MP 7,1 Waiting for Mac Pro 7,1 A1991 (no more)

[barmann]

This is getting way too complicated for my poor little brain .

 

[ssgbryan]

Do you really think Apple could release a Mac Pro with AMD Epyc? They need to have a Thunderbolt solution.

Thunderbolt is still a solution in search of a problem.

 

[DearthnVader]

Thunderbolt is still a solution in search of a problem.

Thunderbolt makes sense on portable systems, less so on desktops.

I don't know about everyone else, but my desktops suffer from cabling hell, and they have plenty of internal drive bays and power connectors.

I think we all agree the nMP was a failure with TB2, with no internal storage upgrades, or GPU.

I just don't know if Apple agrees with that.........

 

[mattspace]

Thunderbolt is still a solution in search of a problem.

The problems it “solved”

1. multiple cables on laptops and complicated docking stations.
2. Discreet user-replaceable off-the-shelf graphics, that extended the lives of systems, and we’re not made by Intel, at a time when Intel was trying to get into integrated / discreet graphics.

 

[apolloa]

I wouldn’t expect a Mac Pro at WWDC, their have been zero leaks or rumours on the new Mac Pro for months now. And WWDC is only 2 months or less away?
As for Navi, well the next Xbox and PlayStation are going to be using it and the Xbox may be launched this year... so I wouldn’t rule that out of any new Mac Pro.

 

[deconstruct60]

I wouldn’t expect a Mac Pro at WWDC, their have been zero leaks or rumours on the new Mac Pro for months now. And WWDC is only 2 months or less away?

Months? It is weeks. Perhaps the time metric of months is useful in how far away Apple would start volume production ( but that is probably more than two also. )

Containing info on a , largely not production ready, "sneak peak" is much easier than something they are in the "dot the i's and cross the t's " stage of getting ready to sell. No news now is only more indicative that the ship date is "far" more so than whether Apple is doing to do a slightly improved "dog ate my homework" dog and pony show or not.

If Apple has more than enough "good news" to cover about the Operating system line up and anything else that is ready to ship... they probably punt on the Mac Pro on stage. ( perhaps some press release asking for more time... )

As for Navi, well the next Xbox and PlayStation are going to be using it and the Xbox may be launched this year... so I wouldn’t rule that out of any new Mac Pro.

PS Navi isn't coming until 2020 ( and perhaps on a "shrink on cheaper cost path " 6nm ). E3 is going to be after WWDC in June. There should be a better timeline.

but the Sony/Microsoft Navi is probably going to be technically different than would would be destine for the Macs. Those are custom with probably custom add-on fixed function logic that the mainstream cards may or may not get. (e.g., enhancements that improve picture on 4K ( and 4K HDR) TV screens that wouldn't be target for computer video cards. ), Still share most of the baseline architecture on core compute but what is wrapped around that is probably different.

 

[filmak]

At the end they may just offer us a new iMac Pro and a "sincere" apology for the inevitable EOL of the MP.

 

[jeanlain]

I wouldn’t expect a Mac Pro at WWDC, their have been zero leaks or rumours on the new Mac Pro for months now. And WWDC is only 2 months or less away?

We've heard some rumours of announcements. As for specs, they almost never leak as far as desktop Macs are concerned. The target audience is much smaller than the iPhone, and China (where leaks come from) may not be involved in the production.
Regardless, they have to announce something. If they don't they'll lose even the most patient of us. And I recall they said the new Mac Pro was due this year.

 

[deconstruct60]

Do you really think Apple could release a Mac Pro with AMD Epyc? They need to have a Thunderbolt solution.

Thunderbolt doesn't technically negate Eypc. The primary core issue is more so on the AMD side than on the Thunderbolt side ( a controller presumably bought from Intel if relatively near term system ). It is a core motherboard firmware boot up issues that Intel has way more experience at than AMD does. But that to a large extent is basically because AMD has put about zero real money into getting any. If Apple is largely paying for filling that experience gap it isn't a show stopper issue ( if Apple is willing to put the effort/money into it. If they are on some Scrooge McDuck path than that would more so be the "show stopper". ) .


