“I think the ‘new’ Mac Pro (‘trashcan Mac’) is a joke; and it’s not just because calling a, once again, forgotten and near abandoned 2013 model ‘new’ in late 2015 is the kind of air-quote irony loved by techno hipsters,” John Kheit writes for The Mac Observer.
“While its trashcan form factor may work well for some (perhaps, as a new Mac mini pro, or maybe Mac Pro mini), it’s inadequate for traditional Mac creatives/professionals,” Kheit writes. “For real pros, it’s a plain and simple failure.”
“In fact, a lot of professional Mac users are still clutching to their aluminum tower ‘classic’ Mac Pros (‘cMP’). The latest 2010 and (meaninglessly bumped) 2012 cMP models are particularly coveted in forums like Mac Rumors‘ Mac Pro forums and holding on to their values well if you look around eBay or Other World Computing,” Kheit writes. “And for good reason. Those machines are just better than the trashcan Mac.”
Much more, including how “Apple Needs to Reimagine a New and Improved Mac Pro,” in the full article here.
MacDailyNews Take: The Mac Pro is revolutionary, but Apple could really stand to, you know, update the thing once and awhile. Not doing so makes it look like Apple regards professional Mac users as an afterthought.
Sometimes Apple, the world’s most profitable and most valuable company, still operates as if they only have five guys from NeXT working around the clock trying to do all the work on a shoestring budget. Can’t manage to have a compatible Remote app or Apple Music-capable Siri for the Apple TV launch, forcing most reviewers to harp on those two issues tarnishing the wonderful Siri Remote in the process. Can’t have enough Pencils and Keyboards for iPad Pro. Seriously? Can’t have any stock on hand for two months after the so-called the Apple Watch launch date. Can’t update their professional Mac for nearly two years and counting.
Why are these amateurish mistakes and lapses happening with startling regularity? You know, besides mismanagement? Or too much happening too quickly to ever manage to get a handle on things (which, by the way, actually falls under mismanagement, as well).
Oh, you say, but Apple is making tons of money! Why, yes, they certainly are!
Listen, let’s be honest, Steve Ballmer could’ve generated the same kind of money “running” Apple Inc. given the massive momentum Steve Jobs handed over at his death. Sometimes, in fact, it looks like Steve Ballmer is running Apple. Although, no, it doesn’t really, because even Ballmer would have updated the Mac Pro by now, made sure he had enough Apple Watches ready so as not to pretty much totally kill launch momentum, and also had enough Pencils and Keyboards on hand for the iPad Pro launch. Of course, Ballmer would have never had the handle on the big picture that Tim Cook has – our issues with launches under Cook have to do solely with launch supplies and software polish.
We’re coming up on two years now (this December 19th) since the Mac Pro debuted with no updates which, along with the rest of the string of snafus (going back to John Browett, Apple Maps, no iMacs for Christmas 2012, no iPad 2 units for launch, etc.), is what understandably prompts this sort of “joke” and “failure” talk and the feeling that Apple is a bit sloppy in recent years.
We hold Apple to a high standard and we expect the company to execute better than they have of late.
SEE ALSO:
50,000,000 pixels: Apple’s Mac Pro powers six 4K displays (with video) – August 31, 2015
Apple may be prepping a Mac Pro refresh for early 2016 – August 25, 2015
What’s next for Mac Pro graphics cards? – August 13, 2014
First impressions: Apple’s new Mac Pro – June 20, 2014
Hardware.Info reviews Apple’s Mac Pro: Revolutionary, Apple reinvents the workstation – June 17, 2014
Houston Chronicle reviews Apple Mac Pro: Unmatched by any Windows system – March 12, 2014
Review: Apple’s $3999 6-core Mac Pro is an impressive computer – February 26, 2014
Ars Technica pro reviews Apple’s 2013 Mac Pro: Powerful, but it isn’t always a clear upgrade – January 28, 2014
T3 Mac Pro review: Unboxing, hands-on, and first impressions – December 20, 2013
ITProPortal reviews Apple’s Mac Pro: One of the best premium desktops we’ve ever tested – January 14, 2014
PC Magazine reviews Apple’s Mac Pro: Stunning, astonishing, Editors’ Choice – December 27, 2013
The New York Times reviews Apple’s Mac Pro: Deeply futuristic; extremely, ridiculously fast and powerful – December 26, 2013
The Verge reviews Apple’s new Mac Pro: Unlike anything the PC industry’s ever seen – December 23, 2013
Engadget reviews Apple’s new Mac Pro: In a league of its own – December 23, 2013
The first 24 hours with Apple’s new Mac Pro and Final Cut Pro X 10.1 (with video) – December 20, 2013
T3 Mac Pro review: Unboxing, hands-on, and first impressions – December 20, 2013
Apple’s powerful new Mac Pro a good value; far from the most expensive high-end Mac or high-end PCs – December 20, 2013
CNET hands on: Apple’s radically reimagined Mac Pro is a powerhouse performer – December 20, 2013
Apple is doomed.™ Yawn.
