MP 7,1 New Mac Pro - Too expensive for Apple retail stores

[icanhazapple]

Apple has enough issues with security and theft at most stores - that is why they're limiting it to flagship stores which often pay for police security;https://securitytoday.com/articles/...thefts-at-retail-stores.aspx?admgarea=mag&m=1

 

[th0masp]

That's what you get when you put handles on these things.

 

[choreo]

I really would not expect to see the new Mac Pro in most stores. To me it is not really a replacement for the 5,1 or 6,1 crowd even though it carries on the same name. There simply is no Mac Pro replacement for people like me with a 2012 Mac Pro tower - there is no way I am going to spend $6,000 on a stripped down model with the ability to spend tens-of-thousands on upgrades and having to buy all new Thunderbolt drives, etc. Plus I am confident that no matter how much horsepower it has, Adobe could still find a way to bring it to it's knees!

I have made a living solely with Macs for 30 years, but this new machine is for Enterprise groups (not most individuals) - though some people with money to burn will buy them to surf Amazon.com and tell everyone how much they spent on it. For most Independent Freelancers this is just not a smart buy IMO. However it will be useful for some YouTubers who shoot multiple 8K RED video of their dog in the living room and need to process all that to deliver a knocked down version online?

 

[defjam]

It’s a space issue. Both on the floor and in the stock room. No use in wasting space on a product that may never sell in store.

Have you ever visited an Apple store? There's more than enough space for the Mac Pro and associated Pro display.
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Apple has enough issues with security and theft at most stores - that is why they're limiting it to flagship stores which often pay for police security;https://securitytoday.com/articles/...thefts-at-retail-stores.aspx?admgarea=mag&m=1

If theft were the reason wouldn't it make sense to avoid displaying things that, according to the article, are not easy to grab and run off with? With dimensions of 20.8" x 17.7" x 8.58" and a weight of 39.7lbs do you think thieves are going to rush into the store, grab a bunch of Mac Pro's, and "run" off lugging it all the way?

 

[davidec]

Have you ever visited an Apple store? There's more than enough space for the Mac Pro and associated Pro display.

space is the commodity in Apple stores not the stock! Wasted time training staff on stuff that doesn’t sell and wasted space which could be filled with stuff that does sell. Or could be filled with space!

 

[defjam]

space is the commodity in Apple stores not the stock! Wasted time training staff on stuff that doesn’t sell and wasted space which could be filled with stuff that does sell. Or could be filled with space!

Perhaps I wasn't very clear in the response of mine you responded to. I had intended to say: Space is not an issue at an Apple store.

 

[Steve121178]

It's a niche product so I wouldn't really expect to see it in stores. Most people wanting to order a Mac Pro will want a personalised BTO config anyway, so it would be a complete waste of time stocking them.

 

[defjam]

It's a niche product so I wouldn't really expect to see it in stores. Most people wanting to order a Mac Pro will want a personalised BTO config anyway, so it would be a complete waste of time stocking them.

Do you have any data to support this? A small poll taken by Apple Insider led me to believe the base configuration will be quite popular.

 

[Steve121178]

Do you have any data to support this? A small poll taken by Apple Insider led me to believe the base configuration will be quite popular.

The Mac Pro is primarily aimed at highly skilled professional users who will have a very specific spec in mind for their business/work, so the base spec won't cut it.

Apple Store's are primarily consumer focused so you won't get many people making a £5499 impulse purchase on a Mac Pro. It makes sense to drive Mac Pro orders through the web, build your order and have a courier deliver to to your place of work/business as it will be nigh on impossible to carry the Mac Pro through the streets of London for example!

We can't rule out Apple Store's carrying stock at some point, it just makes little sense to do so.

 

[defjam]

The Mac Pro is primarily aimed at highly skilled professional users who will have a very specific spec in mind for their business/work, so the base spec won't cut it.

Apple Store's are primarily consumer focused so you won't get many people making a £5499 impulse purchase on a Mac Pro. It makes sense to drive Mac Pro orders through the web, build your order and have a courier deliver to to your place of work/business as it will be nigh on impossible to carry the Mac Pro through the streets of London for example!

We can't rule out Apple Store's carrying stock at some point, it just makes little sense to do so.

That was a long winded way of saying "No, I do not". As for making little sense to do so my response is there's little reason not to do so.

 

[impulse462]

The Mac Pro is primarily aimed at highly skilled professional users who will have a very specific spec in mind for their business/work, so the base spec won't cut it.

Apple Store's are primarily consumer focused so you won't get many people making a £5499 impulse purchase on a Mac Pro. It makes sense to drive Mac Pro orders through the web, build your order and have a courier deliver to to your place of work/business as it will be nigh on impossible to carry the Mac Pro through the streets of London for example!