Once AMD evolves to doing a USB 4 chipset they'll need a solution anyway ( since that means covering the Thunderbolt 3 subset that standard covers ). Next year's AMD chipset needs a solution anyway. A decent plan by AMD would be start with integrating with discrete Thunderbolt 3 this year at the boot/firmware level to do a better ramp to that future chipset. ( AMD has largely "outsourced" their i/O chipset work so dealing with discrete and then going integrated is their "norma"l path anyway. But this would be a bit more work as not exactly the same discrete vendor will get weaved in later. )
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At the end they may just offer us a new iMac Pro and a "sincere" apology for the inevitable EOL of the MP.

Since Apple just finished doing a "specs bump" to the iMac Pro in March 2019, that is unlikely. More likely that was a "kick the can" move to substantively deeper into 2019 ( at least ) for iMac Pro line up upgrades.


The Mac Pro 2010 and 2012 are already on the "Vintage" list. The 2010 is probably going onto the strict Obsolete list in June. Pragmatically Apple has already said that the previous design iteration of the Mac Pro is in EOL status. That won't news except for the folks spinning that those systems have years of more macOS updates coming.


It wouldn't be surprising for Apple to "freeze" the current Mac Pro (2013) sales. Simply to just start the clock on its "Vintage and Obsolete" formula count down to the latter status. If they start the clock now their still on the hook until 2024 for those systems ( many of which will be 10 years old at that point. )

Those two instances of "Mac Pro" do stand a chance of being tagged with various degrees of "we're done" status this June. That isn't necessarily the next one though. Even if it is just another "Hobby" product and drops back into Rip van Winkle status, Apple will probably do one more iteration.

 

[AidenShaw]

At the end they may just offer us a new iMac Pro and a "sincere" apology for the inevitable EOL of the MP.

Or simply say that Apple is "thrilled" at the success of the Imac Pro - and realizes that there is no need for a modular Mac Pro. (...and not even update the Imac Pro for five or six years)

 

[deconstruct60]

We've heard some rumours of announcements.

but even some of those rumors were about them debating on whether to punt or on doing the announcement. Those didn't point to them strongly wanting to ( and at least some faction advocating to delaying it some more. Probably in latter case to when they had something was far more concrete as to a real ship date; and not another Airpower ... well we think we can make XYZ announcement. )

As for specs, they almost never leak as far as desktop Macs are concerned. The target audience is much smaller than the iPhone, and China (where leaks come from) may not be involved in the production.

It isn't just China..... Vietnam. It is far more the case of having 100 subcontractors in the loop versus 10 (orders of magnitude difference in just plain people involved as opposed to their geographic location. )

Regardless, they have to announce something. If they don't they'll lose even the most patient of us. And I recall they said the new Mac Pro was due this year.

They don't "have to". They should have said something back in April. They didn't. They should say something now. But first week of June isn't any substantively different that not saying something back in April.

Apple has a multi-million dollar theater at HQ where they can do something outside the scope of WWDC any month they want to. It isn't like they are super hard pressed to find a venue to do an "press corp" announcement in. Bad news (i.e., were not close to being done) doesn't necessarily need to be weaved into WWDC. And WWDC needs about zero "space fillers" to occupied stage time. (if anything Apple probably has too much. )



If Apple is waiting until July to do laptops they could weave some "future Mac Pro" preview into that. August preview for a December launch would still be about a 4 month lead time.

If the ship date is sliding very deep into 2019 and the volume order shipping won't be until 2020 ... June announcement that there over a half year wait to go isn't a huge win. ( Apple might get some to wait, but others are going anyway because can't wait that long. ). And if they are going to fail on their "2019 product" declaration, then kicking the can on that embarrassment is probably on the table ( pretending longer would at least give more hope to folks still attached/planning to what they said earlier. )

 

[Boil]

The Xeon W-3xxx series exists mostly because Intel doesn't really have a workstation answer for Threadripper when the focus is primarily skewed toward core count. To a large extent it is just a gap filler. Once their fab progression momentum disappears it will probably mostly disappear on the next socket change ( around 2021 or so).

I would doubt that Apple is going to chase some transitory path.

Intel does like to change up their sockets pretty regular, gotta push those motherboard sales...

Intel is chasing AMD in regards to Threadripper so much, they even had to try and make the new socket as big as TR4...

I think x8 storage is relatively likely - there aren't flash chips that fast without using RAID unless Apple went all-Optane or pure SLC at ridiculous expense - but two or four "drives" in RAID connected to an x8 version of the T2 /T3 controller would work at a more reasonable cost. The disadvantage is that this means a 2 TB minimum configuration (heavily Apple Taxed).

I could get behind a x8 primary system RAID...!

