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Are they really going to update Mac Pro in 2013?
- Thread starter d-m-a-x
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Even if they do in 2013.
I have a gut feeling, that a lot of people who really need really good performance will have already moved to Windows machines.
As much as I preach that I like Windows, and we've used them at work for a long time. We always went with the most powerful platform that we could afford. And it was Macs at one point.
At one point we had OSX versions of our software running on PM G5's, the price to performance ratio was amazing on the G5s. We had G4's as well. Updates came all the time, the GPU support was great. Everytrhing about the G4s and G5's were great. Until apple threw it all away.
Then Apple randomly dumped the G5s, without warning. Stopped supporting them, without warning.
At that point we switched to Windows machines, and are super happy with everything.
A lot of people who actually need retarded performance ( My workstation at work like many others runs almost 20K each. We actually use all that hardware power, and update every 2-3 years ). Can't trust apple anymore. Apple provides no road maps, no announcements, no hardware support. And no real updates for years on end.
I think a good deal of " Pros " have had it with Apple.
I have a gut feeling, that a lot of people who really need really good performance will have already moved to Windows machines.
As much as I preach that I like Windows, and we've used them at work for a long time. We always went with the most powerful platform that we could afford. And it was Macs at one point.
At one point we had OSX versions of our software running on PM G5's, the price to performance ratio was amazing on the G5s. We had G4's as well. Updates came all the time, the GPU support was great. Everytrhing about the G4s and G5's were great. Until apple threw it all away.
Then Apple randomly dumped the G5s, without warning. Stopped supporting them, without warning.
At that point we switched to Windows machines, and are super happy with everything.
A lot of people who actually need retarded performance ( My workstation at work like many others runs almost 20K each. We actually use all that hardware power, and update every 2-3 years ). Can't trust apple anymore. Apple provides no road maps, no announcements, no hardware support. And no real updates for years on end.
I think a good deal of " Pros " have had it with Apple.
They can't not update it after everything that happened this week.
But I have a feeling that it's going to be a bitter-sweet update, kind of like the rMBP. No, I don't mean it's going to become a laptop. I mean that it's going to be great in some ways and it's going to be disappointing to a bunch of people. I have a suspicion that it's going to be a redesign and they are going to go into directions that not everyone will be happy with. Much like the rMBP, which has polarised opinions on the MBP sub-forum.
But I have a feeling that it's going to be a bitter-sweet update, kind of like the rMBP. No, I don't mean it's going to become a laptop. I mean that it's going to be great in some ways and it's going to be disappointing to a bunch of people. I have a suspicion that it's going to be a redesign and they are going to go into directions that not everyone will be happy with. Much like the rMBP, which has polarised opinions on the MBP sub-forum.
I can agree with you.
I do think, Apple is used to putting out iToys, when they put out a joke that is the " New " Mac Pro, they don't fully understand the people who would buy it actually don't feel like getting ripped off.
For me, and a good number of people I know who are Mac Users at Home and work, the time has come to switch to Windows/Linux Machines.
Why?
GamePC, Dell, iBuypower, HP, and way to many list. PC vendors. update their machines a couple times a year. Even a company like GamePc ( they do all of the company I work for build's now. As of 2 months ago. THey make some GREAT machines ). updates everything a couple of times a year.
The PC Vendors are updating their machines with the " latest and greatest " over and over again, more than once a year. Sometimes up to 5 times. Microsoft has roadmaps for the future of Windows 7/ Windows 8.
" Pro " users and business's who buy them are going to switch to Windows machines after what happened last week.
Apple has no road maps, no indication of the future of the platform, no indication if they will even support current Mac Pros, no indication of anything. Apple now has ZERO trust with the " Pros ". Zero trust from Business's who used to buy things like mac Pros. I think Apple is DONE in the higher end market. They ****ed up. Big time.
Microsoft/PC Vendors are doing everything Apple is not. Simple as that.
If I owned a company who would be in the market for high end workstations, I would dump Apple right away and go to another platform. I think Apple is done with the " pro " market ". I have a feeling the next Mac Pro will be something totally useless in a working environment, and will be another ****** consumer Desktop like the iMac. ( For the Slow: I have a new iMac, I like it most of the time. but if I tried to run my work programs on it, it would probably melt )
And its a shame, Apple used to make some incredible workstations. Its sad, because those days are gone. My PM G5 is one of the best computers I've ever owned. The Mac pro just never lived up to the amazingness of the G5 series.