Mac Pro Trashcan:
Sure, folks will be willing to pay $3,500 to $15,000 for a new yet ugly (but once great tower) computer that can NEVER be upgraded.
Apple Watch:
Sure, folks will shell out anywhere from $350 to over $10,000 for an unnecessary, half baked iPhone accessory that uses cheap components and can’t even go a SINGLE day on a charge.
Apple Music:
Sure, folk will hand over 15 bucks for a subpar, buggy music service that’s late to the party and does little more than similar services that are offered for FREE.
Single Port Macbook:
Sure, folks will part with $1300 for a Macbook that’s as fast as a three year old Macbook Air and that comes with ONE port, plus the added cost of an adapter that should actually be supplied free of charge.
iPad Pro:
Sure, folks will pay $800 to $1200 for a giant, buggy iPad absent a SINGLE “Pro” feature, that also offers an expensive but cheaply made keyboard and a completely unneccessary and pricey pencil.
I’ll pass on all of the above.
Welcome to Tim Cook’s alternate universe, where incompetent CEOs are seen as clever and capable business leaders!
Actually, the Pencil is – for me – the reason to buy an iPad Pro.
Can not agree with this more.
I got to try it out yesterday, and the Pencil is awesome. Definitely the best stylus I’ve ever tried.
In today’s world it’s much more important to be a liberal, politically correct, environmentally conscious, save-the-world kind of guy. And to really top it off, he’s gay! What more could we possibly ask for in a CEO?
You have nailed it and people will hate you for it. The problem is that Cook (and Ive) have all the popular adjectives and do all the trendy things, but they don’t deliver. The empire is crumbling and no-one is heeding the warnings of the town criers. And Apple is not the only case in which this kind of behavior occurs, but don’t you dare connect the dots or you’ll be called names and exiled from the treehouse. LOL.
The Apple empire is not crumbling, YET. But it surely will at this rate.
Maybe you should take over from Tim Cook!! Oh wait you cant lol you dont know anything about Supply Chain Management or how to run such a large company. I dont think you even qualified to run a Dunkin Donuts, but you have a degree in moaning
Your moronic comment ignores all of the facts of the problems being experienced under the reign of Tim Cook. Whether anyone else has the ability to run a large company like Apple has nothing to do with it, any more than a citizen being dissatisfied with the direction of our country having the ability to be President.
Riiiight! Tim Cook failed it right into the greatest corporate entity EVER! You sir are a moron
Is that what you want Apple to be, the greatest corporate entity ever?
I preferred it when Apple cared more about user experience and value to the customer than they did about making obscene amounts of money.
Go to the Mac App Store and look at the reviews for El Capitain. They are appalling, but accurate. Apple has become the new Microsoft and under Cook Apple is releasing a lot of half-baked, poorly designed products. Apple doesn’t even follow its own GUI guidelines.
But go ahead and insult each other, guys. You go ahead and waste time playing in the mud with juvenile partisan politics. That’s sure to enhance the reputation of Apple users.
Or you could instead be honest and discuss Apple’s obvious shortcomings of late. Maybe the company can be saved if enough users speak up. As it is, Apple is becoming a bureaucratic slow corporation that doesn’t listen to its longtime users. We need to wake up Cook and get rid of Ive and several other overpaid dead wood executives.
re: the article: The cylindrical Mac Pro, with minor updates, Core i7 processors, and a big price drop, would be a super mid-range desktop machine for many users. But it fails horribly for many workstation users. Apple needs to bring back the big case. Use some of that cash pile to allow users to build the most powerful Macs ever to compete against the elite machines of the competition. It is not acceptable for the Mac Pro to be nowhere near the top of Geekbench scores, or for it to have no decent GPU options or onboard PCI options. Get a clue, Apple.
