Apple needs to make a MacPro-like tower based desktop for those who like/need to upgrade, but is more affordable. I'm thinking a single socket i7 based one. If they do away with the MacPro then I will probably go with a i7 based Hackintosh.
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Apple 'Questioning' the Future of its Mac Pro Line?
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Pricing...
That's simple. Reduce prices. If those products are also built in China or Taiwan, there is one more reason to reduce their prices. In times of crisis, if one wants to remain selling its products, that reduces the prices of theirs.
That's simple. Reduce prices. If those products are also built in China or Taiwan, there is one more reason to reduce their prices. In times of crisis, if one wants to remain selling its products, that reduces the prices of theirs.
Nokia thought that was a good strategy too, until they discovered how fickle the consumer is. The consumer doesn't actually HAVE to do anything so they will simply go to the next shiny bell whereas the pro market is totally committed - and in it for the long, long term.
Tower PC's are still a necessity for creative work. Of course, someday this will no longer be the case, but we're not there yet. The Mac Pro directly supports iOS and all of its devices. It is a centerpiece of serious creative systems. Think about how many items in the iTunes store the Mac Pro has produced/helped to produce. It doesn't matter if it loses money (highly unlikely), that loss is an investment in iOS and its devices, in a vibrant ecosystem. There is no way they are killing it any time soon.
Just because your work only requires an iMac or iPad, doesn't mean a Pro computer is niche.
But they are. Be them Dell Precisions, Mac Pros or HP ZXXX series, Pro workstation class hardware with Xeon processors, ECC memory to run the workloads required in a few small industries are a niche compared to mass market general hardware like laptops and desktops.
You do know what "niche" stands for right ?
Not sure what kind of pro you are but I know many that have internal RAID in the Mac Pro. Albeit a lot of storage is done in externals, but for a current project, the files are moved inside the machine so they can be accessed far more quickly. Are your scratch disks external?
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Every single thing you mentioned can be done on an iMac or Mac Mini.
We're not discussing the loss of PCs. We're discussing the loss of a single model of high-end workstation.
Mac Pros
I know I'm not speaking for the majority - just myself here... but, frankly this could subsequently change my entire device ethos around. I like having consistency across my devices and across my operating systems (OSX and iOS). I have need of my Mac Pro. Next year I will replace it with another, newer, Mac Pro...if they still exist in Apple's product line.
However, if I am required to buy a Dell workstation to use for the next few years, there is a good chance I will also buy a Dell laptop. Simple reason? I'm not going to shell out for Adobe Master Collection both for OSX and for Windows, the same goes for Cinema 4D Studio and ZBrush. I won't throw out the iPhone 4S, the iPad and the Apple TV 2. But I may very well not replace them with another, future, Apple product. I might check out an Android, a Kindle and a Roku.
I'm not an Apple fanboy. I just like simplicity, consistency and platform harmony.
I know I'm not speaking for the majority - just myself here... but, frankly this could subsequently change my entire device ethos around. I like having consistency across my devices and across my operating systems (OSX and iOS). I have need of my Mac Pro. Next year I will replace it with another, newer, Mac Pro...if they still exist in Apple's product line.
However, if I am required to buy a Dell workstation to use for the next few years, there is a good chance I will also buy a Dell laptop. Simple reason? I'm not going to shell out for Adobe Master Collection both for OSX and for Windows, the same goes for Cinema 4D Studio and ZBrush. I won't throw out the iPhone 4S, the iPad and the Apple TV 2. But I may very well not replace them with another, future, Apple product. I might check out an Android, a Kindle and a Roku.
I'm not an Apple fanboy. I just like simplicity, consistency and platform harmony.
...clearly you don't get Apple. they aren't about carrying a "complete line" of towers. that was disaster when Jobs was gone, and the first thing he did when he returned the company to profitability was to declutter their offerings by removing all the "complete line" of towers crap.
man.
The Mac Mini would be a better option as you could retain your current monitor and other peripherals.
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Not gonna do gfx via TB...gonna settle for Mac Mini model w/ Radeon 6630M which should suffice.
Apple needs ? What do they "need" this for ? The "system tinkerer" niche that doesn't just hand build everything is even smaller than the "Pro" market.
Without a doubt, the desktop market is currently stale, largely due to the rapid advancement in the power of portables, but a stale market is where the opportunity lies for innovative companies. Apple has always been about going to where the ball is going to be, not where it currently is, encouraging new approaches to old problems. What's to keep Apple from trying to reinvent the desktop market with an innovative new approach, such as maybe modular stackable/linkable metal shoebox-shaped minitowers (say, 6" X 6" X 12" deep), each with one multicore processor, one graphics/PCI slot and two drive bays? This would offer future upgrade potential with reduced initial outlay. High-power users could physically and logically link multiple modules for multiprocessor/multi graphics card/internal RAID capabilities. It would give the term "plug and play" a whole new meaning.
Personally, I think that a product like the Mac Pro is too niche, and instead what they need is something like a Mac Pro Mini. It would be smaller and wouldn't use as many high end parts like the Mac Pro (for instance Core i5 and i7 processors and fewer slots for HDDs) but could still offer support for many of the high end uses that the Mac Pro is currently used for.
