Considering the size of the heatsinks on the Xeons, putting even one of them in the Mac Mini is impossible. So the mini you described would have a size almost 4 times as big as the mini, at the least. I wouldn't call that a Mini.
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Apple 'Questioning' the Future of its Mac Pro Line?
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Considering the size of the heatsinks on the Xeons, putting even one of them in the Mac Mini is impossible. So the mini you described would have a size almost 4 times as big as the mini, at the least. I wouldn't call that a Mini.
Im sure Avid would have something to say about this...
They have just realeased Pro Tools 10 along with their HDX PCIe cards. Pro Tools 11 will be 64bit only in 2012. I cannot see Apple alienating their core creative market of sound producers and top flight recording studios.
They have just realeased Pro Tools 10 along with their HDX PCIe cards. Pro Tools 11 will be 64bit only in 2012. I cannot see Apple alienating their core creative market of sound producers and top flight recording studios.
Maybe it's best to leave them to Avid and focus on the Prosumer market instead. We would like more powerful creative tools that are easier to use. And it's happening.
The industry is changing. Markets are changing.
- The need for workstation computers is shrinking dramatically with the availability of fast and reliable multi-core CPUs that are much cheaper
TB has bandwidth of 1.6GB/s.
Graphics cards? Maybe in time, but currently it operates at 25% of what is available and with the introduction of PCI-E 3.0: 12.5%.
RAM? Nope. Quad-channel DDR3 1333MHz bandwidth has a theoretical peak of 42.7GB/s per CPU.
It has its uses - most of which are for storage for small networks.
It doesn't solve the problem that Mac pros solve and that is the reduction in time on computationally intensive tasks.
The Mac Pro is now 18 months out of date. At 12 months, they could have refresh them to make them a bit more competitive and relevant. That would have given them another 12 months while they waited for updated processors.
Who's asking for 6 month refreshes ?
Currently, an equivalent Dell Precision T3500 (same processor/RAM/storage/equivalent GPU) is priced around 1500$ compared to the Mac Pro's based price of 2500$.
Except meanwhile, the competition is already shipping updated workstations with more RAM, more storage and better GPUs for the same price Apple is asking for. They are shipping Mac Pro equivalents for thousands less. And no, I'm not talking about mere desktops, I'm talking the real deal, Xeon based workstations.
You call an updated GPU a surprise ? Heck, if they stick with a mid-range card from 2009 like it's shipping with now, that would be a huge surprise : It would basically mean they don't want to sell any.
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Correct. I believe it was Virginia Tech. They had built a super computer using G5 Power Macs linked together and I recall that they updated it with Mac Mini's recently.
Apple doesn't need to build a purpose designed Pro computer when the Mac Mini can satisfy most of the market. The niche that remains can be served by stacked Mac Minis. The more powerful your computing needs, the more Mac Mini stacks you add.
Need a new video card? OSX already supports multiple and even switching on the fly. Add a video card stack daisy chained into the Mac Mini stacks. Have a special interface for factories or other manufacturing devices? Build that card into a stack with Thunderbolt I/O instead of PCI.
If you're a traditionalist and you want a tower, buy enough Mac Minis and you'll have one
I say it's not true. I love the 'sources' or the 'people familiar with the matter' are these the same peeps who were familiar with the iPhone 5 redesign that was going to be launched the other week then?
Face it NO ONE knows, and if Apple drop the Pro then they will turn into a totally consumer focussed company and drop the MacBook Pro line as well. Whats the point if your main work horse machine is no longer for sale, as for people trying to state the iMac is a replacement! Please.. have you visited the Mac Pro forum and seen the specs of those machines? What about music studios? No more dual CPU Xeon machines for that market which Apple has a foothold in?
People can max out a fully specced Mac Pro making it earn them money, yeah an iMac will do the same but it will also cost them time and money, they will just go begrudgingly elsewhere. No. I think they will launch a fully redesigned new machine with the new Xeon's. And it WILL sell. If they don't, well Dell and HP would have just got some more sales.
Face it NO ONE knows, and if Apple drop the Pro then they will turn into a totally consumer focussed company and drop the MacBook Pro line as well. Whats the point if your main work horse machine is no longer for sale, as for people trying to state the iMac is a replacement! Please.. have you visited the Mac Pro forum and seen the specs of those machines? What about music studios? No more dual CPU Xeon machines for that market which Apple has a foothold in?
People can max out a fully specced Mac Pro making it earn them money, yeah an iMac will do the same but it will also cost them time and money, they will just go begrudgingly elsewhere. No. I think they will launch a fully redesigned new machine with the new Xeon's. And it WILL sell. If they don't, well Dell and HP would have just got some more sales.
Yes but Intel promised that TB would jump to 100mbit in the near future. Yes today it's not gonna cut it, but in couple of years it will.
I predicted this way back when Apple changed their name.
If it happens, I'll be surprised that it took so long.
If it happens, I'll be surprised that it took so long.
If they sell only a small amount, how can they then increase their profit (dramatically), if they discontinue them?
