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Working Over the weekend…
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Pretty white for a fly guy…
Thanks Jeremy for that distraction
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[Craig Seeman] “I suspect we’ll see a MacPro replacement around the time of the major FCPX update”
Do you really think there will be another Tower they make? (Im not being sarcastic Im really asking) Only casue all signs point to them leaving the Tower market in favor of the iDevices
I wear many hats.
http://www.gregburkepost.com -
[Greg Burke] “Do you really think there will be another Tower they make?”
I do not think it will be a tower. I’ve posted in detail what I guess in various threads.
2 PCIe slots (one for included GPU possibly both 16x. No additional slots
One SSD boot and one HD. No internal HD expansion.
3 or 4 TB ports
rack mountable shape.
i7 6 core, Xenon 8, 12, 16 core (or some variations of that)
no optical drive.
2 USB2 ports
1 Firewire 800 port.
2 Ethernet ports
I don’t know if it’ll be an exact match but I expect it’ll be some variation.The form factor may allow it to lie flat or on its side or rack mounted.
Interesting I’ve overheard others I have not spoken to describing that systems that sound somewhat similar to what I expect.
My guess such system would start at a price a little lower than a top iMac and end a little lower then the current top tower price. I think Apple’s goal will be to do some form of commoditized machine and that one might be motivated it update it more frequently than the 3 to 5 year range some are keeping MacPros in service as a prime machine.
In short, I think Apple’s goal will be to make a less expensive, more frequently turned over, power box. Obviously some will be unhappy but the lower point price point of entry will make it attract to cost conscious power users resulting in greater sales and a shorter usable life span. I think what they’ve learned from iPhone and iPad is not so much that they’re a consumer company but that they make more money with a lower entry point and users who update every year or two. This can even increase market share as older machines stay in service by those with even lower budgets.
Think about how Apple has handled their product line in which batteries are no longer user serviceable. It may allow for very powerful BTO options but may well be very “locked down” at that point except for RAM, external expansion and one of the two PCIe slots.
Again what I think is happening at Apple is not so much a move to a consumer company but a commodification company. That might be equally undesirable to some though. I think their goal will bring that commodification to the “Pro” market. It won’t be lacking power in most respects. It will have limited internal expansion once you buy it though.
To put it another way, the box will cost less to buy but you might end up spending more by having to replace it every two years instead of four years.
I actually look at my own buying patterns as an example.
I bought iPhone 3GS in 2009, 4 in 2010 and 4S recently. Each year I sold my previous phone covering most if not all the cost of the new phone.
My CPU purchase patterns are different. I bought PowerMac tower in 2005, Mac Pro in 2008 and haven’t replaced it MacBookPro with Express port in 2008 and haven’t replaced it. MacMini in 2008 and another in 2010. When FCPX came out I simply upgraded my GPU of my MacPro 2008.Very different buying patterns. Apple would probably like me to buy CPUs like I upgrade my iPhone.
I know folks who are stretching out the live of 2006 and 2007 MacPros. When you consider the dollars spend on Apple CPUs there’s many reasons such as that, that the MacPros are not profitable. A lower price point locked down system benefits Apple with more frequent upgrades and yet the older systems manage to stay in circulation.In order for this to work something must drive CPU turnover upgrades and I think that’s what Apple hopes to get out of FCPX. Of course that only happens if FCPX is good enough to motivate the purchases of new MBPs and whatever replaces the MacPro. A tower with lots of internal upgrades is not to their benefit.
I think the design will change a 3 to 5 year purchase cycle for some into a 2 year purchase cycle.
So what will make you purchase a new system in 2 years? Optical Thunderbolt as you need to move 4K files around maybe? I’m not sure but I can’t help but think this is their direction. -
[Greg Burke] “all signs”
Like the intel roadmap?
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[Jeremy Garchow] “Like the intel roadmap?”
OS lion and the merger of iOS coming together (slowly)
Taking MacPros out of the Apple store
No big updates for the MacPro in awhile
The Death of there own professional Software FCP, COLOR, Shake. Is Logic next?
If FCPX can run on the ipad whats the market for consumer Desktop towers(excluding iMacs)?just a few signs I’ve noticed, They might make a new “MacPro” (I doubt it) but its always a guessing game with apple..
I wear many hats.
http://www.gregburkepost.com -
[Jeremy Garchow] “Like the intel roadmap?”
Apple can’t leapfrog Intel’s major architecture roadmap, but they don’t keep pace with other workstation manufacturers, either.
For example, other manufacturers refresh their lines in between major architecture changes as new speed-bumped processors are released; Apple is still selling the 2010 Mac Pro with the same processors available — and at the same prices it sold for — at its launch 493 days ago.
