Since I wrote my blog on the MacPro (read it here), Apple presented its keynote at this year’s WorldWide Developer Conference. Shortly after that, when the Apple Store reopened, not only were the new Mac portables listed, but the MacPro also had a small “New” tag over it.
However, the MacPro update was somewhat underwhelming, as my email and blog comments will attest. No Thunderbolt and no USB 3, to name two deficiencies when compared to the rest of the Mac line. Apple increased the minimum RAM to 6 MB, but is still using a 2-year-old processor.
I sent a note off to Apple asking for clarification, however, while waiting, I came across this write-up of WWDC from David Pogue – Technology Editor for the New York Times:
Many Apple observers also wonder if Apple thinks that desktop computers are dead, since not a word was said about the iMac and Mac Pro. An executive did assure me, however, that new models and new designs are under way, probably for release in 2013. [ Read his entire post here. ]
David is extraordinarily well-connected and if he says he talked with an Apple executive, then I’m sure it was a senior-level person.
Here’s my guess on what’s going on. I think that Apple decided a couple of years ago not to update the MacPro – that was the word I was hearing on the street. Then, less than a year ago, they changed their minds and decided to update the machine. However, hardware update cycles are lengthy and it takes time to create all the parts, which is why the system won’t be available, according to Pogue, until next year.
For now, it is good to know that the MacPro is not dead. Whether that is sufficient news for you, well, only you can decide that.
I’ll let you know if I learn anything more. And please let me know what you think.
Larry
UPDATE – June 12, 2012
Apple removed the “New” flag next to the MacPro in the Store listing.
UPDATE – June 13, 2012
Tim Cook, CEO of Apple, issued an email today saying that the MacPro would have a significant upgrade in 2013. No features or more specific date was mentioned. You can read his comments on a variety of websites. Here’s one: arstechnica.com/apple/2012/06/tim-cook-something-really-great-coming-in-2013-for-pro-mac-users/
20 Responses to MacPro Update from WWDC
Newer Comments →-
Marcus Moore says:
June 11, 2012 at 8:50 pm
-
Larry says:
June 11, 2012 at 8:56 pm
-
Marcus Moore says:
June 11, 2012 at 9:03 pm
-
Craig Seeman says:
June 12, 2012 at 12:40 am
-
Johan Lund says:
June 12, 2012 at 12:58 am
-
Terry S. says:
June 12, 2012 at 10:41 am
-
Brad says:
June 12, 2012 at 11:25 am
-
Tina says:
June 12, 2012 at 12:24 pm
-
Reinout says:
June 12, 2012 at 1:18 pm
-
Craig Seeman says:
June 12, 2012 at 3:22 pm
-
Nivardo says:
June 12, 2012 at 3:58 pm
Newer Comments →From an internals perspective, I’d also like to get a better sense of what’s going on here.
I was as curious as anyone as to why the MacPro hadn’t been updated since 2010. But then just recently I saw an article that stated that the XEON E5 processors that would have merited an update weren’t even available until just this March.
Ok. So now they can update, right? Except I’ve seen a couple people linking to Intel’s site and saying that the E5’s don’t even support Thunderbolt or USB3. So, really, other than faster GPUs, what could Apple’s update have been? Does this come down to Intel not being ready?
So here’s another question- if the newest server-class chips from Intel don’t support USB and Thunderbolt. What is everyone else using for up-to-date workstations?
I’m really trying to tease apart where the line is between Apple being negligent and perhaps where we’re in a technology gap.
My biggest disappointment in all this is that is it’s going to give people extra ammunition in denigrating FCPX, which I’ve honestly grown to love- and hate to see bad press drag it’s good ideas down.
Marcus:
According to what I’ve read, the new MacPros use a marginally faster CPU, and come with a minimum of 6 GB of RAM. I’m still trying to learn more.
Larry
I’m sure you are Larry. You of all people probably get the business about Apple and Pro more than just about anyone (other than Apple)
There seem to be some knowledgeable people on the AppleInsider boards. Apparently, the E5 boards can be used with Thunderbolt and USB through 3rd party chipsets like Supermicro.
But has Apple ever dealt with anything other than what comes natively on the board?
This is getting into foggy territory for me.
You’d think that they could have updated MacPro to the Sandy Bridge E5 and a newer GPU as well as 6Gb Sata. I don’t think that would have been difficult.
They could have updated the iMac to Ivy Bridge and USB3.
That these simpler changes didn’t happen concerns me. These changes shouldn’t have ti be put off untill 2013 as per Pogue’s article. Major design changes I can understand but these would have useful.
They did however promote the new retina MBP heavily towards the pro market. Mentioning how many simultaneous pro res streams it could handle etc. I think it’s a good sign that they still care about pro’s.
What an upset! I’ve given up on the prospects of a new Mac Pro. My feeling is that now that Apple has finally won over the consumer market, it seems to be alienating its creative market, first with software and now with hardware. If they believe in creativity it’s more of a “Creativity for All” mentality, and I do not discount that but I feel that they should not leave the industry that has kept them alive so long, just in the dust!
Larry, please pass along this wish list to your colleagues at Apple and feel free to add anything else that seems relevant. (Some of this may be a repeat of what you or others have stated as needed components.)
