Apple confirmed to Macworld that the following email message is from Apple CEO Tim Cook:
Franz,
Thanks for your email. Our Pro customers like you are really important to us. Although we didn’t have a chance to talk about a new Mac Pro at today’s event, don’t worry as we’re working on something really great for later next year. We also updated the current model today.
We’ve been continuing to update Final Cut Pro X with revolutionary pro features like industry leading multi-cam support and we just updated Aperture with incredible new image adjustment features.
We also announced a MacBook Pro with a Retina Display that is a great solution for many pros.
Tim
Read more in the full article here.
MacDailyNews Take: And, just like that, Tim plops the Mac Pro market into a vat of liquid Nitrogen. Buh-bye, see you for the great thaw “later next year.”
Related articles:
Rush Limbaugh: Okay, Apple, where’s my Mac Pro with Thunderbolt? – June 12, 2012
Apple reportedly confirms NYT report: New designs for iMac, Mac Pro in the works, due in 2013 – June 12, 2012
Apple prepping new iMac, Mac Pro desktop designs; likely due next year – June 12, 2012
Apple unveils updated Mac Pro family with Intel Xeon E5 processors – June 11, 2012
Great. It takes Apple a year to add a couple of Thunderbolt ports, upgraded GPU and USB3.0 ports to a hulking big cheese grater.
I wonder how long it takes Apple to wake up from a long slumber.
really? Apple knows what they are doing…
I don’t think you quite realize that time is not on Apple’s side with regard to refreshing the Mac Pro in a significant way. By the time the 2013 model is redesigned and released, most of the professionals waiting on the Mac Pro will have fled to Windows. This will mean that Apple will be selling into a diminishing market, leading to lower sales numbers, leading to lesser profit, leading to discontinuation of the Mac Pro line.
If anything is to be done, it should be done now while there is still interest in the Mac Pro.
Well, when you have your own multi-billion dollar computer corporation you can do it differently.
I don’t, but the production guy running the company should wake up and smell the roses rather than be trapped in his ivory tower thinking that a simple fix 12 months down the road will make things right again.
Not true. If windows had no real update, you think companies would migrate to Apple OS or even Citrix? Nope! If you are a Mac fan…you will wait.
“If you are a Mac fan…you will wait.”
I’m not a Mac fan- I’m a shareholder of over 10 years and a customer since before the Mac. I am also not amused.
The creative and Pro markets kept the lights on at Apple during the dark days and this is not the way to treat customers.
Similar history here as well in the graphic arts trade. So a big Amen to your post. As a Mac user I’ll just have to wait and will wait.
As a shareholder I think it’s a mistake to push it out another year..
How hard can it be to at least add Thunderbolt to the existing line.
Speaking as a high-end professional user who’s very existence is dependent on the Mac Pro, I can say that yesterday’s underwhelming upgrade was received like a kick in the stomach. I thought I would have to move to WIndows one day, but I knew that day was still a ways off, as even the latest and greatest 16 Core PC’s are benching with similar numbers to the current 12-Cores.
I can wait a few more months for the something great, and I can assure you, most people of my ilk who would sooner chew off an arm than boot up a HP will not jump ship either with these words of reassurance from the mothership.
Yeah a bit disappointing, but have you used a late model windows machine? It’s an illogical nightmare. I’d swear, they’re getting worse.
I have been able to do some work on a high-end iMac, which I have at my home office. For the heavy lifting, at the studio I use a nearly maxed-out Mac Pro and that will serve until “later next year.” No way any windows machine will do the job.
plus don’t forget in the interim you can pick up a shiny new MBP 15 ret!
You must be a Microsoft user.
Nobody will flee to Windows over this. People who need and can afford a Mac Pro now will always get one now. period. It is a steady business and not a booming one.
Yes. Totally agree. “Flee to Windows?” Windows 8… That’s SO funny.
Customers who want 6 or 12 cores to get the performance they need will buy these new models. Customers who need up to 4x2TB of internal storage in RAID will buy these new models. Customers who need up to 64GB of RAM will buy these new models. Customers who need up to three PCI Express expansion cards will buy these new models.
And if any of those customers actually want USB 3.0 for some reason, they can add a PCIe card for about $50. Thunderbolt would be nice, but it is less critical between now and “later next year” for a Mac that has room for FOUR internal SATA drives.
