New Macs, Updated iOS and Mac Software, No iOS Hardware Expected for WWDC

[milo]

Ok, and would it not be possible to just add those features to a Mac Mini and any slots/bays in an accessory that can be added to a stack?

Along with 12 or more cores of CPU? And four bays of external expansion? And eight ram slots? No, that wouldn't be possible. Some people actually need the power the MP provides, even the top of the line iMac isn't enough.

You're absolutely right that Apple doesn't want to put much effort into niche markets. But coming up with some sort of modular thing would be vastly more R&D and still be selling to a niche market.

Really the only downside to a niche market is the development costs compared to the money they bring in. They're never going to have big growth in that part of the market. But the good news is they can update the Mac Pro with relatively low cost and manpower required. Apple does redesigns and they do spec bumps, and what the MP needs is more of the latter.

I imagine Jony Ive will have had great input with the Logic X GUI

Cool idea, but I see a number of problems with that. Logic 10 has probably been in development for years now, and Ive hasn't been in that position that long. Ive isn't a music guy - it would be great if he gave some tips on aesthetics, but I don't want a guy who's not a musician designing the interface. And most importantly, Ive has way too much on his plate to have time to be involved with Logic. iOS7, OSX 10.9, along with all the bundled apps on both platforms. If he has any free time beyond that, I would think he'd be looking at things like iLife and iWork. Hopefully Apple is putting more resources into Logic, but having Ive directly involved seems really unlikely.

I understand that a Mac Pro offers more flexibility but Apple can deal with that on the Mac Mini side.

They're not going to get the max cpu power (12 cores, probably 16 or more in the next generation) of the MP into a mini form factor. There's a reason they stick with mobile cpus, if they go to the higher power consumption and heat of desktops (and go to dual chip), it's back to a form factor more like the MP than the mini.

 

[n0id]

Gee maybe that SSD drive has something to do with it, along with the faster memory, faster memory controller, faster external drive interface, etc etc.

Would it make you mad that HP makes a laptop geared towards content creators that would smoke your iMac? Of course it cost $7000.

I could give a **** if they put Xeon chips in them; all we are really asking for is a modern tower using desktop parts with expansion slots, thunderbolt and usb3; is that really too hard or much to ask for?

-mark

My take on this, is that if you take the mac pro out of apples lineup, every other device is a "contained" piece of equipment....meaning the software (OS) is built to specifically run and work at a high level of performance for that hardware.

Once you open up a desktop tower like device with expansion ports, your expected to support every 3rd party add on card out there. That means stuffing your efficiently programmed OS with universal drivers....Just like Windows. Which we all know....doesn't work well.

They could say that they only support "these add on cards" and offer them, but then you'll see people on these types of forums complaining that their "$300 video card" doesn't work and mac pro's are the death of apple.

I'm actually surprised apple even mentioned that mac pros were going to get touched this year....and not just simply dropped from the lineup.

*sigh*

 

[milo]

Once you open up a desktop tower like device with expansion ports, your expected to support every 3rd party add on card out there.

It's the same with devices that connect via usb, firewire, or thunderbolt. It would be nice if all were mac compatible, but some are and some aren't. And Apple doesn't need to include support for everything in the OS, there are plenty of devices that have a driver available from the developer (which is fine).

They could say that they only support "these add on cards" and offer them...

That's exactly the case right now. Only a fraction of available PCI cards are mac compatible.

 

[Leonard1818]

Really dude? Maybe its saying something incredible about your kid...

I bet the iPad cant pick your kid up and know how to take care of her/him.

I like to think she's smart, of course. But I'm fascinated with how she picked up the iPad/iPhone. My wife and I honestly did try to keep her away from that stuff because a) it's an expensive piece of technology that I don't want broken and b) she's 2... What's she gonna do with it? Her generation is going to be inundated with that kind of thing their whole lives. Why start too soon?

That whole idea went by the wayside when she discovered that there were videos on there of our dogs, our family, and most importantly herself . She would sit and watch the same videos over and over and over again laughing and squealing -- getting mad if we tried to take it away. So we decided to go ahead and see if there were any good "todler apps" that would maybe help her learn shapes or colors or something... Of course the app store delivered.

