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

[deconstruct60]

In the meantime, Apple doesn't sell anymore the 4K and 5K LG displays but keeps selling the tMP... I hope it's not connected, but it subconsciously gives the idea that the mMP is not so close by. Strange, since I wonder what other macs could run the 6K display Apple may come out with.

As noted in previous post, it looks as though Apple has filled in a replacement for the 4K UltraFine, although a bit 'less' 4K than what is being replaced. Less pixel density (and probably less BOM cost) is swapped for it being a true Thunderbolt 3 docking station display ( as opposed to the USB-C DP alteratinve mode before. )

As far as what could drive a 6k3K display besides a Mac Pro....
Probably everything on the LG Utlrafine 5K required Mac system list https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT207448

Perhaps a firmware tweak to the systems to recognize 6240×2880 as 'standard' resolution option. ( It would be fed via two DisplayPort 1.2 streams just like the 5K ; only bandwiith would be closer to the max available. ). What is the framebuffer max needs to move up a bit and some low level stuff tweaked. Don't really need any more "grunt"/"horsepower" to simply just drive the display mostly in 2D mode.

If that new 24" is the replacement for the 21.5" and the 6k3k is the 5k replacement, then the recent large draw down in 5K inventory means Apple could release the 6k3K at WWDC along with the software/firmware updates ( perhaps buried in 10.15 or one last 10.14.x update. ) .


The new "Monitor" is extremely likely going to be a Thunderbolt docking station display. Hooking up to laptops and the Mini is also in the scope of the target market. In fact, the non-"Mac Pro" set of Macs would probably be at least as large a set of folks as hooking up to new Mac Pro in terms of unit sales. Apple is highly unlikely to making a monitor that only the Mac Pro can drive. The volume on the panel would likely be below their "minimum run rate" threshold of being interesting.


It wouldn't be surprising if they flipped the iMac Pro to the new 6k3K panel to get the panel volume up over the threshold. Docking station , Mac Pro , and iMac Pro would probably get to "high enough". Apple may not do all of that in just one step, but shipping the monitor out in June in advance of new Mac Pro ( and/or iMac Pro changes ) could work but a slower volume ramp. ( as a new tech panel and backlight that may not be so bad. )


P.S. I don't think that new 24" panel is destine for the "Retina" iMacs. Perhaps Apple is going to tweak the "smaller" iMac line up and put that mainstream panel in the "edu"/"entry" iMac and dump that last old school classic density. And move the 21.5" to a new panel that is more upscale ( if keeping the common iMac body frame at that size. ), The smaller iMac could iterate at the end of the year. ( doesn't have to match in size right away).

It is a mainstream panel so Apple could just get their volume discount from the maturity and market volume and just keep their 21.5" size.

 

[goMac]

No, the "specs" weren't out there, unless you mean "speculations".
There were only clues given by Tim Cook about a new Mac Pro coming. Certainly no leak about the design nor about the dual GPUs. Everyone was taken by surprise.
Actually, we know more about the next Mac Pro now than about the tube Mac Pro before WWDC 2013.

The specs most certainly were out there. Just because you didn’t know them doesn’t mean they weren’t floating around.

For example, I was not surprised.

But no one was crazy enough to go out in public and post the no PCIe slots thing. It’s a surprising enough change that it’s a sure way to draw attention to yourself.

It’s also why I’m taking the stackable stuff a little more seriously. I don’t know anything specifically this time, but if it’s anything like the 2013 there are people that probably do know and quietly talking.

 

[Nabru50]

What hardware and software changes?

There are lots of folks running AMD hackintoshes right now.

AMD offers better performance for less money - Apple could charge the same prices and their profit margin would go up.

For that matter, their CPU line up works better:

Mac Mini & low end iMac - Ryzen chips with the built in Vega graphics
iMac "Pro" top end Ryzen 9 with discreet Navi GPU
Mac Pro - EYPC - 8 cores at the low end, 32 cores at the high end (terrified of having to rework the core of OSX to use 64 cores) - WX series of GPU cards.

