New MP on May 18

[Gomff]

If the "mini tower" patent that was mentioned about a month ago at Patently Apple becomes a reality, I'd jump even though my situation does not call for Mac Pro power at this point. I would hate to see the market disappear and it kind of bums me out that my iMac purchases help fuel the fires...

Guess I'll have to come up with an excuse to start designing heavily again.

A bit like this but perhaps a little bit more engineered:

http://www.appletell.com/apple/comment/mac-mini-modded-into-a-mini-mac-pro/

I like the idea of an OS X based mid range tower that can be tinkered with as well, but I don't think it'll happen unless Steve Wozniak organizes a coup at Apple HQ .

 

[kazmac]

A bit like this but perhaps a little bit more engineered:

http://www.appletell.com/apple/comment/mac-mini-modded-into-a-mini-mac-pro/

I like the idea of an OS X based mid range tower that can be tinkered with as well, but I don't think it'll happen unless Steve Wozniak organizes a coup at Apple HQ .

Very nice and I hope it does happen without Steve Woz having to return. But still allowing for a truly Pro-sized/spec'd Pro .

The patent I mentioned previously is this one.

 

[Gomff]

Thanks for the link. Don't quite know what to make of it though....Apple are notorious for patenting a lot of things that never seem to come to market but here's hoping that's no the case here.

 

[Tonytownsend]

Theres no way they could steer the mac pro customers towards iMacs. You video and GD guy are using software apps. In the audio world the addition of PCI-X card Is used in almost all major studio. Pro Tools HD runs off PCIX which is in use in every major studio. In home studios many are using UAD, Powercore Dsp cards as well as in Pro studios. Apple has to keep the Mac Pro to keep its audio customers. If they tell us no more pro I will not buy any more apple products.

 

[you39]

I like the idea of an OS X based mid range tower that can be tinkered with as well, but I don't think it'll happen unless Steve Wozniak organizes a coup at Apple HQ .

That should be very adequate for everybody who needs to do color critical work without requiring the absolute latest high end processing power that 3D and movie pros need. I'd say there's a huge market of graphic designers and photographers who would benefit from such a model. It would sort of mean Apple admits their glossy displays are flawed though, so I guess it's unlikely.

 

[surferfromuk]

Theres no way they could steer the mac pro customers towards iMacs. You video and GD guy are using software apps. In the audio world the addition of PCI-X card Is used in almost all major studio. Pro Tools HD runs off PCIX which is in use in every major studio. In home studios many are using UAD, Powercore Dsp cards as well as in Pro studios. Apple has to keep the Mac Pro to keep its audio customers. If they tell us no more pro I will not buy any more apple products.

Apple without Mac Pro is like BMW abandoning the M3 just to make Minis!

 

[telequest]

Getting back to the original post ... if May 18 somehow is the ideal date on which to announce the new Mac Pro ...

As I and others have opined, the marketing/PR strategies for the iProducts have no plausible connection with the MP timing. Completely different markets, completely different levels of interest to the general public and press (tons vs. essentially none).

My bet is that the only driving factors are parts availability and engineering resources. And it's the latter that may be suffering due to the iProducts. If you were a hot Apple engineer, which team would you want to be on? The shiny new iPad? Or the staid old MP whose outside appearance hasn't changed in 7 years? Which one advances your career, attracts attention at cocktail parties, gets you girls (or boys, whatever your preference may be)?

And given things like the audio problems with the 2009 release, whatever engineering talent is still left to work on the MP is probably (I would hope) being extra-rigorous about quality control, so that what we get in 2010 is ready for prime time. And they'll come out when they're ready, regardless of the timing of any iProduct or scheduled event.

So it may be just an under-resourced team dealing with quality-control and/or parts availability issues in what will prove to be a plain vanilla update. Of course there's always a chance of some whizbang new set of features that will blow us all away. I'm betting on the former, not holding my breath on the latter.

 

[ValSalva]

So it may be just an under-resourced team dealing with quality-control and/or parts availability issues in what will prove to be a plain vanilla update. Of course there's always a chance of some whizbang new set of features that will blow us all away. I'm betting on the former, not holding my breath on the latter.

