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Apple 'Questioning' the Future of its Mac Pro Line?
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Agree. There is a serious gap between a top of the line iMac which lacks expandability and upgrading (especially the video card) and the entry level Mac Pro which is overkill for most mid level professionals.
I would want a dual core small form factor Mac Pro. 2 hard drive slots, 2 video card slots, 2 expansion slots and 4 or 8 RAM slots.
100Mbit is 8GB/s - so perhaps suitable for low-midrange graphics cards by the time it comes out. Useful for add in cards too for video and audio editors. It doesn't solve the processing time issue in relation CPU and memory.
In this day and age...standards are out the window. Bars and tone are even dying out which is utterly sad.
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.
Quite right. I think the Mac Pro has a future but will probably be nearer to the current concept of the Mac Mini (but as you say, would need to be larger). I think it would be quite reasonable replace slots/cards with Thunderbolt devices, and do away with the 4 bay hard drive capacity instead using 'optional' 4 bay or 8 bay Thunderbolt hard drive enclosure(s). Perhaps space for 2 internal user replaceable 3.5" hard drives or SSD drives. Even replaceable graphics cards wouldn't be as big a loss as it should be - given the current lack of after-market Mac compatible graphics cards, and the fact that Apple doesn't officially support older models with their new graphics cards.
I don't see those as problems.
1) The cost of components may be high but Apple's margins on MPs are huge. If we were talking about Dell and a low margin PC I'd agree, but Apple rarely lowers margins to accomodate price. When is the last time a MP has significantly gone down in price even as commodity parts have plummeted in price.
2) Marketing for the Mac Pro isn't really required. The market it's intended for knows about it's existence and also the moment it's updated. In fact you see very few MPs set up in Apple Stores. Apple doesn't position them to consumers. But what video or sound editor doesn't know about the MP?
3) The concept of a workstation may be old but so is the car. As long as the concept fits a need when the concept was imagined is irrelevant. Certain business rely on them. I'd agree that the concept of the computer for non-hobbyist consumer use is waining and could be outmoded by the end of the decade but that isn't the product we are talknig about here.
With one glaring (pun intended) problem... you're forced to use their glossy screens. Not acceptable for working professionals in photography, video, and design.
The Mac Pro isn't getting killed per se.. I think it will just get a completely new design and possibly a new name:
Think about it, aside from a very organised internal case, the mac pro lacks the incredible space saving industrial design found in the other mac products.
I expect that Jony Ives has found a way to squish all that dual socket XEON goodness into a much smaller form factor, in a way, like they did with the G4 cube. Imagine a new dual socket XEON cube with:
- 8 x SSD drive bays or 4 x HD bays
- 1 x 16 lane GPU slot (to fit custom shaped GPUs from nVidia/AMD)
- 4 x thunderbolt ports
While I don't buy into the idea that Apple would make a thunderbolt PCI expansion chassis, lets just imagine it could happen.. It could simply stack on top of the new Mac Pro enclosure and use up one of the TB ports. voila! There's your new mac pro.
Think about it, aside from a very organised internal case, the mac pro lacks the incredible space saving industrial design found in the other mac products.
I expect that Jony Ives has found a way to squish all that dual socket XEON goodness into a much smaller form factor, in a way, like they did with the G4 cube. Imagine a new dual socket XEON cube with:
- 8 x SSD drive bays or 4 x HD bays
- 1 x 16 lane GPU slot (to fit custom shaped GPUs from nVidia/AMD)
- 4 x thunderbolt ports
While I don't buy into the idea that Apple would make a thunderbolt PCI expansion chassis, lets just imagine it could happen.. It could simply stack on top of the new Mac Pro enclosure and use up one of the TB ports. voila! There's your new mac pro.
Can you do multi monitor 6 screen setups with an iMac like you can with the Mac Pro? That's another plus it has and yes people do have setups like that, what's the maximum memory ceiling of an iMac? Can an iMac CPU match dual Xeon power? Maybe currently but what about the new Xeon's? Would an Ivy Bridge imac match the next dual CPU Xeon's?