Yeah, I pretty much agree with this. I guess I just don't think 2019 Apple has the "courage" to get away from Intel at the moment.

 

[jeanlain]

The specs most certainly were out there. Just because you didn’t know them doesn’t mean they weren’t floating around.

I thought it was clear we were discussing publicly reported leaks, like those published on this website, not information circulating among people with special connections to Apple.

 

[Jack Burton]

We will know in a couple of weeks if Apple has anything to show.

 

[deconstruct60]

No, the "specs" weren't out there, unless you mean "speculations".

All the specs in precise detail? No. Here is one instance though that there was a "substantial change" coming.

" ... But what that new computer will look like or do, is totally unknown. ...
It is clear to me, however, that it will be totally different from the Mac Pro we know now. ... "
https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/larry-jordan-believes-in-a-new-mac-pro.1582607/

There is another one that touched on some "> 2" Thunderbolt ports that was strange (at the time) but I can't find it in a simple search. [ Amusing looking at the Jan-May thread topics. Several of "I'm going to go buy a HP Zxxx " and "I'm mad I'm buying a DELL XXXXX " threads there too. ]


Some "holy cow this is different" stuff did start leaking after NAB 2013 ( April). There wasn't any 50+ page thread on it as there was an semi-active Mac Pro product out there ( Had been killed in Europe but was still limping along. So several "should I buy or wait" threads mixed in with new/old hardware install issues to keep the forum humming.on other topics. )

There were only clues given by Tim Cook about a new Mac Pro coming. Certainly no leak about the design nor about the dual GPUs. Everyone was taken by surprise.

The depth of the difference. But something different, for folks who didn't have their head in the sand that wasn't quite true. Non open forum ( the whispers were a bit more concrete but still off of very specific details. )

Actually, we know more about the next Mac Pro now than about the tube Mac Pro before WWDC 2013.

I wouldn't bet on that.

You think wrong, for the reasons we explained. The Mac Pro isn't anticipated by many people, especially compared to iDevices and even laptops. And the the conception/build chain is much more controlled by Apple than that of an iPhone or a laptop (which are assembled overseas).

It isn't the number of buyers and their anticipations. If the Mac Pro represented 25% of all of Apple's revenue then it would probably leak also. There are two primary drivers of leaks. One is money. People paid ( directly or indirectly ) to leak the information so that can do the "acceptable" form of insider trading on stocks. [ there is a fair amount of stock spinning that goes on this and other rumors forums. ]. One is number of folks. Too many people and will eventually run into a blabber mouth.

Apple has probably only shown the Mac Pro details ( in part or full) to a small group of folks. If the group is very small and they all know the group is very small, then Apple's threat of "firing", being dropped from future NDA info , and/or financial kneecapping is enough to keep folks mouths most shut. Or at least to point they just drop really vague hints with little detail.

The 2013 model was wrapped in a shroud box when earlier demos were done for folks.

 

[goMac]

I thought it was clear we were discussing publicly reported leaks, like those published on this website, not information circulating among people with special connections to Apple.

I don't think that was the original context. That seems to be something new you're layering on top. People knew, but the change is dramatic enough people risked a) either getting dismissed as crazy or b) attracting way too much attention to themselves.

What I'm saying is that the small leaks about a stackable Mac Pro read to me as people who know things who are very worried about the direction Apple is taking. Maybe it's mutually shared paranoia that isn't backed up by fact. But it feels like to me there is something there.

If the 2013 Mac Pro had been more publicly leaked, the reaction would have been similar. It wouldn't have made sense, wouldn't have been a smart move, and would have gotten dismissed as something Apple certainly wouldn't have been crazy enough to do.

I'd be happier if the new Mac Pro wasn't stackable. But I think there is too much floating out there to ignore it. And it fits well with Ive coming up with some crazy idea and forcing the engineers to sort it out over 3-4 years.

 

[deconstruct60]

I thought it was clear we were discussing publicly reported leaks, like those published on this website, not information circulating among people with special connections to Apple.