But allocating those extra PCIe lanes adds up, another reason to favor Threadripper and the higher lane count it brings... And if it is Threafripper 3, then we could also get PCIe 4.0, which increases the speed of said lanes...?

My suspicion is that the iMac Pro will get the 2066 pin (avoids a major motherboard redesign) and be available from 10-18 cores (18 will remain the maximum for the smaller socket). The Mac Pro gets the big socket and is available from 12 or 16 to 28 cores. Neither one will be available with 8 core chips (even though Intel makes them) - those 8 core chips are actually slightly slower than the Core i9-9900K available in a consumer iMac for many tasks. They're really meant for entry-level servers where I/O is more important than raw processing power.

EPYC would be very nice, but the Thunderbolt issue is a big one, and Apple is conservative enough that I strongly suspect Intel. Dual socket is extremely unlikely unless Apple gets Intel (or AMD) to make some custom chips. The fast $1000-$3000 single socket chips Apple is using don't come in dual socket versions - they come in single socket and 8 socket versions, and the 8 socket chips are three times the price per chip. HP does use the 8 socket chips in dual socket workstations, but the prices are absurd. If Apple could get ahold of dual socket chips at a 125% or 150% price of single socket instead of 300%, maybe...

Another great reason to go with Threadripper, lower cost for more cores and more PCIe lanes...!

6 or hopefully 12 RAM slots, user accessible. Minimum RAM 48 (possibly 96) GB. 16 and 32 GB Registered ECC DIMMs - what the iMac Pro uses, probably carried over to the Mac Pro - are quite a bit cheaper per gigabyte than 8 GB, so Apple may very well offer a minimum configuration of 96 GB (6x16) instead of using the more expensive 8 GB DIMMs (at Newegg prices, the difference between 48 and 96 GB is under $200). 32s are actually the cheapest per byte, but the difference is smaller, and a 192 GB minimum configuration seems awfully high. 384 GB maximum (768 GB if they allow 12 slots).

You guessed it, more Threadripper advantages..!

Threadripper is quad-channel, so either four or eight RAM slots, less cost to fill than six to twelve slots...

Depending on how small Ives wants to make the chassis will depend on how many DIMM slots we get, I would hope for eight & Apple will have the different tiers of modular Mac Pro available with only four of those slots filled, this would allow for the end user to add more RAM without an Apple Tax...

1 AMD GPU in an Apple GPU Slot in baseline configuration, 1 Apple GPU Slot free. An Apple GPU Slot is probably just a PCIe v3 x16 slot with a small extension to funnel the video out a Thunderbolt port on the motherboard, but it accepts a GPU with a different physical shape (no rear ports, for one thing) and with (liquid?) cooling supplied by the Mac instead of huge, loud fans on the GPU. It might be a PCIe v4 slot, again with a nonstandard GPU shape. Apple won't accept loud, inefficient standard GPUs, especially when the different form factor helps keep NVidia away. Depending on the timing of Navi, the baseline GPU will either be a Vega 64 (64X?), a Radeon VII or some Navi equivalent. Upper-end GPUs may well run into the Radeon Instinct range.

No to the proprietary Apple GPU...

No rear ports...? Is Apple selling us overstock mining-specific GPUs relabeled as "Pro" units...? ;^p

Regarding the Radeon Instincts, the Radeon VII is a modified version of the Instinct 50; and 'Big Navi', aka Navi 20, is supposed to be the basis for the next gen of Instincts...

Regarding liquid cooling for the GPUs, I am down with that, no Apple needs to get AMD to make LC versions of their forthcoming Navi GPUs, but make them with the pump system that the Vega Frontier Edition Liquid Cooled & the Vega 64 Liquid Cooled had...

Possibly a couple of standard NVMe SSD slots, possibly a nonstandard Apple Storage Expansion slot or two (not both).

Two or four 2280 M.2 NVMe SSD slots would be great, especially if that storage system were RAID capable...

Possibly a PCIe slot, probably half-length with 75 watts of power (no fans) for odd I/O cards.

Since there seems to be a need for a third PCIe slot (those 8K video folks), I would go with the following:

Two 2.5-width x16 slots for GPUs / GPGPUs...
One double-width x8 slot for 'odd I/O cards'...

Ports:
A bunch of TB3 ports - most likely 6 on 3 buses (like the existing Mac Pro, except TB3), possibly 4 on 2 buses (iMac Pro), some chance of 8 on 4 buses. There may be a way of bridging two Thunderbolt ports on different buses for high-performance eGPU boxes (etc.)?

