Mac Pros? Something happening?

Looks like maybe something's about to give. Apple Store delivery times have suddenly gone from 2-3 days to 1-3 weeks on all models. Either they're running down the inventory (could be) or there's been a sharp increase in demand (don't see a reason why).

Seems to me one of two possibilities:

1. They're about to EOL it (shudder).

or

2. There's finally something new coming.

Hoping that we'll see pretty soon now....

There are new intel chips slated for the 1st Q of this year and we do expect new Mac Pros.



www.strypesinpost.com

...I hear a discontinuation is on the horizon (towers). It is a rumor, but if you GOOGLE "discontinue macpros". there's a lot of activity...and it's not good.

When life gives you dilemmas...make dilemmanade.

Yep, new chips and some rocking good new graphics cards out there too. A new pro-oriented machine from Apple would restore a lot of the lost trust at this point. Still, not taking any cash bets just yet.

Losing the tower would seem logical. I'd actually be surprised if they didn't. Sitting here looking at my old G4, our old G5, 4 MacPros of various generations, 2 iMacs and a MacMini I am very curious to see what the future may hold. I would venture too that if the line is to be continued, it will include a totally new form-factor.

I fully expect it to be a much smaller box, probably about the size of a 4 bay external enclosure. Or about 6 Mac Minis stacked up only longer. Thunderbolt if they truly believe in it will be where all the expansion is going to be at. I think we will see less choices in terms of processor options for this box, but they will be powerful and expensive. I think a low end MacPro will not exist to push people towards the high end imac. They'll move to 2.5" internal hard drives, A slot load superdrive. 1 expansion card slot. 4 thunderbolt ports. A single FW800 port. 4 USB ports. Half the box will take care of the cooling since in a small box things will heat up quickly.

We will then see external thunderbolt expansion chassis coming out where we can all stick the cards we want in.

Will this smaller footprint support external devices such as aja io, or kona3, and the other external boxes
required for tape based media?



TimMirk Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> I fully expect it to be a much smaller box,
> probably about the size of a 4 bay external
> enclosure. Or about 6 Mac Minis stacked up only
> longer. Thunderbolt if they truly believe in it
> will be where all the expansion is going to be at.
> I think we will see less choices in terms of
> processor options for this box, but they will be
> powerful and expensive. I think a low end MacPro
> will not exist to push people towards the high end
> imac. They'll move to 2.5" internal hard drives, A
> slot load superdrive. 1 expansion card slot. 4
> thunderbolt ports. A single FW800 port. 4 USB
> ports. Half the box will take care of the cooling
> since in a small box things will heat up quickly.
>
>
> We will then see external thunderbolt expansion
> chassis coming out where we can all stick the
> cards we want in.

The thing about a machine with an expandable chassis is that it makes purchasing a Mac Pro more convoluted. And this moves away from the traditions of Apple design- simplicity in a box.

Apple can go with a much smaller form and more thunderbolt outputs, but that would render half the PCIe based hardware obsolete, and we are talking about graphics cards, IO cards, etc, although making hardware obsolete by virtue of a new design is something Apple is accustomed to doing. A Mac Mini design with no PCIe slots, but with a bunch of Thunderbolt extensions, running 1 built in/integrated graphics card from ATI... That would be more Apple-like.



www.strypesinpost.com

Basically I see them having 1 expandable slot that can be used for an additional video card, capture card, fibre card, whatever etc. etc. however they'll limit it to one possibly 2. Remember when we complained when they went from 4 to 3? Apple always strips away features for "simplicity."

I do see the expansion chassis via thunderbolt (or PCIe if they add an additional slot) being easy and simple having the ability to house 2-3 additional cards for legacy support, that can be easily transported and used with multiple systems sounds like a dream come true.

What I really imagine though is that thunderbolt support straight up will be the ticket for the majority of things. Matrox, Black Magic, and AJA are all already on board with some pretty nice thunderbolt options- especially with Avid support now! Sure no Kona3 in an IO box, but the IOxt is getting closer.

I'm thinking that some people might go the way of the Hackintosh if Apple kills the Mac Pros. I've seen a few of my friend build them, and they work.

Russ Blaise Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> I'm thinking that some people might go the way of
> the Hackintosh if Apple kills the Mac Pros. I've
> seen a few of my friend build them, and they work.


Boy, do they ever!

<Boy, do they ever>

Are you giving me the finger, or Apple?

Yeah, something is definitely happening.....

We're receiving our first Dell Workstation in a few weeks to test with Adobe Premiere Pro and Avid. That would have been unthinkable to me before last April's "X Sneak Peek."

Walter Biscardi, Jr.
Biscardi Creative Media
biscardicreative.com

grafixjoe Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> if you GOOGLE
> "discontinue macpros". there's a lot of
> activity...and it's not good.

have you googled "2012 end of the world" :-)

We all know that Apple's good at hiding things: rumors and speculations, that's all people have.

xavpil,

Thanks for your insight and for calling me out once again This is not a "Mayan Calendar - 2012 end of the world" forum so your comment is unrelated. If you have been a Mac Fanboy as long as I have, you know the industry and read cues & signs as foreshadowing. Mac Rumors and Apple Insider have been very close on many issues relating to upcoming / outgoing products. This on the other hand is on topic and makes some sense:

[www.appleinsider.com]

[www.ign.com]

[www.tuaw.com]

Stock is drying up at stores. That is a sign (of a shift in product - not in the end of the world).

Believe what you will folks. I personally am not investing in any more Mac Pros.

When life gives you dilemmas...make dilemmanade.

Keep it kind folks. Anything else is not worth it.

Michael Horton
-------------------

I really didnt mean to call you out.
My apologies.
I sometimes see you guys making comments, "joking" around.
I guess i havent earned this right yet! :-)
Ill let the "big boys" joke around whenever they see fit and will just go back to my observer position: in politics some would call this Dictarorship.
My apologies again your highness.
Lol

Now, a bit of speculation is fine by me as long as there is some logic behind it. This is not a rumor forum. Here's one forecast which I believe will be the chip for the next Mac Pro, if released:

[news.softpedia.com]

Yes, the Mac Pro hasn't been updated in a while, and they can't update it unless they get new chips, otherwise the upgrades would be relatively pointless aside from having thunderbolt and a small handful of thunderbolt compatible devices.

However, we also know that the last long stretch between Apple releases resulted in FCP X. I hope the engineers at Apple don't over tinker and try to re-invent the wheel.



www.strypesinpost.com

I think all that all that needs to be said on this subject has been said, and until all facts are in, its all speculation and educated guesses. So let's just close this thread and see what happens. In meantime, if you need what already exists, then get it. You can always sell it if something better comes along.

Michael Horton
-------------------