[Moogs]

Ask and ye (we) shall receive. It seems.

http://www.macrumors.com/2012/06/05/...tes-next-week/

[Frank777]

Originally Posted by Moogs Ask and ye (we) shall receive. It seems. http://www.macrumors.com/2012/06/05/...tes-next-week/

Or you could have just stayed quiet, and the result would have been the same.

Apple was never going to cancel the Mac Pro.

[Xaqtly]

I wouldn't say never. The age of the tower is quickly coming to a close, and I still maintain Apple is going to do away with the Mac Pro.

Maybe not today, maybe not tomorrow, but soon, and for the rest of your life.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FpoyshqB8-o

[Frank777]

It could happen, but it's more likely that the Mac Pro will be cut to one version which is customizable, instead of the good-better-best options.

The future versions will be smaller and rackmountable, to allow larger companies to use them as a 'real' server.

The age of the tower may be over, but there's no reason the breadbox can't be remade into a modern computing appliance.

[Eugene]

The age of the tower already past unless you're a gamer or DIY builder or a very specific type of professional.

[Frank777]

Originally Posted by Eugene ...or a very specific type of professional.

Indeed. But government, education & science, Photoshop designers, application developers and large media businesses are very specific types of professionals that still spend a lot of money.

[Moogs]

I think it's time we put a stop to "The War on Very Specific Types of Professionals". Congress needs to hear our pleas.

BTW, looks like the prices will be about $3000, $3600, and $4600

http://9to5mac.com/2012/06/06/new-ma...ames-included/

[wtd]

Yeah, but those are Australian prices. Judging from how much higher Australians tell me Apple prices are there, I'm guessing they may be much lower in North America.

[Matsu]

So Apple is going further up market? Wow. [edit]I didn't realize they were Australian prices[/edit] Though a straight currency conversion doesn't sound all that promising, I understand there's usually a level of retail punishment inflicted on Aussies. What's the approximate translation of Aussie retail into Can/US prices?

Honestly though, I think iMacs have plenty of horsepower for most users. Almost the entire media arts cluster at my college is on either new iMacs or older Mac Pros. CS5 is the standard suite, switching to CS6 in September, amongst other tools for the those doing video and web design. There's some PC hardware mixed in for some of the engineering and statistical applications. Purchasing seems mostly driven by software, and relatively mid level equipment meets most of the requirements but for a few users.

I'm positive that just about all of the creative pros who staff and teach the various programs would be just fine with an iMac so long as Apple bumped the screen up a notch or two: Switchable sRGB/aRGB, matte screen. Many of the photographers already use iMacs with SSDs, maxxed RAM, external storage, and a separate proofing display.

[Frank777]

Perhaps one of our Aussie friends could chime in on the current prices of the Mac Pro over there, so we can have a useful comparison.

[Axl]

I'd like to see a redesign. Allow the Mac Pro to be rackmountable in server cabinets as a 3U component.

My IT guy made put our current Mac Pro on its side, on top of some plywood to fit it in the rack pretty ugly solution

[Frank777]

One of the main issues with using the Pro as a server is having a hot-swappable power supply, right?

Given that they actually incorporated the power supply into the Mini's chassis in the last redesign, is there any chance they'll include this on the Pro?

[Axl]

At work, we need the hot-swappable power supply-- Keep it in there!

[Frank777]

The current Mac Pro does not have a hot-swappable power supply.

[Dave]

Originally Posted by Axl I'd like to see a redesign. Allow the Mac Pro to be rackmountable in server cabinets as a 3U component. My IT guy made put our current Mac Pro on its side, on top of some plywood to fit it in the rack pretty ugly solution

http://www.redco.com/shopexd.asp?id=876
http://activatethespace.com/cadlock.html

[Axl]

Originally Posted by Frank777 The current Mac Pro does not have a hot-swappable power supply.

I thought it did. I suggested the IT dude to go for a Mac mini as a server and he was talking about the power supply being an issue…

Edit: we have three in our setup:

[Moogs]

Current AUSD to USD is almost 1:1 (1.0009 AUS). The prices are the the same in that case and I don't see Apple changing prices based on currency fluctuations. They'll just set the price points based on current trends and leave it. How that will work with other western currencies that are more spread out I don't know but I suspect they adjust in that case. Canadian dollar is very close to 1:1 (1.02 CAN) also.

