UPDATED: With additional thoughts on Apple’s interest in the creative process.
Apple Insider has an excellent analysis on the future of the Mac Pro, and Macintosh computers in general.
This is in line with my earlier blog about the future of the Mac Pro.
There’s another, deeper, reason why I think Apple will continue to support and develop the Mac Pro. And this has nothing to do with dollars and cents.
I don’t think Apple is willing to cede the high-end creative space to a different platform.
Apple is a company, more than most, that strives to remember its past and use that past to inform its future. The idea of “Think Different” is embedded into its culture and the products they create.
Yes, we can be creative an any Mac or iOS device. But the wellsprings of creativity require heavy lifting: audio, video, 3D, mathematics, and deep science. These demand raw horsepower. I find it very hard to imagine that Apple is content to allow serious creation to quietly drift over to a Windows or Android environment.
On numerous occasions, I’ve had reassurance from Apple that a new Mac Pro is “coming later this year.” But what that new computer will look like or do, is totally unknown. It is clear to me, however, that it will be totally different from the Mac Pro we know now.
At the moment, I think that the principle gating factor is not a lack of interest from Apple, but the availability of the right chips from Intel and others that are needed to provide both the speed and Thunderbolt support these new systems require.
As always, I’m interested in your thoughts.
Larry
13 Responses to New Thoughts on the Mac Pro
Newer Comments →-
Butch says:
April 28, 2013 at 1:34 pm
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Craig says:
April 28, 2013 at 9:16 pm
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Chris Wilby says:
April 29, 2013 at 8:24 am
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Craig says:
April 29, 2013 at 9:55 am
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William Hohauser says:
April 29, 2013 at 10:33 am
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Jim McQuaid says:
April 29, 2013 at 10:53 am
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Ken Ackerman says:
April 29, 2013 at 9:45 pm
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Terry S. says:
May 3, 2013 at 7:23 pm
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Graham says:
May 23, 2013 at 5:11 am
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Keratina says:
June 6, 2013 at 3:19 pm
Newer Comments →Hopefully we’ll find out at WWDC. Hopefully Apple will pre-anounce or announce FCS X. Hopefully Apple will move towards building machines that can edit/grade 6k raw footage in real-time even if that means incorporating GPU(S) which they’ve been dragging their feet on supporting broadly for YEARS.
Hopefully Apple will leverage their close ties with Intel to get back into the server/super computer game and build server systems optimized for Xeon Phi and laser switching technology that Intel builds. Hopefully, Apple will make said server systems available to the public. Would be nice if Apple would acquire both SGI and CRAY computer. (back in the day, when SGI acquired CRAY, the companies optimized on different hardware which made the partnership less than ideal, today the RISC/MIPS vs. CISC war is over and both companies are solely focused on software development tackling the same problems while hardware is secondary.)
Hopefully Apple has a designer’s tool for building object oriented HTML5 web sites in the works (various rumors at least indicate this as a potential direction.)
Another way to put it is that Apple is a company focused on its ecosystem. As you point out the importance of the MacPro in creative and science fields, even a small component of that ecosystem may have big impact on the rest of that system. The MacPro is much like a fulcrum in which a much larger entity balances on.
While I don’t expect the new MacPro (MacPro replacement) will be a big seller (of course) I do think Apple will increase its versatility in design and function and that will increase sales a bit.
“While I don’t expect the new MacPro (MacPro replacement) will be a big seller (of course) I do think Apple will increase its versatility in design and function and that will increase sales a bit.”
Put the upcoming MacPro with a 4k enabled monitor and Apple won’t be able to make enough of them! 🙂
Chris, do you think Apple would come out with a 2nd Thunderbolt monitor? I ask because don’t forget that, otherwise, the monitor would have to be driven by MacBook Air’s and MacMinis as well, which are GPU deficient. Of course they could make a single monitor that can go to 4K but just not using the lower powered machines.
I do think a 4K monitor would sell to Professional Video power users but the reality is that market is small.
Personally I think if they put a socketed GPU on the motherboard, as all Thunderbolt currently uses, they could sell a version without any GPU in the 16x slot which might make it popular as a server version. Then high powered GPU users (Resolve for example) can use the free 16x PCIe slot for a 2nd GPU. With GPU on the motherboard they may be able to get away with just two PCIe slots, both 16x and the rest handled through Thunderbolt. With the loss of the optical drive bays, it could make for a small form factor, also good for rack mounting.
In other words, current MacPro is 4 PCIe, One populated by GPU, One available 16x PCIe and two 4x slots. The new version would drop the two 4x slots and, with GPU on motherboard, have two free 16x slots. They might push it further with smaller size over power with motherboard GPU and just one free internal 16 PCIe slot. Some might feel constrained by that but currently you’re only getting one free 16x slot anyway (other populated by GPU).