Chuckle. If there were a leak it would have to come from someone with some special (non ordinary) connections to Apple. If pointing at the "front page" macrumors or 'reporter" / "tech blogger" leaks that isn't he only stuff that bubbles up here on macrumors.

By May 2013 there was odd stuff out there.
[doublepost=1558386609][/doublepost]

That it will be "modular", that is will have "high throughput", that it shouldn't be thermally constrained, that Apple has been working with pros for its conception and had a "pro workflow" team dedicated to that...

The "pro workflow" team is not solely dedicated to the Mac Pro. It is also not just "new systems" oriented either.

"...We said in the meeting last year that the pro community isn’t one thing,” says Ternus. “It’s very diverse. There’s many different types of pros ... Because we want to provide complete pro solutions, not just deliver big hardware, which we’re doing and we did it with iMac Pro. But look at everything holistically.”
....
And so they’re now sitting and building out workflows internally with real content and really looking for what are the bottlenecks. What are the pain points. How can we improve things. And then we take this information where we find it and we go into our architecture team and our performance architects and really drill down and figure out where is the bottleneck. Is it the OS, is it in the drivers, is it in the application, is it in the silicon, and then run it to ground to get it fixed.”
...
But the Pro Workflow Team isn’t just there to fix current bugs. It’s also empowered to make improvements on future products, like the Mac Pro. ..."
https://techcrunch.com/2018/04/05/apples-2019-imac-pro-will-be-shaped-by-workflows/


There is some feedback loop path there, but this Workflow teams job isn't to just make the Mac Pro look good or to narrow their scope just down the "Mac Pro only" scale projects. Chokepoints and OS/Foundational issues that they find solutions for will most likely work for all Macs; not just one product. Apple is also only doing a select subset of workflows in this "internal campus" context for analysis. The scope for the next Mac Pro should be broader than just what happens to fit in some handful of demo projects. ( there would be additional feedback path feeding the design requirements. )
In short, it is a "pro workflows" group for just about the whole Mac product line. ( diverse group with diverse tools. )

Several folks appear to have read the headline of the story and perhaps skimmed a couple of the early paragraphs to walk away with the notion that this was primarily about the Mac Pro. It is not. The title has a chunk of "clickbait" built in ( because there is a group of folks mad about the Mac Pro and "mad" folks tend to click more often. ). And it is front loaded with Mac Pro timing info that Apple wanted to get out. Once into the details of what the team actually does, the article isn't Mac Pro specific at all. ( 'future products like the Mac Pro" isn't specific to the Mac Pro. Feedback into all of the future Macs probably have paths there. )

 

[deconstruct60]

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.

Apple spends April 2017 and 2018 talking around the area of Mac Pros having repeated it for two years there should be no expectation. Like from the 2018 'talking' they did when they said

" ...
“We know that there’s a lot of customers today that are making purchase decisions on the iMac Pro and whether or not they should wait for the Mac Pro,” says Boger.

This is why Apple wants to be as explicit as possible now, so that if institutional buyers or other large customers are waiting to spend budget on, say iMac Pros or other machines, they should pull the trigger without worry that a Mac Pro might appear late in the purchasing year. ...
...
“We recognize that they want to hear more from us. And so we want to communicate better with them ... "
https://techcrunch.com/2018/04/05/apples-2019-imac-pro-will-be-shaped-by-workflows/

So in April 2019 'communicating better' means doing absolutely nothing. Ziip. Nada. The yearly planning in April 2018 that some customers were doing that their April 2018 communicating was helpful for just doesn't happen in 2019? If April 2018 was timely how is April 2019 not approximately as timely ?


' Still a 2019 product' would have been useful. "Not planning to jack the entry level price up 150-200%" would have been useful ( squelched some tangent rumors ). " Not doing lego block systems " ... again would have been useful. The article's author touched on the schedule/timeline abnormalities

"..I’m also curious about whether the process over the last year has changed the timeline on the Mac Pro. ...
..I don’t think that the timeline has fundamentally changed,” says Ternus. “I think this is very much a situation where we want to measure twice and cut once, and we want to make sure we’re building a really well thought-out platform .."

