"We are sorry for the lack of updates, but we'll still keep the rip-off pricing for a little smoke "update" though, our customers love getting ripped off" -Phil
Got a tip for us?
Let us know
Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.
Apple Says All-New Modular Mac Pro With Apple-Branded High-End Pro Display Coming After 2017
- Thread starter MacRumors
- Start date
- Sort by reaction score
Yeah, well, Apple maneuvered themselves into a corner with Mac Mini.
They could've bought themselves time by doing a Skylake version, because Skylake is the last quad core with Iris Pro on Intel's roadmap. Would've been totally fine with thermals and would've allowed for Thunderbolt 3.
Now they have to stick with the dual core version with Iris forever or they have to figure out a way to put a small dGPU + quad core inside if they want to have decent graphics performance. Second option is going to be difficult due to space and thermal restrains.
Some custom AMD Ryzen APU could be a solution, but they would need to get Thunderbolt 3 support for Ryzen. Currently it's Intel-only.
So apparently you can't read. Explicitly, explicitly, stated that the new form will allow for frequent updates/upgrades.
99% of those complaining about the Mac Pro have no use for one and will never buy one no matter what the specs. It's like people that make $50k/year complaining about the specs of a $200k Porsche.
Bunch of people excited about Apple displays? Remember the last ones and how you complained because they were overpriced? What makes people think it will be different this time around and that Apple-designed displays will suddenly be available at the bargain price of Dell displays?
Bunch of people excited about Apple displays? Remember the last ones and how you complained because they were overpriced? What makes people think it will be different this time around and that Apple-designed displays will suddenly be available at the bargain price of Dell displays?
Now this is "courage" they can be proud of, 1) admitting thatmade a machine which did not meet the needs of the community, 2) and more importantly the mention they are redesigning the Mac Pro and a display to go with it, but these will take time.
Excellent news.
How is it excellent "news?" The fact that they said they were working on a new design? We already assumed that. It isn't like they committed to a release time frame "Beyond 2017" means it won't be out until NEXT YEAR at the EARLIEST and this announcement does nothing for the people who own this and have been waiting for an update for YEARS. Luckily I'm not one of those people.
Well I did not see that coming. Have moaned and whined a lot on here, due to frustration, fear and worry. I won't apologise for it – Apple has still been a dick about the time this has taken. But this is genuinely welcome and very exciting news. As long as the machine fulfils its promise, this is a day-one purchase for me, and I can then use my beloved 12-core cheesegrater as a render node/media server/backup system/whatever. Best news of all: I don't need to buy a Windows PC!
The interesting thing I read in that was when it was admitted that in the Mac Pro, Apple had backed themselves into a corner in configuring it in the way they did, ie in terms of thermal issues... Hopefully now the penny will have dropped with regards to super-thin laptops, too. Maybe now that Apple are on the back foot and have had to admit (shock, horror!) they screwed up on the design of their desktop Pro machine, maybe they'll look at reversing the thinning process on their Pro laptops, engineer some stunning tech back into the things and the extra batteries needed to power it and get back to being the powerhouses that Macs once were in the global scale of things - like back in the days of the good ol' G4!! Machines last longer now, anyway - it used to be that you'd swap out a machine every three years but I've got usable Apple machines that are 8 years old that I still use regularly. Upgradability over time is not going to hurt Apple in the way the 'old' Apple used to effectively build planned obsolescence into all of their kit as an extra bit of stealth profit. I'm liking this - it would be interesting to know what sort of take-up there is going to be on these up-spec'd (but only just) machines, though - especially knowing that new machines are coming. I really did think that the Mac would be declared dead within the next 18 months or so - I think a lot of people on here might be feeling a bit better about themselves today. The temperature has dropped a bit...
Apple will create a new "standard" for the modules and upgradabiity so that you have to buy everything from them.
Redesigned MacBook Pro - Late 2016
Redesigned iMac - Late 2017
Redesigned Mac Pro - Late 2018
In order of their popularity too. Makes sense.
Redesigned iMac - Late 2017
Redesigned Mac Pro - Late 2018
In order of their popularity too. Makes sense.
What is excellent is that this is confirmation of what folks hoped, they aren't leaving the pro community behind. That they have actually said something about working on a new update rather than mention the pipeline. They NEVER say things like this. This is something concrete. I see this as positive and excellent news.
If you don't, different strokes and it's all good.
How on earth is this an update and just not unloading old stock (at a still ludicrous price) ? Also, "After 2017" might mean 2018 (IF we are lucky enough) or 2042...
It looks that Apple can't or doesn't want to give what people need. I sound a bit frustrated but am fed up with being told that all I need is an iMac, a MacBook Pro or an iPad. The cylindrical Mac Pro is a great idea but, like the great G4 Cube, was marketed and priced incorrectly. Instead of pretending that everyone in need of a powerful machine is a videographer/renderer, Apple should acknowledge the DTP/Photoshop designer, the photographer, the musician, the researcher, the productivity software user who would appreciate a quiet/powerful/luggable workstation. Keep the case/format/quality, replace Xeons with either i7s or AMD Ryzens, upgrade USB/Thunderbolt, charge less RAM/SSD options, build it in China and price it at half price (even name it differently if you must).