BLN is absolutely correct.
yes, unfortunately so. I love Apple, but this is a joke. People may not flee, but nevertheless they have screwed us pro users over with this. A half baked (at best) refresh after 2 years of nothing then they say “we have something really good coming……, but, it’s another year and half away”. Very disappointing.
My two Mac Pros are fine and will last another year, since thease systems are designed to last a little bit more time will not kill anyone.
It will of course slow down the sales of the speed bumped Mac Pro introduced a day ago, but unless you need one now- wait, or buy a new one and sell it next year, Mac Pros keep 90-95% of resale value. I have turned around a Mac Pro before that two year old system sold for 500.00$ less then I purchased it for.
I’ll wait for the new system, and I am glad Tim Cook mentioned it, Apple Mac Pro users will Not dump to jump to a inferior Windows based system. Apple makes the best hardware and OSX cant be beat and lets not forget the best service in the industry if you need it.
And for Professional users this is a notice to be prepard for a completely new design, something that Is worth the wait.
Yes you are correct. It’s very disappointing and not something that Apple did without thinking about it long and hard. They never “just do something”. This was well thought out so it’s what they want not what we want. You won’t find any pc’s out here in major or even smaller studios. Walk into WB and try to find a pc. Well, ok but I’m not talking about the receptionists desk! Mac Pros are simply what you use. Period. Apple knows this. So I guess they would like to push professionals into MacBook Pros as they do not sell as many Mac Pro systems anymore? Apple has a plan be certain of that. The plan is to make money and that’s their job. They do it better than anyone else. But if Tim Cook said there is an update or refresh next year then it will be so. However the handwriting is on the wall. Apple wants to somehow get away from desktop systems completely. We’ll see. But that refresh can’t come soon enough for all of us who use Mac Pros.
I’m curious, what do you do, and which missing feature is going to kill your career?
Rubbish. Anybody looking to upgrade has a machine older than the 2008 Mac Pro. Everybody else is still well served by there current hardware. I know, because I was looking to upgrade if they released a significant step forward. They didn’t, so I wait. Yet, my Mac Pro is still very viable as far as doing what it needs to do. Windows is NOT an option. I don’t think I am alone on this.
Fled to Windows? LMFAO. Clearly you don’t work with many pro Mac users. I do. The question of going to windows isn’t even on the table. Most by far weather in. Video, photography, science, whatever simply wanted to know which MAC direction to take. They wanted Apple to say yes tere will be a new Mac Pro or no there won’t be. They wanted to wait or move on to iMac, etc.
You are making the mistake most of Apple’s competitors make. You are confusing the hardware with OS X. OS X is what they are committed to. In many cases they can’t even do what they currently do on a PC.
Moving to windows is not on the table for these guys. They just want their big machine ( even though, in many cases the iMac would do just fine.)
Moving to another platform *is* on the table for many of us — not necessarily a Windows based machine, but quite possibly something else entirely.
Don’t limit yourself to the Final Cut or Photoshop crowd.
There are those of us who have used the top of the line Mac for scientific purposes for since 84/85. Most of you never new of Absoft FORTRAN for the Mac back in those days. Many of us still use the Mac for simulations and number crunching. Almost all of us use the video cards for fast number crunching — not for gaming. Many of us have been using those video cards (or add in DSP cards) since before OpenCL.
It is anticipated high end processor AND the high end graphics card that gives us the power we need.
Many now — with a graphics card that is two full GENERATIONS old and a minimal speed bump in process or speed and a minimal speed bump in memory speed — will move to other platforms. What the hell good is OpenCL with a TWO GENERATION OLD video card?
We write our own code and simulations. We don’t write in C#. We don’t write in ObjectiveC. We write in something that we can port to the big machines when necessary.
NOW, I need to spend time figuring out a budget to be able to use some of the Top 500 machines rather than buying a couple new Mac Pro systems.
This “upgrade” was a complete joke. They could have shipped this machine months ago. There is nothing in it that has not been shipping *in quantity* for months. Hell, there is stuff that is *not* in there that has been shipping for many, many, many months.
If they are waiting for an Ivy Bridge chip to do a REAL upgrade that is JUST STUPID and shows just how little Apple cares about the pro group.
My personal machine at home will almost definitely stay a Mac, but for real work I’ll be moving to something else.
I think he just “Osborned” the Mac Pro… 🙁
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Osborne_effect
“Later next year” is a long time from now.