Typical…an anonymous cook-bashing post that is excessively pessimistic and full of exaggerations or outright falsehoods. Lots of words, lots of sound and fury…signifying nothing.
Typical KingMel post, complaining about an article, trying to be erudite by quoting Shakespeare, but having no evidence to back up his assertions.
You are wrong on every count. Laughably so.
Jobs made plenty of mistakes and many items were in short supply under him too.
Some of us have memories that work.
Cue the anti gay angry old white guys who come here for the noxious Limbaugh quotes.
LOL. It’s the old “conservatives are dumb” meme again. It’s funny how libs complain about other people being dumb and then they change standardized tests to be opinion-based instead of fact-based. What does that do? Expose the truth behind the attack – “dumb” means “not being liberal”. It’s really just that simple. Oh, there are exceptions for people like Clarence Thomas or possibly Ted Cruz, but they get dumped into the “evil genius” bin.
No, people come here because they are interested in Mac news. People who are interested in Rush quotes go to Rush’s page or they listen to him. You know, that guy who saved talk radio?
For all the idiots blathering on about how expensive the Apple Pencil is…
FiftyThree Pencil – $60
Adonit JotScript 2 – $75
Adonit JotTouch – $100
Then add a plethora of sticks with rubber on them that range from $20-$50 each with no functionality at all to the list.
The beautiful thing about living in a relatively free-market society is that if you think it’s too expensive or not worth it, don’t buy it.
Until then, keep the whinny ignorance to yourself.
“…an unnecessary, half baked iPhone accessory that uses cheap components and can’t even go a SINGLE day on a charge.”
This is a complete, and utter lie.
And as for the iPad Pro, I can’t wait to get mine – mostly because of the Pencil. It is simply THE BEST stylus I have ever tried. It’s responsiveness is really incredible. It truly is a joy to use.
But nice try – troll.
I don’t enjoy the MacDailyNews rants against Apple. In the old days all the rants were against the bad guys, not the good guys. And rogifan has got it right – yawn, it is boring and old.
It’s time for MacDailyNews to “Think Different.”
News flash – the MDN take actually agrees with an article critical of Apple! Film at 11!
You haven’t been reading MacDailyNews. They have been critical of Apple when Apple fails to perform up to Apple’s standards throughout this site’s existence.
But MDN’s viewpoint has been rather inconsistent of late. Sometimes MDN defends Cook and other times bashes him rather harshly.
Well they are way late on this, far beyond the longest they’ve waited at least in recent time, and that’s even considering the Mac Pro is already one of the least updated Macs in the line up. http://buyersguide.macrumors.com/#Mac
MDN is often critical of Apple these days. Very much so. Which tells us something about the state of Apple.
Agreed and it is unfortunate that MDN really has been so regularly beating the ‘Irrational Fanboy’ turned up to 11, despite leaks such as this one. Perhaps the scores of readers who have provided in-depth details of example upon example of Apple’s shortcomings made someone at MDN finally wake up…time will tell.
Ironically, it was literally just last night while talking about this that my wife commented “Apple is becoming like Microsoft”.
Oh, and the reason this came up was because our main desktop Mac (yes, a 2012 Mac Pro) somehow **changed** its iCloud account on its own (from @icloud.com, over to @mac.com), which resulted in all of the data in “Contacts” being wiped out. Why? I have no idea.
But what this also did raise to light is that the means by which Apple “superseded” their “one address ever” accounts (which includes @me.com too) has issues with those repeat customers who have been issued replacements (repeatedly) over the years. I don’t know why the data on the @mac.com account is different than on the @icloud.com account – – all I know was that it didn’t “JUST WORK” and the management tools in System Preferences fall grossly short of what’s needed to manage this.
-hh
re MDN take:
– a machine that can process multiple streams of high-def video hardly needs to be updated every year.
– stating Ballmer would do a better job is profoundly stupid. Add up every OS X mistake Apple ever made and it wouldn’t equal the insulting pile of dog crap that was Vista.
