Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.
No one who wants to do any serious work with a pen is going to want to use the comparatively tiny space of a touchpad to do it.
I Have an Galaxy Note, and I do that perfectly on that "tiny" space, the MBP' touchpad and the MagicTPad are even roomier but you dont have a stylus, MacOS's document preview (And Adobe Reader) allows enetring Handwritten signatures either thru the touchpad or using a Digitizer, the touchpad with an passive stylus is not good, neither you need an 8.5x11" digitizer to enter a handwritten signature or draw small fine details, enabling the Apple Pencil in the MagicTPad will allow a new level of precision imput w/o having to own a full fledged digitizer, but even Apple could bring Digitzer features to the MacBook's/iMac screens and allow the Apple Pencil to be used along all the screen extent.
 
iPad-pencil-and CAD... from my personal experience the iPad is significantly limited when it comes to CAD. It’s really only been good for playing around-revisions-and the like. I’ll take my MacBook over an iPad anyday (plus CAD software/apps seem very limited on iPad at the moment anyway).
 
iPad-pencil-and CAD... from my personal experience the iPad is significantly limited when it comes to CAD.
That's about software, but not as for Input Interface, iPad's Pencil do much better work than most PRO Wacom Digitizers, and I'm not talking about using the iPad as a wacom digitizer (maybe there are some app for that), but to marry Pencil and Magic Touchpad in a convenient precise Input device for handwritten "touch up".
 
So back to MacPro... When do y'all think were the glory days of MacPro? I'm thinking it was back in the day of the PowerMac G4. 400 MHz. Sure, that thing is a POS today... But back then I clearly remember day dreaming about it often. Those were heady exciting times (back then).
 
  • Like
Reactions: Aldaris
So back to MacPro... When do y'all think were the glory days of MacPro? I'm thinking it was back in the day of the PowerMac G4. 400 MHz. Sure, that thing is a POS today... But back then I clearly remember day dreaming about it often. Those were heady exciting times (back then).
G4 days for sure-Quicksilver and MDD, in my opinion. Final Cut Studio, original iPod began a revolution for better or worse-but a great time in Apples history-really approaching a peak if you ask me.
 
The days when it was called the PowerMac, and used a proprietary PPC CPU.

Once it became the "Mac Pro" and could be directly compared to Linux/Windows commodity machines was the beginning of the current death spiral.

Not sure how that makes sense considering when it switched to Intel was the first time in a while that their Pro Macs could actually compete on a technical level.

The G5s and to an even greater degree the G4s were getting stomped by Intel offerings late in their lifecycle.
 
The switch to Intel wasn’t the problem, not updating processors/internals for 4-5 years is. I own both an nMP and a Ryzen rig and the latter absolutely destroys the Pro in performance with cheap consumer internals. It’s embarrassing.

I think I was in denial for years, but now I’m starting to believe that the Apple built by Steve Jobs really is gone for good. I wouldn’t trust any of the current management to ever produce Macs with any consistent quality or care ever again. They simply don’t care enough about the platform beyond profit margin.
 
The switch to Intel wasn’t the problem, not updating processors/internals for 4-5 years is. I own both an nMP and a Ryzen rig and the latter absolutely destroys the Pro in performance with cheap consumer internals. It’s embarrassing.

I think I was in denial for years, but now I’m starting to believe that the Apple built by Steve Jobs really is gone for good. I wouldn’t trust any of the current management to ever produce Macs with any consistent quality or care ever again. They simply don’t care enough about the platform beyond profit margin.
The mMP is their last chance. Over the entire Mac lineup, one could always shove some justification as to hardware component choice, form (factor) over function etc, especially the portable Macs. But the top of the line workstation has absolutely no excuse for nonsense. If the mMP comes out with just a slight bit of unnecessary castration in favour of style in line with recent Apple products, then we can safely take the hint to **** off for good.
 
The time from when Jobs returned to Apple, up to the point they became an iPhone company was the hay day.

I mean really, no upgrade to the flagship Pro in 5 years?

May as well be a million in computer years. The mMP is going to have to hit a homerun to win back all the Pro's they lost.

When is Apple going to get the memo and stop choosing form over function. People don't want dongle and cable hell all over their desk. I have no faith that Apple will give us a mMP that fits my desires, namely upgradable CPU,Ram,PCI-E.

Now they could surprise me, come up with a new take on what is really ATX that is more useful.

I just don't get why they keep trying to reinvent the wheel, the Mac isn't even a 3rd class citizen with Apple anymore, just release a ATX form factor Logicboard and let us build the system we want out of it.

People will still buy iMacs/Minis/Portables, and whatever the hell the mMP is going to be. However Apple has never entered the mass market with desktop systems.
 
The mMP is their last chance.
Does anyone honestly, truly believe the fabled mMP actually exists? It's now been a year since the "we screwed up" talk from Schiller and co and since then...nothing.

