I really want to get a Mac Pro, but not for a few years. If I'm going to be spending a load of money (something like 3000 - 5000 pound) I really want to get something that works as well as a Mac Pro. Is there any evidence to support this? Or is it pure speculation?
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Is it true that Mac Pros will be discontinued some time in the future?
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Just speculation by some, based mainly on the fact that the Nehalem Mac Pro seems to have a significantly higher margin than the pervious models. ($3300 machine with two $350 CPUs vs the 2008 model, which was $2800 with two $850 CPUs).
I don''t think it's going anywhere just yet. Giving up the Mac Pro would mean giving up the pro apps, which means loss of marketshare, and no technology to trickle down into iLife.
I don''t think it's going anywhere just yet. Giving up the Mac Pro would mean giving up the pro apps, which means loss of marketshare, and no technology to trickle down into iLife.
What Jessica said. The only reason the Mac Pro would be replaced is if Apple switched architectures, in which case the new processors might require a new brand.
At worst, we can see the MacPro become second fiddle to the XServe, which Apple needs to run its in-house computations. I'm fairly certain that their creative department would need the Pro as well.
At worst, we can see the MacPro become second fiddle to the XServe, which Apple needs to run its in-house computations. I'm fairly certain that their creative department would need the Pro as well.
Hi
Its speculation.
What Steve Jobs actually said was this - like Confucius he maybe gets more directly to the point by speaking indirectly:
"Death is very likely the single best invention of Life. It is Life's change agent. It clears out the old to make way for the new. Right now the new is you, but someday not too long from now, you will gradually become the old and be cleared away. Sorry to be so dramatic, but it is quite true.
Your time is limited, so don't waste it living someone else's life. Don't be trapped by dogma — which is living with the results of other people's thinking. Don't let the noise of others' opinions drown out your own inner voice. And most important, have the courage to follow your heart and intuition."
What Steve Jobs actually did was this: he let Jonathan Ive design the first unibody MacBook without a FireWire port.
What the World said about it:
Creative professionals screamed their discontent all over the internet, even emailing Steve direct, whereupon his reply received even more howls of derision - which no doubt hurt...
So what did Steve do next?
i) He gave the brat-pack what they wanted - with a new unibody FW 13" laptop, and
ii) He hit back at the aforementioned screaming long-term Mac Pro-committed 'professionals' where it hurts - in our wallet.
Disclaimer: I too am speculating
The Mac Pro range, in whatever evolving form-factor is appropriate, is here to stay
Its speculation.
What Steve Jobs actually said was this - like Confucius he maybe gets more directly to the point by speaking indirectly:
"Death is very likely the single best invention of Life. It is Life's change agent. It clears out the old to make way for the new. Right now the new is you, but someday not too long from now, you will gradually become the old and be cleared away. Sorry to be so dramatic, but it is quite true.
Your time is limited, so don't waste it living someone else's life. Don't be trapped by dogma — which is living with the results of other people's thinking. Don't let the noise of others' opinions drown out your own inner voice. And most important, have the courage to follow your heart and intuition."
What Steve Jobs actually did was this: he let Jonathan Ive design the first unibody MacBook without a FireWire port.
What the World said about it:
Creative professionals screamed their discontent all over the internet, even emailing Steve direct, whereupon his reply received even more howls of derision - which no doubt hurt...
So what did Steve do next?
i) He gave the brat-pack what they wanted - with a new unibody FW 13" laptop, and
ii) He hit back at the aforementioned screaming long-term Mac Pro-committed 'professionals' where it hurts - in our wallet.
Disclaimer: I too am speculating
The Mac Pro range, in whatever evolving form-factor is appropriate, is here to stay
The 2009 price rises were most likely due to seeing they could price dual socket systems the same as others (they had previously been cheaper) and the quads having to sit above the iMacs in price. The other possibility is they needed to rise the prices on dual socket systems due decreased demand or deals with Intel that had been in place as part of the switch ending.
As long as the Mac Pro program is profitable for Apple, it will exist.
I don't think anyone here can guarantee the product line will remain profitable long term.
