Apple Says All-New Modular Mac Pro With Apple-Branded High-End Pro Display Coming After 2017

[WinstonRumfoord]

They also never comment on future updates, why would anyone buy an iMac now with their comment today?

Sure, apple might see a dip in sales for the iMac until the update hits, but the alternative was to keep losing customers who are starting to flee the ecosystem.

Personally, all but one of our developers have stated they have absolutely no intention of looking to apple for their next work computer.

 

[Supermacguy]

YAY I AM SO HAPPY! My letter to Tim must have gotten to him and hit a nerve! So sad to have to wait so long, but.. well there is hope. My 2009 MP will certainly live longer than 1 more year.

 

[hawkeye_a]

Welcome update, which should have probably come 2 years ago?

It is pretty unprecedented for an Apple exec to, when announcing an update to a product line, announces the coming of a total refresh for the same product line.

Phil, we don't need/want changes which amount to 'revolutions' every cycle, just create a design/platform and iterate; update CPU, GPU, RAM, SSD, I/O, etc... regularly.

Stay out of the display market. Contract a company like SHARP to do custom displays if needed.

 

[macduke]

Holy crap this is great news.

Let this be a lesson to all: Gruber is the guy. He's usually right and has the connections. Don't doubt him.

 

[rGiskard]

Modular, as in, not a damn tower. It's taking this long because they're trying to design a modular system that forces Mac Pro users to buy all upgrades from Apple. The Tube ended video card upgrades and next the modular system will end ALL user upgrades.

 

[sfwalter]

Okay, there was no spec bump. They moved down the same old CPUs and GPUs into the next lower tier model, so it's basically just a price cut. The real deal is going to come next year.


Even among pro users, notebooks are by far the most popular Macs. In second place are iMacs. The Mac Pro is third. Apple declined to describe the Mac Pro’s share of all Macs sales any more specifically than “a single-digit percent”, but my gut feeling is that the single digit is a lot closer to 1 than it is to 9.

Think they really forgot that Mac mini still exists.

Did you see this in John's post:

Near the end, John Paczkowski had the presence of mind to ask about the Mac Mini, which hadn’t been mentioned at all until that point. Schiller: “On that I’ll say the Mac Mini is an important product in our lineup and we weren’t bringing it up because it’s more of a mix of consumer with some pro use. … The Mac Mini remains a product in our lineup, but nothing more to say about it today.”

 

[newyorksole]

No mention of this on Apple's site, and why would they get out of the display business and then announce in a year from now they will be getting back into it? They also never comment on future updates, why would anyone buy an iMac now with their comment today?

Why would anyone buy an iMac now? What if someone's iMac of 5+ years just died and it's essential for their work? Are they gonna wait around? Lol no.

Also, do you think EVERYONE is going to see this article who's in the market for an iMac? No.

Same way how people "know" when the next iPhone is coming, but the current one is just fine. Sales aren't hurt much.

 

[Canubis]

Maybe read the article before commenting if you're going to complain?

"There are only nine people at the table. Phil Schiller, Craig Federighi, and John Ternus (vice president, hardware engineering — in charge of Mac hardware) are there to speak for Apple. Bill Evans from Apple PR is there to set the ground rules and run the clock. (We had 90 minutes.) The other five are writers who were invited for what was billed as “a small roundtable discussion about the Mac”: Matthew Panzarino, Lance Ulanoff, Ina Fried, John Paczkowski, and yours truly."​

I did, and still found it pretty weird to disclose such big news possibly affecting stock price in an exclusive interview. But don't get me wrong I like the content of the news and message, just the way they're disclosing the information seems really weird to me.

 

[MysteryMii215]

Lastly, how would announcing future products which they aren't selling yet help the sales of current products?

This doesn't have anything to do with sales of current products, it's to assure customers and skeptics that something's coming, it's just going to take time.

 

[anthorumor]

4 “On that I’ll say the Mac Mini is an important product in our lineup and we weren’t bringing it up because it’s more of a mix of consumer with some pro use. … The Mac Mini remains a product in our lineup, but nothing more to say about it today.”

