Apple 'Questioning' the Future of its Mac Pro Line?

[Javik]

Apple are derps if they kill the MacPro.

I thought Apple were "For the Crazy Ones"? Apple needs to continue to position itself as the market leader for the prosumer and professional markets... and it will. Further diversifying and adding cheaper options to the MacPro (a modular CPU system ranging from Extreme i7's to the higher powered Xeons) will make it a tonne more popular and accessible. The iMac is a beautiful machine but their NEEDS to be a Tower of some sought in the Apple lineup. Killing the MacPro and leaving simply the iMac and Mini will signal the death of apple. Diversfying it won't

 

[vitzr]

As a very long time Apple customer, enthusiast & share holder, I'm thrilled with Apples success. Yet the downside is the way they've morphed into an iToyz company. As a result, the overwhelming majority of today's buyers have no concern for anyone but themselves.

Exacerbated by Steve Jobs extreme narcissism built on a foundation of great arrogance, millions who feel entitled were drawn into his web. As a result they don't respect or care for the significance of the professionals who create vast quantities of content on the Mac Pro.

Adding fuel to the fire was an old Steve Jobs who led the company into the mainstream, becoming the kind of company Apple once abhorred. Worse, he proclaims the beginning of the Post PC era, releases tablets annointed as "Magical & Revolutuonary". His greed still at fever pitch he convinces these could replace laptops. Further convincing the worshipers the desktop is dead.

There were some interesting articles this week from those who understand the relevance of a powerful, upgradable, professional computer. It would send a negative message to many important companies as well as those who understand, if Apple abandons us.

 

[Javik]

As a very long time Apple customer, enthusiast & share holder, I'm thrilled with Apples success. Yet the downside is the way they've morphed into an iToyz company. As a result, the overwhelming majority of today's buyers have no concern for anyone but themselves.

Exacerbated by Steve Jobs extreme narcissism built on a foundation of great arrogance, millions who feel entitled were drawn into his web. As a result they don't respect or care for the significance of the professionals who create vast quantities of content on the Mac Pro.

Adding fuel to the fire was an old Steve Jobs who led the company into the mainstream, becoming the kind of company Apple once abhorred. Worse, he proclaims the beginning of the Post PC era, releases tablets annointed as "Magical & Revolutuonary". His greed still at fever pitch he convinces these could replace laptops. Further convincing the worshipers the desktop is dead.

There were some interesting articles this week from those who understand the relevance of a powerful, upgradable, professional computer. It would send a negative message to many important companies as well as those who understand, if Apple abandons us.

I'm all for the "iToyz". They are great and magical machines that are wonderful to use. However, at the end of the day their needs to be rugged, powerful machines that suited to any demographic of end user (From consumer to Pro) that helps them get their job done. Killing the Mac Book Pro and/or Mac Pro would be a step in the very wrong direction.

 

[AidenShaw]

Further convincing the worshipers the desktop is dead.

Steve is dead - the PC is still alive.

 

[firestarter]

As a very long time Apple customer, enthusiast & share holder, I'm thrilled with Apples success. Yet the downside is the way they've morphed into an iToyz company. As a result, the overwhelming majority of today's buyers have no concern for anyone but themselves.

Exacerbated by Steve Jobs extreme narcissism built on a foundation of great arrogance, millions who feel entitled were drawn into his web. As a result they don't respect or care for the significance of the professionals who create vast quantities of content on the Mac Pro.

Adding fuel to the fire was an old Steve Jobs who led the company into the mainstream, becoming the kind of company Apple once abhorred. Worse, he proclaims the beginning of the Post PC era, releases tablets annointed as "Magical & Revolutuonary". His greed still at fever pitch he convinces these could replace laptops. Further convincing the worshipers the desktop is dead.

There were some interesting articles this week from those who understand the relevance of a powerful, upgradable, professional computer. It would send a negative message to many important companies as well as those who understand, if Apple abandons us.

A lot of truth there.

Sad that Apple is moving from serving those creatives who do 'think different', to massed consumers who think the same...

 

[Macshroomer]

I'm all for the "iToyz". They are great and magical machines that are wonderful to use. However, at the end of the day their needs to be rugged, powerful machines that suited to any demographic of end user (From consumer to Pro) that helps them get their job done. Killing the Mac Book Pro and/or Mac Pro would be a step in the very wrong direction.

I have to agree, the release of Lion and my two weeks with it before going back to Snow Leopard had me wondering for the first time in my 20+ using Apple if they are just going to dumb everything in their line up down to the point that I am forced to use Windows based machines and OS...for the first time ever.