We can't rule out Apple Store's carrying stock at some point, it just makes little sense to do so.

I mean they had only one 16” MacBook Pro on display at the store in union square in SF. I thought that was surprising honestly...although it might be changed now

 

[deconstruct60]

You'd think they would put this into every larger store for people to marvel at. Especially when it's new and comes with that hyped-up display.

Except for the dozens of Trypophobia reports on various forums and in tech porn press reviews after the initial introduction of the Mac Pro.

Marvel at and don't buy is a colossal waste of space and money. It isn't like the other products can't make a sale on their own.

 

[deconstruct60]

Uh, whatever happened to the halo effect we heard so much about?

The hand waving about the halo effect on these forums is largely overblown and is generally no where near as effective as its proponents make it out to be .

Regardless Apple having a display model at each of their stores isn't going to break the bank.

Apple wouldn't pay for. They'd make their customers pay for it ( or employees. one $12 set up on display and another wasting away in the back room is $24K that could have gone to a $1K raise for 24 employees at stores that will sell about zero $12 that year. ) Apple already has pricing cap problems. The Mac Pro especially is more than eyeball deep in them.

Apple could take the same zero sales generating Mac Pro set up and either lend it to the 3rd party leasing company as a sales tool ( lease eval unit for their pre-sales team) or give it to one of Apple's business sales teams for do road show demos with. Either one would generate more real sales with reasonable competent sales teams than some pretentious display to thousands of people who have zero real interests in buying it.

I haven't looked at the latest numbers but Apple's physical stores don't account for the majority of Apple sales. They don't break out the Mac numbers, but that is probably true there also.

 

[deconstruct60]

It’s a space issue. Both on the floor and in the stock room. No use in wasting space on a product that may never sell in store.

Flagships are a special case due to the increased space and the less direct focus on $ per square foot.

Little evidence Apple makes the flagship stores "charity cases'. They spend more but they typically locate them where they will generate more. Often in tourist ways ( Fly to NYC , see the sites , go to famous store , buy something for trip home to where stores are more scarce. ).

Apple tends to trade of much higher $/sq ft costs for higher $/store revenues. A boat anchor Mac Pro that has relatively next to zero sales and much higher inventory costs would actually detract from the year-over-year same store costs for inventory and operating costs.

Some of the flagships have a "Boardroom" that is solely for Apple Business Team presentations and demos.

".. Boardrooms aren’t a company secret but are generally closed to the public. ..."

Cataloging the modern furnishings of Apple Store Boardrooms - 9to5Mac

The iconic wood tables that fill every Apple Store have long been globally admired as symbols of tasteful interior design....

9to5mac.com

[ large reserved places like this aren't in even upscale mall stores.... even in wealthy neighborhoods with no homeless people. ]

For those stores where they have been significant > $5k hardware demos would be more likely to pick up a demo Mac Pro, but it wouldn't be tossed on the generic display tables.

All the Apple Stores would commonly pull even the older cheaper Mac Pros from the floor for certain events. They just never sold in store, even at cheaper prices. Everyone has been ordering BTO online.

Never is probably too strong. It is more so relative sales to the rest of the Mac products in the store. Also not sure how Apple counts "ship to store" toward physical store revenue recognition. (
"show rooming" from their own stores for online sales. )

For the moment the relevant thing is that Apple is selling way more Mac Pros than they have.
Having Mac Pro and XDR isn't going to improve sales because they don't have any more units to ship.

Post holidays when the initial demand bubble is over then they might marginally get a bump by putting a few into a limited set of stores ( with more display room post holidays). Additionally, there will probably be several "ship to store" by the end of the initial demand bubble and also some returns . ( Apple can populate some stores with returns that now have to be somewhat written off anyway. )

 

[Somian]

MKBHD shoots in RED RAW so he certainly uses the power of the Mac Pro. His iMac Pro keeps up with the footage, but the Mac Pro proved that it can get through the footage faster, even without using the AfterBurner Card.

REDcode RAW has a built in proxy. When I was in film school, I edited 4k RED RAW on a 2009 13” MacBook Pro and survived.

[...]

This is a very real, quantifiable example. It shows, rather than simply tells, how the Mac Pro improves his workflow. Users can then decide for themselves whether the time savings is worth the extra financial outlay, and whether they absolutely “need” one.

[...]

it is, but who actually does the final export on their workstation? You can edit using the proxy and then send it over to be rendered on a server in 8k or whatever you want.

Apple has enough issues with security and theft at most stores - that is why they're limiting it to flagship stores which often pay for police security;https://securitytoday.com/articles/...thefts-at-retail-stores.aspx?admgarea=mag&m=1

Who runs away with a Mac Pro? 😅

 

[MacDuggy]

Pretty hard to keep $7K-$50K non-expandable (RAM soldered to mobo) computers as stock “shelf” items.
A money grab for Apple because you cannot upgrade without taking your computer to an Apple dealer.

