Yes. Over at Dell for example -- up to 3.33GHz 6-core 5680 Xeons are shipping now, also in dual CPU configurations for 12 core machines. Shipping takes about 10 days.
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Mac Pro 2010 speculations
- Thread starter peejack
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Yes. Over at Dell for example -- up to 3.33GHz 6-core 5680 Xeons are shipping now, also in dual CPU configurations for 12 core machines. Shipping takes about 10 days.
I'm not saying businesses are glued to Macrumors everyday to stay up to date on news. I am agreeing with what the article is saying, that Microsoft, in stark contrast to Apple's culture, is a very open and inviting company, and business like that. They want, like the article states, "road maps" to future tech.
I think they've been doing worse than cannibalizing sales. I see people here every day talking about going PC or going hackintosh.
And just because a company can announce a new product, doesn't mean that they need to designate an exact ETA.
Like I've asked before, what harm could it do for Apple for them to simply say "Spring 2010"? It's better than nothing, and I agree with the article that businesses definitely appreciate the heads up. Who wants to deal with a computer company that holds everything close to its chest? I'd never realize I'd be giving good words to Microsoft, but they have an openness in the way they work, which equals to good mutual respect between them and business companies. Apple's secrecy and paranoia is more like they trust no one. Which company wants to deal with that?
Keeping your customers informed really, really helps.
I am not narrowing this down to bleeding edge enthusiasts, or fanboys high off Apple tech. But I would guess that businesses too can easily discern between today's tech with 14 month old tech, and the price tags that are associated with them. It doesn't take that much effort to point your browser to dell.com or what have you and start seeing the price differences. Minimal research. Not hanging by a thread every tuesday, biting your nails, hoping for the fabled release.
Pro art shops may be a difference story and resilient to that urge to separate from Apple hardware, due to being ultimately dependent on Apple pro apps, but the article is stating that Apple's veil of secrecy really pushes businesses and IT departments away, and any potential enterprise partners.
And the byproduct of this mess? It also pushes away the so called enthusiasts and prosumers, and maybe even the fanboys.
They should care because as you reiterate, it's all about future growth.
Every company should care about future growth.
Software and training investments are a big deal in the enterprise world.
But most of what's posted here are by independents (and students), which would seemingly be on the rise, given the popularity of out-sourcing work rather than having full-time people (assuming the company works in other areas as well).
Yes, there are DP systems shipping, as well as retail boxes (available, though they may sell out quickly when stock arrives).
And I think of it this way; Intel has contract requirements to meet, so they'll supply their contract orders prior to providing retail packaged parts.
Let's say you buy a ticket on Apple airlines to fly from New York to Paris. You get to fly in a propellor plane and sit on a rusty upturned bucket all the way. Flights going to take 20 hours they say!
Very next day Apple airlines announce at the same price ticket, NY to Paris, that all new bookings get to go on a 747 and have a huge reclining chair. The journey will take 7 hours they say!
'There has never been a better time to fly' they scream from the rooftops! This is our best airplane yet!
Your happy though right? cos your going to get to Paris sooner or later?
The last couple studios I worked at could potentially be buying not one or two computers, but anywhere from 50 to 400. SMART businesses don't outfit their studio with 150 expensive, old-spec Mac Pros if a faster model may be offered for a similar price in the next few weeks unless they absolutely have to for scheduling reasons. Faster computers equals more productivity (at least in a labor intensive field like the animation biz,) and when we're talking large numbers of highly paid artists that are gonna be significantly faster on better equipment, thats big profits. Companies like money.
With all things revolving around the iphone/pad it would really 'help' to show a professional face if Apple were a bit more forthcoming with news.
As has already been stated - this secrecy thing just makes Apple look like an unreliable source for future 'PRO' computer investment.
Speculation:
Whatever is happening - as I make my living using a MacPro - it would be nice to know.
As has already been stated - this secrecy thing just makes Apple look like an unreliable source for future 'PRO' computer investment.
Speculation:
- Processors are REALLY in short supply - MP in June
- Apple missed the boat with Intel and they are now looking at rewiring everything with AMD chips, and are too embarrassed to let the world know its all gone tits up. MP in September
- Apple still carry large stock of current processors and need to 'force' them out of the door. MP when current stock dries up.
Whatever is happening - as I make my living using a MacPro - it would be nice to know.
I don't think so. They just released new MacBooks with new Intel CPU's. And it would be very expensive to make Snow Leopard work on a AMD chip. If that will happen (which I doubt), it probably won't before OSX 10.7.
I didn't realize AMD chipset drivers were so difficult to write.
You DO know AMD and Intel chips use the same ISA, right? Right?
They'd want to get it out before the iPhones, so it should be in May to accomplish that. Unless they've pushed it's priority down further than it's been (possible given the development of the iPad).
Well, no. But it WILL cost Apple money. One way or another. So I think it's highly unlikely.
Why? I see no relation whatsoever. mac pro is a small release that only pros will really take notice of.
No relation? Writing apps for mac/iphone/ipad kinda sucks on their cruddy consumer oriented machines.
my thoughts exactly. a may release seems likely because if they announce it before WWDC then all the devs who want the latest hardware go out and buy it in anticipation of the iPhone OS 4.0 release as well as the iPhone HD (or whatever its being called).