You might argue that the Mac Pro is of strategic importance to Apple to the point where they would continue to invest in it even if it were unprofitable. That's a good debate to have. I really have no insights other than the obvious... that since Apple removed the "computer" from their name and began focusing on consumer products, the pro side has really suffered from a lack of investment and innovation.
The other obvious indicator that demand for the Mac Pro may be reaching perilous levels is the fact that most creative professionals I know, are using high-end MacBook Pro's. It's increasingly rare when a laptop can't meet the need, and this trend is going to continue as hardware continues to advance more quickly than software.
I don't think anyone here can guarantee the product line will remain profitable long term.
You might argue that the Mac Pro is of strategic importance to Apple to the point where they would continue to invest in it even if it were unprofitable. That's a good debate to have. I really have no insights other than the obvious... that since Apple removed the "computer" from their name and began focusing on consumer products, the pro side has really suffered from a lack of investment and innovation.
The other obvious indicator that demand for the Mac Pro may be reaching perilous levels is the fact that most creative professionals I know, are using high-end MacBook Pro's. It's increasingly rare when a laptop can't meet the need, and this trend is going to continue as hardware continues to advance more quickly than software.
My hope was that Snow Leopard would really speed up my Mac Pro.
It hasn't for the obvious reason that my software isn't written for SL.
Am I wrong when I say that I don't see much software being written for SL?
The Mac Pro and XServe show what OSX can really do. I do not see them going away any time soon even if they are not important/practical to consumers.
Without these machines, I never would have used OSX for my home desktops/network. I would have still used the laptops because of the touchpad.
The Mac Pro is a competitive machine for what it is. I do not see it going anywhere.
PS - I am really ready for SL optimization too. My graphics cards are waiting
Without these machines, I never would have used OSX for my home desktops/network. I would have still used the laptops because of the touchpad.
The Mac Pro is a competitive machine for what it is. I do not see it going anywhere.
PS - I am really ready for SL optimization too. My graphics cards are waiting
Not really. Windows isn't quite classed as a niche product. Mac Pro definitely is. I regard this from a marketing perspective as Apple probably do as well. They are not emotional about profits and margins. Someone put it quite pointedly. Apple care more about an extra 5% margin than about keeping loyal customers. But thats opinion anyway. YMMV
I'm not sure what you mean by "flagship"... I could see it if you mean "most expensive"
. In most people's vocabulary, "flagship" usually implies the most popular, promoted, important, or most representative of the brand. I'm not sure the Mac Pro qualifies for any of these.Who would have ever guessed that IBM would exit the PC business.
Profits drive everything in a public company. When a product line is no longer profitable, it is usually sold or terminated.
Apple will never discontinue the MacPro
For one reason alone:
Final Cut Workstations + Kona 3, or Black Magic Capture card.
Until there's a viable HD/SD/SDI capture solution that's totally outbound, there's not a chance Apple would even think about dropping the MacPro.
For one reason alone:
Final Cut Workstations + Kona 3, or Black Magic Capture card.
Until there's a viable HD/SD/SDI capture solution that's totally outbound, there's not a chance Apple would even think about dropping the MacPro.
I'm not sure. I think companies like Adobe who develop on more than
one platform tend to shun platform-specific tech. They want a generic
solution that means not having to maintain wildly different codebases.
It seems like people are talking out of there ass. Where are the rumours that it might go away? Apple has had a workstation computer be it the II, Quadras, Power Macintosh or the Mac Pro. It won't go away. As far as lack of innovation for the Mac Pros? What would you like seen? The Mac Pro is already pretty innovative in terms of the amount of power it packs and how quiet and cool it is. This is just one innovation among many, and Apple being Apple will innovate.
You are wrong. It's all in progress.
Adobe CS5, Final Cut Studio, and others are being recoded from the ground up to be 64-bit and take advantage of all the newer technology.
But taking your flagship products with a decade's worth of legacy code and rewriting them takes time, people. OpenCL and Grand Central Dispatch are young and developers need to become acquainted with them. Once Snow Leopard was seeded, they had a lot of work to do.