I dunno. Looking at the comments here, if they didn’t say something then the entire professional community was going to flee to Windows8.
dont forget you can hackintosh high end PCs without running windows
You forget that non-Mac hardware isn’t limited to just Windows 8. UNIX/Linux run better on the same hardware since it doesn’t have to deal with Windows bloat.
Hi Huya, I just read your link to the Osborne effect and I think you are right. I cannot see sales of the 2012 Mac Pro been very high with a better model coming next year.
However, the (half backed) updates are much better news that Apple killing off the Mac Pro entirely, and Apple is in a much better place to cope with an Osborne effect.
It’s called no competition. They can take us for granted as we have no real alternatives. Have you seen the joke that is Windows 8? Don’t even start about LINUX- the eternal Beta.
What? No one sentence quick email? An actual descriptive thought out response?
If we need proof that Tim isn’t Steve, this is it! 😉
ah ok thx we can wait
We serious computer customers have become an after thought. Steve Jobs long ago declared Apple Inc. to be a mobile device company. That means the company doesn’t put much priority on things that are not portable, i.e., iMac and MacPro. So, why are we surprised that all the combined creative brain power of the Cupertino company are working on the gadgets instead of the real computers?
okay… the Retina MBP is a real computer but it’s NOT a MacPro! It won’t do what a MacPro will do. Not even close.
Pete, what’s a real computer? Some would argue its a Cray super computer. As to focus, there are only 10 reasons to be in business: the first is to make a profit, the other nine don’t count.
I’m sure that back in 1910 there were people that wanted the latest greatest buggy whip, but had to wait because their favorite buggy whip manufacturer was putting more focus on horseless carriages.
If Apple were selling 10,000,000 Mac Pros per quarter you’d have your new Mac Pro. They aren’t, so you aren’t.
After this next upgrade I’ll wager that Mac Pro upgrades come about every 30 months. The few (in relation to all other computer buyers) Mac Pro users will start buying together every 2.5 years. The resultant 6 month sales surge/volume will justify the upgrades.
Gregg, you’re missing a much larger picture, and if I remember to do so, I’ll come back here and fill you in when I am off work.
Ouch!!!!!
Since Apple typically doesn’t ever announce or comment on future products, an email from Cook talking about the future Mac Pro is a surprise. Cook must have looked out his window and saw the mob of creative professionals with torches and pitchfolks getting ready to storm the campus.
They should have at least half-assed it with the addition of Thunderbolt. With the amount of space in that case, it couldn’t have been that hard to engineer something like that.
Doesn’t impact me much (a wide range of iMacs is enough for my setup) but if I were in the Pro market I’d be dismayed as hell. A company of Apple’s size could have tossed a bigger bone. Period.
Excellent point! It does impact a lot of professionals. FireWire is getting old! Really old.
Are you seriously telling me that you cannot work on 12 core with two DisplayPorts? That you can crate so much more on a new Dell or HP in one year than you could on a current Mac Pro? That you are willing to switch to inferior system just because of a stupid lack of feature?
Besides, I have seen a lot of pros working on 3-7 year old Mac Pro/G5s and they were all happy with performance.
Stop wining already and enjoy world’s best platform and operating system.
It’s such a small niche now they could give a crap. You guys can keep waiting while our 30,000 employees focus on maps and notifications. Is Jony Ive the only designer over there?
Will have fled to Windows. Oh yes after having invested in software and training on the Pro line from Apple. I can just see everyone fleeing to Windows based systems because the current upgrade was limited. Then again, if you have a Pro or a few for your business. It’s not all that likely that you will up and run to a Windows Crap system. Why go backwards? Even if you have a year or two year old Pro system. Between the system, software and the training for you or your employees. It’s not worth the cost to move to Windows. Tim Cook states they are working on the next Pro, It will be sooner then what he projects because the Pro-sumers will demand it. Just hang on a little longer.
since the Xserve essentially became the mini… I guess the Pro will become the cube part duex.
One more thing, it seems that creative pros are really good at creating… commotion.
Wow, Apple is slipping.
I went the the website to check out the retina MacBook Pro and they had like 9 photos in the gallery view, yet none of them showed the keyboard. Now you have Cook announcing that they’ll have an Amazing new Mac Pro next year? That really has to hurt sales of the current line up
He didn’t say Apple was releasing a newer Mac Pro at all. He said “we’re working on *something really great* for later next year” Remember … they thought FCX was really great, and the iPod HiFi, the Cube, and PING. Your interpretation of “really great” will likely be entirely different.
