New MacPro closer to reality?

[Steve Connor]

Still hoping “Sometime in 2013″ means January!

Steve Connor
‘It’s just my opinion, with an occasional fact thrown in for good measure”

[Craig Seeman]

Don’t dash the hopes of those wishing for nVidia support.
All of the most recent Macs with non integrated GPUs are nVidia I believe.

One might hope that we’re seeing this in 10.8.3 build because sometime during its life cycle the new Mac Pro replacement will be out. When I shake my Eight Ball it says affirmative when I ask about Q1 2013. It’s one of those special Eight Balls that can actually fit the word “affirmative” in that little window.

Then there’s:
https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/magic-wizard-ball/id488374157?mt=8
or
https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/magic-8-ball/id447650548?mt=8

[Franz Bieberkopf]

[Craig Seeman] “All of the most recent Macs with non integrated GPUs are nVidia I believe.”

https://www.apple.com/macpro/features/graphics.html

Franz.

[Craig Seeman]

That’s a 2010 antique with new hubcaps.

That’s an “I’m not dead yet” Monty Python Holy Grail vestige.

[Gary Huff]

[Craig Seeman] ”
One might hope that we’re seeing this in 10.8.3 build because sometime during its life cycle the new Mac Pro replacement will be out. When I shake my Eight Ball it says affirmative when I ask about Q1 2013. It’s one of those special Eight Balls that can actually fit the word “affirmative” in that little window.”

My Eight Ball says Tim Cook was just B.S.-ing to keep some of the base from having a fit, and that the new iMac is as close as you’re going to get for the foreseeable future.

[Craig Seeman]

[Gary Huff] “My Eight Ball says Tim Cook was just B.S.-ing to keep some of the base from having a fit, and that the new iMac is as close as you’re going to get for the foreseeable future.”

Apparently your Eight Ball has nothing to do with this universe and Apple. Tim Cook is much more blunt honest than Jobs. Cook who apologizes for Maps and cans Forstall for not signing the apology (although there may be other deeper reasons). Of course maybe you think this whole AMD 7000 thing being supported in 10.8.3 beta is fictional as well. I guess the AMD 7000 series is going to be in the next iPad.

If you’re going to make a statement at least use something resembling reasoning rather than trolling.

[Chris Harlan]

[Craig Seeman] “[Gary Huff] “My Eight Ball says Tim Cook was just B.S.-ing to keep some of the base from having a fit, and that the new iMac is as close as you’re going to get for the foreseeable future.”

Apparently your Eight Ball has nothing to do with this universe and Apple. Tim Cook is much more blunt honest than Jobs. Cook who apologizes for Maps and cans Forstall for not signing the apology (although there may be other deeper reasons). Of course maybe you think this whole AMD 7000 thing being supported in 10.8.3 beta is fictional as well. I guess the AMD 7000 series is going to be in the next iPad.”

My guess sits between the two of you. I think Tim Cook’s good for the company, and he gives me some hope that Apple will listen a bit more. I think he was genuinely taken by surprise by the degree of adamant concern expressed at the Developers Convention, and that his promise of a 2013 something that will sit in the Mac Pro spot was sincere. I tend to agree with with Gary that it was an impromptu reaction to the negative response. Where I disagree, is that I think he/they will actually make good on it. Whether we all like what we get is another matter, but I think some sort of semi-expandable workstation will show up before June of next year. Craig, I think you modular explorations have been interesting, and it might be something like that, but I do agree with Gary that Cook’s initial responses felt a whole lot like damage control.

[Marcus Moore]

I tend to find spin entirely devoid of specifics. Cook said 2013. That’s a wide target to shoot for, and gives them ample wiggle room for delays- but it’s a time range nonetheless.

Let’s remember that Apple has been conservative and vague with release dates before. Both 10.0.3 and 10.0.6 were pre announced as “EARLY 2012” and just “2012” respectively. And in both cases people predicted much much more pessimistic launch dates that what Apple actually released. “EARLY 2012” was January 31st, and “2012” ended up being october 23rd.

My estimate on timing of these machine is entirely depends on whether they’re waiting to be able to deliver them alongside Retina Cinema Displays. If they are, then there’s no question that we’re looking at the back half of the year. Apple just isn’t ready to put out a double 2560×1440 display. I’m not even sure what graphics card could drive a 5120×2880 display.

If they’re not, then it could come much earlier in the year. Whenever Intel releases the Xeon with USB and Thunderbold native support.

[Craig Seeman]

[Chris Harlan] “I think he was genuinely taken by surprise by the degree of adamant concern expressed at the Developers Convention,”

It’s certainly possible. I wouldn’t think he anticipated it. I don’t think there was anything deceptive or dishonest in his response. I think he was revealing what he already knew but may not have intended to be public with it.

[Chris Harlan] “it was an impromptu reaction to the negative response. “

Although I don’t think the promise just sprung to mind. I think the concern resulted in him revealing a bit of future road map that he probably was intending on exposing otherwise. That he did is another example of Cook’s ability to give a blunt response compared to Jobs.

[Chris Harlan]

[Craig Seeman] ” I don’t think there was anything deceptive or dishonest in his response. “

I agree. I think his response was completely genuine.

[Craig Seeman] ” I think he was revealing what he already knew but may not have intended to be public with it.”

Maybe. And maybe not. Maybe they had decided that a workstation was unnecessary until they saw the ruckus first hand. I’m sure that somewhere at Apple there was some development going on, whether or not they had determined that workstations were in their future or not. I’m sure there is a lot of alternative development going on all the time.

[Craig Seeman] “Although I don’t think the promise just sprung to mind. I think the concern resulted in him revealing a bit of future road map that he probably was intending on exposing otherwise. That he did is another example of Cook’s ability to give a blunt response compared to Jobs.”

We’;re both in tea-leaves-ville here. I don’t think his promise just sprung to mind, but I do think it came out of several days of conversations. My tea leaves say that the roadmap lead away from Workstation/Servers altogether. I think he’s surrounded by people who are strongly of that mind. And I think the conference startled him. And the fact that he could react to that the way he did shows excellent leadership to me. But, you could be completely right.

The single brightest new sign for me is the fast adoption of USB3. That’s a decision that I thought should have been made a long time ago. Its seems like the kind of concession to reality that Apple sometimes has a hard time making. It’s made me think about sticking around a while longer.