I agree with your whole post and I'd be OK with the former especially if it included new ACDs at launch date.

 

[nanofrog]

So it may be just an under-resourced team dealing with quality-control and/or parts availability issues in what will prove to be a plain vanilla update. Of course there's always a chance of some whizbang new set of features that will blow us all away. I'm betting on the former, not holding my breath on the latter.

The resources are apparently shared across the products, so it's too few people and too much work, which results in shortened validation testing (i.e. audio bug in the '09 systems). So it can be simplified into the idivices are interfering with everything, including products in the same segment. But as that's where the profits are garnered, the project time frames are likely being shortened on certain products to make sufficient development time for those generating the highest profits, and making room for new products, such as the iPad.

As they're not hiring to solve this issue (from what I've seen), such issues will continue to plague some, if not all of their products (getting worse as they continue to create new products), and items such as the MP/XServes are much lower on the pile. Unless of course, they begin hiring additional developers and hardware engineers for proper validation/integration cycles for their entire product lineup.

 

[Murray M]

Getting back to the original post ... if May 18 somehow is the ideal date on which to announce the new Mac Pro ...

As I and others have opined, the marketing/PR strategies for the iProducts have no plausible connection with the MP timing. Completely different markets, completely different levels of interest to the general public and press (tons vs. essentially none).

My bet is that the only driving factors are parts availability and engineering resources. And it's the latter that may be suffering due to the iProducts. If you were a hot Apple engineer, which team would you want to be on? The shiny new iPad? Or the staid old MP whose outside appearance hasn't changed in 7 years? Which one advances your career, attracts attention at cocktail parties, gets you girls (or boys, whatever your preference may be)?

And given things like the audio problems with the 2009 release, whatever engineering talent is still left to work on the MP is probably (I would hope) being extra-rigorous about quality control, so that what we get in 2010 is ready for prime time. And they'll come out when they're ready, regardless of the timing of any iProduct or scheduled event.

So it may be just an under-resourced team dealing with quality-control and/or parts availability issues in what will prove to be a plain vanilla update. Of course there's always a chance of some whizbang new set of features that will blow us all away. I'm betting on the former, not holding my breath on the latter.

All solid points.

However, there's another factor: the longer they wait to release an update, the better the update is expected to be (or else the pros who have waited for it will just look at other options). They do not have all the time in the world.

 

[Icaras]

All solid points.

However, there's another factor: the longer they wait to release an update, the better the update is expected to be (or else the pros who have waited for it will just look at other options). They do not have all the time in the world.

"Expected" is the key word I gather. Again, I point to the 13" Arrandale MBP as a counter of that expectation. Excruciating long wait, shoddy update.

 

[Apple Corps]

The resources are apparently shared across the products, so it's too few people and too much work, which results in shortened validation testing (i.e. audio bug in the '09 systems). So it can be simplified into the idivices are interfering with everything, including products in the same segment. But as that's where the profits are garnered, the project time frames are likely being shortened on certain products to make sufficient development time for those generating the highest profits, and making room for new products, such as the iPad.

As they're not hiring to solve this issue (from what I've seen), such issues will continue to plague some, if not all of their products (getting worse as they continue to create new products), and items such as the MP/XServes are much lower on the pile. Unless of course, they begin hiring additional developers and hardware engineers for proper validation/integration cycles for their entire product lineup.

What is so "apparent" about shared engineering resources? I suspect that the iDevices "interfering with everything" is a huge OPINION - not necessarily the reality w/i Apple engineering.

 

[TennisandMusic]

What is so "apparent" about shared engineering resources? I suspect that the iDevices "interfering with everything" is a huge OPINION - not necessarily the reality w/i Apple engineering.

Pulling resources from different departments (such as from the OSX team to the iPhone OS team) is well documented and openly discussed.

 

[Icaras]

What is so "apparent" about shared engineering resources? I suspect that the iDevices "interfering with everything" is a huge OPINION - not necessarily the reality w/i Apple engineering.

This is quite possibly true. No one really knows what goes behind Apple's doors.

 

[nanofrog]

Pulling resources from different departments (such as from the OSX team to the iPhone OS team) is well documented and openly discussed.