– “launch momentum” for the Watch… Gimme a break. Many writers have pointed out that this was a drastically new product and that Apple wasn’t going to take the risk of having 100 million of them sitting on shelves at launch.
And so on:
Name one other computer or phone company that has anything like the pace of different products with anything like a better level of quality control.
The facts are the facts. Apple’s mistakes under Tim Cook are routine and glaring. How you can launch Apple TV without Remote app compatibility or a new product like iPad Pro without its stylus or keyboard is beyond belief.
No – the “facts are not the facts”. Facts can be emphasized, left out and stated in different ways.
And I repeat — Name one other computer or phone company that has anything like the pace of different products with anything like a better level of quality control.
And yet the data tells us that purchasers of the iPad Pro are overwhelmingly satisfied with their purchase and will be even more satisfied when these peripherals arrive, those who have purchased the TV share concerns about the remote, and other deficiencies, but they too, along with technically astute testers & reporters announce that the TV is the best you can buy… even with these, as you say, glaring omissions and missteps. So to answer your questions…. very successfully.
“And yet the data tells us that purchasers of the iPad Pro are overwhelmingly satisfied with their purchase…”
Where did you find this data?
“The Mac Pro is revolutionary, but Apple could really stand to, you know, update the thing once and awhile.”
That’s an Intel problem, not an Apple problem. As long as Apple is using Intel processors, it has to abide Intel’s schedule.
No, it’s not. Read the full article.
I did. Maybe you should learn a thing or two about Intel’s Roadmap for Xeon processors.
If it’s a matter of technology roadmap not being ready, how come there are high end PCs with 24 and 36 core xeons. With 512gb of ram and mighty apple cannot keep up?
36core 5GPU and cooler systems out there.
http://www.mediaworkstations.net/i-x2.html
http://www.pcworld.com/article/2887581/boxx-apexx-5-heres-what-a-36-core-five-gpu-workstation-looks-like.html
64cores exist too
http://www.titancomputers.com/category-s/706.htm
Some crazy powerful boxes out there, and apple isn’t anywhere to be found.
The 36-core box is using multiple Xeons, not some magic 36-core Xeon chip. The 64-core box isn’t even using Intel chips. These are not exactly equal comparisons. They’re lacking some CPU features that OS X requires. That might be good enough for a “Hackintosh”, but not as a first-class Apple product.
I fear that the Core Race is the new Megahertz Myth. Is there any desktop software that can make use of that many cores, without needing to upgrade the buses and memory and I/O and cooling as well? The high-end machines you point out have 4x the TDP of the highest-end Mac Pro! No wonder they’re gigantic, and covered in fans.
The current Mac Pro is the fastest they’ve ever shipped, so you’re not (and can’t be) complaining about its raw performance. You’re upset they’re not letting you adapt one to a configuration like a high-end server. But that has never been Apple’s goal, and it’s doubtful anybody would buy a Mac Pro for that use, even Apple.
You seem to be suggesting that Apple owes something to the creative professionals of the late 1990’s and early 2000’s who kept Apple afloat, but at the time, their highest end pro machine was a dual-core PowerPC machine, using plain ATA/33 drives. At the time, there was no machine further from a high-end server than a creative pro’s PowerMac.
You can’t have it both ways. If you’re complaining about lack of a 64-core Mac, that’s a high-end compute server, a market they’ve never cared about at all. If you’re complaining about lack of extensibility like the old Mac towers, that’s a legit concern, but has nothing to do with the Xeon chips they’re using today.
There’s a lot more to a computer than merely its CPU.
But even for CPU, enough time has passed such that there’s several upgrade options.
Case in point:
http://blog.macsales.com/22230-owcs-mac-pro-2013-processor-upgrade-compatibility-testing
…oh, and do note that that article from OWC is a mere 22 months old…!
-hh
5.5M Macs were sold last quarter. The vast majority of those are laptops, iMacs or Minis. For the average user, mobility and cost are the main criteria and the latest units fit the speed and utility that is needed.
The Mac Pro is friggin cool but addresses a small percentage of the current Mac user base. Apple probably only sell 100K units per quarter. Assuming an ASP of $4000, the revenue for that product line is only $0.4BB. In comparison 5M other Mac units at 1300 ASP brings in $6.5BB.