If in April 2019 there was some major hiccup they wouldn't have to go into but saying off the initial timeline would have been useful. If Apple planned from the beginning to drag this well over 2 years that would be communicating. ( there are ton of folks out there who are anchored on the notion that this should take more than 2-4 months to do from scratch. .... and they are unduly agitated because their expectations are highly disconnected from Apple's )


And it wasn't only a "Music event, TV , services .."

iMacs refreshed
https://www.macrumors.com/2019/03/19/2019-imac-refresh/


iMac Pro bumped
https://www.macrumors.com/2019/03/19/imac-pro-256gb-ram-radeon-pro-vega-64x/

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.

So something that repeats two years in a row isn't any kind of pattern, but some spotty record with 5-7 year gaps in between events is hard core expectation builder. Not. Mac Pro at WWDC is far clock to a "broken analog clock is right twice a day" pattern than something to ground expectations on.

the 2013 "sneak peak" was in part driven that it was a year after Cook mention after June WWDC 2012 that "later in 2013". Early 2013 they had to kill off the Mac Pro in Europe and the competition had about 11 months of shipping Xeon E5 1600/2600 systems while Apple was stuck a generation back. They had about a whole year of SNAFU and bascically needed to. That is was suppose to be a demonstration to "important friends" and of relative importance to Apple was largely just misdirection.


This is a 2-3X as long of a gap that woefully multiple generations behind context (even if stick to Mac Pro 2013 as baseline. For 2009-2012 models it is worse. ). . Misdirection on stage at WWDC isn't a big lever here.


The real reoccurring pattern here is really a kabal of folks on this subforum forums that whip themselves into a frenzy just about every Feb-May with a "There's gotta be a Mac Pro WWDC" groupthink that just "has to" occur. Then after the all too frequent "no show" at WWDC there is the doom and gloom "Apple doesn't care anymore" thread(s). That's primarily based on folks who are not Apple (nor particularly paying attention to what Apple usually does ) driving expectations that don't get met.... but that gap is Apple's fault ( misdirection).

Some grandstanding "dog and pony" stage show for the Mac Pro is not what many are waiting on. Timing , pricing , and general system form and design approach is where Apple has largely fallen down. Not communicating. Lack of trust are far bigger issues for the Mac Pro then some skewed tech porn showcase of the next Mac Pro. Spectacular showmanship isn't going to fly well if there is still no real concrete ship dates, vague hand waving on pricing. and a complete mismatch on design goals/priorities.


Build trust by communicating even when it is "bad" news when appropriate. If Apple is primarily done but dead in the water on components then just show what they got as a preview. If still haven't finalized the design then pruning off crazy stuff rumors keeps expectations better on track.

 

[goMac]

The "pro workflow" team is not solely dedicated to the Mac Pro. It is also not just "new systems" oriented either.

We've also yet to see how much power the pro workflow team has within Apple. Is someone like Ive calling the shots with the next Mac Pro, is it the the pro workflow team?

So far we haven't seen too much come out of the workflow team that's a big change to Apple's hardware strategy. The Mac mini getting a reasonable update might be the closest we've come so far.
[doublepost=1558390167][/doublepost]

So something that repeats two years in a row isn't any kind of pattern, but some spotty record with 5-7 year gaps in between events is hard core expectation builder. Not. Mac Pro at WWDC is far clock to a "broken analog clock is right twice a day" pattern than something to ground expectations on.

It sounded to me like the Mac Pro was a maybe for WWDC. We might see it, or they might save it for an event later. It might be announced separately from the display, which does seem like more of a sure thing for WWDC.

Probably does not bode well for a 2019 release.

 

[fuchsdh]

The specs most certainly were out there. Just because you didn’t know them doesn’t mean they weren’t floating around.

For example, I was not surprised.

