Apple's Revamped Mac Pro to Launch in 2019

[JamesMay82]

I wonder, too.

I'm not trying to have a go at Apple, but as people have said before: Why can't Apple just take iMac Pro-level specs and put them in a pretty-looking box?

It makes me really excited for what they're working on.

I really am gobsmacked that they won’t be releasing it this year!

They mean to tell me that a small team of people working 8 hrs a day need 2 years to build a computer!

 

[lederermc]

NOW that we have EGPU support on Macs, why do we need a Mac Pro desktop?

iMac can now be expanded and TB3 is sufficient

And a Mac Mini with TB3 that could use eGPU I would like.

 

[skitidetdu]

Better late than never I guess...I'm also guessing they will do the same type of launch as with the iMac Pro with a presentation 6 months-ish before it is available.

 

[H2SO4]

Cue the complaints from people that won't be putting down the money to buy a Mac Pro regardless.

I'm upset about the Ferrari that's far outside of my price range.

Dunno where people get that rubbish from.
I’m not a pro, not in any sense. Never needed a desktop at all. Nevertheless PowerMac G4, PowerMac G5 and 2x Mac Pro so far.
So if that gives me the required credentials, I’ll get to moaning if it’s alright with you.

 

[MacsRuleOthersDrool]

You need to spend some time on the HP website or the Dell Professional website. You will see that they have already thought of everything that you said there and have had answers for all of it for years now. They also have ISV certification's that back up their designs. Might the real problem for Apple be that they no longer have enough real pro's left to make a product around that can be profitable?

And yet, no citations.

Somehow I don't believe you.

 

[Dranix]

You need to spend some time on the HP website or the Dell Professional website. You will see that they have already thought of everything that you said there and have had answers for all of it for years now. They also have ISV certification's that back up their designs. Might the real problem for Apple be that they no longer have enough real pro's left to make a product around that can be profitable?

I don't know what you like at these - we have z440 at work for CAD Design an these boxes are annoyingly loud. I would never get such a monster to work in zBrush or do similar creative work.

 

[hajime]

Bring back the Quadra replace the internals with the latest components. Done!

I had this computer. Love it! The old days are much better.

 

[9081094]

"Not as though you could change it that much..."

You just said it all.

Microprocessor speeds have hit a brick wall. GPUs are the only things getting faster.

Displays are stuck at 4 or 5k, and have been for a few years now.

Intel STILL hasn't done anything to break-through the 16 GB practical RAM "barrier" for laptops.

So, what's left to TRULY innovate when it comes to traditional computer form-factors?

Phones are different. It all pretty much comes down to the capabilities of the SoC and the Display. And Apple has been pushing the Soc side of things and so far, getting worthwhile gains, year-over-year. The same can't be said for Desktop systems. So, you get the Dells and HPs of the world, touting "this year's new and improved", when at best it is just a minor speed bump (if at all), with VERY little else changed/improved over last year's model. Yawn. If you call THAT "innovation", the real definition of that word obviously escapes you...

Lol, I find it so funny trying to find apologies for Apple not to update their hardware for 6+ years. It should’ve made them very little efforts to update their machines with the latest technologies. Every self respecting hardware manufacturer is doing this to stay relevant in business.

There is simply no excuse for Apple not doing this. And to say technology has plateaued as an excuse for Apple?... how come that every Dell or HP workstation runs circles around a more expensive 6 year old MacPro? It’s a shame they didn’t even reduce the prices of a 6 years old Mac mini or Mac Pro.

Every computer manufacturer knows that technology keeps evolving at a rapid speed. To stay competitive and relevant in this market you have to keep renewing and evolving. Apple knows this but has chosen not to. They’ve deliberately neglected the Mac market and I’m afraid that if they’re not willing to lose money on the Mac Pro in the beginning by pricing it comparable to HP or Dell’s latest offerings, they won’t regain again. It’s a long term investment. No money for the short run. Not something that make Cook or his shareholders happy.

 

[RogerWilco]

ARM or Intel? Intel of course. Do you buy right before a possible CPU architecture transition? Hopefully we'll know more about Intel -> ARM by the time this Mac Pro is released.

What? Every pro I know is ready to "invest" twice if necessary. All of them, every single one, has been waiting since 2014 nursing that laggy Mac Pro and marking days off their calendars. I'm so glad Phil Schiller and the boyz are innovating again. The five-year wait will be sooo worth it.

 

[Dranix]

Don't understand the love for big boxes. I always hated tower computers. The design of them is so insanely stupid and inefficient all for the sake of replacing parts easily...

 

[Zdigital2015]

Interesting idea, but I'm not sure there are external interconnects that are fast enough for add-on CPU modules. GPUs yes as we see now with Sonnet GPU enclosures, but CPUs?



Professional to me doesn't just mean "I make money doing this," it is also a way of living. To me running illegal software is not compatible with being a professional person. To each their own.