This is what I've seen, and I've also gone and checked Apple's career section from time to time. So far, I haven't notice any new hiring going on for development personnel.

Now consider that there's no new people to assist with the workload, existing personnel switch from project to project (rotation scheme), and new products are being added, such as the iPad which will further stretch resources. And we wonder why we're seeing bugs creep into the products?

C'mon Apple, you can afford to hire a couple of additional people in order to keep the quality high enough that users feel justified in the higher prices. The funds are certainly there...

 

[Icaras]

Let's see what happens tomorrow!

 

[nanofrog]

Let's see what happens tomorrow!

The site's still up though, so I wouldn't get too excited.

 

[wisty]

I wouldn't be surprised if Apple discontinued Mac Pro as it requires a lot extra work. All drivers, configuration options, software updates etc.. costs a nice $. By the time, Apple has more and more dropped the support for pro market. Especially now as iMac uses desktop CPUs, Mac Pro, at its current price and specs, is not a good buy. Another loss for Mac Pro is better and stabler Hackintoshes which can be built for less than 1000$ and they are as fast as Mac Pro.

I hope not. I doubt they are actually losing money on the MP. The market for MP is small, but as small as it used to be. They'll still make a bit, just not enough to justify it's production on a pure profit basis.

Justification is that MP users write Mac software including (I'll bet) OSX itself. Apple engineers (and Woz) will be begging for it.

It's a question of - is the loss of focus (in maintaining a nominally profitable line) worth keeping pros happy?

The other benefit is that MP is a good place to break in Grand Central type technologies. Software gets written to benefit from the MP CPU count and GPU, then the laptops and iMacs catch up. Encouraging developers to target the MP keeps Mac software a little more cutting edge.

I wouldn't expect a lot of range in MP options (too much trouble), but a processor bump and a decent graphics card should be doable.

I wonder, has the success of the iPad held up manufacturing, QA, design, or executive approval? Apple doesn't have unlimited capacity (and you can't just buy capacity without sacrificing quality and control), so perhaps they are too busy (right now) to bother with this niche product.

 

[strausd]

My hope is that the only reason it's taking so long is because Apple just needed time to stock up on the new CPUs.

 

[Apple Corps]

Pulling resources from different departments (such as from the OSX team to the iPhone OS team) is well documented and openly discussed.

And where might that be? I have significant doubts that the MP i9 (?) product development engineers are significantly being loaned out to iPhone / iPad / whatever. Apple has gobs of cash and plenty of engineering talent. Dell may have put the new towers in their customers hands sometime last week - so Apple is not behind - they are not Dell (thank heaven).

 

[you39]

The site's still up though, so I wouldn't get too excited.

At what time does Apple usually close the store to renew products? 7 AM EST?

 

[rajbonham]

At what time does Apple usually close the store to renew products? 7 AM EST?

Yes, because I think it's usually around 3-4 a.m. PST. I really wouldn't get your hopes up though. The odds of anything happening tonight are next to zero. That could just be me being Mr. Negative though.

 

[you39]

Yes, because I think it's usually around 3-4 a.m. PST. I really wouldn't get your hopes up though. The odds of anything happening tonight are next to zero. That could just be me being Mr. Negative though.

Hehe... Got me...

 

[Deepshade]

G5s being made obsolete in June. ie no Apple repair option if it dies.

Apple are going to look really mercenary if there is no new MP to fill the gap.

We will all know then if Apple are serious about supporting the Pro user - or just looking to screw the extra last buck out of the userbase by giving them no option but to purchase the current (technologically middle aged) lineup.

 

[ValSalva]

I hope not. I doubt they are actually losing money on the MP. The market for MP is small, but as small as it used to be. They'll still make a bit, just not enough to justify it's production on a pure profit basis.

Haven't Mac Pro type users been some of the biggest Apple brand evangelists over the years? Wouldn't this still be important to Apple? Maybe not with the mainstream press singing Apple's praises now. Still, losing pro users and creative content makers would hurt Apple even if their focus is on iToys now. Who is going to write the apps for these new mobile devices? It has generally been Mac Pro users until now.