The end of the Mac Pro coming?

[sboerup]

Just saw this: http://www.appleinsider.com/article...reportedly_questioning_future_of_mac_pro.html

I'm extremely happy with my 6-core...it's extremely fast and I wasn't planning on upgrading for another 2 years. But, this makes me sad.

I'm not surprised, because Thunderbolt with a 27" iMac almost eliminates the need for internal storage speeds, but, it's still no Mac Pro.

Do you think the Mac Pro will eventually die? If sales are low, what's the need for Apple to continue to cater to this market that makes up a very small percentage of revenue? It's simply business, but where will power-users turn to next?

 

[MacsRgr8]

This discussion has been lively for the past few years now...

50 - 50 IMHO.
Yes, we understand the need for Pro-Machines but we also get the fact that Apple discontinues a lot of Pure-Pro stuff.

The iMac is getting more and more Pro-'like" and the Apps are getting less and less Pro-"only".
A Core i7 with a decent (mobile)grfx card is good enough today. A few years ago the portable Macs and iMacs had hardware really only good enough for the most casual of users.
Now we get i7's in MacBook Pro's, Mac mini's and iMacs. Even the grfx is pretty good in MacBook Pro's and iMacs.

The iMac and MacBook Pro's running today's software is truly Pro-sumer.

The hardcore 3D, audio, etc. specialist still want the power of Xeons and real grfx cards, but I can imaging Apple seeing that market as a niche within a niche...

Must admit.... if Apple were to discontinue the Mac Pro line, I'll be getting a Westmere 6 Core 3.33 GHz with Radeon 5870 quickly.

 

[derbothaus]

There is nothing in Apple's current lineup that can replace the Mac Pro. Not an iMac, not a MBP. Just because processors are getting closer in performance does not mean it is falling away. For every consumer part that gets faster the Xeon part will be even more meaty and even faster still.
External peripherals are not awesome. No PCI slots means no professional interaction. TB is a step forward but not a game changer by any means. Not enough PCI lanes for graphic extensions and not enough 10-disk external RAID towers to make it even remotely saturated. Unless you want to shell out for a RAID0 SSD case with 960GB for 3000.00.

 

[rhett7660]

I don't see them doing away with the Mac Pro yet. Crossing fingers.

 

[lamboman]

Just saw this: http://www.appleinsider.com/article...reportedly_questioning_future_of_mac_pro.html

I'm extremely happy with my 6-core...it's extremely fast and I wasn't planning on upgrading for another 2 years. But, this makes me sad.

I'm not surprised, because Thunderbolt with a 27" iMac almost eliminates the need for internal storage speeds, but, it's still no Mac Pro.

Do you think the Mac Pro will eventually die? If sales are low, what's the need for Apple to continue to cater to this market that makes up a very small percentage of revenue? It's simply business, but where will power-users turn to next?

I very, very much doubt they will. If Apple killed the Mac Pro, they would be killing all of their professional business, period. And we all know that Apple are the biggest by quite a way when it comes to professional movie, music, and photography. They are so strong their that they definitely know that killing the Mac Pro is the last thing they want to do.

The Xserve, I can understand why they killed off. Apple wasn't massively strong in the server sector, and are a more consumer oriented company. Yes, they were large, but it wasn't their main source of profit, and was never their focus.

And as you have said, yes, the iMac is a very fast machine now that, for virtually all prosumers and light usage professionals is absolutely fine, but it doesn't even come close to the Mac Pro.

 

[Hellhammer]

While this thread was here before the front page article, lets continue the discussion in the news thread: https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/1267234/