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Can't innovate any more, my ass?

Anonymous Freak

Anonymous Freak

macrumors 603
Original poster
Dec 12, 2002
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Cascadia
Does anyone else find it sadly humorous that Phil Schiller made that statement ("Can't innovate any more, my ass.") referring to the "new" Mac Pro - which hasn't seen an update since that phrase was uttered?

It's now over 1000 days - 3 years will have passed in another two weeks - since the current Mac Pro was released, and we haven't gotten any CPU updates (Intel has released two generations of Mac Pro-appropriate CPUs,) GPU updates (3 generations have gone by,) or even a price drop (other than SSDs).

No other computer in the history of Apple has gone so long without an update or a price drop while still being considered "the highest end" computer. (The non-retina 13" MacBook Pro was only just discontinued the day the new MacBook Pros were announced, it had gone un-updated since 2012, but it was the "lowest end" MacBook Pro for most of that time, and it did see a price drop. The Mac Plus went from "top of the line" in 1986 to "the cheapest system" long prior to its discontinuation in 1990. By this point in the Mac Plus' existence, its price had dropped by more than 50%, and it had been outclassed in speed, memory, and storage capacities by a significant margin.)
 
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Just as the "courage" statement, Phil Schillers statement has come back to bite him in that very same ass.

Based on what they released this year, the touchstrip MBP and the iphone 7 with lack of anything new I would personally say they lost all abilities to innovate. its all just gimmicks, fancy talks and no walk the walks.
 
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iMcLovin said:
Just as the "courage" statement, Phil Schillers statement has come back to bite him in that very same ass.

Based on what they released this year, the touchstrip MBP and the iphone 7 with lack of anything new I would personally say they lost all abilities to innovate. its all just gimmicks, fancy talks and no walk the walks.
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Quite. Apple need to try the humble approach for a while. The hyperbole gets more and more ridiculous with every year, whilst the releases get more and more disappointing. They need to shut up and start making products that actually do the talking.
 
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I don't even necessarily consider "innovation" to be high on the list of priorities for a pro-level desktop computer. Yes, the nMP was innovative and looks cool, but I find it tremendously sad that if mine were to die today, my only Apple choice would be to replace it with the same machine, which in computer terms is now ancient (but still is selling at its original full price). The fact that it shared the same design as my old machine wouldn't bother me in the least.

While expecting a major update to the Mac Pro every 1-2 years (or even 3-4 perhaps) is unreasonable, I don't think it's too much to ask for annual speed bumps, and maybe bi-annual updates to newer CPU generations.
 
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They're about to finish this UFO campus of theirs. A truly grandiose building for a computer company that doesn't look like it really wants to be making computers much longer. It's quite a headquarters to devise new watchbands.

Remember when Macs were on the desks of all the scientists on shows like Nova? Remember when Macs were on the desks of all the filmmakers in the bonus features of movies? And when research institutions made supercomputers from Macs?

Apple had such a heritage for high performance computing, and they've allowed this damn procurement bean counter of a CEO to let it fester and rot.
 
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mcaswell said:
I don't even necessarily consider "innovation" to be high on the list of priorities for a pro-level desktop computer. Yes, the nMP was innovative and looks cool, but I find it tremendously sad that if mine were to die today, my only Apple choice would be to replace it with the same machine, which in computer terms is now ancient (but still is selling at its original full price). The fact that it shared the same design as my old machine wouldn't bother me in the least.

While expecting a major update to the Mac Pro every 1-2 years (or even 3-4 perhaps) is unreasonable, I don't think it's too much to ask for annual speed bumps, and maybe bi-annual updates to newer CPU generations.
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Indeed. People aren't interested in innovation necessarily for the Pro desktop. Good enclosure, expandability, horsepower... the nMP was the solution to a problem no one had.
 
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ITguy2016 said:
What I finding odd is Apple is offering a 2TB SSD option in their new MacBook Pro systems but haven't made it available on their top of the line Mac Pro system.
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Apple's top of the range is now the MacBook Pro.
 
weckart said:
Apple's top of the range is now the MacBook Pro.
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Yeah, and not exactly a machine I would be proud of if I were Apple. Even from Apple enthusiast I have not seen or read much except good build quality and anything else about it is negative. (Extremely overpriced, bad connectivity and dongles, touchstrip is gimmick, touch pad and lack of palm rejection, speaker problems, bad GPU, everything soldered, crappy battery....it just goes on and on)
 
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Anonymous Freak said:
Does anyone else find it sadly humorous that Phil Schiller made that statement ("Can't innovate any more, my ass.") referring to the "new" Mac Pro - which hasn't seen an update since that phrase was uttered?