It makes sense to me, I just hope it makes sense to apple :-/
Another, less doom and gloom explanation for the long wait is that Apple is trying to avoid another, even longer wait next year. Once the 2010s are out, there is going to be nothing really worth a refresh until either Sandy Bridge or Bulldozer. Intel has said "H2 2011" for the workstation models of Sandy Bridge, and while AMD has been fuzzy on the exact date for Bulldozer, I wouldn't get my hopes up for early in the year. (The 8-"module"/core DP chips are the Bulldozer models that would go in the MP, should Apple go for it).
So in a nutshell, there is no hardware to warrant the launch of the 2011 Mac Pro until the second half of the year. That's out of Apple's hands. If Apple launched the 2010s as soon as the Xeon 5600s were available in March, that would be the model we'd be stuck with for 16-18 months until there was something worth putting in a new generation. By delaying it into May or June, they wind up giving both the 2009s and the 2010s a roughly 14 month lifecycle, instead of 12 months for the 2009s and 16-18 months for the 2010s.
Ok, now back to your regularly scheduled moanings about Apple hating the pro market and killing Final Cut. (kind of like how people whined about Logic a year or two ago, until it cleared rewrite-land and got 64bit support and crapton of features. The whiners seem to have now forgotten Apple even makes Logic Studio)
So in a nutshell, there is no hardware to warrant the launch of the 2011 Mac Pro until the second half of the year. That's out of Apple's hands. If Apple launched the 2010s as soon as the Xeon 5600s were available in March, that would be the model we'd be stuck with for 16-18 months until there was something worth putting in a new generation. By delaying it into May or June, they wind up giving both the 2009s and the 2010s a roughly 14 month lifecycle, instead of 12 months for the 2009s and 16-18 months for the 2010s.
Ok, now back to your regularly scheduled moanings about Apple hating the pro market and killing Final Cut. (kind of like how people whined about Logic a year or two ago, until it cleared rewrite-land and got 64bit support and crapton of features. The whiners seem to have now forgotten Apple even makes Logic Studio)
Haha...you know a lot of people consider Logic way behind the times right? Buggy to the point of being unusable? Apple isn't exactly tearing it up in the DAW front.
Also I think if the current Mac Pro were more full featured and better priced, people wouldn't be so anxious for an update, which basically amounts to more cores (which I imagine most people can do without). I think the issue is people simply want better value for their money and not feel like they are being played for suckers.
If the current mac pro quad came with six ram slots populated with 12 gigs of ram, a better video card, a 1tb drive, and had esata and maybe a better case (internals) for 2 grand I imagine there would be way less apprehension. And Apple would still be making a killing off of that price.
Let's assume for a moment that the iPhone and MP release on the same day.
With all of the media focus on the iPhone, the MP would be drastically overshadowed. Now I realize the idea that pros wouldn't be bothered with this, but I don't agree with it on a couple of points.
- Pros may want to buy iPhones as well, and could be distracted researching both products simultaneously (since the information isn't released in stages prior to the big announcement). Thus potentially causing a delay in purchase of one of the items (they want purchases to take off ASAP to regain their costs). There's also budget conflicts possible here as well, even in the corporate environment.
- Getting back to the way Apple disseminates information, IT depts. (individuals wouldn't necessarily be opposed to this either) need to know what's coming up in order to properly plan their MTBR (Mean Time Between Replacement), as their release schedules aren't as predictable as other vendors (which are based on Intel's product road maps). Apple has made some surprising moves over the years, such as what's recently happened in the laptop product line.
Either of these can have an unusual effect on cash flow for tech purchases, meaning it may not be available, and prevent a desired purchase at the time the systems release. This could result from other purchases made based on MTBR, immediate need,... but also from the fact that the budgets are planned quarterly (corporate environment), and the tech may exceed what's available, so something will have to be postponed (i.e. simultaneous releases).
Independents can be affected as well, as they're more of a hand-to-mouth existence by comparison (much smaller budgets), so postponement doesn't seem impossible IMO, even if the purchase intentions is for just one product, given the MSRP's associated with MP's (I'm figuring on system upgrades, including software as well, not just base cost of the MP itself).
Obviously, nothing major can be done without CPU's and the supporting chipset. But there's no getting around this, even if Apple began making their own CPU's (they'd have to deal with delays resulting from technical difficulties just as Intel, AMD, or any other chip maker do).
To me, the issue with users is the total lack of information (not common in the enterprise world), and the recent hike in pricing ('09 systems). They've realized that the value that existed previously is gone, and the general impression of uncertainty is (since there's no information being released), have begun to make OS X pro users rather nervous about sticking with the platform.
It's apparently made worse by the fact the software has closed the gaps, and exceeded OS X variants in some cases on the PC/Linux side as I understand it.
The Mac Pro part of your "lifecycle" makes little sense to me. If there are no newer / better cpus out there for Apple to use then no one else will have them either. The complaint now is....
I think he is saying that Apple may be trying to even out the time frames for the lifecycles of the '09 and '10 models because the '11 models will take a while to appear since Sandybridge may not be out until the second half of 2011.