But no one was crazy enough to go out in public and post the no PCIe slots thing. It’s a surprising enough change that it’s a sure way to draw attention to yourself.

It’s also why I’m taking the stackable stuff a little more seriously. I don’t know anything specifically this time, but if it’s anything like the 2013 there are people that probably do know and quietly talking.

The stackable stuff is just taking the word modular and combining it with stackable Minis to come up with their own fanciful stuff that grew ever more fanciful since there wasn't any other news. If Apple actually does come out with anything remotely similar the speculation would have been lucky, not intuitive.

 

[goMac]

The stackable stuff is just taking the word modular and combining it with stackable Minis to come up with their own fanciful stuff that grew ever more fanciful since there wasn't any other news. If Apple actually does come out with anything remotely similar the speculation would have been lucky, not intuitive.

There have been a few reputable sites saying they have sources that are saying stackable, with some amount of detail on specifics and modules. It's not just people photoshopping minis.

Again, I haven't heard that specifically personally. The sites could be wrong, and I would be happier if the design was not stackable. But it's about the right time of year for leaking, and it's odd that it's a story that keeps coming up.

There's already too much of a backlash forming amongst a few professionals who seem to be taking the idea suspiciously seriously.

And again, it nicely fits with why it's taking Apple years and years to even announce. It would be a very troublesome and problematic design to get right.

So I don't think it's that we haven't seen any leaks. I think it's that we might be seeing leaking of a product we don't like.

 

[askunk]

A new Pixar animated movie?
Starring the voices of Tim Cook and Phil Schiller, about some rich guy who falls asleep for 10 years.

If it’s also about a poisoned apple, I believe it’s a Disney one.

 

[Mr. Dee]

I think Apple probably has done the market research and came to the conclusion the demand is either not there for the Mac Pro; it’s being satisfied by existing Macs like the iMac Pro, MacBook Pro and Mac Mini.

Apple is a company with deep connections to the entertainment industry. They likely have been reaching out to influential film studios, music producers, observing their workflow and actually seeing a different story regarding demand for a desktop Mac.

Influential YouTubers are also another example, they likely talked to MKBHD, Jonathan Morrison, Unbox Therapy and concluded the Mac Pro is likely not a must have when you look at their workflow.

Apple’s own internal workflow must have also given pause about the necessity of the Mac Pro. I remember seeing glimpses inside the design studio and most of what I saw were iMacs with CAD files open. Heck, they likely are developing macOS and iOS using existing desktop/mobile Macs and using server farms/Cloud to do any heavy lifting.

Recently, I even saw Adobe product managers using iMacs to demo new software features on an iMac Pro.

So, in a sense, the industry has moved on and whoever is still around needing this is a niche user of the highest order. Many might get their wishes and see the Mac Pro of their dreams, but keep in mind, you might never see another revision of it.

 

[jeanlain]

Apple spends April 2017 and 2018 talking around the area of Mac Pros having repeated it for two years there should be no expectation. Like from the 2018 'talking' they did when they said

" ...
“We know that there’s a lot of customers today that are making purchase decisions on the iMac Pro and whether or not they should wait for the Mac Pro,” says Boger.

This is why Apple wants to be as explicit as possible now, so that if institutional buyers or other large customers are waiting to spend budget on, say iMac Pros or other machines, they should pull the trigger without worry that a Mac Pro might appear late in the purchasing year. ...
...
“We recognize that they want to hear more from us. And so we want to communicate better with them ... "
https://techcrunch.com/2018/04/05/apples-2019-imac-pro-will-be-shaped-by-workflows/

So in April 2019 'communicating better' means doing absolutely nothing. Ziip. Nada. The yearly planning in April 2018 that some customers were doing that their April 2018 communicating was helpful for just doesn't happen in 2019? If April 2018 was timely how is April 2019 not approximately as timely ?

