Apple's Revamped Mac Pro to Launch in 2019

[9081094]

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

We want to be open and transparant . I think they have to target a whole new audience with the Mac Pro because most of the Mac Pro users I know were forced into HP by Apple. Maybe they’re targeting VR developers with the Mac Pro. It sounds to me they haven’t even started yet.

Don’t get me wrong. I applaud any new developments from Apple. But the pace of this company isn’t competitive. I’m holding my breath.

 

[pat500000]

It’s a damn desktop!apple is being a troll based on this article!

 

[bluecoast]

The length of time that they’re taking to do this is interesting.

As for why it’s taking so long...

As someone else here mentioned it must be something to do with TB4 etc.

And as for Apple understanding how Pros work, they seem to be hinting in the original article that this is driving decisions in software just as much as hardware.

Surely though it’s also got something to do with the Marzipan project and the transition to ARM.

I don’t think for a moment that the Mac Pro will ship with 100% percent ARM processors but just maybe it’ll ship with a neural engine processor - and that’s obviously not ready yet.

Maybe we’ll even see some of macOS run on ARM with the intel chips used for heavy lifting. Who knows.

Most likely it’s a combination of all of these things.

Until then, get your credit cards out and max out those iMac Pros (wishes Apple).

 

[derboy]

Based on the Average Sales Price for a Mac and rumored margins, you'd probably need to double that figure to $600 for Apple to capture the average lost revenue of you buying a PC (or parts to make a PC) and putting macOS on it instead of buying a mid-to-high level Mac. And that would not include driver support for hardware not currently found in Macs. If you want that, Apple would need to charge even more.

Still OK at that price. I'd be totally fine with buying OS X and having the fastest hardware every year

 

[saulinpa]

Translation: Oh god please please buy this old trashcan shaped one we have a warehouse full of them oh man what were we thinking.

Alternate translation: Please buy the iMac Pro. They are not selling as expected and we moved all the engineers developing the next MP over to the HomePod group so the MP is not coming any time soon.

 

[tkatz]

Hell yeah. But make it smaller...about 1/4 the size of the Cheese Grater.

As long as I can get everything I asked for, I wouldn't be completely opposed to this. Though, I really wouldn't mind if it was full size.

 

[az431]

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

If you squint and read it from 5 miles away through a deep layer of fog.
[doublepost=1522949884][/doublepost]

So which is it?

Well they’re statements by two different people, and they’re not inconsistent.

 

[9081094]

Bizarre to imagine the development gap in-between 2013 to 2019 for the pro users... Unacceptable.

They have to find a whole new audience for the Mac Pro. Most of the Mac Pro users I know have gone with Adobe and HP. They have burnt themselves to often on Apple hardware and unpredictable roadmaps to ever gain trust again.

Only if Apple is releasing a very very competitive Mac Pro and price it very competitive and are promising they’re willing to invest long term in Pro users... maybe, very maybe they will attract people back again. But seeing what Apple has been doing the last 6 years I’m afraid it’s wishful thinking.

 

[jonnysods]

Can't afford one, but really looking forward to seeing one.

And seeing if they do new monitors - still rocking two TB displays but seems like a waste with the mag 2 sitting there staring at me doing nothing on my '16 mbp.

 

[gugy]

As long as Apple get the Mac Pro right, I'll be happy to wait longer. Heck, we all have been waiting for so long anyway.

I just hope whatever the solution is we will be abe to upgrade RAM, storage and video cards without having it all soldered inside the machine. I also hope that we can buy these components from third part companies and not stuck with "only Apple" parts that for sure will cost way more. We'll see.

Finally is Apple is really listening to professionals, there is hope the future displays might come with a matte screen. I hate the glare the current displays have on bright environments.

 

[CodeJoy]

Still OK at that price. I'd be totally fine with buying OS X and having the fastest hardware every year

Agreed. What they should is to make it possible for open source device drivers to be added. They can keep QA or source it out to someone they trust, but Apple wouldn't have to spend much of any time at all on writing device drivers. Make it possible for people to contribute and it would happen in no time for almost free.

It wouldn't be completely unprecedented. Apple have indeed open sourced a few things before, though I wouldn't hold my breath about macOS being available separately. Sadly.

 

[thisismyusername]

Yawn. Whatever. It's just going to be some overengineered piece of crap instead of what pros really want ... something that looks like a regular PC and uses parts that can be easily upgraded.

Why does Apple even bother with the pro market anymore? The industry switched to Windows years ago.

 

[buckwheet]

Just need a nice looking, simple, tower. It's pretty clear from that article that Apple are heading in another direction. I don't have faith that the new Mac Pro is going to be what I'm after.

Really? I have an Ubuntu box that occasionally doubles as a Hackintosh in times of need, and I'm not at all in love with crawling around on the floor, under my desk, trying to connect/reconnect devices. I think towers are a sad, default design, that stuck because it was easy to design and build. Now, I'm not saying the trash-can MP was the solution, but if you're starting from scratch on something modular, I genuinely think the standard tower needs a re-think.

 

[bollman]

IF the Arm-transition is happening (I really hope not), then the timing might be well thought out.
The Mac Pro will be the first ARM-powered Mac to enter the market, first shown late 2019 and the transition will start in 2020 when the machine is actually released.