I sure as heck hope not, right now Apple just works like it always have, but it is showing signs of becoming novelty items of consumers only.

 

[Javik]

I have to agree, the release of Lion and my two weeks with it before going back to Snow Leopard had me wondering for the first time in my 20+ using Apple if they are just going to dumb everything in their line up down to the point that I am forced to use Windows based machines and OS...for the first time ever.

I sure as heck hope not, right now Apple just works like it always have, but it is showing signs of becoming novelty items of consumers only.

I for one think Lion was an excellent evolutionary step. I am however scared in trends that I see in Apple's recent product lineup:

-No Real iPod Advancements this term
-No Updates to the MacPro (or even minor Thunderbolt implementation at the very least) for a long, long time.
-App Sandboxing on the MAS (this feels much too restrictive on what you can do with apps, and looks to slow down and trivialise the approval process for apps).

The last point scares me the most. Why limit your applications to use the wonderful features that make Mac OSX - Mac OSX?

 

[subsonix]

I for one think Lion was an excellent evolutionary step. I am however scared in trends that I see in Apple's recent product lineup:

-No Updates to the MacPro (or even minor Thunderbolt implementation at the very least) for a long, long time.

The Mac Pro has the latest Xeon cpus available from intel, I dont think Thunderbolt in itself is enough reason to make a product update. The problem is with intel in this case, and to play the devils advocate, their product differentiation.

 

[Javik]

The Mac Pro has the latest Xeon cpus available from intel, I dont think Thunderbolt in itself is enough reason to make a product update. The problem is with intel in this case, and to play the devils advocate, their product differentiation.

Well the could of quietly put a Thunderbolt watever in.... It seems like they are explicitly limiting sales to me.

 

[subsonix]

Well the could of quietly put a Thunderbolt watever in.... It seems like they are explicitly limiting sales to me.

I think it's a bit more involved than drilling a hole in the chassis. It's on par with similar current workstations.

 

[Javik]

I think it's a bit more involved than drilling a hole in the chassis.

In all honesty, If they've fitted the thing in a MBA, Mini, iMac, and MacBook Pro, then MAYBE, they might implement their Next Generation I/O on their "flagship" professional product.

 

[subsonix]

In all honesty, If they've fitted the thing in a MBA, Mini, iMac, and MacBook Pro, then MAYBE, they might implement their Next Generation I/O on their "flagship" professional product.

No doubt, but they did it at the same time that they upgraded the cpu and gpu, they didn't release a new model that had nothing but a Thunderbolt added to it from the previous iteration.

 

[Rodimus Prime]

A lot of truth there.

Sad that Apple is moving from serving those creatives who do 'think different', to massed consumers who think the same...

True. What a lot of people here do not seem to understand is the trickle down effect that the lost of the Mac Pro will cause.
Short term Apple will get more profits.
Long term well you are going to have the pros leave OSX and move to windows. This means the high end software (2-3k per license stuff) will not be made for OSX because the hardware to run it is no longer there. While that does not sound like a real lost that stuff does trickle down in time to the more consumer level and well now that the high end stuff is no longer there to feed it well it not going to move down.

 

[macsmurf]

While that does not sound like a real lost that stuff does trickle down in time to the more consumer level and well now that the high end stuff is no longer there to feed it well it not going to move down.

Could you give an example of this? I'm not sure I understand what you mean.

 

[nanofrog]

Well the could of quietly put a Thunderbolt whatever in.... It seems like they are explicitly limiting sales to me.

It wouldn't be financially viable, as it means a redesign. Makes sense only if it were accompanied by a new CPU and chipset. Since those aren't out yet, then it's not a good move.

 

[Javik]

It wouldn't be financially viable, as it means a redesign. Makes sense only if it were accompanied by a new CPU and chipset. Since those aren't out yet, then it's not a good move.

I've always wondered, how would they implement thunderbolt. Aren't the Mini Display Ports attached to the GFX cards in the current set up

 

[Inconsequential]

Could you give an example of this? I'm not sure I understand what you mean.

He means that if a Mac Pro was used by someone that that person is also likely to have another few pieces of Apple stuff.

Remove the Mac Pro and then all the other stuff goes as well. Content creators then go to the PC and develop for PC, etc, etc, etc.

Like I have a Mac Pro, and then a MacBook Pro and then an iPhone.
A few mates have bought MacBook Pros and iPhones now too.
Remove my Mac Pro and all of those sales could disappear.

 

[AidenShaw]

-No Updates to the MacPro (or even minor Thunderbolt implementation at the very least) for a long, long time.