Now she's got her own folder thing on the iPad with all of her games. She knows how to walk over, unplug it from the charger (no pulling on the cord!), hit the home button to wake it up, slide to unlock, scroll over a few times to find and select her folder, find her app, and play her games. She knows which icon goes to which game and even how to navigate to the different puzzles within a specific app (something even I can't do cause I don't know the apps). I've even moved her apps around a little bit to see if she'd still be able to identify them by the icon lol.

She'll ask me if I wanna see a picture of our dog and she'll exit her game, pull up photos app and scroll thru the TONS of pictures till she finds the one she wants to show me and she'll show me.

She's now learning how to take pictures with the iPhone. A bit more difficult for a 2 year old since you have to aim, look at the screen, and hit the button to take the pic all at the same time. She's getting there though. Fortunately, its not like when I was a kid and liked taking pictures. Film was expensive, developing was expensive, and by the time I saw the picture, I had forgotten I had taken it! She gets instant gratification!

Again, I like to think she's super smart (what parent doesn't?) but I give a lot of the credit to the simplistic design approach that Apple took with iOS. I've read a lot of similar "kid and iDevice" stories. It's literally "so easy even a two-year old can do it". There's a lot to be said about that in my opinion.

My mother-in-law is a bona-fide Luddite. I'm talking, bumped the mouse once while cleaning which woke the computer and then called us cause she thought she did something wrong. I've been telling her to get an iPad FOREVER cause it's going to be her easiest way to dabble in technology and stay connected. It's just so easy. And I think that has a lot to do with the simple design of iOS. I just hope Apple realizes what they've got. I think they do

 

[Orlandoech]

I like to think she's smart, of course. But I'm fascinated with how she picked up the iPad/iPhone. My wife and I honestly did try to keep her away from that stuff because a) it's an expensive piece of technology that I don't want broken and b) she's 2... What's she gonna do with it? Her generation is going to be inundated with that kind of thing their whole lives. Why start too soon?

That whole idea went by the wayside when she discovered that there were videos on there of our dogs, our family, and most importantly herself . She would sit and watch the same videos over and over and over again laughing and squealing -- getting mad if we tried to take it away. So we decided to go ahead and see if there were any good "todler apps" that would maybe help her learn shapes or colors or something... Of course the app store delivered.

Now she's got her own folder thing on the iPad with all of her games. She knows how to walk over, unplug it from the charger (no pulling on the cord!), hit the home button to wake it up, slide to unlock, scroll over a few times to find and select her folder, find her app, and play her games. She knows which icon goes to which game and even how to navigate to the different puzzles within a specific app (something even I can't do cause I don't know the apps). I've even moved her apps around a little bit to see if she'd still be able to identify them by the icon lol.

She'll ask me if I wanna see a picture of our dog and she'll exit her game, pull up photos app and scroll thru the TONS of pictures till she finds the one she wants to show me and she'll show me.

She's now learning how to take pictures with the iPhone. A bit more difficult for a 2 year old since you have to aim, look at the screen, and hit the button to take the pic all at the same time. She's getting there though. Fortunately, its not like when I was a kid and liked taking pictures. Film was expensive, developing was expensive, and by the time I saw the picture, I had forgotten I had taken it! She gets instant gratification!

Again, I like to think she's super smart (what parent doesn't?) but I give a lot of the credit to the simplistic design approach that Apple took with iOS. I've read a lot of similar "kid and iDevice" stories. It's literally "so easy even a two-year old can do it". There's a lot to be said about that in my opinion.

My mother-in-law is a bona-fide Luddite. I'm talking, bumped the mouse once while cleaning which woke the computer and then called us cause she thought she did something wrong. I've been telling her to get an iPad FOREVER cause it's going to be her easiest way to dabble in technology and stay connected. It's just so easy. And I think that has a lot to do with the simple design of iOS. I just hope Apple realizes what they've got. I think they do

That's awesome. Same goes for my kid, but she is 6.

And I ONLY give credit to Apple for making a good product, not that its simple. Simple or complicated, a determined mind, such as your daughters will find a way. Her success is only the product of her persistence, not the product given to us by Apple.

 

[avkills]

My take on this, is that if you take the mac pro out of apples lineup, every other device is a "contained" piece of equipment....meaning the software (OS) is built to specifically run and work at a high level of performance for that hardware.

Once you open up a desktop tower like device with expansion ports, your expected to support every 3rd party add on card out there. That means stuffing your efficiently programmed OS with universal drivers....Just like Windows. Which we all know....doesn't work well.

