Mac Pro presence in retail stores

[Sin]

I popped into the Regent Street store at lunch time, and I noticed an almost complete lack of Pro machines. There were a couple lurking at the back, upstairs, where they do the 1-to-1 things for new users.

I haven't been in for a while, so I don't know how long it's been like that, but they used to have some fairly prominently set up, with all the pro Apps, etc.

I guess they've just cleared the space for the iPhone, but there were still plenty of laptops and iMacs around.

Are they hidden away somewhere and I just missed them, or are they gone?

Is this the same story for other stores?

 

[Sneakz]

Many of the Apple stores here in Toronto simply have one Mac Pro attached to a 30" ACD.

 

[mBox]

Many of the Apple stores here in Toronto simply have one Mac Pro attached to a 30" ACD.

Yep same here in Mid-West Canada
Sadly the writings on the wall.
Maybe just maybe Apple will surprise us...maybe...

 

[G4DP]

Seems to be the norm. I macs and MacBooks get the ideal placing. In the few store in the UK i've been too the one Mac Pro is shoved into a corner with a 30" ACD. Sometimes they even have a Wacom Tablet plugged in as well.

 

[ValSalva]

Yep same here in Mid-West Canada
Sadly the writings on the wall.
Maybe just maybe Apple will surprise us...maybe...

Same at my local Apple store. One Mac Pro attached to a 30" ACD. It's been that way for a while and I don't think it has anything to do with Apple's focus or support for the Mac Pro.

I think most pros and enthusiasts who would purchase a Mac Pro detest going into an Apple store with geniuses who know less than them and the hordes of people looking at iPods and iPhones.

Apple probably hardly sells any Mac Pros from Apple stores. It's not worth the low return to give them display space. It's just a retail thing.

 

[jwire4]

Same here in SoCal. 1 Mac Pro connected to a 30" ADC. But when you think about it, it does make sense. How many people actually go to an Apple Store to buy their Mac Pro? Also, most consumers don't know and don't a care about the Mac Pro. In all my experiences and people who I have talked to, they all say they order it on the Apple Website just because they can configure it. If the Apple stores didn't just sell the baseline Mac Pros, maybe it would be different. But right now, Apple is really focusing on the mobile age. The iPad, iPhone, iPod, are really the main 3 things in the store. The Macbook and Macbook Pros are also highly featured. All the desktops really get pushed aside to the back of the store.

 

[reel2reel]

This isn't surprising, though, is it??

First, I'm guessing a "pro" buyer already knows what he/she wants, especially if they're shopping in an Apple Store.

Second, the towers don't make for great displays against iMac's and shiny MacBook Pros.

 

[slughead]

This isn't surprising, though, is it??

First, I'm guessing a "pro" buyer already knows what he/she wants, especially if they're shopping in an Apple Store.

Second, the towers don't make for great displays against iMac's and shiny MacBook Pros.

Exactly. I'm not optimistic about new mac pro updates, but it'd be dumb to have a line of mac pros on the wall even it was Apple's flagship product.. There's no freakin reason

The only people who need to use the demo boxes are ones who don't know what OS X is or are totally new to computers. The Mac pro doesn't exactly market to those people--and the potential mac pro buyers who haven't used OS X before would know that it'd be the same no matter which comp they used.

Not to mention the fact that there's not a huge draw for the Mac Pro--it's probably their worst-selling product, especially at the retail stores. The fact that they have even 1 setup is impressive, and is probably just so pro users can see how big a 30" screen really is.

 

[Sin]

Even though I know Macs and OS X fairly well, if I were going to invest in several thousand pounds worth of new kit, I'd want to check it out.

Also, while the hardware might essentially just be a more powerful version of everything else in store, it's the best platform to show off the high end apps.

Certainly I remember seeing them more prominently in store in the past.

I wouldn't expect to see them dominate - I think its clear why most of the setups should be iMacs and MacBooks. But I'd expect maybe 4-5 proper pro setups with a variety of peripherals and high-end monitors. In a big store that still wouldn't take up a lot of space.

