I think, whether for better or worse, it's very hard for Apple to release something "Normal" - we all think of the cMP in that way, but at the time it wasn't quite. It was far better constructed, better designed and more easy to mess around with than pretty much any PC tower at the time. Of course, that's long since changed. But I guess my point is - I don't see them building something that *isn't* special or revolutionary or at least unique in some way. That's just how they've always done things. However, as well all know, this is sort of a commodity space...it's mostly about what's inside.
I still think the nMP was a cool design, and had its place. If it was extensible, might've even made a great lower-end machine to keep on with. But, at this level, really what matters is power, stability, ability to handle working 24x7 for years at a time. I think maybe they spend too much time beating their heads against the wall trying to figure out how to make something that differentiates itself from HP, Dell, Lenovo black boxes. I think they still could, but I hope this time they lean far more towards what's needed and less in the direction of "changing the world" - that's sort of always been their strong suit, and this is perhaps the one segment in tech where that's not really helpful or useful.
I find it funny how everyone is making up a definition for "modular" and then getting angry at Apple before we even know what the hell it means. I think it's quite clear they've learned their lesson, and it's also pretty obvious they wouldn't have used that word if it merely referred to how it was assembled on the production line as some have so ridiculously asserted. If anything, the fact that they're willing to go back to the drawing board should be seen as a big positive...they're not going to make the same mistake twice...they'd have to be the stupidest company in the world to do that.
And, also...to the people who keep insisting they don't need pro parts...don't buy one. This isn't a gaming box. If you need a fast desktop, the iMac or iMac pro are what they provide. It's getting silly that after nearly a decade of the Mac Pro, people still think it's possible or even necessary for them to build a machine with consumer CPUs, only consumer GPUs, no ECC RAM, etc. Not going to happen. If they do it right, this will be a machine, as it always was, for serious work. I think it's about time we stop whining about the "xMac" - either the Mac Mini will get ditched for something entirely new in that space, or nothing will happen and you can keep buying the iMac or saving up for the Pro.