They could say that they only support "these add on cards" and offer them, but then you'll see people on these types of forums complaining that their "$300 video card" doesn't work and mac pro's are the death of apple.

I'm actually surprised apple even mentioned that mac pros were going to get touched this year....and not just simply dropped from the lineup.

*sigh*

You do realize that specialized thunderbolt interfaces will not work unless you install the drivers from the manufacturer; basically the exact same thing as putting in specialized PCI express cards; so exactly what is your point?

The iMac has laptop parts in it. How else do you think they make it so thin.

Why do people insist on just saying to buy an iMac! I already have a $1000+ display aka 30" Cinema which actually still works damn good. I also have one at work. By insisting I buy an iMac, you are basically telling me to throw the Cinema display away and "No" I don't have room for both on my desk.

Besides, I prefer desktop parts for my desktop machine.

For the past couple years Apple hasn't been able to innovate themselves out of a paper sack; and the saddest part is the most innovative product they have IMO is the AppleTV which is just a "hobby" according to their CEO. Well how about throwing some resources in a new MacPro and maybe you can stop being the laughing stock of the entire creative community.

-mark

 

[Nocaster]

Wait...Apple doesn't introduce iPhones at WWDC?

Half of the six generations have been introduced at WWDC.

 

[dmax35]

Wait...Apple doesn't introduce iPhones at WWDC?

Half of the six generations have been introduced at WWDC.

It's the Mac Pro's turn.

 

[milo]

The iMac has laptop parts in it.

Maybe some, but the CPU is a desktop version. They switched from laptop CPU years ago.

But I do agree that the iMac isn't a substitute for a mac pro for many users.

 

[vailr]

Suggestion box for Tim Cook

New Apple products would like to see:

1. A ~$900 Mac "semi-Pro" with single Haswell CPU, in mATX format with Thunderbolt, FW400, FW800, & USB 3.0 ports. And: video card slot compatibility of being end-user-exchangeable with most current generation PC video cards (nVidia or AMD), as long as it's PCIe 3.0 or better.
2. More monitor sizes to choose from, such as maybe a ~$400, 21.5" Apple IPS monitor with video camera (with a mini sliding cover), 2x USB 3.0 ports, Display Port, HDMI (with an audio pass-thru port), DVI & Thunderbolt ports.
3. OSX driver support for Hauppauge PCIe TV tuner cards. Maybe even offer an x86 version of the Apple TV operating system as an alternate boot O.S. included with the above mentioned ~$900 Mac "semi-Pro". Watch TV from off-air, via cable, or via internet.

 

[avkills]

Maybe some, but the CPU is a desktop version. They switched from laptop CPU years ago.

But I do agree that the iMac isn't a substitute for a mac pro for many users.

Yeah my bad on the CPU; We still need a headless Mac that has slots for GPUs at a minimum.

-mark

 

[Leonard1818]

That's awesome. Same goes for my kid, but she is 6.

And I ONLY give credit to Apple for making a good product, not that its simple. Simple or complicated, a determined mind, such as your daughters will find a way. Her success is only the product of her persistence, not the product given to us by Apple.

True. Though she did go through a phase where her patience and tolerance was literally about 4 seconds.... but now she's much more persistent, patient, and calculated!

 

[Orlandoech]

True. Though she did go through a phase where her patience and tolerance was literally about 4 seconds.... but now she's much more persistent, patient, and calculated!

Yup, same for my kid. I years ago I took her to a movie, assuming she had the capacity to sit and watch it.... nope.

 

[patientzerobeat]

I wish for a new MacPro. We can still buy the 2010 models [that's the last time they were updated!] in North America, but in the European Union sales were banned as of March 2013 because they didn't meet some energy requirements.

I bet the Hackintosh market loves the fact that there haven't been any new MacPros since 2010 (the "new" MacPros in 2012 weren't new - they were just the old ones with lower prices).

 

[Mactendo]

Ok I get it now. Dalrymple doesn't predict things, he's actually the secret CEO of Apple.

 

[DisMyMac]

It's the Mac Pro's turn.

They may only present plans for the Pro's new USA factory. A new model may have to wait even longer.

 

[dmax35]

They may only present plans for the Pro's new USA factory. A new model may have to wait even longer.

That may be true, thou it does add life to the Mac Pro crowd.

 

[avkills]

Apple is quick to forget who kept them viable in the darks days, oh wait my mistake that was Microsoft.