More TB3 ports, more controllers, more PCIe lanes to budget, which is where Threadripper comes it...!

I am fond of the idea of eight TB3 ports, which is a way to force people onto TB3 & USB-C devices / peripherals...

But eight TB3 ports means four controllers, which means more PCIe lanes...

Where could we get those extra lanes...?!?

Dual Ethernet (either dual 10 Gb or 10 Gb plus 1 Gb). The secondary Ethernet doesn't need to be 10 Gb (it's for Internet, printers, etc. while the primary Ethernet handles the fast LAN with NAS, servers, etc.) - will Apple keep it simple and use two of the same, or will they conserve PCIe lanes with a slower secondary port?

My OCD demands the 'simple' two of the same... Call it future-proofing...?

A few convenience ports (almost certainly a couple of standard USB-A , ideally front-mounted - they're largely for memory sticks and the like). Probably a headphone jack. Maybe, but unlikely, a SD or SD/XQD/CFExpress reader?

Lot of digital cameras out there, lot of folks using various forms of SD cards out there; I could see a 3.5mm headphone jack & card reader for front I/O, along with two TB3 /USB-C ports... Maybe the front I/O (SD card reader aside) is there to support a future Apple HMD...?

Anyone else wishing apple would go with AMD? I like their chips better than intel. Beyond them having a realistic likelihood of getting 7nm chips out, they have more PCI lanes. And cores. They seem to be working harder and better than intel and frankly intel deserves some 'punishment' for their stalled processor development.

I am really hoping for Threadripper 3...

I'd love to see AMD, but Apple's conservative and loves Thunderbolt.

Intel's TitanRidge tb3 controller, but it may needs Intel certification, hackers found a way to enable Alpine ridge tb3 PCIE cards in Thread ripper system by editing the firmware, so it is possible but needs Intel cooperation...

Maybe that is another reason the modular Mac Pro is taking so danged long, because Intel has been dragging their feet over what they have said is now an license-free thing...

I'll also change my price prediction - I've long said $6499 to start, but Intel did us a big favor with those single-socket Cascade Lake Xeon-Ws that are so much cheaper than the SPs.

12 core, 48 GB, 1 TB, Vega 64 starting configuration at $5499

Possibly $5999 but higher starting configuration: 12 core, 96 GB, 2 TB, Vega 64.

Fully loaded (28 core, 384 GB, 8 TB, some sort of Radeon Instinct), it'll hit $25000 or more

The current Mac Pro, as long in the tooth as it is, is set at two tiers, $2999 & $3999, and Apple has a history of keeping to the same price points, or raising them a lesser percentage...

This is where the iMac Pro has messed us up, everyone is now assuming that the new mMP HAS to be at that entry-level price, if not more...

But that base $4999 iMac Pro has a monitor, keyboard & mouse that does not come with the Mac Pro...

At retail value (using the retail LG 5K UltraFine as a base), that is a hair over $1500, leaving the now display/keyboard/mouse-less iMac Pro at $3500...

And everyone expects the modular Mac Pro to start out, spec-wise, somewhere more than the base iMac Pro, and top out way over it...

I feel that is not the way to go... Apple very well may have been trying the waters in regards to REPLACING the Mac Pro with the iMac Pro...!

If anything, we should look to the BASE iMac Pro for an idea of what the SPECS of the BASE modular Mac Pro should start as & go from there...

And keep the base price for a modular Mac Pro to $3499, including keyboard & mouse...

Besides, Apple is gonna get another $1500 or so out of us for that new 6K3K Thunderbolt Display...!

I hope it's not as tightly packed as Boil's possibility - that Mac Mini RAM upgrade looks as tricky as a "take the screen off" iMac. I'm hoping at least the RAM (and maybe storage expansion) is either a hatch or at worst a "take the cover off and it's staring you in the face" type upgrade.

A system as tightly packed as Boil's would also be fun to cool... Not impossible - liquid cooling would certainly work - but a design challenge.

The mini RAM upgrade is easy peasy... The iMac screen removal, nerve-wracking...!

I outlined using two of the best static pressure fans available (soon) & basically have the voids between the daughtercards filled with copper vapor chamber heat sinks, of which the vertically-oriented fins are as close to either fan as tolerances will allow...

