of a Mac mini 128GB SSD went up only $50 since 2014 hardly excuses Apple. In 2014, a 128GB SSD might have been somewhat of a luxury. Today, it's beneath low-end.

 

[Val-kyrie]

For sure it will have a soldered SSD for security with T2 (and its encoding). Maybe it will have Nvme slots for other disk.

A T2 with soldered SSD is cause for concernn if that becomes the only location from which to boot into macOS. Workstations should be able to boot an OS from multiple drive locations, including external drives, and there should be no artificial limitations on which OS is booted (e.g., Linux). I don’t need Apple to determine whether or not my OS is “secure.”

eGPU makes already Mac mini and MacBook Pro incredibly power, for sure you will be able to plug eGPU there too so the default GPU needs to be very powerful like Radeon VII for both pro and gaming or they could put an advanced integrated only GPU and optional modular eGPU

I appreciate eGPU support on portables, but unless Apple is releasing TB4 or some proprietary connector, a new Mac Pro should have upgradeable internal dGPUs. TB3 does not have the necessary bandwidth to run high end GPUs at full speed. My concern is that Apple will use some proprietary connector which will limit the user’s choice of modules, including dGPUs.

 

[kemal]

It will either be an awesome $10k workstation or something no one wants with custom parts right down to the power cord. But the parts will have Apple part numbers an can only be installed by certified Apple Technicians and require a torque wrench and a laser interferometer.

 

[Morgenland]

I think this display looks great.
Maybe there is also one in "normal size" in this new design for the rest of us (e.g. Mac Mini users):
desk size 24 inch, equivalent to Apple's former LED Cinema Display.

And please do not forget the FaceID front camera, to stand out not only in design from LG and others.

BTW... the other design variant I also found great:

 

[mavericks7913]

Well, there are few problems even Apple make Mac Pro.

1. Nvidia: Mac uses only AMD. No more supports for Nvidia GPU and their own software is optimized with AMD GPU.

2. Professional App: Apple cares only their own software like Final Cut Pro or Logic Pro. And they have only 5~6 professional software which can take advantage from Mac system. How many professional apps or software out there?

3. OpenCL And OpenGL: No more support for both standard.


Few things that Mac Pro should solve.

1. Cooling system: Please, forget about beauty design ****. We don't care about its design but performance. Mac Pro 2013 is a trash itself. I would expect something like Mac Pro 2010 or HP workstation with a lot of fans.

2. Upgrade: Don't tell me it is upgradable with their own parts only. Make Mac Pro like a custom PC. Standard components like CPU, graphic cards, RAM, and more.

3. Size: Make it bigger. Why not? It's a workstation computer. Smaller means nothing.

 

[lowendlinux]

A preview in June this thing needs to ship in June

 

[beepp]

Since last Mac Pro has been released Apple has been trying to reinvent the wheel. If it takes them so much time it should be a killer machine. Time will tell.

 

[The Other One]

I'm mostly disappointed that they're merely deciding whether or not to preview it... which means it would not be one of those "available to pre-order today, shipping in two weeks" type things.

I spend 90% of my day in Premiere Pro and After Effects on a hackintosh, because I got sick of Windows. But this thing always feels on the verge of total collapse, and system updates are cause for intense anxiety. The iMac Pro is a nonstarter for me, because I have zero use for an integrated display (especially one that small), the Mac Mini even with an eGPU isn't fast enough for my needs, so I will be ordering the new Mac Pro, regardless of cost. I'm just getting really friggin' impatient for it, though I recognize I have absolutely no choice but to sit and wait.