No parts leaks, no design leaks, no patent filings - not a thing. Plenty of rumblings regarding portables and iDevices. But the Mac Pro? Tumbleweed, just as it's been for years. At what point do people just breathe deep, declare 'enough is enough' and move on? Even if a mMP does finally emerge, what evidence points to this debacle not happening all over again?

As someone said earlier, it's a desktop for crying out loud and one that professionals rely on to earn a living. Maybe Apple isn't really being secretive at all. Maybe they really have nothing in the works to be secretive about.
 
Does anyone honestly, truly believe the fabled mMP actually exists? It's now been a year since the "we screwed up" talk from Schiller and co and since then...nothing.

No parts leaks, no design leaks, no patent filings - not a thing. Plenty of rumblings regarding portables and iDevices. But the Mac Pro? Tumbleweed, just as it's been for years. At what point do people just breathe deep, declare 'enough is enough' and move on? Even if a mMP does finally emerge, what evidence points to this debacle not happening all over again?

As someone said earlier, it's a desktop for crying out loud and one that professionals rely on to earn a living. Maybe Apple isn't really being secretive at all. Maybe they really have nothing in the works to be secretive about.

This is pretty dumb. What do they gain by announcing a product that they don't ship? And as pointed out, a lack of leaks isn't surprising.

Patent filings? People her are yelling at Apple for trying to reinvent the wheel and want a traditional tower form factor. What's there to patent about that?
 
Does anyone honestly, truly believe the fabled mMP actually exists? It's now been a year since the "we screwed up" talk from Schiller and co and since then...nothing.

No parts leaks, no design leaks, no patent filings - not a thing. Plenty of rumblings regarding portables and iDevices. But the Mac Pro? Tumbleweed, just as it's been for years. At what point do people just breathe deep, declare 'enough is enough' and move on? Even if a mMP does finally emerge, what evidence points to this debacle not happening all over again?

As someone said earlier, it's a desktop for crying out loud and one that professionals rely on to earn a living. Maybe Apple isn't really being secretive at all. Maybe they really have nothing in the works to be secretive about.
This is the full quote from the roundtable concerning release time frame:

As part of doing a new Mac Pro — it is, by definition, a modular system — we will be doing a pro display as well. Now you won’t see any of those products this year; we’re in the process of that. We think it’s really important to create something great for our pro customers who want a Mac Pro modular system, and that’ll take longer than this year to do.​

That was April 2017. As it looks, they probably did have nothing for many years between 2013-17, probably failing to adequately update the tcMP while not allocating resources for a Plan B. That verbal commitment above, publicly make it clear something won't come out within 2017 (which it didn't), but also not promising anything within 2018. Thus the development of mMP likely didn't formally start much earlier than the roundtable.

I myself also don't think or can even comprehend how a desktop/workstation design could take that long to be sorted out. It is not like the competitors haven't been pumping out hardware updates in the same time frame that faced similar thermal envelopes. Of course we all know the difference is that only Apple is constrained by the form factor in relation to its heat efficiency. The core issue is if Apple could swallow back-pedalling to a conventional tower design, even if it is as elegant as the Cheese Grater was. The answer is clearly no, otherwise we would have gotten a MP "redesign" already, probably before TB3 was first implemented on MBPs. It seems to me Apple still wants to impress, or even score a home run with a next-gen desktop approach. Why it takes this long is because it is almost impossible to do, while still deliver no-nonsense performance... but they try.
 
You guys should be ashamed of yourselves. All talking iPad in the infamous nMP thread.

For shame !

Never peek at at the Mac Mini section...

back in the day of the PowerMac G4

Apple and IBM should hae never abandon the PowerPC CPU (IBM resurrected it past year, Apple unlikely will turn back)

when Jobs returned to Apple, up to the point they became an iPhone company
....

The mMP is going to have to hit a homerun to win back all the Pro's they lost.

The iPhone (it's software and AI development) is the reason for Apple to Offer again a Mac Pro, its no secret from Ive to Cook they wanted to kill it in basis to its development take R&D resources from other priority projects, and they then didnt foresee to need a powerful workstation for VR/AI, glad VR/AI grown we will have a mMP again but just the MP Apple needs for its iOS developers, so those expecting 4 GPU, std PCIe better dont embrace big expectations.


Does anyone honestly, truly believe the fabled mMP actually exists?

At least Apple build a tcMP prototype in 2016 loaded with dual RX480-family GPU and 6 TB3+4(10) USB3 ports, there where leaked evidence of that, and someone at NAB watched this prorotype and leaked it, for some reason Apple decided not to sell it, I dont buy the "blame the thermal corner" as reason for that, since there where N turnarrounds to raise the tcMP TDP to 600W enough for dual RX580(full clock) or dual Vera64(underclocked), and a typical Xeon E5v4
 
Last edited:
This is pretty dumb. What do they gain by announcing a product that they don't ship?
Thanks for calling me dumb; meanwhile, I'd consider waiting around years for the world's richest corporation to produce something other than vaporware pretty misguided. Schiller was the same dude who declared the nMP was their pro design for the next 10 years (then didn't even bother updating specs for 4.5 yrs and counting) so excuse me if I don't take what he says as gospel truth.