So a goodly bit of constant air volume replacement...! Liquid cooling would be possible as well, but the tubing runs would actually decrease airflow thru the core, and the radiators would increase overall chassis volume... I like that 7.7"-cubed 7.5 liter SFF (small form factor)...!!!

 

[barmann]

I wouldn’t expect a Mac Pro at WWDC, their have been zero leaks or rumours on the new Mac Pro for months now. And WWDC is only 2 months or less away?
As for Navi, well the next Xbox and PlayStation are going to be using it and the Xbox may be launched this year... so I wouldn’t rule that out of any new Mac Pro.

It's June 3rd, just a few weeks away .

If Apple don't introduce the new MP at WWDC, or fail to make any clear annoncement re. the specs, design and internals , they are likely to miss out on any bulk Mac buyers still left for their first batch .
Plus a bunch of small and medium sized shops , all of which an MP no-show at WWDC will give yet another reason to leave the platform .

Purchase desiccions are often made during the third quarter, when businesses start planning their investment and tax write-off strategy for the following year .
A November/ October release would make the new MP a late 2020 product, for all intents and purposes .

And a lot of people would be pissed off if WWDC didn't feature an MP .
I certainly would be .

 

[Boil]

I wouldn’t expect a Mac Pro at WWDC, their have been zero leaks or rumours on the new Mac Pro for months now. And WWDC is only 2 months or less away?
As for Navi, well the next Xbox and PlayStation are going to be using it and the Xbox may be launched this year... so I wouldn’t rule that out of any new Mac Pro.

More leaks come from the offshore production products, the modular Mac Pro is probably going to be built in the US Mac Pro facility...?

Navi is definitely coming to the modular Mac Pro, probably two mid-range models for now, with Radeon VII available fo the high-end, until Navi 20 comes arounf Q1 or Q2 of 2020...?

 

[AidenShaw]

Navi is definitely coming to the modular Mac Pro, probably two mid-range models for now, with Radeon VII available fo the high-end, until Navi 20 comes arounf Q1 or Q2 of 2020...?

I'd love to see links to your sources for this speculation.

"Definitely" is a strong word to describe anything about the vwMP. We don't even know "definitely" if there will be a vwMP. At one point we thought that there "definitely" would be an AirPower.

 

[Boil]

Months? It is weeks. Perhaps the time metric of months is useful in how far away Apple would start volume production ( but that is probably more than two also. )

Containing info on a , largely not production ready, "sneak peak" is much easier than something they are in the "dot the i's and cross the t's " stage of getting ready to sell. No news now is only more indicative that the ship date is "far" more so than whether Apple is doing to do a slightly improved "dog ate my homework" dog and pony show or not.

If Apple has more than enough "good news" to cover about the Operating system line up and anything else that is ready to ship... they probably punt on the Mac Pro on stage. ( perhaps some press release asking for more time... )

Well, missing their standard April Mea Culpa gives me hope that there will be a WWDC preview like with the 2013 'screwed the pooch' item they are replacing...

Navi isn't coming until 2020 ( and perhaps on a "shrink on cheaper cost path " 6nm ). E3 is going to be after WWDC in June. There should be a better timeline.

AMD has stated (at their recent earnings call?) that the Ryzen 3000-series CPUs & the Navi GPUs will be shipping Q3 2019; with Ryzen 3K announcing at Computex & Navi at E3...

At the end they may just offer us a new iMac Pro and a "sincere" apology for the inevitable EOL of the MP.

I think they should discontinue the iMac Pro...

 

[deconstruct60]

Or simply say that Apple is "thrilled" at the success of the Imac Pro - and realizes that there is no need for a modular Mac Pro. (...and not even update the Imac Pro for five or six years)

Very unlikely.

1. The iMac Pro has probably done better than all the naysayers in this subforum have heaped on it. But it is doubtful Apple is so thrilled that it clearly justifies killing off a future Mac Pro. The notion that one is required to kill off the other
is pretty flawed that even Apple probably won't buy. That appears to be more folks outside of Apple pushing that position that than anything that Apple has said explicitly ( or even implicitly ).

Apple probably thinks the iMac Pro covers a substantive part of what the Mac Pro 2013 was specifically covering, but that also isn't the whole Mac Pro historic market. ( which Apple has implied also. ). Apple has not implied that IMac Pro was a complete substitute over a broad range. .