If that is not the case, then they might be thinking VERY hard about everything, and be like: well, if we wait another 2 months, this new X-chipset, Y-CPU or Z-GPU will be out and we can make the Mac Pro the most powerful POS ever made. Yeah, let's wait 2 months, that's nothing. 2 months later, some other stuff is due in 2 months and they keep waiting and waiting and waiting until the entire group retires.

Had Apple started looking at upgrading the Mac Pro when they sent the computer to manufacturing in 2012, they might have had something coming out in a timely manner. Now, I think they started looking at upgrading the Mac Pro in 2015 to be ready for a 2016 launch and not until then did they realize it was a dead end. That's 3 lost years of development.

This "engineering the workflow" worries me a bit too. Exactly _what_ workflow are they working on? I get the shivers just thinking about Apple deciding what workflow "Pro users" should use and that any deviations from that workflow will hurt, a lot. The Mac has been the computer of choice for "Pro users" because it has had the ability to adapt to many different workflows. If now Apples decides that "Pro users" should adapt to an over-engineered Apple workflow they might be in for some unpleasant surprises.

 

[hans1972]

What about the Mac Mini though?

That is not a high-end Mac. It is for beginners and people with simple needs. It is not an important product for Apple.

 

[Glockworkorange]

I'm guessing this will include the Mac Mini too. It makes sense to create a Mac that if bare boned can be used as a Mini and built up to a Pro.

I think this makes a lot of sense, but would also mean the entry MP/Mini would need to be inexpensive.

 

[9081094]

Something's amiss if it takes them two years or so to design a new Mac Pro. I don't know if it's too few people assigned to the project, too many, over-engineering, too much emphasis on form over function (which Apple more or less admitted was a problem with the current Mac Pro).

I don't know what it takes to design a new computer, but Apple does. And so do Dell, HP, and so on. Obviously, I don't want Apple to spit out a Dell caliber machine, and yeah, they're more or less assembling and reselling parts developed by other companies, but if it allows them to actually get computers out to their customers, then maybe they're on to something.

Apple customers are willing to pay more for a more attractive, high quality computer, but come on, Apple, you've got to give them something.

So we will probably get two year old hardware inside a shiny box with minimal design with an Apple logo on front and an very expensive price. Also available in rose gold.

 

[bigtomato]

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

 

[marcelvelky]

What about the Mac Mini though?

this, i am still patiently waiting for someone from apple to share some news, i really hope apple will not axe this off..

 

[Apple blogger]

Also they should have said it’s gonna cost atleast $5K to start with and would go upto $10K too

 

[Thunderbird]

When the previous article came out last year about the iMac Pro and the Mac Pro update, everyone thought Craig and Phil meant the new modular Mac Pro would come out in 2018 (even though they never actually said 2018, only "after 2017")). I knew it would be after 2018.

Anyway, I'm so glad I already decided to build a windows workstation. This Mac Pro nonsense has gone on way too long.

I'm guessing the Mac Pro will come out in June 2019. And it will be modular, but it will be so locked down and non-upgradable that you won't even be able to look at it without voiding the warranty.

Probably starting around $7,000

 

[walnuts]

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

Yes- I agree. From the article:

I’m also curious about whether the process over the last year has changed the timeline on the Mac Pro. To be blunt: is this the original story arc of the Mac Pro’s development, or are we looking at a roadmap that has a fundamentally different timeline than 1 year ago.

“I don’t think that the timeline has fundamentally changed,” says Ternus. “I think this is very much a situation where we want to measure twice and cut once and we want to make sure we’re building a really well thought out platform for what our pro customers are doing today. But also with an eye towards what they’re going to be doing in future as well. And so to do that right that’s that’s what we’re focusing on.”

Seems to me like "well, after our meeting last year, we promptly went off and did nothing. Then, we hoped that everyone loved the iMac Pro so much that they forgot about the whole Mac Pro thing. Well, after that didn't work, I guess we are going to start designing a Mac Pro."

I'm mostly kidding- I know this stuff takes time. But, the realist in me believes there is still a reluctant contingent in Apple that really doesn't like going in this direction. Either way, I'm glad they are moving forward on a Mac Pro- its good for us all.

Also, kudos to Panzarino for asking the question and the way he did it. While I wasn't there to hear it, it seems like he asked one of those questions that we all wanted to know but figured Apple would never answer, and Apple did answer because of the way Panzarino asked the question (instead of "so, wait, are you really just starting now?").

 

[lunarworks]

If they're tying this thing to workflow, thats makes me think it won't be available until WWDC next year. It sounds like they're talking major changes to macOS, and there's no way that will be ready for this year's.

 

[PaulRustad007]

why so long????

Jony is at a loss of ideas.....modular does not mean what it does to us as to him. I am sure he is trying to make it something that looks great, performs bad, thermal issues and one single port.....

Or it could be something awesome....like a stackable Mini format, each stack a different component, the base being the cpu, each one up SSD, GPU's....etc...and all power ran through magnetic connectors, so the only cables you have is the one going to the multi-port 50" monitor.....

 

[JesperA]

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

I don't want a built in screen, i don't want the thermal throttling that exists in iMac, i don't want the VERY limited upgrade like the iMac, i don't want 100 boxes sitting on my desk to get the features i need. Ideally i want a 2 socket Mac with 6 PCI slots; no way that can be done in an iMac, etc etc etc. Billion reasons.