Wish List for Update for Mac Pro or Future Professional Mac Model:
Native support for Thunderbolt (2-3 ports minimum)
Native support for eSATA 6G (2-4 ports minimum)
Native support for USB 3.0 (4 ports minimum)
Native support for SATA 6G Connectivity (internal)
3-4 PCI-e Slots or any better/new standard for expansion
nVidia CUDA Graphics Cards as standard graphics card options
Blu-Ray (BD-R/RW) Optical Drive
Anyway, Apple just seems to be taking away so many of the necessities that us professionals need. They removed the optical drives from the MacBook Pro, now NO 17″ Laptop – Darn! If they planned to drop the 17″ then they should have added an Expresscard/34 port to the 15″! The one thing that all of the other mac models lack is expansion! If they want us to rely on Thunderbolt as our expansion outlet, then they better start putting at least 4-5 Thunderbolt ports on these macs so we can use workarounds like Sonnet’s Echo Express and Echo Express Pro Thunderbolt Expansion Chassis.
It seems to be coming down to the point that the 3rd party solution provider will be the one to fix the issues with the MacPro and other Macs on the Apple product line. PLEASE oh please figure a way to either create a PCIe solution for Thunderbolt or at the very least create a Thunderbolt Hub, 6-8 ports if you can!
Thanks Larry for all your insight and commenting on this issue!
From MacRumors…
http://www.macrumors.com/2012/06/11/david-pogue-new-imacs-and-mac-pros-coming-probably-in-2013/
The last time I heard “It’s Awesome” from an Apple CEO we got FCPX which made some of us question our livelyhoods with Apple. And some of us still are…
My two cents…Steve Jobs tended to thumb his nose a corporations but Tim Cook isn’t that way. I think they’re scrapping the Big Iron’s and building a new configurable iMac system using daisy chained Thunderbolt technology that has yet to be released. They still need a solution to appease the developers and professionals but minimize the cost investment and streamline the product line again. Whether or not the professionals are going to wait remains to be seen. This has become a case of the chicken and the egg.
I feel that they should not leave the industry that has kept them alive so long, just in the dust!
This is not so. The pro market is and has always been a sliver in their money pie. Consumers have always ruled hence the money-makers IMacs, IPads and IPhones. More emphasis on IPads and IPhones. They are the cash cow.
What I find to be quite a strange thing is; if Apple really is ignoring, dropping, neglecting, screwing the professionals in favor of ‘cash cow’ consumer products, then why did they open their keynote presentation with a video focused almost completely on professionals using their machines?
Even in Tim Cook’s final speech he focused on the idea of Apple creating great products for people to do great things with, to ‘better or change the world’. So content-creating-customers, not consuming-customers.
Personally I don’t buy the ‘Apple doesn’t like the Pro’s’ stories. I think they really still push in that direction. Even the iPad is now promoted as a serious tool for pro’s and they’re pushing it much more as a content-creation tool than they did in 2010 with iPad 1.
I don’t know if Apple was held back by Intel processor development in upgrading the mac pro, or that they honestly doubt it’s place in the modern production environment, but I refuse to believe that developments like FCPX & Macbook PRO next-gen are ‘evidence of Apple’s dismissal of the professional market’.
I do believe Apple is sort of trying to redefine the concept of ‘professional’, and honestly, as far as filmmaking is concerned, I think it’s realistic to say that that whole industry is dramatically shifting. I really can imagine an Apple briefing where they pose the idea ‘what if the only differentiating factor in filmmakers would be their ideas, creativity and talent? That technology is leveled so much that everyone could basically access the same tools?’ Which to me sounds like a great and somewhat naif idea, and a 100% Apple/Jobsian philosophy.
Actually sounds like a rather smart business strategy: Professionals are good customers because A. they are loyal, B. they spend more on products than average consumers, C. they potentially create great free publicity through their productions.
BUT, there are not a lot of them, so the money you make of them is limited. So why not redesign the whole industry (a little bit of imagination is necessary here) so that you make it easy for regular customers to become professionals so you get more of those loyal, big-spending customers. Try to GROW the small but really lucrative segment of the market!
That that loyalty is severely tested right now, is of course the reality behind this cool sounding theory, and all the weird things they’ve been doing or HAVEN’T been doing aren’t that flattering for them, but still, ‘Apple abandons professionals?’ I don’t buy it…
David Pogue’s source says MacPro and iMac redesigns are coming next year. Forbes confirmed that information with Apple in an article today
http://www.forbes.com/sites/connieguglielmo/2012/06/12/apple-says-new-models-designs-for-imac-mac-pro-in-works-due-in-2013/
Apple is not abandoning Pros or desktops. What they have done is abandon sensible interim upgrades in my opinion.
The impact is that we Pros don’t have a reliable product life cycle to gauge yearly purchases. So now our choices are between an EOL iMac now over a year old that may be close to two years old by the time of update and an EOL MacPro essentially two years old and may be close to three years old by the time that’s updated.
Apple not… Asus yeah!!!!
http://event.asus.com/2012/mb/P8Z77_Series_Motherboards/Thunderbolt_landing.htm