Again, what did you expect, a full Mac Pro spec release, alongside the Apple Card and Apple TV+?
They said that the Mac Pro was coming at least twice. There was no need of another interview just to say that they're working on it. We know that it's coming. At this stage, you either reveal it on stage with the full specs, or you say nothing. But given that it is a totally new Mac, you don't release it quietly (which is why your mentions of the iMac and iMac pro minor updates are irrelevant). WWDC is the right event to properly announce it and it was "only" three months away. You just wait for the right event. That is, if it is ready to be announced.

So something that repeats two years in a row isn't any kind of pattern, but some spotty record with 5-7 year gaps in between events is hard core expectation builder. Not. Mac Pro at WWDC is far clock to a "broken analog clock is right twice a day" pattern than something to ground expectations on.

Yes, two isn't a lot. Do I really have to explain that WWDC is oriented toward developers and "pros" in general, and that it is the right event to reveal new Macs? I could have added the PowerMac G5, the iMac Pro, some MBPs to the list.
I don't get the point of this conversation except to satisfy your need or arguing. Someone here questioned the possibility of a release at WWDC because of the lack of spec leaks. I said the lack of leaks was expected. And then you came to quibble about the April event... WTH does it have to do with anything? Do you imply that they won't show the Mac Pro at WWDC? If so, say it clearly FFS.

It isn't the number of buyers and their anticipations. If the Mac Pro represented 25% of all of Apple's revenue then it would probably leak also.

I explained why leaks aren't expected. What does this add to the conversation? Do you imply that the % of revenue isn't connected to the potential buyers?

The "pro workflow" team is not solely dedicated to the Mac Pro. It is also not just "new systems" oriented either.

Yeah whatever. I was just summarising what we knew about the Mac Pro to someone who asked. I wasn't arguing with you about what was precisely said in the interviews.
You like quibbling, don't you?

I anticipate possible answers:
"the Mac Pro isn't a 'totally new Mac' lie you said".
"revenues are more important than potential buyers"
"they did reveal Macs at other events"
"Actually, Craig said xxxx during this interview"
Just to let you know I'm not going to argue any longer unless you address the main point, which is the WWDC reveal.

 

[jscipione]

The specs most certainly were out there. Just because you didn’t know them doesn’t mean they weren’t floating around.

But no one was crazy enough to go out in public and post the no PCIe slots thing. It’s a surprising enough change that it’s a sure way to draw attention to yourself.

"Somewhat corroborating Baird's phone call, Lou Borella -- administrator of the 'We Want a New Macpro' Facebook group -- wrote on the page that he heard the new professional Mac would be "heavily reliant on Thunderbolt" with "no internal expandability", and would have support for dual-GPU's and no FireWire or optical drive."

https://www.macrumors.com/2013/06/05/apple-planning-something-really-different-for-new-mac-pro/

Some people went public with definitive information before the trashcan was unveiled on June 10, 2013. This was published days before the trashcan sneak peak so we still have potential for a similar leak this year.

It’s also why I’m taking the stackable stuff a little more seriously. I don’t know anything specifically this time, but if it’s anything like the 2013 there are people that probably do know and quietly talking.

I've previously opined that the mMP would be a mini itx form factor case allowing for "single large GPUs".

Perhaps Apple will, ahem, be inspired by the Louqe Ghost S1 MkII with its top-hat design allowing you to add add more storage or fans.

https://louqe.com/

 

[Michael Scrip]

I've previously opined that the mMP would be a mini itx form factor case allowing for "single large GPUs".

Perhaps Apple will, ahem, be inspired by the Louqe Ghost S1 MkII with its top-hat design allowing you to add add more storage or fans.

https://louqe.com/

I've been following the Louqe Ghost S1 since it appeared on Kickstarter.

My next PC might be Mini-ITX... and this case it top on my list!

I don't need a huge tower case anymore since I switched to all SSDs and put my bulk storage on a NAS.

So I might go tiny!

 

[Boil]

I've previously opined that the mMP would be a mini itx form factor case allowing for "single large GPUs".