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I was agreeing with you until you mentioned Windows 8. It seems like MS threw the road map away when it came to Windows 8. It's a complete f-up and no corporate is going to upgrade it. It's pretty clear they are going to skip it since the training and upgrade costs will be horrendous when most are only now moving to Windows 7 and 8 is simply just far too much of a departure from the standard paradigm. In fact, it should not be called Windows any more. Metro is not right for the desktop and it shouldn't be forced onto desktop users.
MS are clearly panicking about the consumer market (iOS and Android) and this is their knee-jerk response and hence why they are trying to push a tablet market to home pc market. I don't think this is a good idea and I am not the only one. Even the journalists who are self-confessed MS fan boys are asking, "WTF".
http://articles.marketwatch.com/201..._1_windows-phone-windows-vista-desktop-screen
MS are clearly panicking about the consumer market (iOS and Android) and this is their knee-jerk response and hence why they are trying to push a tablet market to home pc market. I don't think this is a good idea and I am not the only one. Even the journalists who are self-confessed MS fan boys are asking, "WTF".
http://articles.marketwatch.com/201..._1_windows-phone-windows-vista-desktop-screen
Yes, the thing is with Windows 8, there are a ton of indications, that you can just disable metro and just use a very Windows 7 like Desktop. I have a feeling there will be a version lacking metro for business. And I have a feeling it will be easy to disable metro in any version. I highly doubht MS would tie people to this ****** Metro UI on a desktop. ( though I think Metro would be super awesome on a tablet ). Microsoft isn't stupid. I think they'll have a metro free version.
At least I hope they'll make disabling Metro easy, I would hope so, as there are tons of videos FROM Microsoft of WIndows 8 running without Metro.
Even if we HAD to use Metro, at least Microsoft likes to provide SOME kind of roadmap.
Where Apple is " yeah we'll do some kind of update maybe in a year or so? And we wont tell you ANYTHING about it ".
Lets take the company I work for for example, that's just not good enough. I'd take ****** Metro over no hardware updates and lack of any type of support as far as the mac pro goes.
I kind of wished this stupid crap would have stopped with Steve Jobs gone. ( Nothing aganist him or anything. I just question the way he ran Apple )
Don't get me wrong. Windows 8 seems like a step in the wrong direction. Though if they make Metro easy to to disable, or make it an option to use or not on a desktop. I can see Windows 8 doing very good, I installed it on one of my generic " holy crap this HP is on sale for 300 dollars at best buy!? " computers. Its easy to disable metro ( at least in the Beta ). And I hope its a install and first startup option in Windows 8.
Either way, I find Metro pretty easy to use. Its pretty welll setup and all that. For an average home user? I think Metro could even be great on a desktop. And if its easy to disable, or they ship versions without Metro, it could be great for everyone else.
That's really just my take. I really do think, snice Windows XP. Microsoft seems to put amazing effort into their OS's. I would argue that Windows 7 is a stronger OS than OSX 10.7.
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That's the problem. You cannot disable Metro. You could in the developer and consumer previews and they've specifically disabled the bypass in the release preview that came out a couple of weeks ago.
In fact, they have even said that they have made it so that it's practically impossible to switch off metro. The registry hack has been disabled and they will actively block any hacks that come along in the future.
Oh god dammit, I was still running the Beta, so I did not know this.
That's a problem. I think Metro is an awesome tablet UI, I would put it above iOS easily, but for a desktop? No thanks.
Here's what I don't understand. Why the hell were they releasing videos of the Windows 8 explorer? When it seems now that it won't even be useable?
It just seems silly that a company like Microsoft would do this.
Going to have to disagree on that one. The Mac Pro has ran circles around any G5. Not in available power at the time so much as the cooling and fan assembly, stability, and IBM's chips never living up to expectations. They were clock speed fail and the whining fans sent me in hysterics. Soooo annoying. Not to mention the Quad 2.5GHz liquid cooling fiasco. G5's were always breaking. I repaired them way more than older G4's.
What made the G5 series better than the Mac Pro for me, was that at the time. The G5's were incredible value money performance wise. We even had some at the company I work for, simply because how well they performed. For what you paid for them. The first gen Mac Pros weren't that much faster then the early Mac Pros. Which I found to be pretty hilarious.
Mac Pros have always been super overpriced for just being like any other workstation, I don't think G5 pricing was nearly as insane compared to the Mac Pro's. The " New " Mac pro is funny.
