Sad to see this getting voted down. It's one of the most insightful things I've seen posted here in a long time.
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Apple 'Questioning' the Future of its Mac Pro Line?
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Someone needs to pump the old Steve Jobs with saline and a 2nd person to throw their voice " We keep the Mac Pro, gllgh Brains Brains!" (oops too much Walking Dead) and put an end to this silliness!
It can certainly afford it. But as we all know, these day's Apple is VERY concerned and interested in it's bottom line, above it's product line? Possibly, they certainly have enough to sue everyone. If they do drop the Pro for profitability reasons then yes I would say it would be profit first before what your customers want, well your professional ones anyway.
Im running a Quad G5 at home and its fine, though I wanted to upgrade so I could run Lion. And the fact that I already have a monitor and use it for my X360 and the mac.
Hopefully the rumor isnt true.
New form factor would be great.
M
Hopefully the rumor isnt true.
New form factor would be great.
M
"He's dead Jim"
Move on people. The faster you accept the idea that this is where things are going, the faster you can figure out what alternative strategies you need to do to continue to get the hardware/software you need to meet your customers needs. In the end, they don't care what you use or how you do it, only that its done, on time and on budget.
Move on people. The faster you accept the idea that this is where things are going, the faster you can figure out what alternative strategies you need to do to continue to get the hardware/software you need to meet your customers needs. In the end, they don't care what you use or how you do it, only that its done, on time and on budget.
I don't know of any successful company that makes products just for jollies. Of course Apple is interested in its bottom line. That's the M.O. of every for-profit company and it has a fiduciary duty to its shareholder to do so. And any competent company is going to constantly evaluate every product it makes for sales volume, profit margins, and needs of its ever changing customer base. That's business.
I was referring primarily to the Intel Xeon, especially dual processor configurations.
Or, you could keep all resources in one box, avoid all messy cables and keep it self contained. There is such a product all ready.
It's two channel 100mbit's though. The first thunderbolt demo was done using Ram slots a mile away from the computer.
This one of those pure speculation rumors that has 'just' enough believability to make it sound feasible.
I hope they don't get rid of a desktop workstation model, but with processor lines getting blurred, especially with the like of a high end iMac on par or out performing the macpro line, it's feasible. But that doesn't necessarily make it likely....
I love my 2008 MacPro 2.8, but I had considered that if I ever replaced it - I'd probably buy a top of the line iMac instead.
Also as evident from it 'professional applications' Apple is seemingly moving towards making them more accessible / cheaper / mainstream and realizes that the real $$$ lay's in the mass market, not necessarily the 'exclusive' professional market.
I hope they don't get rid of a desktop workstation model, but with processor lines getting blurred, especially with the like of a high end iMac on par or out performing the macpro line, it's feasible. But that doesn't necessarily make it likely....
I love my 2008 MacPro 2.8, but I had considered that if I ever replaced it - I'd probably buy a top of the line iMac instead.
Also as evident from it 'professional applications' Apple is seemingly moving towards making them more accessible / cheaper / mainstream and realizes that the real $$$ lay's in the mass market, not necessarily the 'exclusive' professional market.
Sorry, while I agree mostly with the content : "the rise of the prosumer", I don't agree with the message.
What you fail to see is that with the rise of this prosumer, the real pro (and I like to consider myself one too) has evolved too and is doing things today with his/her Mac that a prosumer can only dream of.
I'm in architecture, and to make things concrete : many people are using Sketch-up and the like today to make simple designs and reasonably good renderings, but I have to meet the first prosumer that can actually put out Cinema 4D renders based upon real functional and build able designs, the way we (try to) do it.
I think Retrofire had a point to this here.
The "end" of the Mac Pro was inevitable. It may be time, in Apple's eyes, to upgrade the design just as they did with the Power Mac G4 and G5. The G4 was loosely based on the G3 tower design and they went in a whole new direction with the G5.
Now the MP was based on the G5 design, which also matched up with the current designs (at the time) of the existing lines. The MBPs, MBs, iMacs, Mac Minis and Apple Displays have all seen major design upgrades and the MP is still using that "old" one.
This may be just Apple deciding to bring more consistency to their brand. Come up with a new design that incorporates uni-body components and some of that black trimming that's been added into iOS devices, the iMac, and the laptop lines.
Personally, I'd like to see what a unified product line would look like with a new Mac Pro design.
There is a limit to how much and to what lengths Apple should go to serve a niche segment of the market that is slowly dying (and gradually being displaced by a different, growing segment - Prosumers.)
You're not the only one that feels this pain, but economics, market realities, and the rising demand for leaner, faster, smaller and more efficient devices will be the deciding factor.
The dwindling "Pro" market is no longer able to sustain that side of Apple's business. Is the "Pro" niche big enough to warrant continued servicing? Questions like these aren't surprising, and they are not just limited to Apple. They reflect industry-wide questions. At some point Apple will need to make a decision. The big-box workstations are, almost by default, on the way out anyway. It's a slow process, but they will be replaced.
I just spent a couple of minutes configuring machines similar to the Mac Pro at Dell, Lenovo, HP and IBM. They have more options, a lot more, but when you configured system that's exactly the same, or at close as you can, they are substantially more expensive, is some cases thousands of dollars more.
There really should be market here for Apple.
There really should be market here for Apple.
So you get it repaired or sell the machine for parts. I don't see how that is much different then a bad power supply, bad ram, bad hard drive in the existing iMac. Repairs (at least not through Apple) are not that expensive.