So I get why professionals are upset that Mac Pros are not the configurable boxes that they used to be but we need to face the fact that this is not Apple main business anymore.
but I thought Apple shouldn’t do stuff ‘just to max out the money’?
Apple should loyal to the Pros like the Graphics Pros who kept Apple alive in the dark ages when everybody was abandoning the Mac for PCs.
Hey STUPID! Apple is a business, not a charity. Every business in in business for 1 simple reason…. to make MULAH, CASH, Money, DOUGH, GOLD, MINT 1st! They do this by making products good enough or better than average, to attract their perceived user base. Altruism is at best a tertiary concern.
see I said “I thought” when I made the money statement because apple fans who think Apple can make no wrong always use THAT argument when I mention stuff Apple should make and sell more and make more money — like when i argued for bigger iPhones several years ago (when I say things like that people who think apple can do no wrong always blast me and say “Apple doesn’t do stuff just to sell units, apple isn’t into money” )…
fanatics who believe apple can never do any mistakes (like not making big phones) can’t have it BOTH ways. using the ‘apple doesn’t care about money and vice versa’ to shield Apple when we (some fans) see them make mistakes.
and you are calling people ‘STUPID’ when I had a polite post. No breeding?
Computers aren’t supposed to be just cool, but functional (and competitive in today’s markets) for its target audiences. Apple has moved more and more to limiting usher-upgrading and lack of competitive software for its specialty markets. It’s great to dumb down to a wider base (although that doesn’t mean dumbing down the software to the point it is a beta when released or loses its simple user-interface), but you respect the cats that allowed you to do this AND as long as you can make a profit, you compete for the higher end professional users (after all, they don’t mind making a $17,000 watch for a few friends and a much smaller market).
MDN is right, Apple’s blunders are consistently worse than the usual low-inventory-at-launch scheme (probably the result of Jobs’ paranoia and narcissistic behavior). The guy at the top is no doubt the main reason for their poor and embarrassing launches. Too much time on making Apple an agenda-driven socialization branch of Obama’s Marxist schemes, and not enough time on the execution of business.
And let’s face it – if these dweebs are so for the ‘masses,’ cut your profit margins and grow your market share.
It’s great for stock value (apparently – Amazon’s value is obscene for their minuscule profitability) and customers.
Then Apple has lost its way. You’re describing Wall Street in-the-box thinking, the stuff analysts demand Apple follow because it makes it predictable. Just because it’s not their biggest revenue generator doesn’t mean it’s not a critical core business, and Apple has plenty of money to ensure it’s well maintained.
All the pros asked for was a new tower with truly new components, e.g. latest Thunderbolt, USB3, latest PCIe specs. Instead they got in 2013 a triumph of form over function, and even then that form only mattered if you added absolutely nothing to it.
Just look the pictures in the article, with cables snaking to cages and external drives. It was the very rats nest that Apple wanted to get away from all those years ago with the iMac (“There’s no step 3!”). Instead of looking nice on the table, it is the absolute antithesis of elegance that showed no foresight by the key decision makers (I sure as heck am not blaming engineers for following marching orders) into what pros would be forced into doing.
If Apple is unwilling to play properly in that space, then it should have the decency to admit defeat, officially license Mac OS X to custom PC workstation hardware, and then (and *only* then) kill the Mac Pro like they did the Xserve.
“….Instead they got in 2013 a triumph of form over function….”
Exactly. The real problem is not Cook but Ive who’s been elevated to God like status for designing stuff that does exactly that. Instead of aiming for design awards, Ive should be producing stuff that is usable rather than spend time on things like the trashcan Mac Pro and the toytown UI that currently graces Macs.
The fact is that a really well engineered MacPro with a decent design aesthetic and cutting edge innards, is a major advertisement for Apple’s technical ability; it shows they not only produce everyday items such as the iPad/iPhone, they’re at the cutting edge with machines used in world leading research labs etc etc.
I remember when Virginia Tech strung a load of G5s together and made the World’s third fastest supercomputer. Apple may not have sold many but the kudos gained was priceless.
I too suspect that the problem resides with Ive.
Simply put, I see Ive as a “hardware” guy, not a “software” guy, nor an “ecosystem” guy – – which is why topics like this now exist.
