Apple Spokesperson Confirms New Mac Pro Designs Likely Coming in 2013 [Update: Not iMac]

[RichardBeer]

Even with this announcement, it feels like too little too late.

Sometimes I think that while Apple's philosophy of doing things sets them apart from others and can lead to some innovative things, at other times it's just weird and plain nonsensical. Such as when they ship things with missing features or the features which replace them are barely used, e.g the minidisplay back in 2009 that meant most monitors needed an adapter, silly; also the late inclusion of USB 3.0, I could go on. It's a method not without its occasional downsides I guess.

 

[MacFanJeff]

I have a hard time believing any of these reports coming out when nothing was OFFICIALLY announced at WWDC. Had they been planning to wait and wanted to keep the Mac Pro alive, they certainly knew everyone was waiting for them to say so openly at the show. All Apple had to do was say they had not forgotten the PRO users and were working on a full re-design that would be out sometime in 2013, but it WAS not abandoned and they still care.

We got none of that and if you read it closely, it says "likely" to be out sometime in 2013. They do not say it WILL be out and there is a lot of vagueness to all of this. Personally, I think this is all just PR right now to do a little damage control. I'll believe it when and if I see it at this point. Even then, we are talking about a long time to wait given it will have been 3+ years since a major update. People that really need to stay more current will have long moved on by then to Windows workstations. It's too little, too late to make most PROs care at this point.

 

[Shane1905]

They got you exactly where they want you - just selling off those remaining 2011s so that they can say: oh we forgot, we're releasing the new iMacs next month.

Argh don't say that! Haha. Your probably right but how long can I keep playing games with them... I may wait until mountain lion so I can start on that from scratch as I see that as the next logical time for release if an updated iMac were to appear (ivy, more ram, ssd). Would it take apple long to change tactic and do this if it wasn't already planned, plus that mysterious benchmark that appeared a while back, the macbook pro held true.

 

[Derpage]

Word of advice. If you are waiting on the next big thing in the computing world you will always be waiting as the next big thing is always coming

Right, this makes sense if you are purchasing bleeding edge tech. However we are talking about lacking pretty basic things such as sata 3 and usb 3...and perhaps a video card that is a little more current than something released in 2009.

 

[gpat]

What happened to doubling down on secrecy?? This is very un-Apple to disclose this information.

I still think they will update the mini and iMac with ivy bridge, usb 3 and new graphics processors this year. Next year we will see new form factors.

It used to be un-Apple to displease professional users to this extent once upon a time.
A lot of pros want to throw very good money (from a minimum of $3000) to Apple, but Tim just wants them to be desperate. I hope that their wait will be rewarded.

 

[iBug2]

We got none of that and if you read it closely, it says "likely" to be out sometime in 2013. They do not say it WILL be out and there is a lot of vagueness to all of this. Personally, I think this is all just PR right now to do a little damage control. I'll believe it when and if I see it at this point. Even then, we are talking about a long time to wait given it will have been 3+ years since a major update. People that really need to stay more current will have long moved on by then to Windows workstations. It's too little, too late to make most PROs care at this point.

How is that damage control? When you say that wait one more year, you are basically saying "Don't buy any of those Mac Pro's today". It's shooting yourself in the foot unless you actually have some redesign coming up next year.

 

[FaustsHausUK]

I was hoping for an iMac update yesterday. When it didn't come, I just bought the best model I could - a refurbished 3.4GHz 27" iMac with all the trimmings bar the extra 1GB of video memory.

I don't feel bad about this purchase. By the time the actual update comes out, I will have gotten a ton of use out of the system. I saved $400 buying refurbished, and I sold systems I owned to fund it, so I don't feel out of pocket at all.

It's super strange that Apple are commenting like this, they normally play their cards close to their chest.

 

[onepremiere]

An absurdly long way away in industry terms. At least drop the price on the current models if they're going to continue selling outdated hardware.

Not even before Christmas?! Are they solely banking on the iPhone to round up the 4th Quater, and the year? Is Apple on Vacation?

 

[devilbond]

Ok cool, another year.

That'll give me enough time to switch to PC, get used to it, and give it a proper go for the first time in my life. Then, once the year (or so) is up I can decide if I switch back.

Thank you for the opportunity to leave you, Apple.