Professionals have been shouting from the rooftops since the Mac Pro 6,1 (Late 2013) was introduced at WWDC in 2013 that this was not the machine they needed or wanted moving forward. It wasn't the funky form-factor that turned them off as much as it was the lack of internal expandability, of which the 2006-2012 Mac Pro exemplified.

Yes, it was a behemoth, but for working pros who travel from place to place, that single box could contain storage, gobs of RAM, single or dual CPUs, single or dual GPUs, PCIe expansion cards and be crated up in a Gator, an SKP or even a handmade shipping case/hard case and as long as it made it to it's destination, you plugged it in to a monitor and power and you are ready to go. It's tidy, powerful and self-contained. As for the 2013 Mac Pro you are treated to cables, power cords, ac adapters, and zero expandability which means more points of failure, more desk real estate and more setup time.

The hackintosh community grew up from the frustration of Apple not acknowledging that it had not given its customers what they wanted. We can all gripe about how many different types of computers Dell makes, but no one will ever accuse Apple of giving us too many choices. So Pros, Prosumers and Consumers alike have built themselves hackintoshes for a variety of reasons. For some it is cost, for others, it is simply a way to ensure that they have the tool they need to make the money that keeps their business going, their mortgages paid and their families fed. All things being equal, I would wager 90% of these Pros would much rather buy a Mac Pro from Apple that is 100% legit, has a warranty and/or AppleCare and was thoughtfully designed with them in mind than take time from their work or their families to assemble a computer that has parts from 10 different companies, runs a variety of hacks to enable macOS just to boot and might croak if a System Update is installed by accident. I will reserve judgment on them as software pirates after Apple stops trying to convince me that an iPad Pro can do the same job a Mac Pro and gives Pros the tools they need to do what they do, whether they are developers, audio/visual pros, scientists or engineers, et al.

 

[Spock]

I don't understand why its taking so long. Take the old silver Mac Pro tower, modernize the specs, make it space grey and charge $6,000 It's that simple. Apple went back a design generation with the iPod Shuffle why not the Mac Pro? They don't have a problem coming up with a new iPhone every year, its not like they don't have the money...

 

[rfrmac]

Apple's redesigned, modular Mac Pro aimed at professionals is set to launch in 2019, according to an update Apple recently provided to TechCrunch's Matthew Panzarino, who took a trip to the company's Cupertino campus.

The team responsible for revamping Apple's pro product efforts was there to provide updated details both on the Mac Pro and how Apple is shaping it to meet the needs of real professional users.

Apple's current Mac Pro​

Employees in the meeting included John Ternus, VP of Hardware Engineering, Tom Boger, Senior Director of Mac Hardware Marketing, Jud Coplan, Director of video Apps Product Marketing, and Xander Soren, Director of Music Apps Product Marketing.

Panzarino was told in no uncertain terms that the Mac Pro will not be arriving before 2019 as the product is still in development. From Tom Boger:Apple wants customers to know that the Mac Pro isn't coming in 2018 so those who are planning to make a purchase decision for a pro machine like the iMac Pro won't hold off in the hopes of a Mac Pro materializing later in the year.

In the time since Apple announced major changes for the next-generation Mac Pro last year, it has put together a "Pro Workflow Team" led by John Ternus, where employees who focus on pro-level products all work together.

Apple has also been hiring award-winning artists and technicians in an effort to understand the real workflows that creative professionals use to better tailor its products to them. The individuals shoot real projects and then use Apple's hardware and software to find "sticking points that could cause frustration and friction" for pro users.

Apple's Pro Workflow Team finds and addresses the issues that come up, even down to tiny details like tweaking a graphics driver, and it's not just Apple's products that benefit - the company's employees are also working with third-party apps. From Tom Bogar, senior Mac marketing director:The Pro Workflow team, in addition to improving current Apple products, is also an essential part of Mac Pro development. Their work is "definitely influencing" what Apple's planning for, with Apple achieving a "much much much deeper understanding" of pro customers, their workflows, and their needs. This understanding is "really informing" the work Apple is doing on the Mac Pro," according to Bogar.

No details were provided on the shape of the Mac Pro or the internal components that it might include, but Apple is still planning on a modular machine, as announced last year, so plans have not changed. Apple back then said that it was "completely rethinking" the Mac Pro, and that it is "by definition" a modular system. Apple at the time also said a pro display was in development alongside the new machine.

A modular Mac Pro concept from Curved.de​

Panzarino says we're not likely to hear any additional detail about the Mac Pro at WWDC in June, and that he expects Apple will keep quiet about the machine until next year.

Panzarino's full piece on Apple's efforts to tailor the Mac Pro and other pro-level products to meet professional needs, which goes into much greater detail, can be read over at TechCrunch.

Article Link: Apple's Revamped Mac Pro to Launch in 2019

 

[cansuds]

Launch in 2020?

