Nanofrog,
Explain to all these people on the forums that the MAC PRO's days may very well be numbered given the direction and path that Apple is taking... I still don't think a 2010 mac pro will come out given that Apple is moving further and further away + distancing themselves from the pro market to the consumer market.
Everything you mentioned is 300 percent correct and has already been confirmed elsewhere on the internet. I seriously doubt that Apple is going to take a break from the ipad and iphones, laptops, and introduce a 2010 mac pro given this direction. Am I right?
The 2010 model will release (it's a Tick cycle, so they only need to update the microcode to make the new parts work in the existing system logic boards = cheap). I don't think the MP will disappear until 2014, as there won't be suitable Xeon CPU's at that point (necessity). The core counts will be higher than are necessary, and the cost too high. Now it's possible Apple could cut it off prior to that point.
It's based on Intel's direction for the enterprise market (they ask what they want, and try to provide it). That means higher core counts per CPU to generate more efficient servers and the desire to build clusters out of them (i.e. the desire for cloud computing).
It will be possible to continue by using high-end desktop processors, as other workstation vendors will have to do. But I think Apple will take the iMac + LightPeak approach to prevent issues with product line collision (MP's eating into the iMac's sales figures), which I suspect have higher margins over the MP's and Xserves. Product line simplification could not only make things easier in terms of marketing, but less expensive as well (eliminates the developement costs for another line), yet in their eyes, the market position is filled with a product they do want to keep around. R&D costs divided by more systems = more profit per system due to reduced costs per unit.
Look at it this way. We already have the i7-9xx parts which are identical to the Xeon 35xx parts, save the ECC functionality. With core counts climbing (8 core CPU's will be out soon), DP systems won't be necessary, which is why Xeon was used in the first place. Xeon also dictated the need for ECC memory, which isn't actually needed by the vast majority of users, unless they work in a nuclear reactor facility, high energy physics lab, space vehicle,... (any environment where you do have high levels of background radiation, particularly gamma).
Actually, a 2010 Mac Pro is pretty definite. If it is going to be dropped as a product line, it won't be dropped just yet.
Yep. MP's are likely to disappear IMO, given Intel's direction in the enterprise market, but not 2010.
Nanofrog's intuition tells him that its days are numbered, but he has no more proof than anybody else on these forums do. That said, his opinion is definitely worth more than most posters around here, but he'll be the first to tell you that nothing is certain.
It's based on publicly released industry information. Granted I do have some inside access here and there, but it's not with Intel.
🙁 😛