 

[iBug2]

It used to be un-Apple to displease professional users to this extent once upon a time.
A lot of pros want to throw very good money (from a minimum of $3000) to Apple, but Tim just wants them to be desperate. I hope that their wait will be rewarded.

Then Apple was un-Apple until early 2000's. These broadcast professionals weren't using Macs until that time because Apple never had decent hardware and software for that until then.

 

[Amazing Iceman]

the word 'likely' kind of lowers my level of confidence more than a little....

 

[Yebubbleman]

[url=http://cdn.macrumors.com/im/macrumorsthreadlogodarkd.png]Image[/url]


Image

Yesterday, David Pogue of The New York Times vaguely stated in reference to Apple's desktop Mac lines that an unnamed Apple executive had informed him that "new models and new designs are under way, probably for release in 2013." That information was taken to include both Mac Pro and iMac models, but was not explicitly clear.

Soon after we posted the article, we received a report from a reader who had emailed Apple CEO Tim Cook about his disappointment in the lack of a significant Mac Pro update yesterday, with Cook responding to indicate that users can expect significant upgrades next year.Forbes now follows up with additional corroboration of both Mac Pro and iMac updates coming down the road, with the updates likely appearing next year. The information was provided directly by an Apple spokesperson.There was considerable disappointment from Apple's professional workstation users yesterday when Apple introduced only a very minor update to the Mac Pro, with Apple even taking the unusual step of removing the "New" designation on the Mac Pro in its online store today.

In light of the disappointing update with processors that are still several years old, we have tweaked our Buyer's Guide recommendations to suggest that users able to hold off until next year for a more significant update do so instead of purchasing the just-updated but still outdated Mac Pro models.

Article Link: Apple Spokesperson Confirms New Mac Pro and iMac Designs Likely Coming in 2013

1. When has Apple ever come out in public about as of yet announced hardware? Software, all the time, for developers. But hardware? That makes very little sense, especially with Tim Cook's added push for secrecy.

2. If Apple is still committed to its Mac desktop line, why are they not introducing new models until NEXT YEAR? Skipping a year for the Mac Pro, they've done that before; it has never been this bad, but it has at least been done before. But with the Mac mini and iMac? I guess the Mac mini rev from 2007 stuck around for over a year, but not updating the iMac for over a year seems unprecedented.

3. How hard is it to maintain your current enclosures, design only marginally modified logic boards (modified enough to accommodate for a complete upgrade from Sandy to Ivy) and go forth? An Ivy Bridge Mac mini should be very easy to do at this point.

Don't get me wrong, I've always found Apple's desktops to be lacking in things that desktops should inherently have and thusly am not in that market, but as an Apple fan and follower, I fail to see what the hold-up is.

 

[Nostromo]

I am wondering about the inner workings of Apple.

Was it Jobs who wanted a gadget company and decided to ax the Mac Pro and the 17" MBP?

Product development takes time, so this would explain why there's still no Mac Pro.

Then, come Tim Cook, he decides to step on it, get FCP X ready, buys high-end professional audio software, and then gives the Mac Pro the long needed reboot.

How does this sound? Tim Cook, the good guy, rolling back Steve Jobs' mistakes?

 

[gglockner]

I call BS on this story. Nobody in sales says "don't buy our products today because we have better ones coming out tomorrow." Tom Cook would not be doing his duties as an officer of the company if he said that.

 

[Kid A]

I'm sorry, but this is really disappointing to me, as it only shows that Macrumors is in the pocket of Apple.

Yesterday, this was a "new" machine that wasn't going to be updated for about 1.5 years. Today, Apple says it may not be updated for (upto) 1.5 years, and it says "don't buy".

Not because it's a bad time to upgrade, but because Apple says so.

Honest question, how much money does Macrumors get from Apple?

Yes, Macrumors changing a recommendation on a $2500+ machine to "DON'T BUY" proves unequivocally, once and for all, that they are "in the pocket" of Apple. Sound logic!

 

[Yebubbleman]

1. When has Apple ever come out in public about as of yet announced hardware? Software, all the time, for developers. But hardware? That makes very little sense, especially with Tim Cook's added push for secrecy.

