Could the nMP have been discontinued?

[grahamperrin]

WTF is wrong with them?

Maybe in the car development area, a rebellious employee used a Samsung Gallery that accidentally burnt the place to the ground. Costly secret rebuild and even more costly jump in insurance premiums 😉

 

[Draeconis]

The nMP is discontinued according to an Amazon listing:
https://www.amazon.com/Apple-MD878LL-Desktop-Discontinued-Manufacturer/dp/B00747Y9C2

This is ****ing insane.

 

[pat500000]

kick Tim out and everybody will be happy.

 

[koyoot]

If the Mac Pro is genuinely discontinued, and is not produced, which Amazon stock might indicate, and MP6.1 is still in their offerings in site, and the site indeed was upgraded, with information about macOS Sierra coming with Mac Pro - it can mean only one thing.

Mac Pro did not died, and Apple is readying update for it. Why otherwise advertise it on their site?

 

[jerwin]

I think you can still buy them on the Apple site. (Though, in terms of what they offer, they are flirting with obsolescence).

Amazon isn't always accurate. (Nor is Apple; 92108 is nowhere near to my current establishment)

 

[flowrider]

That Amazon page only listed that Model of the nMP as being discontinued, not the entire line. But who the heck knows. If true, it is truly a said state of affairs. Apple has been building Pro machines since 1987 (29 years) when the first Macintosh II was introduced. My first Pro machine was a Mac IIci that I bought in 1990. Prior to that I had a Mac Plus then a Mac SE/30. I bought the ci, my first headless Mac, when I really became serious about Apple. I had upgraded RAM in my prior machines and added an external display to the SE/30. I was also consulting at the time. With the ci, I could add Nubus cards and muck around with the internals. I learned a lot in those days and beyond. I'd really hate to see my love affair with Apple end😳

Lou

 

[sigmadog]

That Amazon page only listed that Model of the nMP as being discontinued, not the entire line. But who the heck knows. If true, it is truly a said state of affairs. Apple has been building Pro machines since 1987 (29 years) when the first Macintosh II was introduced. My first Pro machine was a Mac IIci that I bought in 1990. Prior to that I had a Mac Plus then a Mac SE/30. I bought the ci, my first headless Mac, when I really became serious about Apple. I had upgraded RAM in my prior machines and added an external display to the SE/30. I was also consulting at the time. With the ci, I could add Nubus cards are muck around with the internals. I learned a lot in those days and beyond. I'd really hate to see my love affair with Apple end😳

Lou

Got my first pro-level Mac in '92. A IIfx. Worked it for four years doing all the little add-ons I could afford. It was a great little machine for the times. I've bought five Mac desktops and 6 Mac laptops since then, and my current unit is a 5,1. It may be the last Mac I ever buy, but if I ever do buy another, it won't be brand new because I'm through giving money to Apple.

Unless they release a brand new, better-designed, upgradeable Mac Pro. Then all will be forgiven.

I'm not holding my breath.

 

[grahamperrin]

...it's dead, Jim.

It's life, Jim, but not as we know it, not as we know it, not as we know it. It's life, Jim, but not as we know it, not as we know it, cap'n.

… the muscle memory with the shortcuts are out my system and pressing the wrong key when i chill on my macbook haha.

The muscle memory thing surprised me, too.

Mac shortcuts are probably more ergonomic but:

• when I was mostly a Mac user, I rarely made mistakes with non-Mac keyboards
• since I switched, I easily make mistakes with Mac keyboards.

 

[Count Blah]

Amazon isn't always accurate. (Nor is Apple; 92108 is nowhere near to my current establishment)

Blame MaxMind for their inability to find you accurately.

 

[rGiskard]

kick Tim out and everybody will be happy.

It's uncertain that he is the only problem. It seems Ive has considerably more power now than when Jobs ran Apple and so the balance between hardware engineering and hardware design is now lost. Or to put it differently, Ive has risen to the level of his incompetence, along with a few others currently in charge of Apple. They were great with Jobs in the leadership position but none of them are visionary leaders themselves (though a few obviously think they are).

 

[tomvos]

You know the classic quote of Mark Twain: “The rumors of my death have been greatly exaggerated.”

It still think the MP has a future. The 6,1 MP has it's flaws, but the basic concept is sound. It's a great machine, because it lays claim to the professional field. Kill the MP and it's just the momentum that keeps Macs as professional systems. But sooner or later this momentum will slow down and decelerate.

So it's either the nMP will have a future, or it will have an acceptable successor. The third option would be that Apple simply skips the professional segment. But this would be very un-Apple-like, since Apple likes to be in control. Giving the content creation part to Adobe, Google and Microsoft seems like a move which could cost them dearly. Because if the former companies decide Android to be the first and iOS to be the second, Apple would be in real trouble.

