Intel ahead of schedule with next-gen Mac Pro Xeon chips

[Morriss]

Just noticed this article this morning. Does this mean we'll see new Mac Pros in the first quarter of 2010?

http://www.macworld.co.uk/business/news/index.cfm?RSS&NewsID=27245

 

[Hellhammer]

That doesn't mean we will but we may see. Anything can happen but yes, that is positive news

 

[Umbongo]

It still doenst mean much at this stage. I wouldn't think we will see Mac Pros before the old ones have had a full year. So not before March 3rd 2010. Let's not forget Intel said Q1 release last year and released the last monday of the quarter.

 

[MacApple21]

Don't forget the Mac Pro was the first system which got to use the current Nehalem Xeons.
So Apple might get the same option again.
I just hope the Mac Pro will get these CPUs in the beginning of 2010 as I'm very much in the market for a new Mac.
Just a quick question, are we going to see a price change, hike or cut?

 

[J the Ninja]

It still doenst mean much at this stage. I wouldn't think we will see Mac Pros before the old ones have had a full year. So not before March 3rd 2010. Let's not forget Intel said Q1 release last year and released the last monday of the quarter.

Why would they let the MP4,1 have a full year? With every other Mac Pro update, it has been more or less as soon as Intel had the necessary CPUs ready to ship. Let's hope they are less of a rip-off this time, especially the single-socket box.


EDIT: This forum doesn't parse the angry smily the normal way.

 

[Umbongo]

Why would they let the MP4,1 have a full year? With every other Mac Pro update, it has been more or less as soon as Intel had the necessary CPUs ready to ship. Let's hope they are less of a rip-off this time, especially the single-socket box.


EDIT: This forum doesn't parse the angry smily the normal way.

Companies sometimes make agreements to not update workstations or associated components for a certain length of time. Eitherway I don't think it matters because I don't see them comming before March. While Apple shipped early on Nehalem they were 7-8 weeks after Intel's launch on 2006 and 2008 Mac Pros. With the 2007 seemingly being a case of Apple waiting for an event and getting enough 3GHz processors in supply.

 

[Umbongo]

Just a quick question, are we going to see a price change, hike or cut?

I don't think we will see a hike. Probably not a cut either unless things didn't go well and they decide to revert to the old pricing. Perhaps we may see prices remain the same while getting slightly more expensive processors or something, depends what the pricing lineup is like.

Part of the pricing issue seems to be Apple wanting to segregate their ranges by price points. So the Mac Pro has to be above the iMac despite not actually having hardware that is worth that much. This also pushes up the dual socket ones too. Though it is probably a combination of that and perhaps a loss of financial incentives to use Intel's components that contribute to it all.

 

[Eidorian]

And you thought Xeon 5500 Series was expensive.

To be honest I'm more interested in Thuban on AM2+/AM3.

 

[nanofrog]

And you thought Xeon 5500 Series was expensive.

To be honest I'm more interested in Thuban on AM2+/AM3.

There's no way Intel's going to let the 56xx parts go for less than the 55xx parts, as it will cut into their sales of those chips.

They're server components, and remain in manufacture for a longer period of time compared to the desktop components.

The 8 layer board process may be a little cheaper this time around, due to economy of scale. But that's about it, and I don't think the end user will see a price decrease based just on that. Apple will most likely add it to the profit margings.