Clearly incremental MacPros have not been favored by the company as the minor upgrades have been sparse. We can surmise that the decision years ago was that the next MacPro would be as big a change from the current line as possible. It’s here where Apple is held back by Intel not been upgrading their processors as fast as we used to see.
Also, we can be reasonably certain that in some inner sanctum of Apple, a prototype ARM based desktop is chugging away and not impressing the higher ups yet.
It comes down to vision versus accounting. If Apple is becoming another giant corporation and driving decisions by ROI / EBIT etc., then there really won’t be another Mac Pro. If Apple still sees the vision of creativity flowing down from the power users to the masses (iphones & ipads), then a new Mac Pro makes sense. I really don’t want to migrate to Windows, so I’m hoping Apple has the vision.
From a personal standpoint, I no longer care what Apple decides to do with the Mac Pro.
Yes, I own one, and it took a long time for me to put together the cash to buy it and then an MBP for mobile purposes. It started with a Mac Classic, then a IIsi, then a G3 , then a G4 AGP, then a leap to the Mac Pro 4,1 2009.
It also took a long time for me to work my way up from Final Cut Express
‘s to FCP Studio 3.
Apple has the right to create new products as any business does of course, but through the years, I aways felt behind the curve because of the high costs of their goods compared to PC’s. When Apple decided to abandon the Mac Pro as a line a few years ago and then in short order abandoned FCP 7 & Studio 3 in order to focus on their adolescent “toy” line, that pretty much put me in a funk.
As a late adopter due to financial constraints, it felt like I was then stuck with 2 End Of Life, very expensive door stops. Still couldn’t afford the crazily priced ATI/Apple 5870, ancient but venerable video card and cards beyond that price were real gougesters too. Definitely a good country “You done me wrong” song in there somewhere.
Enter Adobe, stage left, marchin’ around like a N’Or’lin’s Mardi Gras street band, strutin’ their stuff with a cloud & a puff.
Shiver my timbers matey, thar’s lots a life in them old MP bones ‘Cause ‘dobe can use all those cores & threads and now the MP ain’t so dead.
Now along comes a spider, a Gtx 680 Mac, who sat down beside her, and said “When U snooz U looz miss monopolizing Apple blighter”.
Miss Apple, you slipped on a peel, lost your grip on the wheel, and now this ole’ milked cow is so happy it’s gonna squeal!
MORAL OF STORY: What goes around comes around, and that’s a whale of a tale.
Hi Larry,
Thanks for your continued thoughts on this subject & all the great work you and your team at Digital Production Buzz do to keep us up-to-date on what’s new in our industry.
The future is never clear, but I have almost given up on a future tower from Apple. With the advancement of the Intel i5 & i7 dual-core & quad-core processors, today’s desktop is surpassing the MacPro in many strides.
Plus Apple never intended to design devices for the creative industry, but of course the creative industry quickly adapted their computers, software, & later other digital gadgets like the iPod, iPhone, & iPad into their workflow since Apple creates products that just work better and are more intuitive. Although they have the creative industry to thank for keeping them alive for so long, I do not think in their minds, they feel they owe the creative industry anything. They have accomplished their goal of becoming a household name & brand. It’s cool to be a Mac user/owner, & the Mac is finally considered a serious computer. I remember the days when it wasn’t considered cool & had to defend the Mac’s practical use in the world.
I truly do hope a new Professional Mac desktop is around the corner, but I won’t hold my breath. Apple could be waiting to add 2nd generation Thunderbolt to the system, which was being demonstrated over at Intel’s booth at NAB. That would give the buyer more incentive to purchase this system over the iMac. What mind boggles me is why they didn’t at least add USB 3.0 with the recent hardware update. With all the other product line using USB 3.0, it certainly makes the MacPro seem out-of-date.
Well…. Here’s hoping.
Its all good and well to want thunderbolt on the new Mac Pro but for me its not as important as having more slots to put more GPU and other pro Cards in the machine. The thought of having a whole bunch of devices tethered buy expensive thunderbolt cables sounds neither cool or practical in a professional environment. housing what you need it one crate works for me.
With SSD PCIE cards available plus thunderbolt PCie cards available we will need more 16x slots. More grunt under the hood is what we require not fancy flat panel computers that look cool but cannot run our software properly. If we wait long enough the panels with run it if they don’t already do so but the silver Anvil will always be more capable, more upgradable and more future proof. So give us the minimum USB3, loads of slots an as much grunt as you can spare. A bigger hammer always his harder.
I hope you are right with this post. All of us are wanting a new Mac Pro soon!