I don't think Apple is going to release _at_ MAX. I think they'll do what they do with other conferences. Happen to release at the same time, and then units randomly show up in demos.
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MP 7,1 Waiting for Mac Pro 7,1 A1991 (no more)
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I don't think Apple is going to release _at_ MAX. I think they'll do what they do with other conferences. Happen to release at the same time, and then units randomly show up in demos.
I've seen this schedule before, notably with the iMac Pro in 2017. Pre-orders early December, in store December 14th.
I'm going with December 21st release which is way to late to get on the books.........
An LLC can use the calendar year as its fiscal year.... ??
I think there is too much pointing to completion for December. 10.15.1 looks like it has things all ready. Documentation going up and FCC docs posted.
There isn't really a clear reason to wait for December at this point. They're ready. And they've already started the rollout for Apple retail and support.
There isn't really a clear reason to wait for December at this point. They're ready. And they've already started the rollout for Apple retail and support.
I haven't read anything about assembly actually starting at the Austin plant. It's possible they want a shorter time span between taking orders and delivery?
There are things I know that I can't say but I can point to a public statement by Tim Cook back at the beginning of October that Apple intended to start production very soon. If you take that statement on its face then Mac Pro has been in production for weeks.
That, and the modular design means they can pretty much start taking orders immediately. They don’t have to build up a backlog of “stock” configs. Every order is built custom in real time anyway, except for some in store stock.
Just need to make sure they have enough of the imported parts flown over from China to support assembly.
Without speaking specifically about Mac Pro (I can't) that's generally not how production launches work. A company would still attempt to predict volumes of the most popular configurations and ramp some inventory of those builds. If I were building a new configurable widget I would have done some market research and forecast the popularity of various configurations and then spent a number of weeks building inventory for customers and partners at launch. Less common BTO combinations will still be assembled when the work order is received but for those that are interested in more common combinations there would be (limited) stock on hand to ship immediately. Again without speaking specifically to the Mac Pro, Apple does this with their products.
edit to add: I can say this since I heard it elsewhere (and that makes this a rumor rather than something I can personally attest to but the source was in a position to know and I believe them), many Apple retail stores won't have a demo unit. I'd expect the flagship stores will but the secondary stores are not getting a Mac Pro or XDR at least at launch.
I don't expect the MacPro being available for "normal pro customers" before the end of January. I just can't imagine that Apple is producing a lot of MacPros at the beginning (or even later). They have surely some preorders from VIPs which will be covered first. The rest of us will have to wait.
Like most Apple products, I think there will be some bugs when it first comes out.
Unless people absolutely need it now, I would probably wait a few months after it first comes out before buying.
Since the website states “coming” this Fall, surely some normal folks will have it before January. Or does coming mean “to order” and not “to have”. Thoughts?
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Tuesday, November 5 is the middle day of the conference. Maybe an announcement or demo during the Video sessions. On the Adobe MAX site I could not find a detailed listing of which day Video sessions may be held.
It could also be during this:
MAX Sneaks - Tuesday, November 5
Expect the unexpected when we pull back the curtain of Adobe Labs. Sign up for a bootcamp and concentrate on either design or video in a full-day in-depth lab.
Then there is this:
This year at Adobe MAX, Intel and its partners will be demonstrating a wide range of PCs and workstations for creators. What do they all have in common? These systems are powerful, offer gorgeous designs, and they are optimized to work great with the Adobe tools you use every day. There’s a system to meet all your creative needs, from massive workstations for high-end rendering, to beautiful and powerful notebooks designed to help you “wow” in client meetings.
If you’re attending Adobe Max in Los Angeles, be sure to visit the Intel booth #1013, otherwise check out the latest from Intel for creators here.
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I live in Thailand, and we don’t even have four seasons (some years we barely have three). I grew up in Australia and “fall” was what you did when you didn’t tie your shoelaces properly. “Coming this fall” is meaningless to me.
This got me thinking a little bit about standard configurations. Apple has already provided us with a $6K configuration. We've all assumed it was the standard, entry level Mac Pro. However the 1,1 and 3,1 models had their standard configuration in the middle with lower end configurations available as BTO. Perhaps that may be a possibility with the 7,1? I'm not holding my breath but maybe a possibility?
man... but how much lower, spec wise, could it go? The 5999 base specs are barely scratching the surface of workstation capability
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well, i would assume since Apple is an American company, that it would be talking about 'Fall' as in how Americans define it.
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I think we're crap out of luck on that. This passed my mind too. Apple stopped the cheaper BTO options with the 3,1 IIRC. That was the last time you could get a Mac Pro for like, $2,399. They haven't had that option back since.
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What could you possibly delete to get down below that configuration? It's basically a very, very high-end case and power supply (capable of supporting huge expansion) with minimal components. If you run it out of the box, it is not an especially powerful Mac. It underperforms not only any possible iMac Pro, but also a $3000 non-Pro iMac. It's possible to configure a faster MacBook Pro, and to come close with a Mac Mini.