Seriously though; Apple has basically pushed pro users into their feces pile and it does not smell like roses. With Intel doing all the R&D on CPUs and chipsets, and AMD & nVidia handling the GPUs, I can't imagine that it really costs Apple a whole hell of a lot to develop and design MacPros.

-mark

 

[milo]

They may only present plans for the Pro's new USA factory. A new model may have to wait even longer.

It's hard to imagine they'd make an announcement about MP that they would move production to the USA in the future, but they weren't updating the model. It would be worse than saying nothing at all, just bringing attention to how out of date it is.

 

[Menopause]

Not my bear. He potties in the special bear outhouse I built for him in the yard.

And a damn fine bear he is.

We, sir, should be friends

 

[zonesey]

Mac Pro. Thank you.

 

[Drunken Master]

We, sir, should be friends

OK, but only if you can stomach bear chili in the morning.

 

[ipedro]

Do you have a MiniMac or an Imac (or both)?

Just an iMac. I also have a 17"MBP but I barely use it now. All my work gets done on the iMac and an iPad is my portable computer.

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I have a 2008 (3,1) Mac Pro, and am hoping to upgrade. I've got a 27" NEC PA271 in landscape orientation and 24" NEC PA241 in portrait. I have several SSDs and fast 7200 HDDs in RAID configuration. I use this rig for photo editing. My reasons for preferring a Mac Pro are that I like the NEC monitors better than the ACDs (wider color gamut), and more configurable (and cheaper) storage and upgrade options.

That said, I'm open to the maxed-out iMac idea. I've been out of the loop, so I'm not sure about all the options. Are you using flash storage for the internal drive, and then connecting an external enclosure with SSDs and/or HDDs? Or are you using the Flash Drive? Which graphics card did you get?

I maxed out the iMac 27"

3.4GHz quad-core Intel Core i7 processor (Turbo Boost up to 3.9GHz) with 6MB L3 cache - Graphics NVIDIA GeForce GTX 680MX 2048 MB

I have a 3TB FusionDrive for what I'm working on at the moment and a 6TB Thunderbolt LaCie RAID for my photo and video masters.

I understand that there are others with higher requirements but it's becoming a real niche for industrial level work. Your typical Mac Pro user can find their needs met in an iMac or an updated Mac Mini with modular adds ons. 1 Mac Mini doesn't have the power? Daisy chain another one in. Need to add a PCI card? Add it into a PCI stack module.

Thunderbolt changed the game. You no longer have to upgrade internally. A nice enclosure stacked on top of the mini can do the same these days.

Apple is constraining their product line and they always have gotten rid of niche products. I'd love to be proven wrong and have a brand spanking new Mac Pro tower but it doesn't make sense given their neglect for the Mac Pro. That much we know: it's not an important segment for them anymore, or at least they don't consider it to be.

 

[badlydrawnboy]

Just an iMac. I also have a 17"MBP but I barely use it now. All my work gets done on the iMac and an iPad is my portable computer.

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I maxed out the iMac 27"

3.4GHz quad-core Intel Core i7 processor (Turbo Boost up to 3.9GHz) with 6MB L3 cache - Graphics NVIDIA GeForce GTX 680MX 2048 MB

I have a 3TB FusionDrive for what I'm working on at the moment and a 6TB LaCie RAID for my photo and video masters.

Thanks. Are you pretty happy with the performance of this set-up? Is it possible to hook up a second monitor to the iMac?

 

[ipedro]

Thanks. Are you pretty happy with the performance of this set-up? Is it possible to hook up a second monitor to the iMac?

I love it. No performance bottlenecks and I work on 36.2 megapixel RAW images and use FCPX as well.

I could add a second monitor but I'm hard pressed to find a use for one. The 27" offers plenty of real estate. If you do want a second display, keep in mind that OSX Mountain Lion doesn't support a second display in full screen, though it seems to be something Craig Federighi is going to correct in 10.9.

For Aperture, I'd be happy to have a second screen if the second one were an iPad. Use the iPad to browse through thumbnails and control the Adjust HUD with touch while the iMac shows the selected photo. Maybe Aperture 4 will come out in the next 5 years

P.S. I lied. I forgot that I hadn't upgraded the RAM yet because I can do it myself. So this whole time I've been running with 8GB RAM and have been totally fine with it. If I start to see any performance issues, I'll upgrade it to 4x that @32GB.