Trust me, it'll all get there eventually. Hell, even Logitech bothered to recode their input device control software to be compatible with kernel 64 (not even strictly required yet), and usually it takes them forever to get on the ball. But drivers are relatively easy to write. Pro level software takes time and it won't be here tomorrow.
Lets look at...
Lets look at how Apple has evolved to their current line up since making the switch to Macintel. You used to be able to configure a Powermac into a reasonably priced tower for home use. They sold a macmini and a ibook with a separate graphics card. When they went to intel we got a mini and macbook with a relatively fast processor and intels sucktastic integrated video. The Mac pro is all heavy duty and expensive server grade iron. And we know that Apple has seen it's total sales do nothing but go up. So far all they have really done is to continue to refine their line up rather then do a total overhaul and blurred the line a bit between consumer and pro. And looking at Intels road map I see no reason to expect Apple to change track. So here is "bigdaddys" WAG on Apple's future product line up. Mini continues to slowly get more powerful but keeps same form factor, Macbook stays around as an entry level machine that is intentionally gimped. The Imac continues to be a versatile and profitable machine that reaches down to the cost conscious buyer and upwards to the power user. See 27'' i7 imac for proof. No headless upgradeable xmac, and the Macpro will remain for the animators and content creators that need to be able to swap drives, ad a few dozen gigs of ram etc. With the likely high margain that Apple has on these they do not need a high volume to make it worthwhile.
And if all else fails you could just make a "hacintosh" with an i7 and get 95% of the performance of the Macpro for a 1/3 of the price.
Lets look at how Apple has evolved to their current line up since making the switch to Macintel. You used to be able to configure a Powermac into a reasonably priced tower for home use. They sold a macmini and a ibook with a separate graphics card. When they went to intel we got a mini and macbook with a relatively fast processor and intels sucktastic integrated video. The Mac pro is all heavy duty and expensive server grade iron. And we know that Apple has seen it's total sales do nothing but go up. So far all they have really done is to continue to refine their line up rather then do a total overhaul and blurred the line a bit between consumer and pro. And looking at Intels road map I see no reason to expect Apple to change track. So here is "bigdaddys" WAG on Apple's future product line up. Mini continues to slowly get more powerful but keeps same form factor, Macbook stays around as an entry level machine that is intentionally gimped. The Imac continues to be a versatile and profitable machine that reaches down to the cost conscious buyer and upwards to the power user. See 27'' i7 imac for proof. No headless upgradeable xmac, and the Macpro will remain for the animators and content creators that need to be able to swap drives, ad a few dozen gigs of ram etc. With the likely high margain that Apple has on these they do not need a high volume to make it worthwhile.
And if all else fails you could just make a "hacintosh" with an i7 and get 95% of the performance of the Macpro for a 1/3 of the price.
Uhh, I almost don't have anything from 8 years ago that still runs on a current machine of any kind.
Yeah, almost nothing - and I keep almost everything.
And the opposite is also true. Almost none of my 8 year old hardware will run current software - even slowly. It's a no-go.
It seems the cut-off has typically been around the 5-year mark. (3 to 5)
To the OP: I dunno if MPs will be discontinued in a few years or not and I don't think Apple knows either. So it's all speculation.
The 2009 Mac Pro costs more because Apple knows that professionals will pay those prices, even in a recession. They lowered the cost of everything else because consumers can easily switch.
Although I've already heard of a few people who have switched to PC, since the only thing keeping them on the Mac Pro was the rock bottom price. FCS and Aperture have become stagnant, now they've hiked up the prices on the Mac Pro and consumer-fied their pro laptops, there is less and less of a reason for professionals to stick with Apple.
Hi
Since the first 1984 Mac Steve Jobs has remained committed (in his DNA) to the AIO form factor. The saving grace is that no way is Michael Dell going to be allowed to kit out Apple's new North Carolina cloud server farm - over SJ's dead body
So high-end Intel dual Xeon (or equivalent) Apple motherboards will be developed in perpetuity...