Apple has never sold a "bare-bones" configuration that won't boot and run some reasonable software, on any machine, ever. HP will sell you a Z8 that will barely power on (4-core 1.6 gHz processor and 8 GB of RAM, for example). Apple has sold nonsense configurations of high-end machines that underperform lesser Macs and are meant only for expansion - but this Mac Pro is already that. It's a $6000 computer that performs like a $3000 computer, except that it has tremendous expansion potential.
The only reason to buy a Mac Pro is to expand it well beyond the base configuration in some way or another - the base parts are chosen so they don't actively interfere with using the machine for some task where that part doesn't really matter. The 8 core processor is fast enough for tasks where the real work is on the GPU, the 580x is fast enough to just drive a display for audio work and the like, 32 Gb of RAM is enough for non RAM intensive tasks and the 256 GB SSD is enough for some jobs where the real storage is on another drive. If all four are enough, an iMac is MUCH more economical. If none of the four needs to be more than doubled, and in some cases much more than that, an iMac Pro is a better choice.
The Mac Pro exists for a very specific kind of workload, where some component needs to be expanded to a very high degree. It can support all four expandable components being radically expanded, but it only makes sense if at least one pushes through the boundaries an iMac Pro is capable of. Otherwise, why pay the premium for the Mac Pro over an iMac Pro?
Apple has never been willing to sell configurations of expandable machines that are basically Hackintoshes. If they sold a 4-core, 8 GB version of the Mac Pro, it wouldn't reasonably run Catalina and any significant application. Nobody's going to buy a Mac Pro to run Mail and Word, especially because that's certainly a $4000 computer and probably a $5000 one. A relatively small number of hobbyists (no company would save money that way, given the support implications) would buy it and immediately pop in their own CPU and RAM. HP lets hobbyists do that by selling a Z8 that will barely boot, Apple doesn't.
Apple has never sold a "bare-bones" configuration that won't boot and run some reasonable software, on any machine, ever. HP will sell you a Z8 that will barely power on (4-core 1.6 gHz processor and 8 GB of RAM, for example). Apple has sold nonsense configurations of high-end machines that underperform lesser Macs and are meant only for expansion - but this Mac Pro is already that. It's a $6000 computer that performs like a $3000 computer, except that it has tremendous expansion potential.
The only reason to buy a Mac Pro is to expand it well beyond the base configuration in some way or another - the base parts are chosen so they don't actively interfere with using the machine for some task where that part doesn't really matter. The 8 core processor is fast enough for tasks where the real work is on the GPU, the 580x is fast enough to just drive a display for audio work and the like, 32 Gb of RAM is enough for non RAM intensive tasks and the 256 GB SSD is enough for some jobs where the real storage is on another drive. If all four are enough, an iMac is MUCH more economical. If none of the four needs to be more than doubled, and in some cases much more than that, an iMac Pro is a better choice.
The Mac Pro exists for a very specific kind of workload, where some component needs to be expanded to a very high degree. It can support all four expandable components being radically expanded, but it only makes sense if at least one pushes through the boundaries an iMac Pro is capable of. Otherwise, why pay the premium for the Mac Pro over an iMac Pro?
Apple has never been willing to sell configurations of expandable machines that are basically Hackintoshes. If they sold a 4-core, 8 GB version of the Mac Pro, it wouldn't reasonably run Catalina and any significant application. Nobody's going to buy a Mac Pro to run Mail and Word, especially because that's certainly a $4000 computer and probably a $5000 one. A relatively small number of hobbyists (no company would save money that way, given the support implications) would buy it and immediately pop in their own CPU and RAM. HP lets hobbyists do that by selling a Z8 that will barely boot, Apple doesn't.
At this point Ive no idea what's taking so long. But one suggestion might be that they've picked up a big order from VIP customers – Pixar, ILM, Boeing, IBM… who knows. So it would already be busy building units but they're all going straight to big customer(s), and so there's no point opening the floodgates for us little people. Just a thought, but I wouldn't be surprised. It's my birthday next week, and it would be great to just preorder one for delivery whenever, but I'll no doubt be disappointed. The wait goes on...
My thinking is that base config means what is available non-BTO. There have been instances where BTO could lower the specs, and therefore cost, of the base config. Do I think it will happen? No. But it is something that could happen.
EDIT: It looks as if my idea has been shot down, I'll step away now and let those who know what Apple is going to do tell us what Apple is going to do.
Another suggestion might be that the prices announced at WWDC have created big backlogs for HP Z-series as the VIP customers jump ship. Apple might not be under any pressure from the VIPs to ship....
I don’t think Intel’s new CPUs that they are using have become generally available yet. The CPUs they are using weren’t supposed to even ship until Fall.
The expanded PCIe lane count for the new CPUs seems pretty critical to the 8 slot design of the Mac Pro.
Looking at Intel’s site, this CPU which I think is the base CPU “launched” in Q2. But Intel “launch” dates are generally a quarter or two behind general availability.
Intel® Xeon® W-3223 Processor (16.5M Cache, 3.50 GHz) - Product Specifications | Intel
Intel® Xeon® W-3223 Processor (16.5M Cache, 3.50 GHz) quick reference with specifications, features, and technologies.
ark.intel.com
I don’t think HP has even launched their updated workstations with these CPUs yet.
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