The reasonable time frame we can expect the next Mac Pro machines is the Spring of 2012. Perhaps the late winter, Feb-March if the planets align. But the sticking point is the availability of the Xeon E5 Sandy-Bridge CPUs from Intel. Intel has already announced that the chips were delayed at least till 1Q2012. And there are, yes, SEVERAL threads on this very topic.
Good grief. Yeah, several threads where it is point out that it is
not the Socket 1356 (B2) E5 2400 (or the Socket 1155 ) that are likely to be used in the Mac Pro.
1600/2600 are the more likely choice and all indicators primarily point to Q4.
http://www.cpu-world.com/news_2011/2011020803_Details_on_Intel_Xeon_E5_product_families.html
There are a bunch of confused folks because they keep pointing to i7 extreme rumors and complexities which may/may not be applicable to Apple's likely choices for chipset (don't need fancy RAID) and CPU package (Socket 2011 (R)) are just fine.
Funny how the Pres. of Super Micro is anticipating E5's in Q4
and has boards queued up to go alongside the production volume availability of the chip packages.
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2011/08/02/super_micro_q4_f2011/
All of this Spring talk is super conservative estimates ( that can't possibly be "early") and part " doom and gloom" .
Furthermore, these Q4/Q1 dates for the different E5 segments are already a slide from Intel's projections of Q3/Q4. Many of the problems that folks are waving their hands about are already incorporated into the Q4/Q1 projections.
As for waits, if you look at the Buyers Guide, the last two Mac Pro updates were
The buyers guide is cruft at this point. Intel has moved the schedule release of the Xeon chips to 1-2 quarters later in the year. That had impact last year and this year. That sends the "predictive" average into the crapper as far as being indicative of some plan largely driven by Apple's motives/desires.
I can't recall seeing a Mac Pro TV ad...
There are no Mac ads period. Other than sibling rival envy ( "boo hoo, the iPad has a billboard and I don't" ), that isn't particularly significant or relevant. Funny how with no ads whatsoever the sales Mac have increased year over year. ....... maybe that "free" advertising that Apple leverages is working?
Been in an Apple store recently?
There is no huge wall graphic for the Mac Pro.
Relatively few folks buy them. A very simple explanation. They are so expensive most Mac users can't afford them. No conspiracy.
Additionally, if you have actually looked at the set-up in the store, typically the Mac Pro has been hooked to the largest display that Apple sells. That makes a "whole table" of Mac Pros a rather awkward set-up. Why blow away limited store display space on the largest objects. One reason the smaller display objects are more numerous is because ....... they are smaller.
A decent fraction of the folks in an Apple store are surfing the web and/or playing games anyway. Again some 27"-30" display is a complete waste for those activities if not looking to draw attention. Want to show the whole store your facebook stream... probably not.
More than likely the same case, probably with the new Sandy Bridge Xeon E5 chips, equipped with Thunderbolt, probably an uptick in Graphics cards (wonder if any will have Thunderboldt compatible display ports?),
Thunderbolt .... more sibling envy ??? .... the MP has already had PCI-e expansion for its entire existence.