 

[ssgbryan]

kick Tim out and everybody will be happy.

As long as Sir Idiot Boy is kicked to the curb also.
[doublepost=1473539632][/doublepost]

You know the classic quote of Mark Twain: “The rumors of my death have been greatly exaggerated.”

It still think the MP has a future. The 6,1 MP has it's flaws, but the basic concept is sound. It's a great machine, because it lays claim to the professional field. Kill the MP and it's just the momentum that keeps Macs as professional systems. But sooner or later this momentum will slow down and decelerate.

So it's either the nMP will have a future, or it will have an acceptable successor. The third option would be that Apple simply skips the professional segment. But this would be very un-Apple-like, since Apple likes to be in control. Giving the content creation part to Adobe, Google and Microsoft seems like a move which could cost them dearly. Because if the former companies decide Android to be the first and iOS to be the second, Apple would be in real trouble.

Apple is already skips the professional segment.

 

[pat500000]

It's uncertain that he is the only problem. It seems Ive has considerably more power now than when Jobs ran Apple and so the balance between hardware engineering and hardware design is now lost. Or to put it differently, Ive has risen to the level of his incompetence, along with a few others currently in charge of Apple. They were great with Jobs in the leadership position but none of them are visionary leaders themselves (though a few obviously think they are).

Well...Tim is the guy who sails the boat, but somehow didn't look at that pirate map and got sunk into his own demise. Jon is a problem as well. It seems like he's too relaxed and his ego got the best of him. If I was Steve Jobs, his a** is gone long time ago. I wouldn't let that guy get too relaxed. What I liked about Steve's era was implementing the company with fear. I don't know if Steve was brutal with Jon, but I would.

Tim was important to Apple company because he knew how to hustle...but that's all. He can expand or sell whatever units, but that's all Tim could contribute to the company. Steve was a visionary guy. When you have a half brain, you need another side of the brain to function 100 percent. With Steve gone, the company is running less than 100 percent. Financially, it's great, but they gotta resort to selling pieces like EarPods to make those profits.

Jeff Williams, the COO of apple, is currently doing s****y job....and he might need to get fired.
[doublepost=1473539811][/doublepost]

As long as Sir Idiot Boy is kicked to the curb also.
[doublepost=1473539632][/doublepost]

Apple is already skips the professional segment.

Yea..sir boy needs to get kicked as well.

 

[MacsRgr8]

Please Apple, if you're going to cancel the Pro, just license OS X to HP for people who want to keep using workstation-class hardware.

One problem with that:
No one will buy a Mac anymore (see Apple's attempt to licensing Mac OS 7.6 to 3rd party manufacturers).

Apple doesn't make money off its OS, but off the "complete package", where the hardware (Mac) delivers the margins.

 

[rGiskard]

Well...Tim is the guy who sails the boat, but somehow didn't look at that pirate map and got sunk into his own demise. Jon is a problem as well. It seems like he's too relaxed and his ego got the best of him. If I was Steve Jobs, his a** is gone long time ago. I wouldn't let that guy get too relaxed. What I liked about Steve's era was implementing the company with fear. I don't know if Steve was brutal with Jon, but I would.

Reportedly Ive asked Jobs a few times to have control of GUI design and every time Jobs denied him. He was not one to promote anyone beyond their capabilities. Jobs also spent a lot of time at the ID lab overseeing the work, so he filtered out Ive's bad ideas (and introduced some of his own, though Jobs could be talked out of bad ideas).
[doublepost=1473545998][/doublepost]

One problem with that:
No one will my a Mac anymore (see Apple's attempt to licensing Mac OS 7.6 to 3rd party manufacturers).

Apple doesn't make money off its OS, but off the "complete package", where the hardware (Mac) delivers the margins.

That's true, but the previous clone fiasco was with computers that directly competed with Macs. If Apple licenses OS X only for Xeon workstations then does that cannabilize their iMac sales? Honest question, I don't know the answer.

 

[MacsRgr8]

Steve was the person who made sure no-one's ego was a threat to the success of Apple.
Steve, though, had the biggest ego of all.
But... Steve was Apple, and Apple was Steve. Thus, Apple's ego was the biggest, and that, IMHO is most important: Out-ego people like Ive and Forstall. Make them work.

And yes, there have been failures on Steve's run (Cube, dot-Mac) but, Apple had acknowledged them and (at least tried to) correct them.
Apple under Steve made it possible to switch core OS (Mac OS 9 -> Mac OS X), switch CPU platform (PPC -> Intel) and create a complete new personal device: iOS devices.