Have you ever had to wait 30 minutes for your computer to process something? What about an hour? 3, 4? What about 3 or 4 days. There are users who do. Even with a Mac Pro. There are millions of people doing things with their workstations that would save hundreds if not thousands of hours a year by having a computer be 50% faster.
This doesn't make sense. The Mac Pro is the flagship of the Apple computer line-up. A brand like Apple should be willing to operate their flagship without being profitable. Apple certainly won't be losing money as long as they make drastic changes like a redesign.
Haven't "we" been asking for that since at least the Intel transition, if not longer?
lol ive literally just got a new mac pro (refurb) - pretty much first thing / site i go to using it... MacRumors and 'Mac Pro is getting dropped' etc..
TBH i don't really care too much - I'm sure adobe will carry on and support the MP / OSX updates for a few years, by which time, ill have to go to 'dell' and go back to windows....
a cold shiver just shot up my back...
I can understand why they would want to drop it - if its not making money. loosing interest (i.e. if they can predict in 5-10 years time demand will be minimal)
But surely people buying MPs have money, are 'Professionals' who would probably also buy iPhones / iPads as they know the brand, want a all mac environment, they'll also probably also have a macbook pro for portability - mac pro is for old school power. drop the MP, and the folks needing a box may also get a windows mobile phone - also, apple may loose their 'cool' factor if all their producing are shiny, glossy iGeneric stuff.
I like the imac, but its glossy display, lack of expandability are negatives.
Id be interested in a mac pro mini - but without the obsessive 'gotta be slim' motif of apple. the iMac gets very hot.
TBH i don't really care too much - I'm sure adobe will carry on and support the MP / OSX updates for a few years, by which time, ill have to go to 'dell' and go back to windows....
a cold shiver just shot up my back...
I can understand why they would want to drop it - if its not making money. loosing interest (i.e. if they can predict in 5-10 years time demand will be minimal)
But surely people buying MPs have money, are 'Professionals' who would probably also buy iPhones / iPads as they know the brand, want a all mac environment, they'll also probably also have a macbook pro for portability - mac pro is for old school power. drop the MP, and the folks needing a box may also get a windows mobile phone - also, apple may loose their 'cool' factor if all their producing are shiny, glossy iGeneric stuff.
I like the imac, but its glossy display, lack of expandability are negatives.
Id be interested in a mac pro mini - but without the obsessive 'gotta be slim' motif of apple. the iMac gets very hot.
Lordy, lordy, the Mac Pro IS the Mac! Did you hear me? It IS the Mac! I am not a Luddite, I agree with the late Steve, store in North Carolina, not in your own town. BUT please let me actually COMPUTE. Or: maybe that could be put in North Carolina too? Could we have (please!!!!!!!!!) fortran there, maybe even free for all? Hey, that is the best idea I've had in weeks if not months! Let's unleash the programmers of the future! C too of course!
Maybe if the didn't price them so prohibitively, they would sell more.
Don't get me wrong, I love my Mac Pro, but I have stopped recommending them to other people, cause they are too overpriced. The early 2008 revision was the last model that I would consider a good "bang for the buck". Prices for the Mac Pro line have gotten ridiculous.
Don't get me wrong, I love my Mac Pro, but I have stopped recommending them to other people, cause they are too overpriced. The early 2008 revision was the last model that I would consider a good "bang for the buck". Prices for the Mac Pro line have gotten ridiculous.
Your "flagship" is your biggest money-maker. Your most important model/lineup. The Mac pro aint it.
I think that gradually PC computing resources are going to the cloud.
They most likely will.
They most likely will.
MR members have been making similar inane predictions about various parts of Apple's lineup for years. I put nothing past the out of touch "techie" contingent here (which accounts for the majority of members.)