I have an iMac, and my main problem with it is that I can't upgrade anything on it except for the Ram, which I currently have as much as the computer allows for anyway. But I do like gaming, and one of my hobbies is photography, both of which could benefit from an updated graphics card and that's not an option, but neither was spending three times as much to buy a Mac Pro and a decent monitor.
I have an iMac, and my main problem with it is that I can't upgrade anything on it except for the Ram, which I currently have as much as the computer allows for anyway. But I do like gaming, and one of my hobbies is photography, both of which could benefit from an updated graphics card and that's not an option, but neither was spending three times as much to buy a Mac Pro and a decent monitor.
What makes you think Apple eats its own dog food internally ? Their data center doesn't run on Xserve's obviously.
and they don't sell Xserve's, it's no longer their own dog food. so your point is invalid.
One thing I would worry about is the impact on developers, particularly the sort who like gobs of memory and processor cores to assign to virtualized environments of the sort that Lion's EULA took care to enable. Those folks make an outsized contribution to the viability of the OS X ecosystem that isn't reflected in their paltry desktop sales figures.
By your line of thinking, Apple should go back to reinvent the Type writer. Hey, that's a stale market right there.
Sometimes, advancement in technology make older products/lines stale out of sheer obsolescence. There is no "reinventing" there, these older products drop down to niche uses.
Tape based video is heading there eventually, as did the turn table, the 8 track player, the type writer, the wash board, the ox cart, the mainframe computer, etc...
Heck, I hear there's good money to be made in reinventing the Musket for modern warfare. That market has been stale for quite sometime.
I believe an ipod classic model, I honestly can not find which one. Too lazy to link dig. The white macbook was still selling well from the #'s I had access to on the net, and everyone else did. It was a $999 Mac, now the $999 is an 11' screen with a niche style design. Case design on the white book is noted, but heating issues on their Macs, iMac yellow tint issue are others that have happened. I have never seen a company get rid of a hot seller for them. Ever. Unless your leader has a brain that is somewhat fried.
Reading comprehension FTW...??? I said I think their success will be short lived. I did not make an absolute there. Why the hostility? Just a discussion man.
Their growth has been impressive, I still say its short lived though. Also not every windows box is plastic with randomly stuffed components. These companies also have good R&D, they lack the hype factor and hype goes a LONG way everyone knows that. That said Apple makes fine products to somewhat back it up, they could be better.
Lets hope for no on that one. Apple for a few years has needed to taste some humble pie. If they can get away with 30%+ minimum margins that is not good for consumers, they should have to compete in price, not get things handed to them. I THINK they will fall back to 5%. Tablets will also take a hot after the fire and Windows tabs hit the market.
Lets not also forget Apple's strategy. Few products vs an army of them. Gates knew Apple was easy to beat, Google knows this, and they both "Get it" The #'s will catch up to them again, but PC makers all around do need to do a better job a customer service and having more consistent quality across the board. I believe they will and once people leave Apple they likely wouldn't return. Have issues with a Dell, try an HP, or Sony etc... issues with HTC? Move to Samsung or someone else.
History repeats itself, this is taught in high school. It will again, short rises like this are nothing new.
AH whats a matter negative voters? Couldnt survive without your precious Apple??
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They didn't use them when they did sell it, opting for Sun hardware and generic x86 boxes and running a mix of Solaris/Linux/Windows so my point stands.
We don't know what Apple uses internally.
Apple are selling more Mac's than ever. While the percentage of Mac Pros has dropped the total number will of gone up.
You can run virtualized environnements just fine on iMacs/MBP and heck even my lowly MBA.
I used to run VMware workstation on my P2-333 with 192 MB of RAM.
Virtualization is only as ressource intensive as the guests you're running out of those VMs.
Have you even LOOKED at the Intel CPU lineup??
The top-end iMac (and the only one even close to being a MP replacement) has currently got the i7 2600K, @ $317 in 1000 unit quantities.
Then let's look at the LGA2011 CPUs which are what the new MP will have, and compare them to the equiv i7.
i7 - Price | Xeon - Price
3820 - $294 | E5-1620 - $294 [THE SAME!] - Faster than the 2600K for less... funny that...
3930K - $583 | E5-1650 - $583 [THE SAME!]
3960X - $999 | E5-1660 - $1080 [$81 more - who cares!!?]
The difference between ECC and non-ECC memory is minimal and actually doesn't matter, you never buy ram from Apple anyway so just shove some equivalent non-ECC in there.
Changing to i7 DOES NOT HELP REDUCE THE PRICE. PERIOD.
By your definition then a MBA would serve everyones needs.
Just fine != running as fast as possible which means more productivity.
I also virtualise on my Mac Pro and MacBook Pro. Funnily enough, the Mac Pro runs it quicker (mostly down to the ability to run it from a separate HD via SATA-II), funny that...
not according to the WWDC link already posted in this thread, w/ a Pixar guy explaining how they write internal apps for OS X.
Pixar guy ? Pixar is not Apple.
Of course Apple probably uses some of their own stuff internally, but they also use a lot of other hardware. Who knows what their design department uses ? If they run things like Catia, they have to do it on Windows, might as well get better pricing from Dell/HP on workstations with more grunt and options than Mac Pros.