Mac Pro: now Official Waiting for MacWorld Thread...

[TheThirdMan]

The mac pro havsnt been updated in almost a year and a half. considering how the average update cycle is 6 months, this seems like a massive oversight on apple's part. They've invested in Logic, Aperture and the new FCS without giving updates to the machines which 99% of prosumer/professionals will be using.

I can't believe i'll have to wait until macworld. Apple seem to be sacrificing the core users of their proapps for the sake of iphone and the consumer level products! I've seen countless forums like this one with loads of people saying how they want an update! For the same price as a mac pro 4 core, you can get
-quad core cpu
-8gb of ram
-sli graphics
-24"display

in a regular consumer platform, yet it would be far more powerful that the mac pro!

There really is no reason to get a mac pro at the mo, theyre sooo outdated.

 

[darthraige]

The mac pro havsnt been updated in almost a year and a half.

Really? lol

 

[chameleon]

I have to say I'm with Chameleon. As a business owner, it would benefit me a tremendous amount to buy before Dec 31st, instead of waiting until MacWorld.

If absolute worst came to worst, I guess my business could just buy $4,000 worth of Apple Gift Cards to be used after MacWorld 2008. That would give us the tax break by spending the money in 2007.

Of course, then we have the huge gamble that the machine is actually released in January. What if MacWorld comes and goes without a new Mac Pro? What if it's not until NAB? WWDC? We'd be stuck holding $4k in gift cards until June.

I really hope it doesn't come to that. I can live with late December. I can't live with March or June 2008.

 

[darthraige]

If absolute worst came to worst, I guess my business could just buy $4,000 worth of Apple Gift Cards to be used after MacWorld 2008. That would give us the tax break by spending the money in 2007.

Of course, then we have the huge gamble that the machine is actually released in January. What if MacWorld comes and goes without a new Mac Pro? What if it's not until NAB? WWDC? We'd be stuck holding $4k in gift cards until June.

I really hope it doesn't come to that. I can live with late December. I can't live with March or June 2008.

First off, I will take the 4k in gift cards off your hands if you like. lol Second, it will be January or before. Can't be March since Nehalem will be out a few months later. Pointless to even put Penryn in by then.

 

[GreyHare]

We'd be stuck holding $4k in gift cards until June.

Assuming your risk of losing said gift cards is nil, your purchase of gift cards saves you $600 in taxes. At what point do you lose $600 by sitting on the gift cards instead of buying what is shipping now, or waiting to buy the Penryn boxes?

I haven't seen anyone comment on Apple's side of this: If they sell before December 31, and ship in January, would Apple have to pay the 15% corporate profit tax on the profits it gets from selling those Mac Pros before they ship? If so, why would they sell it that long before shipping?

I'm as impatient as most of you guys; I've got an old iMac G4 and an Athlon64 Shuttle box running Windows and Linux that I would rather combine into a single Mac Pro, and I don't want to buy the current models because the prices are too high for the technology, esp. the price deltas from 2.66/4 -> 3.00/4 -> 3.00/8, and the RAM is 2x market rates. But Apple's got to put Apple first on the large scale, or they lose money.

 

[Rowlander]

I posted this a month ago:

A silent update for their pro-machine that hasn´t been updated in over a year? Leaving you only with thinner laptops to show at you big event two months later!
Would you do that if you were Steve Jobs?

Or would you introduce it with a big bang at Macworld, calling it "the fastest personal computer on the planet!" and saying things like: "Isn´t this amazing?", "boom" and "This is the best mac we ever built, I think our customers will love it."

And don´t forget the best one and my personal reason for why I think, they will hold it back until Macworld:
"Shipping ... TODAY!" (*Audience cheers.*)



If only it was January already. At this point, I would be surprised to see the new Mac Pro before Macworld.

Damn, why did I have to be right!

 

[darthraige]

I posted this a month ago:

Damn, why did I have to be right!

You'll be right if it does happen at MWSF. Until then, who knows.

 

[dgdosen]

Inventory

Now I think the timing is down to a question of Inventory -

- Do they have too much a supply (or contract) of the older technology they need to get rid of?
-- Chips
-- Memory
-- Anything else?

- Do they have a supply of the newer technolgy they'll need to meet demand?
-- Chips
-- Memory
-- Anything else?

Assuming the cases stay the same, we're looking at chips - both existing supply and new supply - Is availabitly of new chips mid-December? If you remember other companies were announcing Santa Rosa chipped laptops before Apple, yet Apple wound up shipping before them and started shipping as soon as they were announced.

With an existing product, Apple has no incentive to note when a new release will take place, otherwise they'll lose sales on existing products, so as always, don't expect to hear anything from Apple until a press release/news conference.

 

[Jul]

*me getting in the waiting line*

So DAAMIT releases their new cards tomorrow. I hope we see at least an HD3850 (single-slot solution) in the new mac pro. Crossfire would be nice. Is the new Intel chipset (i5400) crossfire compatible? 8800 gt would be nice too maybe as BTO option.

 

[darthraige]

Been doing some thinking on the way home from work...

Any chance Intel has a contract with Apple stating, "Before you (Apple) stomp your competitors, let them have a few days to announce their systems first." ?

And second, wouldn't MID-November mean, 11/15? Since it is the half way mark. Apple does like to release stuff on Thursday's now. One can only dream.

 

[Simplesimon101]

wouldn't MID-November mean, 11/15? Since it is the half way mark. Apple does like to release stuff on Thursday's now. One can only dream.

i actually genuinely had a dream last night that apple where updating the mac pros... (they wheren't actually in the dream but there was a stand where they where going to go in the window of the apple store). i think i need to get out more.