 

[J the Ninja]

Even though I know Macs and OS X fairly well, if I were going to invest in several thousand pounds worth of new kit, I'd want to check it out.

Also, while the hardware might essentially just be a more powerful version of everything else in store, it's the best platform to show off the high end apps.

Certainly I remember seeing them more prominently in store in the past.

I wouldn't expect to see them dominate - I think its clear why most of the setups should be iMacs and MacBooks. But I'd expect maybe 4-5 proper pro setups with a variety of peripherals and high-end monitors. In a big store that still wouldn't take up a lot of space.

FCP and Logic run more than well enough on iMacs and MBPs to get a feel for them and the platform. I don't run rendering and compression jobs at the Apple store. Do you?

As I usually post in MP and Apple Store threads: Seriously, who the hell buys any kind of workstation from any kind of retail store? These are almost always a custom-order thing. I'm sure almost all MPs are sold from either the Apple online store or from resellers who do custom orders. (Value-added or just calling in a BTO to Apple for you.)

 

[Aldaris]

I agree with the thought that it probably means nothing. The average consumer would crap his pants to see the price. The average consumer with his small iTunes library, browsing and emailing needs, does not need a Pro.

So why have it?

I was at best buy in Murray Ut. and they had were 4 iMacs, each MacBook/pro flavor and the three iPad flavors, no pro's around.

And then at the Apple specialist expercom, the last time I was there, they had kne out with a 30' and then all the other flavors...

The last point id like to make is, how many of these apple stores are in large shopping complexes, who wants to lug a 2.5k+ box around... At least the iMac and MacBook/pros have handles on the boxes

 

[Sin]

I would absolutely run an encoding job, or try out some slower image processing process, or whatever else I'm looking to buy a workstation to do.

I wouldn't buy it from the store, and I wouldn't expect them to keep a lot of stock, but I would want to be able to try it out. Apple stores are as much showrooms as the are shops.

 

[RubbishBBspeed]

I wonder if it has anything to do with people bulking at the price of a good MP set-up. It seems most people think £500 is a lot for a home computer, so to have them looking at a machine potentially costing six to eight times that is going to make them run.

Certainly from my days of selling, the general casual customer knows bugger all about what they are buying or what they need. Generally it's highlight a few buz terms, make the odd comparison but ultimately it's which ever is cheapest gets bought.

Slightly off topic and for example I've had people calling me a prat for wanting the Leica V Lux 20 camera over a Panasonic ZS7/TZ10.

The Leica is £495 from Leica Mayfair a dedicated Leica store it includes adobe software which would have cost £200 and a one hour 1 to 1 tutorial.

The Panasonic is £295 but without adobe which I was advised to buy but not essential to buy as it is "known" to work best with adobe unless using some other dedicated photo editing package and there's no tutorial nor was it a dedicated store.

So they actually cost the same but the panasonic is cheaper on the sticker. or is that sucker...............

 

[SnowLeopard2008]

Most people don't appreciate/don't know/can't afford/don't care about/don't need the power of the Mac Pro. However, everyone loves the iMac/MacBook Pro and especially the iPhone 4.

 

[WardC]

I went to my Apple Store and installed Geekbench on the Mac Pro and the 27" i7 iMac, and the iMac actually BEAT the Mac Pro. Sad, right? Mac Pro scored like 8659 while the iMac scored 9957. Mac Pro was also a baseline 2.66GHz while the i7 was a 2.8GHz model.

 

[reel2reel]

Most people don't appreciate/don't know/can't afford/don't care about/don't need the power the Mac Pro. However, everyone loves the iMac/MacBook Pro and especially the iPhone 4.

Who are "most people?" We've got 10 Mac Pro's at work right now. Our receptionist is the only one with an iMac.

I think we're talking about two different markets here.