2. The iMac Pro go into Rip van Winkle mode for 5-6 years? Extremely highly doubtful. The next iteration of Intel W will be socket compatible. Getting a iMac Pro updgrade out in that context is largely just a firmware update and whatever they want to weave in at GPU ( and possible small iteration on T-series). That would be relatively cheap to do and more than decent return on investment. Almost same playbook Apple did with Mac Pro 2009 - 2010. ) Could Apple then coast 4-5 years on that "speed bumped" iMac Pro... maybe? But what they have is highly primed to be speed bump past just bigger DIMMs. ( the DIMM thing is probably a "kick the can" several months thing. ).


3. Is Apple going to relatively closely follow the "We cluster f*cked the Airpower" announcement with another "we are in over our heads" announcement in the same year? That is really doubtful. Even if Apple has cycled over to souring on the Mac Pro long term prospects, they'd still probably ship out another "hobby project" version just save face this year.

[ If Apple killed off the Mac Pro at this stage, that would probably be motivated by a plan to backtrack out of almost all desktiops macs on some half baked ARM only scheme. iMac Pro would be at essentially same dead end as the Mac Pro. ]

 

[jscipione]

Apple expanded their Austin, TX factory investing $1B and creating 5000 new jobs for their iPhone recycling program. This is also where the Mac Pros are built, or at least nearby at the Flextronic factory. This explains why there have been no Mac Pro leaks as the US-based manufacturing has less incentive to leak.

Apple will release new MacBook Pros with 9th-gen processors just before WWDC and will give a sneak peak of the Mac Pro at WWDC, released in December.

"Apple has a large presence in Austin. It has a large seven-building campus in Austin with more than 6,200 employees and is the largest campus of Apple employees outside of its headquarters in Cupertino, California. Apple’s Austin operations focus on chip engineering, technology, administration and customer support. And the nearby Flextronics Factory assembles the Apple Mac Pro."

https://www.tomshardware.com/news/apple-expands-recycling-efforts-2019,39116.html
http://www.siliconhillsnews.com/2018/12/13/apple-expand-north-austin-1-billion-campus-5000-jobs/

 

[Boil]

I'd love to see links to your sources for this speculation.

"Definitely" is a strong word to describe anything about the vwMP. We don't even know "definitely" if there will be a vwMP. At one point we thought that there "definitely" would be an AirPower.

Well, using the word 'speculation' kinda means I don't need a source...?

There have been references to Navi spotted in a beta version of macOS & we know Apple uses AMD for their graphics...

Radeon VII will also probably be an option, at least until Nvai 20 in Q1 or Q2 of 2020...

 

[fuchsdh]

I wouldn’t expect a Mac Pro at WWDC, their have been zero leaks or rumours on the new Mac Pro for months now. And WWDC is only 2 months or less away?
As for Navi, well the next Xbox and PlayStation are going to be using it and the Xbox may be launched this year... so I wouldn’t rule that out of any new Mac Pro.

The nMP didn't leak ahead of WWDC. In general there's a lot less appetite for Mac leaks and a lot less leaks in the supply chain for those leaks to come anyhow. In other words a lack of leaks means absolutely nothing one way or another wether the Mac Pro is going to be shown off.

Or simply say that Apple is "thrilled" at the success of the Imac Pro - and realizes that there is no need for a modular Mac Pro. (...and not even update the Imac Pro for five or six years)

If that were the case they would have had another press roundtable to deal with the issue and furor before WWDC.

Apple expanded their Austin, TX factory investing $1B and creating 5000 new jobs for their iPhone recycling program. This is also where the Mac Pros are built, or at least nearby at the Flextronic factory. This explains why there have been no Mac Pro leaks as the US-based manufacturing has less incentive to leak.

Apple will release new MacBook Pros with 9th-gen processors just before WWDC and will give a sneak peak of the Mac Pro at WWDC, released in December.

"Apple has a large presence in Austin. It has a large seven-building campus in Austin with more than 6,200 employees and is the largest campus of Apple employees outside of its headquarters in Cupertino, California. Apple’s Austin operations focus on chip engineering, technology, administration and customer support. And the nearby Flextronics Factory assembles the Apple Mac Pro."

https://www.tomshardware.com/news/apple-expands-recycling-efforts-2019,39116.html
http://www.siliconhillsnews.com/2018/12/13/apple-expand-north-austin-1-billion-campus-5000-jobs/

I'm still not sure if the Mac Pro will be made domestically, but I'm going to guess it's a near-100% certainty it's gonna' be made out of old iPhones like the Mac mini and MacBook Air are now

 

[AidenShaw]

This is pure opinion without anything to support it. But, that's OK - forums are to share opinions.

