New Mac Pro at NAB ?

[Marcus Moore]

As far as I know, Apple have no history of releasing new hardware at NAB. It’s only ever been Final Cut (and support apps) previews. And I know I’ll be plenty happy if that tradition continues this year.

I think WWDC is a much more likely venue for premiering any new MacPro. It was the lack of an update at WWDC last year that caused the uproar which ultimately led to Tim Cook and Apple PR’s statements on a new machine coming in 2013.

Last year Phil Schiller asked the crowd if they wanted to see what a next generation MacBookPro would look like- this year perhaps they’ll do the same thing with the MacPro.

[Lance Bachelder]

I couldn’t hold out any longer – my tired old Mac Pro was starting to scare me. Just picked up the 27″ iMac and it’s awesome!

While there are huge 3 to 4 week lead times on BTO 27″ iMacs, Apple is quietly stocking a top of the line iMac in the Apple stores – it has 3.4Ghz CPU, 1TB Fusion drive and GTX680 w/2GB VRAM for $2599 which is exactly the model I was about to wait weeks for.

Waiting on 32GB memory kit from OWC and added a new Drobo 5D Thunderbolt raid with 15TB. Can’t believe the speed – 16 sec. boot, great FCPX performance etc.

Lance Bachelder
Writer, Editor, Director
Irvine, California

[Bill Davis]

NAB is no longer much a show to distribute information. The web does that faster and better. It’s also less about hardware tire kicking, even tho a lot of that certainly still happens at trade shows. Today, trade shows are largly about social connection and relationship building. It’s where you can form personal connections with others people in your areas of interest.

Apple has almost no need to do a trade show to get the word out about their products. They could unveil a new Mac Pro at a grain silo in DesMoines and the world press Would show up. That’s just reality.

They’ve always been exceptionally competitive in marketing and promotion, so if they feel the concentration of influencers at NAB is useful to promoting their plans, they’ll find a way to leverage that. But after the confusion and relentless bashing and woefull misunderstanding of their efforts in past years to try to use the trade show platform to launch something new and different, it wouldn’t shock me if they viewed the trade show arena as just not worth the hassle.

In essence, Apple doesn’t need trade shows very much.

And heck, when I decide where to spend my time – If I had as long a “to do” list as Apple and no justification for indulging my personal taste for public jousting,, I’d likely prefer places where the potential audience is either positive or at least neutral over places where I’d expect to be confronted with lots of Aindreas-style openly hostile venting.

If you want people and companies to show up and participate? Create an environment that welcomes and respects their ideas, even if you dont personally share them. Kinda simple, really.

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[Kevin Monahan]

[Bill Davis] “Apple has almost no need to do a trade show to get the word out about their products.”

However, my buddies on the FCP team will definitely be in attendance. Without a doubt, they will be there–just not in their booth.

Kevin Monahan
Sr. Content and Community Lead
Adobe After Effects
Adobe Premiere Pro
Adobe Systems, Inc.
Follow Me on Twitter!

[Marcus Moore]

I doubt we’ll ever see Apple with a booth again, and you’re right, they’re always there. But the question is whether the FCP team will be there to observe… or to present?

[Craig Seeman]

… or to hold a super secret meeting through the trap door in a discrete hotel room.

[Marcus Moore]

Actually…. That I’m pretty sure they do every year!

[Craig Seeman]

Which means NAB is still important to them for marketing. For Apple it’s through a private meeting though which leads to publicity from the invited.

[Clay Coleman]

It’s pretty much useless to try and figure which way they’ll jump next. All we know for the moment is that Mac Pros are no longer available in Europe. That would lead one to believe that Apple will have to at least issue a statement soon, but again, no point in speculating.

Seen the new GeForce Titan with 6GB of video ram? NVIDIA is calling the shots at the high end now. Not Apple. Unless the new MacPro is a real screamer, I would bet that PC’s will become the weapon of choice for all the heavy pixel-crunching tasks and apps by the end of this year.

[Craig Seeman]

[Clay Coleman] “That would lead one to believe that Apple will have to at least issue a statement soon, but again, no point in speculating.”

Already been stated that something is coming this year. We don’t know when or what but they’ve indicated it will be of interest to “professionals.”

[Clay Coleman] “NVIDIA is calling the shots at the high end now. Not Apple. “

Since when has Apple ever “called the shots” when it comes to hardware. They sell ecosystems so one has always had to evaluated the entire workflow package.

[Clay Coleman] “I would bet that PC’s will become the weapon of choice for all the heavy pixel-crunching tasks and apps by the end of this year.”

Compared to what previously? The MacPro has always been somewhat hindered by the GPU choices (more so than CPU when they were staying current with Xeons). Your comment seems no more valid than saying the MacPro will be the choice if it is a screamer. It may or may not be the choice depending on a whole series of workflow considerations.

[Clay Coleman] “It’s pretty much useless to try and figure which way they’ll jump next.”

Actually very useful. At least some portion of the market has decided to “wait and see.” That’s because they’ve decided it is at least possible there may be something worth seeing. If not, they’ll move but if so they may be buying.