 

[reel2reel]

I went to my Apple Store and installed Geekbench on the Mac Pro and the 27" i7 iMac, and the iMac actually BEAT the Mac Pro. Sad, right? Mac Pro scored like 8659 while the iMac scored 9957. Mac Pro was also a baseline 2.66GHz while the i7 was a 2.8GHz model.

That's the last thing I care about, personally. What I want is the ability to get HD video out to a pro deck and monitor and lots of internal storage. And a non-mirror display.

The numbers game means nothing to me. If a render takes a second longer on my Mac Pro than it does on an iMac, it's irrelevant to me considering everything else I can do with it. In fact, I tried doing some relatively light video work on a brand new iMac last week and got nothing but spinning wheels. So all those spec's are meaningless when everything is actually taking longer.

 

[SnowLeopard2008]

Who are "most people?" We've got 10 Mac Pro's at work right now. Our receptionist is the only one with an iMac.

I think we're talking about two different markets here.

Most people are consumers? I don't see many businesses going directly to an Apple Store. I see families, couples, kids, etc. Those are the consumers. Apple isn't only catering to the business/creative professional market anymore. Since this thread is about the presence of Mac Pros in retail stores, consumer market is what they're going after.

 

[SayWord]

Who are "most people?" We've got 10 Mac Pro's at work right now. Our receptionist is the only one with an iMac.

I think we're talking about two different markets here.

Most people as in those who don't need it for professional uses...

I think he is aware that there are two different markets, those who use the apple products for consumer/trend uses...and those who use the apple computer for professional/career uses...

What is your company doing that it needs 10 mac pros?

 

[SayWord]

Most people are consumers? I don't see many businesses going directly to an Apple Store. I see families, couples, kids, etc. Those are the consumers. Apple isn't only catering to the business/creative professional market anymore.

I think businesses shop differently than families, couples, kids, and everyone else...

A company isn't going to come into the apple store with their board of directors and seek 100 orders of mac pros....>_> lol

 

[Tali]

I think businesses shop differently than families, couples, kids, and everyone else...

A company isn't going to come into the apple store with their board of directors and seek 100 orders of mac pros....>_> lol

Just call, make an appointment, someone will come to your company and work out a plan with you.

 

[hugodrax]

I never stepped into an Apple store, Someone from Apple sent me a "Seed" Mac pro to eval, and then they had a hard time getting it back from me until I got my Mac Pro from the order. I ordered 5 total.

I do not think Mac Pros are consumer devices, its more of a professional workstation.

 

[skiltrip]

The majority of Mac Pro buyers are either Audio or Video professionals, and would just as well get their computer from a musical instrument retailer loaded up with their DAW software and plugins, all nice and pre-installed and pre-configured. No Apple 'Genius' is going to have the slightest clue what to do with any of that, nor could they even answer any questions about using a Pro as an audio workstation. Like someone mentioned above, chances are, Mac Pro buyers walk in there knowing way more than any of the 'geniuses' working in the store.

 

[advres]

In fact, I tried doing some relatively light video work on a brand new iMac last week and got nothing but spinning wheels.

Come on dude, lets be honest... You didn't get "nothing but spinning wheels" doing "light video work". If you did, than you have a bad iMac. I have been editing broadcast HD television on 6 year old G5's for chrissakes. I have a new mini setup for assistants and interns to do HD assembly edits on.

See this timeline?

It is a half-hour broadcast television show and it was edited entirely on a mac mini with 8GB RAM in 3 days and it is full res 1080p footage transcoded Apple ProRes. All the graphics were done and rendered on it too. Yes it is a very cookie cutter show but having 6 layers of animation alpha graphics over 2 layers of 1080p video and only getting the orange render bar on a new mac mini...

I can agree on needing a tower for capture cards, raid controllers, fiber cards etc, but saying an iMac can't handle "light" video work is not only being disingenuous, it makes you look like a retard.

 

[Full of Win]

The MacPro in the store reminds me of the kid on the playground that no one likes. As others have said.... its the writing on the wall that we are looking at here gentlemen.