New Xeons for next year

[Andrew Richards]

I can only imagine they are waiting for a Thunderbolt-friendly Xeon if they are waiting at all. A couple more cores is nice, but skipping Sandy Bridge EP and letting another year go by does not make sense for a couple more cores and an incremental improvement in TDP. Not to me, anyway.

Best,
Andy

[Marcus Moore]

That’s the thing. I’m not sure whether they would have taken more or less heat on the MacPro if they’d updated this year without USB3 and TB support. I’m sure there are people who would have been happy for the processor upgrade since they’re using other forms of external storage. But is that the majority of MacPro users?

No update this year with a known more substantial update next year.

Update this year without USB3 and Thunderbolt.

Which is the more “Epic Fail?”

[Frank Gothmann]

USB3 would have been no problem. All competing PC workstations utilizing new E5 Xeons have USB3.
And again, I don’t think next year will see a new Mac Pro. Apple has been very careful in their wording (“something” great); I doubt it’ll be “something” most potential Mac Pro customers will be happy with. And if a smaller form factor is what they’re going for… farewell PCIe and probably Xeons as well since there is no room for decent cooling.

——
“You also agree that you will not use these products for… the development, design, manufacture or production of nuclear, missiles, or chemical or biological weapons.”
iTunes End User Licence Agreement

[Devin Crane]

More than likely based on Apple’s trend, it will be a “pro” workstation with all the performance but without a disc drive or PCI expansion making it much smaller but still a work horse. Maybe with the ability to expand the graphics card though. WIth several vendors finally coming out with TB expansion bays I would not be surprised if this is the case. They are just waiting for the market to catch up.

[Marcus Moore]

I’m going to disagree. If you strip out expansion and performance enhancements, then a high-end iMac is already serving that market. Those are the differentiating factors. And as much as I think Apple would like, they can’t address those outbound via Thunderbolt yet.

Regarding USB3- It seems to be Apple’s modus operandi that they want support on the board. They waited until USB3 was integrated into the IveyBridge processors to include them on their laptops this year (while PCs had them since last year), and I think the same will be true with the Xeons. I have no idea what they’re rational is, or in what way it’s advantageous, but that seems to be their pattern.

[Rich Rubasch]

The other thing that scares me is an iMac that is truly expandable. Meaning the case opens up like that HP computer and you can access the guts to add RAM and update cards etc. Reason being I don’t want the CPU in my edit bays along with all the drives and other “boxes”. I run cables so all my rooms are quiet and not getting all the heat. But Apple might see monitor sales going down and the way to recoup is to require you to buy the monitor because it is attached! I also run 2 23″ widescreen monitors on every system and they all can connect to flexible JBOD and RAID enclosures in the machine room. I can’t lose that flexibility. 6+ Macs in one room all working together keeping the noise and heat in the equipment room.

Rich Rubasch
Tilt Media Inc.
Video Production, Post, Studio Sound Stage
Founder/President/Editor/Designer/Animator
https://www.tiltmedia.com

[Herb Sevush]

[Steve Connor] “Are these what Apple are waiting for?”

When it comes to a new Mac Pro what is Apple waiting for?

The next US solar eclipse (2017)
Hailey’s Comet (2061)
Brigadoon (once every hundred years)
Till the cows come home

Herb Sevush
Zebra Productions
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nothin’ attached to nothin’
“Deciding the spine is the process of editing” F. Bieberkopf

[Michael Gissing]

Available third quarter 2013? I have little confidence there will be a MacPro form factor available in a year and if it still lingers then waiting for this chip while allowing PC competitors to easily outgun you for less price means MacPros have been left to wither for too long.

Sorry but I agree with Andrew that this doesn’t compute.

[Joseph Owens]

[Herb Sevush] “Brigadoon (once every hundred years)”

LOLZ.

Brigadoon (the movie, 1954) is a standing joke in my family. (All star cast. Budget. Minelli. All That Plaid. Turkey.)

Anyway, I’m in despair watching the Yankees go down… see? step 3 already and its only the bottom of the 6th. Just like the 2013 “something special”.

With zero zippo nada nil zilcherama consultation, sure its what we’re all waiting around for with bated breath. Apple knows where the puck is going, right? (Errr… except when the players are locked out, I guess.) See the Samsung commercials — Especially think: the “headphone plug will be on the bottom — (boom *blows my mind*) nitwit waiting for the next big errrr… i-thingy. Can think of dozens of “improvements” that no one is asking for that will make the systems unuseable. Something magnetic? Something that limits all that “guesswork” and “ambiguity” that just drives us simple-minded folk crazy… so sure, Apple will just decide for us we don’t need that anymore. Especially all those $6-$7K GPU expanders a lot of us now own in the vain attempt to row upstream from the waterfalls.

You know, I think its great I’ve got this iPad with MLB.tv running — its just like a transistor radio with pictures. The quad split view is great, reminds me of working in the truck. This novelty is a great boon to personal entertainment. Maybe Apple should really concentrate its efforts there and just surrender to the hypocrisy of all that smug “I’m a Mac’ (and noticeably superior) bs. Yeah, they were funny, but now that Hodgman is running circles around Justin Long, the laughs are harder to come by. I’m just waiting for Microsoft to pick up on that idea. That would be “something special”.

jPo

“I always pass on free advice — its never of any use to me” Oscar Wilde.

[Craig Seeman]

For various reasons I don’t think Apple wanted to release any new machines without Thunderbolt. I think they’re trying to push out old technology and given that many people who buy MacPros keep them in service, often as a primary machine for 3-6 years, they wanted to avoid that. Given the small sales (for Apple) of MacPros they probably rather increase pent up demand and release a machine with Thunderbotl (and USB3) along with whatever the new case design brings to ensure the move to Thunderbolt in the highest end of their market.