Walter Soyka
Principal & Designer at Keen Live
Motion Graphics, Widescreen Events, Presentation Design, and Consulting
RenderBreak Blog – What I’m thinking when my workstation’s thinking
Creative Cow Forum Host: Live & Stage Events -
[Greg Burke] “OS lion and the merger of iOS coming together (slowly)”
You mean by looks? Certainly not by function or power (there are functional parities). How are you going to compile an application on iOS?
[Greg Burke] “Taking MacPros out of the Apple store”
This is a practical decision. Why have a MacPro in an Apple Store? “I’ll take the iPhone 4s, a travel charger, some Bose noise machines, and oh yeah, a MacPro!” Did the place you are gutting this weekend walk in and buy 30 MacPros from the Apple Store when they purchased them? Where are they getting the PCs from? CompUSA?
[Greg Burke] “No big updates for the MacPro in awhile”
https://www.hardmac.com/news/2011/10/14/delay-for-the-xeon-sandy-bridge-confirmed
[Greg Burke] “The Death of there own professional Software FCP, COLOR, Shake. Is Logic next?”
I know the video industry houses some huge egos, but MacPros aren’t sold only to video professionals.
[Greg Burke] “If FCPX can run on the ipad whats the market for consumer Desktop towers(excluding iMacs)?”
fcpx can run on the iPad?
[Greg Burke] “They might make a new “MacPro” (I doubt it) but its always a guessing game with apple..”
I’ll give you that. They don’t talk, so we never know, but they are still a hardware company. You rarely/never read the reports about how many copies of iWork they sold, although you do hear about the entertainment sales, but that’s content. iTunes is free.
No offense, just pointing some things out. In my opinion, the intel roadmap has the most legible signs, at least some of the most tangible.
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[Walter Soyka] “For example, other manufacturers refresh their lines in between major architecture changes as new speed-bumped processors are released; Apple is still selling the 2010 Mac Pro with the same processors available — and at the same prices it sold for — at its launch 493 days ago.”
Absolutely true. But Apple never has released every processor available even when times were less unclear (do those two words go together?). We’ve talked about this before, but their hardware has been pretty limited when compared to the other 85% of the desktop computer market share, or whatever the exact percentage of the market share might be.
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[Jeremy Garchow] “Absolutely true. But Apple never has released every processor available even when times were less unclear (do those two words go together?).”
True — but Apple did used to speed-bump in the PowerPC days.
The time between Mac Pro refreshes has jumped. From the Mac Rumor’s buyers guide, refresh dates are as follows:
8/2006 292 days
4/2007 240 days
1/2008 279 days
3/2009 420 days
7/2010 511 daysIf nothing else, this leads to a very big perception problem for Apple.
Even if they aren’t going to update the processors (which wouldn’t require much re-engineering at all), they limit GPU options and have strangely ignored technologies like Blu-ray, USB 3.0, SATA 6 Gb/s, and Thunderbolt (so far) on their top-of-the-line machines.
I don’t know what they’re going to do with the next Mac Pro, but the natives have good reason to be restless. There are plenty of things Apple could have improved in a 2011 Mac Pro besides Sandy Bridge, so I don’t think that Intel’s road map should bear all the blame for stasis on the platform.
Walter Soyka
Principal & Designer at Keen Live
Motion Graphics, Widescreen Events, Presentation Design, and Consulting
RenderBreak Blog – What I’m thinking when my workstation’s thinking
Creative Cow Forum Host: Live & Stage Events -
[Walter Soyka] “Even if they aren’t going to update the processors (which wouldn’t require much re-engineering at all), they limit GPU options and have strangely ignored technologies like Blu-ray, USB 3.0, SATA 6 Gb/s, and Thunderbolt (so far) on their top-of-the-line machines.”
Yep.
Apple has never favored the most blazing performance or hottest connection (unless they have helped design it). Usb2 took a good while to standardize on macs if I remember correctly, and that was probably from all the windows iPod users not having FireWire, especially 6pin FireWire.
[Walter Soyka] “There are plenty of things Apple could have improved in a 2011 Mac Pro besides Sandy Bridge, so I don’t think that Intel’s road map should bear all the blame for stasis on the platform.”
But it’s not really Apple’s style to do a refresh, then six months later the next generation comes out. If Sandy Bridge was supposed come out in 2011, knowing Apple’s history, they would have waited. It’s taking a bit longer than expected, and yeah, restless is right.
Usb3 and 6gb Sata would require new chips/motherboards. BluRay is most famously “a bag of hurt” and is supported by third party these days anyway, and thunderbolt is stuck with the rest of it, but has made it across the other lines who have functioning processor lines. Let’s not forget Apple’s supply chain is rather solid. They have relatively limited product fragmentation.
I have no idea what’s up on the GPU situation, though. I have thoughts on it, but it’s even more conjecture than what I just spewed above.
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