[Frank777]

Yikes.

[wtd]

On checking the Apple Store, it seems Aussies pay a 20% premium. So, the Australian prices quoted are inline with current pricing.

[Dave]

Originally Posted by wtd On checking the Apple Store, it seems Aussies pay a 20% premium. So, the Australian prices quoted are inline with current pricing.

Yeah, that's what I was talking about.

[Moogs]

Hrm so you're saying our prices would be:

$2500, $3000, and $3833?

That would work for me but I can't see the uber model being less than $4000. They never are. Current ones are $5000. Prior to that they were like $4200 I think. But a price drop would be righteous.

[Eugene]

Originally Posted by Frank777 Indeed. But government, education & science, Photoshop designers, application developers and large media businesses are very specific types of professionals that still spend a lot of money.

How many of these people need 12-16 general purpose cores at their feet again? Isn't the idea to have PC -> high-speed external I/O -> high-density Tesla/Stream or other HPC box + storage arrays? Anyway I'm in no way hoping the Mac Pro goes away. I've always been in favor of Apple keeping it around 'because they can.'

[709]

Honestly, if there's a stock Mac over 4 grand I'll eat my hat. I just don't see that happening.

You'd have to be wildly out of touch to throw a box like that in the mix. Especially with a year-old video card, as Apple tends to do.

[GSpotter]

Originally Posted by wtd On checking the Apple Store, it seems Aussies pay a 20% premium. So, the Australian prices quoted are inline with current pricing.

If you compare the new prices with the prices of the current offerings in the AU Apple store, the entry price is identical. So I assume that also for other countries, the prices of the new machines will match the current price points...

Well, I had hoped for a bit cheaper entry level MacPro...

[Dorian Gray]

9to5 Mac puts the new prices at: A$ 2999 and A$ 4599, plus a server at A$ 3599.

By comparison, the current Australian prices for the Mac Pros are A$ 2999, A$ 4199, and A$ 5999, plus a server at A$ 3599. One model will be dropped, presumably in response to declining sales.

The same machines in the US are $2499, $3499, $4999, and $2999 for the server.

The same machines in the UK are £2041, £2859, £4083, and £2450 for the server.

The same machines in France are 2399 €, 3399 €, 4899 €, and 2899 € for the server.

So it looks like the entry-level Mac Pro and server model will stay roughly the same price, while the new high-end model will sit between the two existing high-end models, splitting the difference.

Question: who buys these nowadays? Is it possible a significant portion of sales go to Apple geeks who must have "the best"? There's an ad agency not far from me, with scores of iMacs in a huge open-plan office facing the street. Peering in, I can't see any Mac Pros. I thought an ad agency would be natural territory for the Mac Pro, but apparently not.

[drewprops]

I still want one, just like I want a Lamborghini.

I am the serious.


...

[Ryan]

Originally Posted by Dorian Gray Question: who buys these nowadays? Is it possible a significant portion of sales go to Apple geeks who must have "the best"? There's an ad agency not far from me, with scores of iMacs in a huge open-plan office facing the street. Peering in, I can't see any Mac Pros. I thought an ad agency would be natural territory for the Mac Pro, but apparently not.

I did some web development work for an online branding firm last year and the designers all used brand-new Mac Pros with dual 23" monitors. When you're building comps with over a thousand layers and different inline versions for each web page, you need all the power you can get.

[Moogs]

Originally Posted by Dorian Gray Question: who buys these nowadays?

Just a few whiny geeks on AppleNova and Macrumors... and the 12th Grade lab at Crabapple HS in Guidoslick NJ. Oh and several university labs. No one else uses them.

[Dorian Gray]

'Twasn't a rhetorical question, clever-clogs Moogs.

Ryan has a likely scenario, though drewprops' is probably more common.

I'd like a Mac Pro too, but I'd need my own wind turbine to power it. I have a problem using over 130 watts to surf AppleNova.

[Moogs]

Sorry I couldn't resist. Seemed rhetorical.

The most simplified answer to who is people that:

a) need 3rd party monitors to get accurate color
b) need 3-4 HD in their machine (scratch disks, etc)
c) need 10+GB of RAM (Photoshop, AE, 3D, etc)
d) upgradable GPUs (Call of Duty! )
e) slots for PCI cards (video / audio processing most common)

f) want to look down on the rest of you mortals. (I kid)