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Two months to deliver a computer? Clowns
- Thread starter Frong
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Getting quotes for HP and Dell for a couple of computers for our Engineering department. Place the order today for custom configs with Xeons single or dual processors and they would be shipped by the 25th from either company
Regarding the assembly line start-up. They didn't wait until 8 am on December 19th to turn it on. They had to be building stock builds long before that.
Where I think they probably goofed was estimating the demand. They probably looked back at how many oMP's they sold over the prior 12 to 18 months, and used that as their projection and didn't take into account there was a huge number of 2.1 and 3.1 where people like me were waiting for a full refresh, not some incremental speed bump, before they replaced. I didn't check, to verify before I state...I think the buy recommendation on this web site has had the MacPro on hold for a refresh for well over 2 years, maybe even 3 years.
May try throwing a Tahiti FirePro into the config and see if that bumps it a bit.
AMD maybe is purely working down on inventory on Tahiti and older GPUs, but the newest Hawaii ( which Apple isn't using directly) is in shortage.
http://www.anandtech.com/show/7758/radeon-r9-290x-retail-prices-hit-900
AMD is probably not able to respond to an unexpected demand increase from another source presuming that they were not purely stocking Apple's contractors from warehouse inventory. If Apple only ordered enough and AMD has to make more the die mix going through the factories has R9 290/290X demands on it too right now.
It probably isn't primarily a components shortage though.
But some of those folks didn't hold. When Apple went dark some substantive percentage of those folks left. Can't just purely count 2,1 and 3,1 users and presume all of them are going to jump in on the upgrade. No Xeon E5 systems in 2012 and vast majority of 2013 means some folks probably moved on.
I do think the forecast was off. I just don't think it would be quite so easy to adjust it to be highly accurate without a real buying stream with a competitive system.
I think it is also likely Apple isn't trying to over estimate at all. Everything about Apple's approach to production is lean inventory. This is exactly the kind of temporary context where lean inventory goes dry.
Apple will adjust over time but the more critical area for Apple is selling just enough Mac Pros over 10-12 months, not simply the first 2-3. A shortage only bring more stable pricing in sales channels ( fewer are going to hand out discounts for something hard to get) and makes an easy "successful launch" story to investors.
Speaking as a 3,1 user who decided to hold off, my reasons were:
1. I've waited long already, I can wait until the 2nd revision, assuming my 3,1 holds on for a while longer
2. Lack of Logic Pro support for Open CL
3. Still on the fence about the lack of a proper tower case & having to spend a lot to upgrade to TB enclosures, new audio interface, etc
4. non Open CL performance not that impressive compared to previous gen
I'm sure there's many who had similar reasons, and so the supply problem could be a lot WORSE than it is right now.
I think the main cause is that this is a new production line, new production methods. Once they get their yield up, hopefully the supply constraint windows should be shorter.
THIS.
Decided not to wait a version or two and bought a New 5,1 Hex with 3 years
applecare.
Will see a 70% performance increase at least, also SSD boot/app launch
improvement and access to all the RAM in Logic 64bit.
Will keep me happy for the next three years
M.
Just be patient. Now that Tim is back from being a broad, he has more time to cobble together nMPs in his office "production line" (but only on a "time available" basis).
Explain what? Late 2009 27" iMacs had a 2+ month wait. That was during the Steve Jobs era. Therefore the comment that Steve Jobs would not let this happen is invalid (not true)...
Have people not noticed that this ploy over the last several years or more of making it look like there is a demand on a new product by creating a false short fall and making it hard to get one, order one, and receive one at the start. This makes people believe that the product is popular and a must have, this is why when people ring Apple they are not to fussed, they know exactly what they are doing, it is a gamble as some may cancel but most will not, and the ones that do cancel will return and they know that.
I wish I could have waited, but my current comp is crawling now. Hopefully in 5 years when v2 comes out I will be in a position to upgrade.
I believe that the real reason for people's frustration is that almost 2 and a half months after nMP launch, orders still have a 2+ months of delivery estimates. Apple doesn't seem to catch up with the orders.
Just be patient. Now that Tim is back from being a broad, he has more time to cobble together nMPs in his office "production line" (but only on a "time available" basis).
Tim Cook's possible gender issues aside
D), I think making professional users wait over 2 months for an essential tool is decidedly unprofessional. I expect more from Apple.
I will eventually order a nMP because I think it will help my business, but only if the delivery window is within two weeks. I think that's a reasonable delivery period for a professional-level tool of this price and capability.
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I am in the "it was supposed to ship in Feb" camp, and I'm pissed off and tired of waiting. Went as far as to fill a cart at Amazon to build a hackintosh, but was reading through the issues trying to get specific things working, and realized that I don't want to support that ongoing.
If it wasn't for my current software investment right now, I would say screw it and build a PC.
Even when this nMP eventually arrives, it's gonna leave a bitter taste.
If it wasn't for my current software investment right now, I would say screw it and build a PC.
Even when this nMP eventually arrives, it's gonna leave a bitter taste.
I think they don't want to invest in more capacity then what the demand is going to be after the initial spike. Wise business decision, but annoying for those creating the initial spike
Apple stockholders meeting was held Friday, and have not seen any mention of numbers of orders etc.
If they were surprised by the demand or the demand was great, you think they would have mentioned it vs other PC mfg's reporting flat or down numbers. IE: something like: others are suffering and we at apple are not.
They were happy to talk IOS and IOS products and business booming in the BRIC's.
Of course maybe they didn't want to take any heat for delays and 10.9 issues so they stayed away for OS X topics.
Apple has always been a silent company. But a press release about now on sales and delivers would do wonders vs everybody guessing
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I have to giggle when Cook said no comment on the Sapphire plant as it was top secret project. Wearables most likely...new 27 inch Thunderbolt2 Display iWatch or iPad is my guess.
If they were surprised by the demand or the demand was great, you think they would have mentioned it vs other PC mfg's reporting flat or down numbers. IE: something like: others are suffering and we at apple are not.
They were happy to talk IOS and IOS products and business booming in the BRIC's.
Of course maybe they didn't want to take any heat for delays and 10.9 issues so they stayed away for OS X topics.
Apple has always been a silent company. But a press release about now on sales and delivers would do wonders vs everybody guessing
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I have to giggle when Cook said no comment on the Sapphire plant as it was top secret project. Wearables most likely...new 27 inch Thunderbolt2 Display iWatch or iPad is my guess.
If the argument is "Steve would never have let this happen", then one incident is enough to make it invalid obviously.
So Tim is purposely telling the factory not to make them or is hiding them in some warehouse to make it look like they're in demand? Seriously? For the Mac Pro? I think this whole theory is ridiculous, but especially so with a product like the Mac Pro.
If one says "this wouldn't happen under Steve jobs" then yes! Because IT DID...
Edit: and this is just an example that happened to me. Could have been multiple times, but this is the only time I cared...
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Exactly