Just to break up all the WWSD stuff.
When the Mac was introduced it was not expandable which was contrary to the II and the Lisa. Steve would have loved the tube if the tech was there in his day to make it happen, the tube really is an homage to him.
Steve undoubtedly signed off on the Tube before he died, but it wouldn't be the first of his ideas to fail. Part of Jobs's genius is that he owned his mistakes and always followed up with an idea that demonstrated he understood exactly how he had effed up:
Apple III followup: Macintosh. World domination of graphic arts for years.
iMac lack of CD burner: iTunes, "Rip, Mix, Burn", world domination of online music for years.
Power Mac G4 Cube: Power Mac G5 Aluminum Tower, not quite world domination but one of the best workstation towers ever designed. Quiet, beautiful, and functional.
So if it is true that the Tube's sales suck (which is easy to believe), then I believe Jobs would have owned the mistake and moved on to something awesome.
As for No One, I'm not convinced she has any inside knowledge, but her intelligence/predictions/WAGS frankly make far more sense than Apple slapping their logo on some Dell workstation.
This is her most compelling point for me:
Also compare TDP and see Broadwell-EP is higher. Tube already has cooling problems so yet another reason Apple forced to eat the crow.
I found
this and
this, which both show Broadwell-EP ranging to 145W and Skylake-EP to 160W. Sure enough,
this list shows a 145W Broadwell E5-2697 v4 2.3 GHz 18 core. If the current 130W Xeon Tube is known to burn up GPUs for lack of proper cooling, how will it handle a CPU with a 30W greater TDP? Apple could let their failed design dictate a switch to more efficient Nvidia GPUs, but that seems unlikely given their push for pro users to use OpenCL. They could simply jack the fan speed, but they already refuse to do so to fix the current overheating problems. So if tube sales are bad, future CPUs are problematic, and executives hear the complaints of irate professionals, maybe a redesign really is the source of the delay.
I want to believe, but...
The macpro7,1 reference found in the
El Capitan USB kext file shows ten USB ports, which is exactly what to expect with a move to Thunderbolt 3 that combines the current 4 USB ports and 6 TB2 ports.
I think Apple's management view the Mac Pro as a reputable product brand to be milked for cash. It's even cheaper to manufacture than the tower so margins are fatter than ever. The little "cute" portable workstation sells better to rich consumers who don't need it. They gimp the Mini to drive even more of these consumers to the Tube. They include old GPUs because newer ones would hurt their margins and require newer drivers. They include a single PCIe SSD socket to force an up sell to the largest Apple SSD which is literally pure profit margin. The single internal drive also forces a move to myriad Thunderbolt enclosures, which sells more $50 Apple Thunderbolt Cables (made in China for what, maybe $2 each?). Six Thunderbolt Ports = Six cables = $300, or probably $250 in pure profit. What a nice profit margin upgrade over the cMP that let users upgrade drives without any profit to Apple at all!
The Tube serves as a "halo product" internally at Apple HQ: the ultimate exhibit of an insanely-great-profit-margin product.
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Great. Now I'm going to be looking over my shoulder for the black Apple helicopters until release...
Sorry Tim. I know nothing. Just a stab in the dark based on the facts at hand.
You mean Rose Gold Helicopters. And they will be so thin you won't even be sure they're following you.