Perhaps Apple will, ahem, be inspired by the Louqe Ghost S1 MkII with its top-hat design allowing you to add add more storage or fans.

https://louqe.com/

I've been following the Louqe Ghost S1 since it appeared on Kickstarter.

My next PC might be Mini-ITX... and this case it top on my list!

I don't need a huge tower case anymore since I switched to all SSDs and put my bulk storage on a NAS.

So I might go tiny!

For mITX my choice would be the NCASE M1; but for Apple (and multiple GPUs), I would expect something more along the size of the Chimera Industries Cerberus...

 

[goMac]

I think Apple probably has done the market research and came to the conclusion the demand is either not there for the Mac Pro; it’s being satisfied by existing Macs like the iMac Pro, MacBook Pro and Mac Mini.

I do wonder a bit if a stackable design, or something like it, is Apple's way of dealing with that.

They could have "consumer" brain and "pro" brain modules. i7/i9/Xeon options and eventually ARM. That would take care of the XMac crowd and cover a very wide range of price points.

All just speculation. But while we're here trying to figure out how Apple is going to push into the super high end, maybe they're going the opposite direction and trying to build a pro machine which can also dip into the mid end.

 

[JesterJJZ]

Seems like they are getting some updates out of the way for WWDC. At this point, I'm gonna guess hardware announcements will be iMacPro updated and the MacPro reveal.

 

[Mr. Dee]

Seems like they are getting some updates out of the way for WWDC. At this point, I'm gonna guess hardware announcements will be iMacPro updated and the MacPro reveal.

I was thinking the same thing, the Mac Pro is gonna be the star of the WWDC keynote. It must have so much different about it, they will need to give it an hour to explain all the changes, accessories, pro displays, demos from content creators who have had a chance to work with early prototypes. I noticed some of the popular YouTubers have unsually light on content recently.

 

[barmann]

But while we're here trying to figure out how Apple is going to push into the super high end, maybe they're going the opposite direction and trying to build a pro machine which can also dip into the mid end.

Who is we ?

A few speculations on Apple going high end pop up now and then, but don't seem to gain much traction.
Neither do the lego Mac theories , for reasons explained countless times .

I still have hope beyond hope that Apple will do the sensible thing and gets over this kind of attitude ... --->

 

[AidenShaw]

Who is we ?

A few speculations on Apple going high end pop up now and then, but don't seem to gain much traction.
Neither do the lego Mac theories , for reasons explained countless times .

I still have hope beyond hope that Apple will do the sensible thing and gets over this kind of attitude ... --->

View attachment 838306

How fitting that a MAGA Apple logo has a mushroom instead of a leaf.

 

[deconstruct60]

it’s being satisfied by existing Macs like the iMac Pro, MacBook Pro and Mac Mini.

I do wonder a bit if a stackable design, or something like it, is Apple's way of dealing with that.

If those products are doing well (i.e. growing and expanding), then Apple does not need more coverage in those areas. If Apple has two 13" laptops selling well then the thing to do it to introduce more 13" models until the product line up starts to decline. More increasingly overlapping products is more likley to stunt growth that aid it.

They could have "consumer" brain and "pro" brain modules. i7/i9/Xeon options and eventually ARM. That would take care of the XMac crowd and cover a very wide range of price points.

Apple has already decreased the gap between Mini and Mac Pro by abandoning the low end of the Mini and slightly increasing the overlap with the iMac. Moving the Mini to desktop processor narrowed that gap already. They don't need lego blocks to make it even narrower.

The bottom end of the Xmac crowd from 5-8 years ago is far more covered by the Mini now then they were. The top end of the Xmac crowd would pretty easily be covered by "year before last's" Mac Pro model is Apple got back on track of doing regular updates and somewhat grew the refurbished/used market. And also keep the iMac upgrades coming. There will still be a gap but high priced "lego" blocks probably won't close that.

All just speculation. But while we're here trying to figure out how Apple is going to push into the super high end, maybe they're going the opposite direction and trying to build a pro machine which can also dip into the mid end.