Does anyone really think the Apple of now can achieve such novelties and changes?
Of course not. Apple is simply keeping afloat, and expanding the global markets... Not products.
[doublepost=1473546913][/doublepost]

That's true, but the previous clone fiasco was with computers that directly competed with Macs. If Apple licenses OS X only for Xeon workstations then does that cannabilize their iMac sales? Honest question, I don't know the answer.

It does send out a message if Apple does that:
- buy an iMac of you don't want / need power
- get an HP if you need performance.

And, knowing Apple's pricing: a nicely configured iMac would probably cost about the same as an entry-level HP workstation.

I don't think this will help the marketing of the Mac.

Better to strike a deal with HP: let them (HP) design and manufacture the workstation, place a special Apple-EFI ROM chip on the motherboard, wrap it in a nice space grey enclosure, and call it a Mac Pro Xeon...

 

[ssgbryan]

Better to strike a deal with HP: let them (HP) design and manufacture the workstation, place a special Apple-EFI ROM chip on the motherboard, wrap it in a nice space grey enclosure, and call it a Mac Pro Xeon...

And I would buy it. The alternative is an HP workstation running Windows 10 - I wouldn't have a problem with that either - Windows 10 is as reliable as OSX.

 

[fastlanephil]

The Amazon six-core Mac Pro listing has had "Discontinued By Developer" removed from the heading. Apparently it was a mistake or something.


https://www.amazon.com/Apple-MD878L...d-Manufacturer/dp/B00747Y9C2?tag=macrumors-20

 

[AidenShaw]

The Amazon six-core Mac Pro listing has had "Discontinued By Developer" removed from the heading. Apparently it was a mistake or something.

https://www.amazon.com/Apple-MD878L...d-Manufacturer/dp/B00747Y9C2?tag=macrumors-20

But was the "mistake" that "it was discontinued", or was the mistake prematurely announcing that it was discontinued?

 

[grahamperrin]

Based on the quality of its web presence and support offerings, over the years, I doubt that HP would be an attractive proposition. The company once gave me pre-sales technical advice on an office requirement for a networked A3 printer with PostScript. I was quite specific.

Purchased, it arrived: an A3 inkjet with some kind of network adapter, and a sheet of waxed paper with 'PostScript' printed within a small oval. And yes, that I could peel off that oval label and stick on the front of the printer. Ta-da! A printer with Postscript. Not forgetting, installation of HP's PostScript interpreter software (or whatever) on the one and only computer that vaguely fell within my pre-purchase specification of a networked printer with PostScript.

FFSHP. That's like specifying a vehicle with plenty of leg room and being sold a 1960s mini with a caravan on its towbar.

 

[Hank Carter]

Well, if the trashcan has been discontinued I'm betting that Apple will get stuck with a few warehouses full of units, because no one who is even remotely in the loop is going to buy that box in late 2016.

 

[Ph.D.]

But was the "mistake" that "it was discontinued", or was the mistake prematurely announcing that it was discontinued?

Amazon is somewhat famous for jumping the gun on these types of changes. I might predict that the "discontinued" returns. But whether that comes with a "new version here" link or not would remain to be seen.

 

[ssgbryan]

Based on the quality of its web presence and support offerings, over the years, I doubt that HP would be an attractive proposition. The company once gave me pre-sales technical advice on an office requirement for a networked A3 printer with PostScript. I was quite specific.

Purchased, it arrived: an A3 inkjet with some kind of network adapter, and a sheet of waxed paper with 'PostScript' printed within a small oval. And yes, that I could peel off that oval label and stick on the front of the printer. Ta-da! A printer with Postscript. Not forgetting, installation of HP's PostScript interpreter software (or whatever) on the one and only computer that vaguely fell within my pre-purchase specification of a networked printer with PostScript.

FFSHP. That's like specifying a vehicle with plenty of leg room and being sold a 1960s mini with a caravan on its towbar.

Sounds like something that would happen on Carley's watch.

 

[1024724]

Better to strike a deal with HP: let them (HP) design and manufacture the workstation, place a special Apple-EFI ROM chip on the motherboard, wrap it in a nice space grey enclosure, and call it a Mac Pro Xeon...

Absolutely brilliant, in theory anyway. Would kill to see a valid attempt at this.

 

[Stageshoot]

And I would buy it. The alternative is an HP workstation running Windows 10 - I wouldn't have a problem with that either - Windows 10 is as reliable as OSX.

Better still Licence OSX for the current range of HP Z Series Workstations..

I would pay for that, the compatibility is there already (Many run as Hackintosh), but if the stability of an official version was there it would make a great solution.