2. If Apple is still committed to its Mac desktop line, why are they not introducing new models until NEXT YEAR? Skipping a year for the Mac Pro, they've done that before; it has never been this bad, but it has at least been done before. But with the Mac mini and iMac? I guess the Mac mini rev from 2007 stuck around for over a year, but not updating the iMac for over a year seems unprecedented.

3. How hard is it to maintain your current enclosures, design only marginally modified logic boards (modified enough to accommodate for a complete upgrade from Sandy to Ivy) and go forth? An Ivy Bridge Mac mini should be very easy to do at this point.

Don't get me wrong, I've always found Apple's desktops to be lacking in things that desktops should inherently have and thusly am not in that market, but as an Apple fan and follower, I fail to see what the hold-up is.

Unless...they're going to redo the Thunderbolt display to natively connect to MagSafe 2 and to be a retina display and make the same modification to the iMac...but that still shouldn't have any bearing on the Mac mini and Mac Pro.

 

[Starship77]

2013 is too far away!

Ya know… The WORLD will have ended by then…


"We're gonna give you a redesign AFTER the armageddon, ok?"

 

[Battlefield Fan]

I guess the special sauce for next year is the insane marketing graphics and text they can come up with when Ivy Bridge-E destroys good old Westmere. You know the same Ivy Bridge-E that every other workstation uses?

Intel isn't releasing Ivy Bridge E. It got called off.

 

[mozumder]

How is that damage control? When you say that wait one more year, you are basically saying "Don't buy any of those Mac Pro's today". It's shooting yourself in the foot unless you actually have some redesign coming up next year.

No. The people that need the machine are going to buy it anyways.

BTW next year we should see 4k Retina Cinema Displays. It's part of the reason why they're not updating the Mac Pros this year.

 

[blipper]

True, once you've opened the box it's already out of date I guess.

The great thing about Apple is that that's no longer true with respect to the Mac Pro, at least if you're only comparing Mac Pros.

 

[JesterJJZ]

Everyone is saying a year, yet I really think we're looking at January. Laptops in June and Desktops in January make a pretty balanced release schedule.

 

[AirUncleP]

Could be FY2013. That would make it a Oct. 2012 release. I'm just saying.

 

[Rocketman]

This being the single most unusual product update and release day official comment ever, I wonder how cool the update will have to be to appease their pro users.

And for the over-whiners, a MacPro is just as Pro now as it was 1.5 years ago and as it will be 0.5 years in the future. It's all about the software and the user productivity. A Mac is just a tool.

And so is Apple PR and web services.

Just Rocketman

 

[G51989]

This doesn't really matter. Its far to little to late. Apple has offered no real update for two years now, anyone needing a decent amount of power and REAL GPU support is already jumping ship to PC's.

No decent GPU support
no Dual GPU support
No USB 3
No SATA III
No Real processor update
No type of update really.
Insane Price tag for the old hardware your getting.


And it'll be about 3 - 3 and a half years before they refresh the dang thing? No one who wants to keep up with current software in their right mind is going to wait that long.

I personally know a good number of Mac guys who were REALLY looking forward and hanging on for this update, then apple give them the big foot up the ass.

I think a huge number of Mac Pro customers are already starting to jump ship because they simply can't wait any longer for new machines.

Hell, my last proper Mac was a Dual 2.7 G5. ( I have a T-bolt iMac, its a joke. ). ANd I was all excited to have a nice Apple workstation at home just for the fun of it.

Then they come out with this " update ". Even tho I am not a Mac user for work, if I was. I'd be jumping ship right now, because there is no way in hell the current machine can even come close to being able to do what I need it to do. WHere the hell is a Mac Pro with the abilty to hold 4 GPU's? Or hold 128gb of ram? Or hell even have decent GPU support to start with? THen I'd be interested.

What a joke.

I know people will say ' oh you just complain! Your a whiner! "

I don't feel bad for Me, I feel bad for people who actually recently bought a Mac Pro, or bought the " update ". And I feel bad for the People who bought MPs in 2008 and are going on almost 5 years without an update.

Call me a Fanboy ( I have a huge pile of PPC macs and a new iMac, so I'm not ). But you don't see PC vendors pulling this stuff.

 

[brayhite]

Makes me feel a lot better about going through with purchasing that refurb iMac along with the new Macbook Air