 

[sinn.]

I am going to wait for macworld. There is no point in me (college student) shelling out 3k for a computer that will only be updated in 2 months. I just bought a Wacom to tide me over. Also I can save up a lot more money by jan, that way I can get all the memory, HDs and monitors I want instead of having to piece it together.

 

[astrostu]

I'll join the waiting game too ... though I've been in it since early summer ('07). I'm not necessarily waiting for MWSF, I'm just waiting until they're released. After the let-down of today's lack of announcement, I'm trying not to get my hopes up for any given date ... just waiting for it to happen and in the meantime watching RAM prices decline and the cash I've set asside accumulate interest.

Sigh ........

 

[schreck]

Someone needs to e-mail MultiMedia and thank him for yet another false prediction, at which time he will provide you with another one.

He always said November 15th.

 

[ChemiosMurphy]

Penryn is only going to be around for a few months at the max. Check out Nehalem at Wikipedia. They already have its successor planned out. It's quite depressing i'd say. I'm a poor film student at Drexel, and I'm going to plop out 3K on a system thats going to be yesterday's news. Dammit! We had a few Hackintosh's at my old high school and maybe that's the route to go....

 

[krypt]

Penryn is only going to be around for a few months at the max. Check out Nehalem at Wikipedia. They already have its successor planned out. It's quite depressing i'd say. I'm a poor film student at Drexel, and I'm going to plop out 3K on a system thats going to be yesterday's news. Dammit! We had a few Hackintosh's at my old high school and maybe that's the route to go....

When they release Nehalem you could then sell your Penryn.

k

 

[suneohair]

Penryn is only going to be around for a few months at the max. Check out Nehalem at Wikipedia. They already have its successor planned out. It's quite depressing i'd say. I'm a poor film student at Drexel, and I'm going to plop out 3K on a system thats going to be yesterday's news. Dammit! We had a few Hackintosh's at my old high school and maybe that's the route to go....

We have known this roadmap for quite sometime. A few months is a gross understatement. Penryn is here now with Nehalem a year away, pending no delays.

As a waiter I am not concerned with Nehalem as it isn't actually here today. The Mac Pro needs an update, it seems though that maybe Apple is falling into the pattern of waiting for the next best thing... isn't that what people around here accuse us of?

 

[snowleopard]

Of course these machines aren't out yet, but my understanding is that while the jump from Woodcrest/Clovertown to Penryn will be a rather large jump, the jump from Penryn to Nehalem will be more incremental.

There's also still debate as to just how micro Nehalem will be on which levels, with vague release plans. I wouldn't expect Nehalem to be launched well into 2008. Like, 9 months from now.

The reasons so many of us are waiting for Penryn are that this is a big step up from Woodcrest, it's also the first upgrade in many months, and it coincides with the release of Leopard. It's really the perfect time to buy a MacPro...providing they do release it in a timely manner.

 

[krypt]

The reasons so many of us are waiting for Penryn are that this is a big step up from Woodcrest, it's also the first upgrade in many months, and it coincides with the release of Leopard. It's really the perfect time to buy a MacPro...providing they do release it in a timely manner.

Yep--that's why I'm waiting. I suspect the delay is a Penryn supply issue and we'll see the new MPs very soon.

k

 

[irishgrizzly]

Penryn is only going to be around for a few months at the max. Check out Nehalem at Wikipedia. They already have its successor planned out. It's quite depressing i'd say. I'm a poor film student at Drexel, and I'm going to plop out 3K on a system thats going to be yesterday's news. Dammit! We had a few Hackintosh's at my old high school and maybe that's the route to go....

Hold on there! You mean to say they're not going to stop at this next chip?! Smart company, making new chips for when it's the future and the people are livin in the future.

 

[Quash]

AMD(ati) Released the HD3800 family of graphics card today, might be apple is just waiting on those

Think it will be any day now, once the component supplies are there.
If it's gonna be announced in January then there will be more of a change then a bit faster processors and graphics. Might be single(quad) and dual(octo) slot mac pro's coming who knows.

 

[chameleon]

Penryn is only going to be around for a few months at the max. Check out Nehalem at Wikipedia. They already have its successor planned out. It's quite depressing i'd say.

That will always be the case.

The folks that bought a 486 PC were depressed when the Pentium came out.

The folks that bought a G3 were depressed when the G4 came out.

The folks that bought a Core Duo were depressed with the Core 2 Duo came out.

That's the way technology works. There's always something better on the horizon. If the horizon is close, like we all feel the Mac Pro release is, then it's worth waiting. If it's distant, like Nehalem, no point in waiting. Buy now and replace later.

 

[SirOmega]

Since it wasnt released this morning..

Chance of announcement between now and MWSF: 20%. Chance of announcement at MWSF: 80%.

 

[darthraige]

I swear, the MacPro is going to be the most random update, they will just randomly hit us with it. Hopefully Apple is just waiting on graphic options. Maybe we will see an update any day now. I'm still gonna go with right after 10.5.1 is released. I want the MacPro to be as stable as possible.

 

[Silverhawk]

Here's what i don't understand about the whole video card situation with Apple.

1) AMD owns ATI yet Apple doesn't use AMD processors (which idealy would be most optimal and yes crossfire would be nice)

2) However since they're purely Intel machines now, why can't they stop using ATI and just simply rely on Nvidia for their graphic card needs (Yes the 8800 GT is the most ideal one both money and performance wise and yes if you can put 4 7300GTs [don't know why] then how's about some SLI performance for APPLE!!!