Apple's fiduciary responsibility to its owners is to maximize profit and stock price. If Apple thinks that the vwMP will be a loss, then they must cancel it. (Note that "loss" is not simply did Apple make a profit on the hardware sales (or expected sales) or not. "Halo effect" and "customer trust" are also factors - so avoiding another AirPower debacle could be a reason to launch the vwMP even though it is expected to lose money.)

Apple probably thinks the iMac Pro covers a substantive part of what the Mac Pro 2013 was specifically covering,

I would consider this to be an argument to cancel the vwMP. If the Imac Pro satisfies much of the target audience - how many will buy the vwMP?

​

 

[deconstruct60]

Well, missing their standard April Mea Culpa gives me hope that there will be a WWDC preview like with the 2013 'screwed the pooch' item they are replacing...

A "sneak peak" is just a minor variation of "Mea Culpa" at this point. Missing April was they were walking away from turning over a new leaf and communicating in a 'Timely fashion" . Weaving it into WWDC in some dog and pony show fashion is more an attempt at misdirection than in timely communication.

Navi isn't coming until 2020 ...

AMD has stated (at their recent earnings call?) that the Ryzen 3000-series CPUs & the Navi GPUs will be shipping Q3 2019; with Ryzen 3K announcing at Computex & Navi at E3...

j


Congratulations, you can quote completely out of context by stripping of extremely relevant adjectives. Playstation (PS) Navi is coming in 2020... Sony said so. Sony's and Microsofts Navi has a pretty good chance of being substantively different.

As for AMD's Q3 Navi aimed at PC's ... it is only that 'some' aspect of Navi was shipping in Q3. Not a complete 'top to bottom' line up. AMD is going to some updates to the bottom end of line up.

https://www.tomshardware.com/news/amd-radeon-rx-640-radeon-630-graphics-card,39325.html

and that probably means Navi won't cover those. AMD itself has basically said that Vega VII isn't going to disappear any time soon. (Navi in 2019 doesn't cover that) So it is highly likely going to be a relatively narrow subset of Polaris that Navi will cover in Q3. More likely that is closer to the entry card for a new Mac Pro than some "whole line up" show stopper. Mac Pro would perhaps get a better entry and mid range card with Navi, but if Apple goes with Polaris+Vega ( stuff they already have ) it would not be surprising if they ship in Q3. If the rest of the system was sliding deep into Q4 than Navi makes some sense. However, Apple "holding up" Mac Pro primary on Navi really doesn't.

If they were doing the next Mac Pro "right" that would be increment update later they could do several months after release.

I think they should discontinue the iMac Pro...

The iMac pro got an update in March-April . The Mac Pro did not; not even a peep.

It is highly likely that Apple has a very significant difference in priority orderings. And their order probably counts more toward wither the product is canceled or not. If the iMac Pro got terminated that likely wouldn't bring the next Mac Pro any faster. In fact, it would probably indicate that the Mac Pro is in even deeper peril.

 

[Manzanito]

I don’t think apple can afford to let the wwdc go by with no news of the mac pro.

As for the possibility of canceling it, they can’t afford it either. They already took a hit to their reputation with the charging mat thing, if now they have to admit they aren’t able to design a simple workstation, they aren’t going to look any better.

So I think we’ll get the sneak peek. Let’s hope this time around we get less innovating asses and more sensible choices in design, thermals, horsepower and upgradability.

 

[jeanlain]

They don't "have to". They should have said something back in April. They didn't. They should say something now. But first week of June isn't any substantively different that not saying something back in April.

Yes it is. The April event was about music, TV, services and stuff that had nothing to do with the Mac Pro, and no one was expecting an announcement. WWDC is where Mac Pros are announced (they were in 2006 and 2013), alongside the software to leverage them. Everyone is expecting the Mac Pro to be announced at WWDC.

 

[Aldaris]

I wouldn’t expect a Mac Pro at WWDC, their have been zero leaks or rumours on the new Mac Pro for months now. And WWDC is only 2 months or less away?
As for Navi, well the next Xbox and PlayStation are going to be using it and the Xbox may be launched this year... so I wouldn’t rule that out of any new Mac Pro.

Try two weeks...