Sounds like the old AppleTV - a hobbyist's computer, if you will.
They don't really know who it's fall, like the iPad Pro.

 

[LeonardXW]

I am kind of curious the main intention of this move?
It is unusual. It is strange.
What happening in Apple?
They are no longer as secrecy.

 

[MacDarcy]

Sure, seems a bit weird for them to show their hand, but it makes sense. If today you really need a 6,1, you get some "value" vs. yesterday's spec, knowing full well that it will be replaced (probably) next year. So you can weigh that into your purchase decision.

Yeah, not complaining, I actually think it's great!

 

[nt5672]

. . . . .
Apple today introduced spec-bumped versions of the current Mac Pro and revealed that it is working on a "completely rethought" Mac Pro with Apple-branded pro displays that will launch in the future.
. . . .

​

Unfortunately in todays environment at Apple, "completely rethought" means lighter, thinner, fewer ports, no upgradable RAM, no upgradable SSD and all glued together. Can't wait for it to take 18 months to get this out the door.

 

[TigerWoodsIV]

The displays have me intrigued. I just bought the LG 5K back in December, and I do like it, but an Apple branded display will hopefully be even better. Will have to wait and see.

 

[Squuiid]

Tempted to return my junk LG 5K now I'm on my 4th one

4th one?! Can you elaborate?

 

[Stella]

WOW!!!!!!!

Not much of an update, but the news about a new design is very refreshing.

The new design will be Thinner and Lighter. Everything "Pros" don't really care about.

No TB3 - how difficult is it to throw in a TB3 card?

 

[nt5672]

I am kind of curious the main intention of this move?
It is unusual. It is strange.
What happening in Apple?
They are no longer as secrecy.

Steve Jobs did not care what other people thought, Cook only cares about what other people think and Apple has been getting ragged on since Cook diverted the attention away from technology innovation to taking other the world and solving his most important social issues.

 

[shaunp]

This.

What struck me about today's announcement was Apple's (relative) candidness in regards to past "issues" and future plans. This is something Apple has almost NEVER done before, and I really hope it marks a shift in how Apple deals with the Mac side of the business going forward.

While I don't think we'll ever get "roadmaps" of the types many other companies put out, just committing themselves to a regular update cycle, actually sticking to it, and keeping channels for dialog (like today's) open would go a long way to restore some of the trust that's been lost over the last few years.

Indeed, just a commitment to agree to an update cycle and stick to it would be enough to keep many on the platform. No updates in over 3 years to the Mac Pro and woeful updates to the MacBook Pro made me move back to a PC. I'm keeping an eye out, but it will be a long time before I trust Apple again with such important equipment.

 

[zorinlynx]

The Mac Pro died for me when they killed the cheese grater tower. That machine was amazing and everything I could ask for in a pro Mac. They really need to bring back something like that, otherwise what's the point? Might as well just get an iMac.

 

[newyorksole]

I am kind of curious the main intention of this move?
It is unusual. It is strange.
What happening in Apple?
They are no longer as secrecy.

They kind of had to do it. Apple is in a much different place than they ever were. They're bigger than they ever were.

Their customers are WAY more vocal now and with so much change happening, they really needed to address this.

Apple has never been perfect, clearly.

 

[MysteryMii215]

Stay out of the display market. Contract a company like SHARP to do custom displays if needed.

They already had LG making displays for the new MacBook Pros and look at how that turned out.

EDIT: By "Displays", I mean the UltraFine displays, not the displays on the actual laptop.

 

[BeatCrazy]

My favorite quote from the article:

"In fact, if they had released these speed bumps without any comment about the future of the Mac Pro, people would have reasonably concluded that Apple had lost its goddamned mind."

So true!

 

[adam9c1]

Is it really possible for them to make a modular stackable desktop where extra modules connect via a bus and not external cabling?

 

[malexandria]

Beyond 2017? What does that even mean?

 

[greenmeanie]

There were some things I liked about the 2013 some I didn't so I sold mine off a few years ago.
Can't wait for the new one to come out.

So that was the April Event.