Meanwhile, the wait continues for a mMP that may or not be coming in a timeframe nobody knows with a form factor/upgradeability path that is a complete mystery. And I'm dumb?

I myself also don't think or can even comprehend how a desktop/workstation design could take that long to be sorted out.
Amen. I've always believed both the Mini and Pro had languished for so long because Apple had EOL'd them. The iMac Pro was always the 'new' Mac Pro they had planned. Now they're starting again from scratch.
 
Thanks for calling me dumb; meanwhile, I'd consider waiting around years for the world's richest corporation to produce something other than vaporware pretty misguided. Schiller was the same dude who declared the nMP was their pro design for the next 10 years (then didn't even bother updating specs for 4.5 yrs and counting) so excuse me if I don't take what he says as gospel truth.

Meanwhile, the wait continues for a mMP that may or not be coming in a timeframe nobody knows with a form factor/upgradeability path that is a complete mystery. And I'm dumb?


Amen. I've always believed both the Mini and Pro had languished for so long because Apple had EOL'd them. The iMac Pro was always the 'new' Mac Pro they had planned. Now they're starting again from scratch.

I didn't call you dumb. I called your dumb statement dumb. They gain nothing by holding a special event and admitting their mistakes and promising a new Mac Pro sometime in the future and then never creating that product.
 
No, I dont think so, I see the iMac Pro as a Quick Patch for the Mac Pro^2blem.

Which Mac Pro problem? There are two "Mac Pro" problems. The old 'box with slots' legacy market. And the market they were primarily targeting with the Mac Pro 2013 design.

iMac Pro isn't really a "quick patch" for the the first. iMac Pro is a iterative evolutions of the second. Either way it isn't a "quick patch". You may wish it to go away in the second case but that's a little delusional. Extremely likely won't.
[doublepost=1522080590][/doublepost]
I think that they 're also testing the market.

Not a test. If look at the transcript of the last April meeting they outlines that a substantive set of folks were transitioning to iMacs ( and MBPs). There were already folks heading that way, Apple is only serving them more performance in the same form factor that was acceptable enough.

If they were following a trend that users had not already exhibited then that would be more of a 'test'.

What they didn't measure/model correctly was more so how many were going to stay parked in the "iMac will never be an option" camp. 6-10 years ago folks didn't have a choice for a certain performance range so they had no other viable option than "Mac Pro like " system. Now there is. The open question is there 'enough' to float the other options after those folks who were herded into a Mac Pro leave.
 
At least Apple build a tcMP prototype in 2016 loaded with dual RX480-family GPU and 6 TB3+4(10) USB3 ports, there where leaked evidence of that, and someone at NAB watched this prorotype and leaked it, for some reason Apple decided not to sell it, I dont buy the "blame the thermal corner" as reason for that, since there where N turnarrounds to raise the tcMP TDP to 600W enough for dual RX580(full clock) or dual Vera64(underclocked), and a typical Xeon E5v4

Without knowing whether or not that rumor is true (Apple does do private demos at NAB, but I've never heard anything about that specific config), any demo Apple would have done would very likely NOT have been thermally ready. If it was it would be shipping.

Likely they had the actual Mac Pro hidden someplace with the fans cranked up on full if such a thing existed. NAB demos are usually not in shippable condition. Remember NAB is in April, about 8 months before Apple usually ships a Mac Pro. The demos aren't shippable machines.

There's a reason why typically when Apple first unveils machines that aren't shipping for a bit, you never see an actual one running. When they unveiled the 2013 Mac Pro, they had them floating in those cases, but they never showed an actual one running or had a place where people could use one.

[doublepost=1522086914][/doublepost]
Does anyone honestly, truly believe the fabled mMP actually exists? It's now been a year since the "we screwed up" talk from Schiller and co and since then...nothing.

They literally didn't start on it until after the roundtable, and they had to put together a new team, along with getting the iMac Pro out the door.

People here underestimate how long it takes to do a product when you're starting from scratch and the team already had another machine to get out the door.

We're probably just getting to the point where they might be doing DVT runs, but even then those aren't usually super leaky.

Apple really was caught with their pants down, and they had that roundtable as soon as they realized it. There is no master plan, no hidden conspiracy. They were starting with absolutely nothing, and they had absolutely nothing when Schiller was talking. The whole thing is a disaster.

That's also why Apple hasn't said much. There is nothing to say, and if we're lucky they might have something by WWDC. I wouldn't be surprised if that was their internal goal.
[doublepost=1522087352][/doublepost]
I think that they 're also testing the market.

They were, they aren't now. I think they very quickly got feedback from MVP customers they privately demoed the iMac Pro to that it would NOT work was a Mac Pro replacement. THEN they had the fire drill roundtable once they realized the iMac Pro couldn't replace the Mac Pro.
 
Last edited:
Register on MacRumors! This sidebar will go away, and you'll see fewer ads.