I have had the idea of a modular computer decades ago as a kid drooling over the HiFi separates (and that 2-piece Hitachi VCR), dreamed about a separates system in the 90s where CPUs would be in different compartments than GFX cards and storage, wanted to build a system in the 00s that cooling system is also a different component but still looks cool (i.e. replacing my Zalman Reserator with Reserator XT), was fascinated in the 10s with the potential of Thunderbolt (and earlier with SCSI/SAS/Firewire), etc.
I hope that a) Apple does something good, b) we don't have to wait an eternity for it, and c) Apple becomes more clear about the status, current progress, and lifecycle of its Pro products.
It looks that Apple can't or doesn't want to give what people need. I sound a bit frustrated but am fed up with being told that all I need is an iMac, a MacBook Pro or an iPad. The cylindrical Mac Pro is a great idea but, like the great G4 Cube, was marketed and priced incorrectly. Instead of pretending that everyone in need of a powerful machine is a videographer/renderer, Apple should acknowledge the DTP/Photoshop designer, the photographer, the musician, the researcher, the productivity software user who would appreciate a quiet/powerful/luggable workstation. Keep the case/format/quality, replace Xeons with either i7s or AMD Ryzens, upgrade USB/Thunderbolt, charge less RAM/SSD options, build it in China and price it at half price (even name it differently if you must).
I have had the idea of a modular computer decades ago as a kid drooling over the HiFi separates (and that 2-piece Hitachi VCR), dreamed about a separates system in the 90s where CPUs would be in different compartments than GFX cards and storage, wanted to build a system in the 00s that cooling system is also a different component but still looks cool (i.e. replacing my Zalman Reserator with Reserator XT), was fascinated in the 10s with the potential of Thunderbolt (and earlier with SCSI/SAS/Firewire), etc.
I hope that a) Apple does something good, b) we don't have to wait an eternity for it, and c) Apple becomes more clear about the status, current progress, and lifecycle of its Pro products.
Exactly. That's what they mean by "modular". You want an upgrade then you buy a new sealed aluminum box from Apple and throw out the old one.
They could have pleased everyone simply by going with a new minitower, and it would already be out. Easy to design, easy to upgrade, and easy to use. But Apple hate "easy to upgrade" if it means the user can upgrade it with 3rd party parts.
Maybe Apple could give the MacBook Pro the same treatment, admit that they'd designed themselves into the same thermal, form-over-function corner and bump the specs up a notch while they had a rethink? Or at least give the specs of the old 2015 model a boost so it was better value for users who'd rather have "legacy" ports than thin'n'crispy...
But no, overall, it's really good news to have reassurances that Apple haven't totally succumbed to the "With the iPad Pro who needs a personal computer?" Kool-Aid.
I think this may have been a temporary thing all along. Anyway, the LG UltraFine shows every sign of being an aborted Apple display sans the nice aluminium case (which would probably have avoided those pesky RF interference problems!)
Thunderbolt 3 is knobbled by Intel's decision to only support DisplayPort 1.2, which still treats a 5k display as two separate displays welded together, each using one of TB's two DisplayPort channels. Its also knobbled as a display connector for desktop workstations because this is how you currently get your discrete PCIe graphics card to output via Thunderbolt 3. Ugh.
Once DisplayPort 1.4 is more widespread, and maybe the next iteration of Thunderbolt has arrived with support for it, 5k or multiple, high-refresh 4k displays should get a lot less kludgey. Or, it might just turn out that DisplayPort and/or HDMI remain the standard for higher-end displays aimed at desktop systems, and TB/USB-C is limited to display-cum-docking-stations for mobiles & laptops.
Either way, although the LG seems like a decent display, I don't think its going to be a product for the ages... Apple may have done well to keep it at arms length.
Agreed.
I am the quintessential target of the Mac Pro, and I won't even consider buying one unless they let me put a few 4TB platter drives inside the thing for project files. The current nMP always seemed stupendously Ill conceived to me.
At least they came forward and said that this Mac Pro is not what everyone was hoping for and that they are working on something more appealing.
Hopefully this will stop the Pro exodus.
Hopefully this will stop the Pro exodus.
It seems they may be going in that direction with Notebooks as the rumoured 15" model with desktop RAM sounds like it will need a larger chassis for cooling and battery. It may be like an iPad 3 or iPhone 6S situation. I don't think anybody truly thought the Mac would be dead although many thought that Apple displays (somewhat understandable given Apples statement) and the Mac Pro were dead, despite refuting those claims several times, they stuck to their guns, and now they'll see that they're wrong.
Unfortunately this, like what they are doing with the Macbook Pro, is all reactionary and NOT proactive thinking. They should have been working on this two years ago and launched it all ready to go last fall. All of the complaints about not having a new machine and speculation that it was going to be discontinued forced them to make up this imaginary new Mac Pro. ETA? Probably show a drawing December 2018 with limited availability 6 months later. In other words it will be obsolete a year before it launches.
By that point most "Pro-sumers" will be onto other products... sigh.
Steve must be have lost his voice from screaming so much. Sorry dude they can't hear you scream in space.
By that point most "Pro-sumers" will be onto other products... sigh.
Steve must be have lost his voice from screaming so much. Sorry dude they can't hear you scream in space.