It's now over 1000 days - 3 years will have passed in another two weeks - since the current Mac Pro was released, and we haven't gotten any CPU updates (Intel has released two generations of Mac Pro-appropriate CPUs,) GPU updates (3 generations have gone by,) or even a price drop (other than SSDs).

No other computer in the history of Apple has gone so long without an update or a price drop while still being considered "the highest end" computer. (The non-retina 13" MacBook Pro was only just discontinued the day the new MacBook Pros were announced, it had gone un-updated since 2012, but it was the "lowest end" MacBook Pro for most of that time, and it did see a price drop. The Mac Plus went from "top of the line" in 1986 to "the cheapest system" long prior to its discontinuation in 1990. By this point in the Mac Plus' existence, its price had dropped by more than 50%, and it had been outclassed in speed, memory, and storage capacities by a significant margin.)
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Wasnt it great that Steve released 5,1?
 
greenmeanie said:
With all the problems they have been having with releases do you think a New Mac Pro would even run right?
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Nope. Apple might be asking for gpu meltdown and unable to upgrade 3rd party like cMP. Apple were asking for these problems by soldering every macs.
 
pat500000 said:
Nope. Apple might be asking for gpu meltdown and unable to upgrade 3rd party like cMP. Apple were asking for these problems by soldering every macs.
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I would be less aggrieved if Apple got the relevant chips with proper connectors to solder rather than this BGA nonsense that only leads to problems later on. BGA is fine for netbooks and Chromebooks and the like - stuff that doesn't get worked hard or components that just don't generate a lot of heat. Anything else and it is a deferred bag of hurt.

With low cost hardware, every penny counts so I can see the logic in BGA and a one board solution. With Pro machines, an extra $50/$100 is neither here nor there compared with the grief caused by these breakdowns. Time for the supply guru to do some sums.
 
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weckart said:
I would be less aggrieved if Apple got the relevant chips with proper connectors to solder rather than this BGA nonsense that only leads to problems later on. BGA is fine for netbooks and Chromebooks and the like - stuff that doesn't get worked hard or components that just don't generate a lot of heat. Anything else and it is a deferred bag of hurt.

With low cost hardware, every penny counts so I can see the logic in BGA and a one board solution. With Pro machines, an extra $50/$100 is neither here nor there compared with the grief caused by these breakdowns. Time for the supply guru to do some sums.
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That depends on who's perspective you're viewing this from. From a user perspective I agree. From Apple's perspective that's $50/$100 in profit they lose. If the systems were more reliable then there's lost income when people don't feel the need to buy Apple Care, or have to pay Apple to repair their systems, or at the extreme replace their system with a new one. From Apple's perspective this is a win in terms of revenue.
 
The same type comments I have seen with iPad, and even funnier with iPhone.

iPad was supposed to be bigger iPhone, completely and utterly useless. iPhone was supposed to be overpriced, and completely not beneficial, for anyone.

Its when people open their minds about things when they are becoming actually useful.
 
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ITguy2016 said:
That depends on who's perspective you're viewing this from. From a user perspective I agree. From Apple's perspective that's $50/$100 in profit they lose. If the systems were more reliable then there's lost income when people don't feel the need to buy Apple Care, or have to pay Apple to repair their systems, or at the extreme replace their system with a new one. From Apple's perspective this is a win in terms of revenue.
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I wouldn't expect Apple to swallow the cost. Not Apple. There is also a payoff in terms of revenue from Applecare against damage to the brand from failing hardware. I think any wins here have to be traded off against the cost of repair programs, which generate no revenue for Apple and there have been many recently.
 
beaker7 said:
You'd be sad if you wanted to buy a high end Mac today and your only option was to pay 2016 prices for 2012 tech.
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Thats my situation, and yes I am sad.

Been trying to determine a 5,1 or a used trashcan. Honestly I'm 1/2 leaning towards jumping to a real pro machine like Windows... I haven't used Windows since XP!
 
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I laughed at the keynote when they released the iphone 7 I think, n they opened with we got pokemon go and mario brothers! For a tech company of all things! who the hell cares.

Anyways, the next best OS from a start up might be right around the corner just like in the movie "her" !i hope so.
 
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