Clock speed does not mean performance. Using that Logic, a 3.8gzh Pentium 4 is faster than a 3.4gzh i7 processor.
Not saying a G5 is faster than any Mac Pro, because that'd be silly. And yes, some of them had issues. Hell, I own a couple G5's, I've had a couple PSU's crap on me, other than that they've been fine.
What I am saying, is the G5 I think is really the last good " tower " Apple ever put out, it was updated very consistently, performed so well for what you paid for one. The Mac Pro is just a mediocre workstation dressed in a nice case. The Mac Pro has always been that: Mediocre.
And yeah, they were loud lol. Though I gotta say, the 10 hard drives in my current workstation get a little annoying as well.
Stability? The one's I used for work, and the couple I have at home were always rock solid as far as being stable goes.
Now that G5s are useless for anything these days. I can say that I love the interior of a G5 so much more than a Mac Pro, I LOVE that huge cooling system.
What really killed PowerPC, was that Intel really started to step up. And IBM really didn't live up to its promises.
I remember you having some involvement with photography. Adobe has addressed the subject before. This was a while ago, but they haven't really budged. If it was offered on something like Fedora, Debian, or Ubuntu I would already be testing it. Ubuntu and Fedora are probably the most practical options. I mention Fedora as a lot of software used in VFX is tested under Fedora. If they had a number of these shops on board, it would help ease the cost of entry.
I was lucky with mine, but I avoided the ones with liquid cooling after hearing about some of the initial issues. Everyone else I know went through at least 1 logic board replacement. I kind of delayed the purchase until the G4 was just too far behind. They weren't that great for what they cost. You bought a big hunk of metal with limited options for internal storage and mediocre cpu power at a time when Intel was just turning it around.
If they do update the Mac Pro in 2013, given that they've lowered the bar so low with the 2012 update, I wouldn't be shocked if the latest and greatest top of the line 2013 update sported 2.0 - 2.2 GHz Sandy Bridges.
Even though Tim said Apple will, but anything can happen between now and then. How many times major corporations stated they will release or upgrade certain product then they kill it at the end. This is business for profit after all. If Apple feel Mac Pro is no longer economically worth it to continue, they will have to discontinue it. Just like how they quietly discontinued 17" MBP
I was planning on selling my 17" MBP on eBay but I have decided I going to keep it forever and just buy new 15 Retina.
I was planning on selling my 17" MBP on eBay but I have decided I going to keep it forever and just buy new 15 Retina.
Do you really think that's what I was trying to say?
That's a fox news argument. Completely out of context.
G5's were absolutely destroyed handily by Intel 1 year in with less clocked Core Duo. They were clock fail because Steve needed 3GHz for marketing and IBM could not do anything beyond 2.7GHz without a nuclear reactor. Their power/ performance was not great...at...all.
Again, Geekbench 32-bit:
2.7GHz G5: 2245
1.83GHz Core Duo (1st gen): 2291
I call THAT fail.
+ most had impressive memory issues. Not sure if it was 3rd party issue or what. Always dead DIMM's.
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This^^^^
Since when was the last time Apple more or less confirmed a replacement model? No department ever has at Apple, ever.
So I think you can expect something special next year.
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Even though Tim said Apple will, but anything can happen between now and then. How many times major corporations stated they will release or upgrade certain product then they kill it at the end. This is business for profit after all. If Apple feel Mac Pro is no longer economically worth it to continue, they will have to discontinue it. Just like how they quietly discontinued 17" MBP
In terms of Apple? So far as I now they have NEVER stated they are going to replace a product like they have with the Mac Pro.
I can't wait till Apple whips out the single best Mac Pro they've ever made and you guys all eat your words.
Really though, some of the posts here are just mind blowing. The downfall of Apple because they've taken a little too long to update the Mac Pro? C'mon.
Really though, some of the posts here are just mind blowing. The downfall of Apple because they've taken a little too long to update the Mac Pro? C'mon.
Updating the MP without Sandy Bridge was a bad move. This was evident by the fact that their PR pre-announced a new MP (which is unheard of). This coupled with FCPX, lost them a lot of customers in the entertainment and advertising sectors. Apple realized this and now we have damage control
Yeah it was a bad move. Completely agree. It needs to be updated, but I think that the doomsaying is a little out of hand. Apple also updated Aperture and Final Cut recently didn't they? They are committed to those products.