I champion seeing things as they are. I'm a big fan of Reality. And Reality is closing the doors on the Mac Pro and workstations in general. A few of us were harping on this years ago. It's happening.
Tech is changing. Even specialized, niche markets. There is no niche market that is today immune from the sea-changes that take place in the wider consumer markets. It all filters and branches outward to niche segments.
And those niche segments are also changing, and are being integrated with the wider consumer segments. The average person a few years ago would be hard-pressed to do any advanced level of photo-editing, especially without purchasing ridiculously expensive software and having to put up with serious learning curves.
Now, in the span of only a few years, look at the kind of power that has been put into Joe Average's hands. It's incredible. You can even do, with some iOS apps (of all things!), things that were a few years ago only possible with much more complex and expensive software.
The line between "Pro" and "Consumer" has been blurred to an unprecedented degree. Hence, today we have what is known as the "Prosumer." And these Prosumers are growing in number and strength every day. One of the companies serving them is Apple.
The Pro market is dwindling. The Prosumer market is expanding rapidly. The skills that at one point were hard-earned and rare (Pro skills) are being steadily, slowly but surely, acquired by even average users with a little time and curiosity. As tech becomes much more accessible to Joe Average, those skills that were once prized in the industry will eventually become commonplace. What took a lot of skill yesterday can be easily accomplished and on a larger scale today and with less power, due to increased exposure and access that Joe Average, and for that matter you and I, are enjoying. It all filters down due to increased access.
The "Pro" market is not the same market that Apple allegedly turned their back on years ago. It has changed. And it is no longer a market that can sustain anyone exclusively. At all. Especially with the Rise of the Prosumer. The traditional "Pro" market is slowly dying, but also changing. It is becoming integrated with the consumer market, and Prosumers are making it happen.
In time there will be no specialized, niche markets at all in consumer tech, and that includes the "Pro" segment. We will all have access to them, with better tools that will be far easier to use.
If 2011 was the year of the iPad 2 and 2013 is going to be the year of iTelly then maybe just maybe 2012 will be the year of the Mac:
Redesigned MBP and MBA
Redesigned iMac (with iMac Pro option)
Redsigned Mac Mini to replace the Mac Pro and Mac Server
Add the iPhone 5, a retina display iPad 3 and all new iPods and 2012 could be a fitting tribute to Steve.
Redesigned MBP and MBA
Redesigned iMac (with iMac Pro option)
Redsigned Mac Mini to replace the Mac Pro and Mac Server
Add the iPhone 5, a retina display iPad 3 and all new iPods and 2012 could be a fitting tribute to Steve.
I don't get it...
Currently on a 2008 octo myself with a Quadro video card and 4 drives.
A move to iMac is not an option because :
- the graphics still suck (for professional open GL work)
- where do I put my drives ?
- the screen sucks : I don't want to look into a mirror and will only ever consider MATTE options
- I really don't like an all in one : when something breaks you lose your entire computer (or it's a tremendous hassle to get into it and fix anything + you'll void the warranty), in a Mac Pro, unless it's the motherboard, I'm up and running again in half an hour tops (and more probably 10 min).
Actually, CPU wise the iMacs are more than good enough, for me anyway, it's the rest that sucks.
Currently on a 2008 octo myself with a Quadro video card and 4 drives.
A move to iMac is not an option because :
- the graphics still suck (for professional open GL work)
- where do I put my drives ?
- the screen sucks : I don't want to look into a mirror and will only ever consider MATTE options
- I really don't like an all in one : when something breaks you lose your entire computer (or it's a tremendous hassle to get into it and fix anything + you'll void the warranty), in a Mac Pro, unless it's the motherboard, I'm up and running again in half an hour tops (and more probably 10 min).
Actually, CPU wise the iMacs are more than good enough, for me anyway, it's the rest that sucks.
You're already not Apple's target with the Mac Pro then. This is not a computer for the basement dwelling system builder. It's a professional grade workstation. It's aim is not competing with Dell Inspiron or other consumer stuff. It's competing for high-end visualization/computational/audio/video work.
Resources, you don't spend money on the line, manufacturing it, the staff used to develop it and build it, drop a line of products and you save crap loads, hence your profits go up and you can then use those resources to concentrate and put their efforts into something more lucrative for your bottom line, like the ipad, iPhone, iMac, Mac laptop line.
Along with FCX, and if this (was) to happen, that would probably be the final blow for most Professional video folks using Mac... That would be so sad.
The key thing about professional (graphics) work is that, whether your display is matte or glossy, if you've got a light reflecting off the display into your eyes you're doing it wrong.
A correctly positioned glossy display will cleanly reflect any lights or windows away from your eyes, whereas a matte screen will scatter any light hitting the screen in all directions.
Plus, its easier to make a glossy screen matte with a suitable aftermarket coating than it is to make a matte screen glossy!
However, a huge advantage of the Pro is that you can plug in the screen of your choice - including really high-end displays that make the Apple Cinema/Thunderbolt display look cheap.