 

[Amplelink]

However it will be useful for some YouTubers who shoot multiple 8K RED video of their dog in the living room and need to process all that to deliver a knocked down version online?

This cracks me up. I take it your a video professional of some sort? Curious: is there any MEANINGFUL reason whatsoever to do 8K RED video if you're a YouTuber? Aside from being able to say that you're using 8k RED video...?

 

[bsbeamer]

8K apparently influences the algorithm to bump your content up the list. If you're making your living off YouTube, I guess that's meaningful? Not my part of the industry, but do reconsider all of my life decisions when I see people raking $200K+ per year making those videos...

 

[fathergll]

I live in the DC area and confirmed last week that delaware is the closest store to carry one. Its insane since there are 10 stores here and yet the georgetown, carnegie library and tysons wont get it.

How did you check? Did you call up the stores? I'm wondering if King of Prussia has one.

 

[defjam]

Apple wouldn't pay for. They'd make their customers pay for it ( or employees. one $12 set up on display and another wasting away in the back room is $24K that could have gone to a $1K raise for 24 employees at stores that will sell about zero $12 that year. ) Apple already has pricing cap problems. The Mac Pro especially is more than eyeball deep in them.

Apple currently has a market cap of 1.3 trillion. I know it might be stretching the finances and might push Apple over the edge of financial ruin but I'm willing to bet, if they're careful, they could put a 2019 Mac Pro in every one of their stores and have some change left over to hand out to their employees.

 

[Abazigal]

This cracks me up. I take it your a video professional of some sort? Curious: is there any MEANINGFUL reason whatsoever to do 8K RED video if you're a YouTuber? Aside from being able to say that you're using 8k RED video...?

Well, according to the YouTubers (namely MKBHD), it's largely the same reason why he filmed in 4k back when 1080p was the norm. The higher resolution gave him more flexibility in cropping and zooming in his footage without losing detail.

I can't comment on how "meaningful" it is for him, but there's a benefit.

 

[OkiRun]

"Apple has begun construction on a new $1 billion campus in Austin, Texas."

Seems Apple made other expensing decisions than stocking Mac Pros in a lot of stores? While it's only an opinion, I think that many people purchased the 16" MBP without ever going to a store and looking at it. You can 'examine' it digitally all you want over the internet. And people already know what a MacBook is. Same goes for the Mac Pro. People know what a tower computer looks like. No initial purchaser 'looked over' a real version; save those few at the WWDC. I do understand that the majority of people won't purchase a car (at a cost that might even be less than the Mac Pro) until they drive it themselves and see how it handles. However, that often dictates, if it's an expensive/fancy car, to drive some distance to a unique location. Not every Mercedes has the Maybach. And not every PC store keeps a Precision 7920 Desktop Workstation on the shelf.

 

[wallah]

Would Apple stores ever use these as working machines in the back to run store operations? What equipment do they use now to run everything?

 

[mmomega]

If there is a strong business presence for the stores then they will more likely have one on display.
This thing isn't going to be an impulse buy.

I know I am a different shopper but out of 6 dozen Macs, I have never purchased one after using it in the Apple Store.
I've used them and checked specs before but never have I touched one in store and then purchased one on the same trip.

 

[deconstruct60]

Apple currently has a market cap of 1.3 trillion.

That is trillion of other peoples money. Not Apple's. The stock price has no direct impact on store inventory costs or paying for horrible decisions of spending millions on so called advertising ( expensive geegaws for folks to look at) that does little to generate sales. Hand waving at the stock price is almost pure misdirection.

The triple digit cash pile? Again Apple has borrowed many billions of dollars to pay out stock dividends (instead of paying out profits to stock holders). So a hefty chunk of that cash pile is committed to stock and dividend service (by keeping borrowing costs low. Easy to get a very low interest loan for money that you already have but want to do tax avoiding tap dancing on. ). Again largely hand waving and almost pure misdirection. [ For most of Apple's tactical operations there is no way to get to any of that cash hoard money at all. it is not a license to be foolish with costs. ]

I know it might be stretching the finances and might push Apple over the edge of financial ruin but I'm willing to bet, if they're careful, they could put a 2019 Mac Pro in every one of their stores and have some change left over to hand out to their employees.

The money comes from sales of devices and if the Mac Pro doesn't sell in random strip mall store 23 it doesn't generation revenue. It would generate a loss. Borrowing from other parts of company to cover up bonehead moves .... eventually that will lead to bad outcomes. Avoiding that is exactly why Apple has money cushion and a high stock price. Doing otherwise is more likely to piss away a decent chunk of that Trillion that belongs to other people. And when piss away other peoples's money they tend to come after you. Most Apple execs like working there.