Apple is trying to figure out how to dramatically increase the fratricide on the iMac? They've done that with the recent moves to the Mac Mini. They could simply just iterate from that 'end' of the spectrum if they simply wanted to dial it higher.

One of the core issues is that Apple has a self imposed constraint that they only want to do a fixed ( single digit) number of Mac products. Trying to sweep the Mini-Mac Pro spectrum into lego block land pragmatically won't drop the product count. ( 3-4 substantively different "brain boxes" will register as workload in internals of internals R&D resource consumption about the same as 3-4 desktops. The industrailt design workload might go down but would probably still run into the "only want to do fixed number products extremely well " issue. ). [ Presuming Apple is building all the lego blocks. If they punting most of the work to 3rd parties but then where's Appple's value-add. ]
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Seems like they are getting some updates out of the way for WWDC. At this point, I'm gonna guess hardware announcements will be iMacPro updated and the MacPro reveal.

The iMac Pro just recently got "spec touch" updated. There is probably nothing new coming soon or they wouldn't have 'kick the can' in March.

More likely they are getting some of this not particularly on topic hardware out of the way so will have more time to devote to the software (and service ) changes they are brining. Additionally, fixing the screwed up keyboard issue is far more of a "we finally cleaned up this issue" (and took far longer than we should have). The "good news" is that perhaps finally stop digging the hole deeper. That's in contrast to talking about where going in the future "good news". Apple is also filling a fiscal hole here ( wants to book more revenue sooner than later. ... Trade war is about to create a crap storm for them. )

 

[goMac]

Apple has already decreased the gap between Mini and Mac Pro by abandoning the low end of the Mini and slightly increasing the overlap with the iMac. Moving the Mini to desktop processor narrowed that gap already. They don't need lego blocks to make it even narrower.

The bottom end of the Xmac crowd from 5-8 years ago is far more covered by the Mini now then they were. The top end of the Xmac crowd would pretty easily be covered by "year before last's" Mac Pro model is Apple got back on track of doing regular updates and somewhat grew the refurbished/used market. And also keep the iMac upgrades coming. There will still be a gap but high priced "lego" blocks probably won't close that.

Unless Apple would plan on axing the Mac mini.

Apple is trying to figure out how to dramatically increase the fratricide on the iMac? They've done that with the recent moves to the Mac Mini. They could simply just iterate from that 'end' of the spectrum if they simply wanted to dial it higher.

Right, Apple is doing it to themselves already across the board. The iMac and iMac Pro have overlap now, as does the Mac mini on the low end.

One of the core issues is that Apple has a self imposed constraint that they only want to do a fixed ( single digit) number of Mac products. Trying to sweep the Mini-Mac Pro spectrum into lego block land pragmatically won't drop the product count. ( 3-4 substantively different "brain boxes" will register as workload in internals of internals R&D resource consumption about the same as 3-4 desktops. The industrailt design workload might go down but would probably still run into the "only want to do fixed number products extremely well " issue. ). [ Presuming Apple is building all the lego blocks. If they punting most of the work to 3rd parties but then where's Appple's value-add. ]

Unless Apple got rid of the Mac mini and just made it another component of the Mac Pro line. Then they have the same amount of boxes they started with.
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A few speculations on Apple going high end pop up now and then, but don't seem to gain much traction.
Neither do the lego Mac theories , for reasons explained countless times .

I don't think the lego Mac theories have been debunked.

It's been explained why it's a horrible idea. And I agree, it's a horrible idea.

But it would explain why Apple has been off working on it for 3-4 years. Building some sort of whacky custom connector would take a whole bunch of time. And there's enough rumors floating around about it elsewhere. It also fits well with the Ive/Modern Apple ethos of "we have to do something insanely different."

Apple committed big to Thunderbolt on the 2013 because they think machines should be sealed, and that (mostly) all expansion should be external. I'd strongly suspect, because Apple is very stubborn, they are trying to fix their issues while still holding onto that core belief. They're not going to back away from the Mac Pro being some sort of sacred sealed object.