 

[apolloa]

It seems like there is only one engineer left at Apple. The rest are marketeers or so called “visionares”. Lots of talk but not delivering. Then we have minimalistic Ive. He just finished the carpets and wall decorations in Apple park. Now he’s busy with a reprint of his Apple book to bolster his ego. They can only focus at one product at a time. iPhones are most profitable so they upped the price a bit to make it seem more special.

Anyone who’s put trust in their hardware on a professional level has already left. So I’m very curious what audience will be the next target. When looking into Tim’s infinite pipeline I can only hear an echo from the same 6 year old mantra: it’s coming, it’s coming, great things, you can only see this coming from Apple.

These are the people Apple seems to attract as ‘Pro’ users these days....

Now a couple of these people do use over a hundred grands worth of RED camera to shoot 3 to 10 minute YouTube videos... so 10 grand plus Apple computers to edit them makes sense? But yeah this is where Apple really wants it’s new Pro, because it gets coverage then and thus more sales.. I personally don’t consider them to be ‘pros’

They’ve proven these last six years that they aren’t capable of being competitive on any front any more. Siri, maps, FCP, routers, servers, monitors, ergonomic disaster touch bar pro, Mac mini, Mac Pro and even the 6+ years old design of the iMac.

What Apple needs to do with those billions is house cleaning and becoming nimblecompany with a vision again for the long haul.

Enough talk! Deliver! Put those billions to work by making reliable software and competitive hardware.

Stop being a fashion brand. Even for a fashion company you need to introduce a new collection once in a while.

But they do that...

http://www.apple.com/newsroom/2018/03/new-apple-watch-bands-feature-spring-colors-and-styles/

 

[9081094]

I'm hoping that, with Apple's seeming recent swivel back towards functionality over form, that this bodes well for the Macbook Pro lineup.

Wishful thinking. It’s money first at Apple these past 6 years! Today there are cracks in all categories at Apple. Hardware, software and even their iPhones. I think Cook is panicking and desperate trying the old core audience again. From the past 6 years the last 3 of them I’ve lost faith.

 

[MacsRuleOthersDrool]

Seriously, they have been developing desktops computers for years, this should be easier to design than an iMac given its larger footprint. Unreal that people have to dish out almost $10k just to get some decent speed for a Mac. Only downfall of owning a Mac is that they control everything and therefore can take their time. Most importantly it probably won't have the latest chips. This is very disappointing to hear indeed

Would you rather they say that the iMac Pro is going to be "it"?

 

[nt5672]

Man, this sure read like a lot of marketing speak for “we still don’t know what to do with the Mac Pro”

We just need Apple to forget about innovation for the Mac Pro and just make it as fast as possible, run macOS, include lots of ports, make the RAM user replaceable, forget about power consumption, make the SSD user replaceable, and finally make the GPU user replaceable.

We don't need no stinking Apple innovation with a box meant for power users.

 

[MichaelDroste]

not waiting: looks like the 10 core iMac Pro for me...

 

[Dranix]

I don't understand why its taking so long. Take the old silver Mac Pro tower, modernize the specs, make it space grey and charge $6,000 It's that simple. Apple went back a design generation with the iPod Shuffle why not the Mac Pro? They don't have a problem coming up with a new iPhone every year, its not like they don't have the money...

Please no, I'm so happy I don't have to waste that amount of space with a heavy and loud box that could stop a truck.

 

[MacsRuleOthersDrool]

Please not a cramped micro case with no standard ports. It does not matter if it has fast parts if the thing is always thermal throttled and has no way to connect anything.

Do you REALLY think that their Pro consultants would put up with that?

Really?

 

[MichaelDroste]

rocketman said the first iMac pro rev would be in 6 months...

 

[bollman]

There is one last thing to keep an eye out for:
Xcode for iOS (or even Windows). The day Apple releases that product, you know for sure that the mac line of computers is inevitably dead, no matter what anyone at Apple says.

The main reason for Apple to keep macs are that you cannot make great iOS apps on any other platform and no apps means it will hurt iPhone sales badly.

 

[MacsRuleOthersDrool]

I don't understand what the issue is. Go back to a case design similar to the previous Mac Pro. Throw in a 1000w psu with multiple PCIe cables, use a motherboard that has 2 sockets for the latest Xeon chips, has standard PCIe slots and add as many USB-C TB3 compliant ports as possible. If they did that, they can charge me whatever they want.

Oh I know what the issue is. "Modular" means they can make it a proprietary mess where they will license out the "modules" format for other companies to use and build compatible hardware that will wind up always being a generation behind, have poor driver support or simply be abandoned.

So you mean, try to beat Dell and HP at THEIR game?

Yeah, good thing you don't run Apple...

 

[nofunsir]

Modular as in you can swap in first-party devices after purchase or 3rd party interface modules will be supported? Being apple I predict the former.

'Modular' as in you can pay with modular stacks of 20-dollar bills, 50-dollar bills, 100-dollar bills, or any combination of the three.