Hurt sales of the current lineup? From the sounds of it, no one was going to buy it anyway.
Glad they removed the “new” designation from the pro on the store. It was like another insult …
I agree. I thought the same thing, that it was insulting. Hadn’t seen that they had removed it, but it’s good they did.
Come on MDN, liquid nitrogen. Really?
Let’s face facts. The Mac Pro market was already frozen. It was frozen after two years with no updates, and then by a VERY weak update yesterday.
So, what would a pro need to do with a Mac pro that you can’t with current models? There is a simple thunderbolt adapter.
can you add current GPUs..more cores..current RAM with a thunderbolt adaptor? Mac Pros are number crunchers. They decode video, sequence the genome, segment MRIs. The iMac is not an answer for this..and doing these things on a laptop would be like trying to decode/rip a DVD with the processor from a 3GS. Apple put a “super computer” on our desk..then let it rot.
In the dark ages..the pro users were the only thing that kept apple relevant.
Perhaps Apple should include a Thunderbolt expansion card with new Mac Pro’s till next year.
While we are at it, it’s nice that Apple introduced Thunderbolt to FireWire and Thunderbolt to Ethernet cables yesterday. How about a Thunderbolt to USB3 cable for us current MacBook Pro users that have Thunderbolt but not USB3?
So, what about an iMac update?….for those of us who can’t afford a Mac Pro.
He said Mac Pro and nothing about the iMac being included in that “magical” update
Hackintosh
My guess is that if Apple is a year away from the new Mac Pro they have something very different in the works. Something that will make all those drifting off to Windows say, “Doh!”. I agree, it’s too long to wait. I think they must have some technology on the cusp that will be revealed to great amazement. Maybe their own processors for Macs to be totally Intel-free, but I think even more than this.
I was thinking the same.
This is what makes Apple different, they don’t throw thing in just to make it first to the market.
I hope next year Apple releases some kick a$$ Mac Pro and will shut all those “creative” types forever.
Agree. Hearing this we went out and bought one today.
Without that note, we might have suspected this one was the end of the line. This means there’s a future for this line of computers (even if, or preferably if, they re-invent it completely). If they are staying with the idea of a pro-type machine, we’re sticking with Mac Pros in our server room. Just praying the next one has 8 hot-swapable drive bays.
Later “next” year? As in late 2013? That’s a LONG time for folks to wait. Did he actually mean late 2012? If so, then it’s a bit more reasonable to freeze the market for a few months and get satisfied customers, but 16 months or so would be a long, long time to freeze the market.
Apple thinks in fiscal years. Next year starts Oct 1 or so. “Later next year” could easily be between Oct. 1, 2012 and Sept. 30, 2013, or it could be “later… next year” which can mean anything between Oct 1, 2012 and Dec. 31, 2013. My bet is they’re not asleep at the wheel, but something wasn’t coming together timely enough and this new Mac Pro was a quick remedy to an unfortunate confluence of events; and Oct 1, 2012, is the new target.
People make good points on both sides of the issue….but in the world of high end rendering and modeling…. (like Maya and other high end rendering packages)…. Time is Money… And things need to be more powerful and faster… To keep up with the incredible demand for more in less time…..well..we can’t afford not to have the very best now…not later….. Apple better step it up…and soon…. or their products will be left to the lowest common denominator….the general public!
If I was the CEO at Apple, I would hear my loyal customers and have them create a PCI slot with Thunderbolt and USB 3 and ESATA all on one slot card to put in the Mac Pro for now until the new design is finished and ready for market… If I was a betting man I would say it’s coming in January (6 months away)
Tim Cook and Apple are f$cking up on this one.
I’m a pro user, and apart from a wonderful 8 core intel mac with raid running SL server, all the client macs are maxed out PPC G5s, heck, theres still a couple pf G4s running as print servers somewhere.
Now this is a testament to:
a) the hardware quality is outstanding – the pro macs are just solid bricks that run & run.
b) I’d rather give up my profession and shovel crap for a living than use Windows
c) the main reason why Apple don’t concentrate on refreshing the hardware every 6 months like the laptops – I’m happy to refresh every 18-24 months.
Now MDN is right when they say that no-one will buy a MacPro now, but Apple can afford it, and any pro -users that will jump to Windows just to spite them weren’t all that bothered with the Mac anyway – let them go.