Well the could of quietly put a Thunderbolt watever in....

I think it's a bit more involved than drilling a hole in the chassis.

In all honesty, If they've fitted the thing in a MBA, Mini, iMac, and MacBook Pro, then MAYBE, they might implement their Next Generation I/O on their "flagship" professional product.

That, and USB 3.0 and a Blu-ray Disc burner at the same time.

It wouldn't be financially viable, as it means a redesign. Makes sense only if it were accompanied by a new CPU and chipset. Since those aren't out yet, then it's not a good move.

Companies rev motherboards all the time - it's no big deal.

Look at all of the motherboard selections from Asus, MSI, etc... How can they afford to make all those variations if Apple can't afford to make a single revision?

 

[KnightWRX]

He means that if a Mac Pro was used by someone that that person is also likely to have another few pieces of Apple stuff.

And since the Mac Pro is only selling few units, then that's just another few units lost.

Meanwhile, people that were deploying the Xserve to manage Apple laptop/desktop installations were probably doing so for infrastructures of over hundreds of Mac clients.

Again people, Apple does what Apple wants. When Apple decides it's time to stop investing in the Mac Pro, they will do it, whining or no.

 

[macsmurf]

Like I have a Mac Pro, and then a MacBook Pro and then an iPhone.
A few mates have bought MacBook Pros and iPhones now too.
Remove my Mac Pro and all of those sales could disappear.

Why? Will your friends stop buying Apple even though they like it on the sole basis that a computer they don't need is no longer available?

It is of course important to attract developers to the platform but developers will go where the money is and an overwhelming majority of developers don't need a Mac Pro.

 

[firestarter]

In all honesty, If they've fitted the thing in a MBA, Mini, iMac, and MacBook Pro, then MAYBE, they might implement their Next Generation I/O on their "flagship" professional product.

That, and USB 3.0 and a Blu-ray Disc burner at the same time.

We've discussed this at length in a number of dedicated Mac Pro/Thunderbolt threads (and I don't really want to re-open that here).

It may be that Apple have painted themselves into a corner regarding Thunderbolt and the Mac Pro - and that is the reason we haven't seen minor updates to this line.

- The user base expects all new machines to come with Thunderbolt
- Apple have defined a Thunderbolt standard that includes display data as well as standard TBolt data
- They can't implement this simply by revving the Mac Pro motherboard to add a new port, since they can't get graphics data back to the motherboard
- They don't want to make an external 'mix cable' to add TBolt data only to MDP
- They haven't managed to get any video card manufacturers to integrate Thunderbolt on their video cards (another way TBolt might be implemented).

So until Thunderbolt implementation issues are resolved, we'll be waiting.

 

[Razzerman]

True. What a lot of people here do not seem to understand is the trickle down effect that the lost of the Mac Pro will cause.

Very true this, and it works the other way too. From page one of this thread the graph is slightly misleading, in as much as the laptops were always going to benefit from the splash-sales(?) from the ipods/phones etc. What I'd like to see is a graph showing actual numbers of mac pros sold. It would be much more cause for concern if that was on a downward trend for the last ten years.

The mac pro will live on, and I for one would dearly like to see apple release a little baby brother of the current pro. It might actually fit on a desk if it were half the size

My 2p's worth.

Ray

 

[KnightWRX]

Intel updates or no Intel updates, there was plenty of "meat" for a 2011 upgrade that never came :

- new GPUs
- new expansion ports (USB 3.0/Thunderbolt)
- updated storage/memory capacities to reflect discounted industry prices
- CPU frequency bumps to adjust to lower pricing of actual chips.

All to keep the Mac Pro fresh and competitive. I don't know why people focus so much on "There were no new Intel CPUs!" like it's the only reason to upgrade your computer. It hasn't been so since the late 90s.

 

[cwwilson]

Apple is definitely cleaning house. iPod classic, Macbook, MacPro, Macmini, and even top brass. Apple must be losing money/market share and are cutting off the fat, but this is worrying me.

A tribe must rebuild after losing their leader, and I guess this is Apple's way of doing it :\

 

[cwwilson]

You're an idiot.
That is all.

Explain. Because as far as I can tell, if a product line is no longer profitable or worth a companies' time, it's going to get axed. I'm not saying I agree with all of Apple's decisions in fact I'm becoming concerned that they're taking a step back but tell me, please.

It's pretty clear that Apple only cares about iToys, iMac, and MBA, but they're making money hand over fist with those unlike the ones I mentioned in my other post.