Overall, I’m tired of the ‘form over function’ design decision failures – – such as why the iMac has thermal management problems whose root cause is only because the Hardware “had to” be made thinner so as to be aesthetically impressive.
Once again, we see that being eye candy toys have trumped the actual *utility* functions of the device as a productivity tool.
And it becomes downright insulting to the customer when we get “sweat the details” marketing videos on how a mouse clicks … costing dozens of Man-Years … while the Professional level software applications which are critical to our workflows are grossly under-resourced.
Shamefully insulting.
Indeed, and even the green angle (thinner = less materials = less wasteful up front) fails the environmental version of total cost of ownership if the unit overheats and needs fixing/replacing.
I’m sure they also made iMacs thinner to ensure they’re less user-serviceable. With portables, smartphones and tablets I can sort of understand: thinner, lighter, easier to carry. For a desktop though? Past a certain point, it’s pointless and insulting, and a money-grabbing scheme (for all recent Mac laptops and iMacs, must buy all the RAM and storage you think you’ll need in the next 3-6 years, unless you buy the larger 27″ iMac… which is TOO BIG/EXPENSIVE for some) hidden behind a fancy form.
That’s the same excuse which was used to justify the discontinuation of the 17-inch MacBook Pro. Sure, few people bought it, but it was great for those people, especially those with presbyopia.
Apple could pay any number of companies to design and build a pro tower for them. I really could not give a shit about Jony Ive’s styling on what is a work tool.
Gosh, I must be doing something wrong then because my Mac Pro is great and I use it for editing video, mixing music and editing photos as a professional photographer.
All with no problems.
it might be suitable for photography but it’s inadequate if you doing stuff like 3D. You can’t change the graphics cards to the latest specialized 3D cards.
Also a $3000 machine (much more if you upgrade it from the tiny stock 256 GB HD) is a lot of cash if you’re just doing photography. (tweaking photographs actually users relatively little graphics power) There should be a ‘headless’ option between the Mac Mini (now maimed) and the expensive Mac Pro.
It’s just a fact that glancing through forums there are so many Mac pro users who are complaining.
Again, I use Maya pretty regularly and have no issues. People will always bitch about something.
I’ll ask one simple two-part question:
a) How many TB’s of photography data do you have?
b) How are you managing that photography data?
FWIW, the comparison that I see with my cMP vs the nMP is that the latter imposes a quite high “tax” on having local high performance data storage .. a recent contingency planning exercise estimated that replicating my current setup would cost ~$2K extra ($7.5K vs $5.5K just because of the ‘trash can’ form factor’s limitations – – YMMV, but I’d rather spend that $2K difference on camera gear itself, not this peripheral.
-hh
I have always used external drives for media.
Currently 3 Drobos and a Pegasus.
As well as the external dock for regular weekly backups.
When you can stuff 5 internal HDs (4 bays plus the lower optical bay) in your trashcan and run it off the internal power supply, let me know.
I have 3 Drobos and a Pegasus. Why would I try to fit that in an internal enclosure.
Nobody said you should , but many of us need 3-5 swappable drives and do not what their desk to look like a server farm.
OK, but the internal drives in an older Mac Pro are hardly “swappable”
They are hot swappable on my 2010 Mac Pro, mounted on sleds.
That’s not hot swappable. You have to shut down your mac.
Hot swappable means you can pull it out while the Mac is running. That is what I use the dock for and if I ever need to add to the Drobos or Pegasus I can add drives on the fly.
Mine are hot swappable, I have used the feature many times.. The MC not the Pro box.
You pull the drives out with the computer on?
That is not a feature supported by the Mac Pro (old or new).
If you elect them they can safely be swapped without powering the unit off.
So you have to remove the side panel? It just seems like more work than just have an external drive bay with hot swap buttons. Not knocking but it just seems like the “MUST HAVE DRIVE BAYS!” cry is a little rigid.
I dont think Apple cares for pro users that much anymore.
lack of file system in ios…. Watered down applications… Mac Pro…
Lack of customization and many limiting factors all over the place.
And no this is not a Tim problem … Its an Apple philosophy problem! Been there for a long time in many forms.
In the long run thus us going to hurt apples image in a big way…..
Why Apple… .???
Tim and Phil ..
I hope.. I trully hope you are listening.!?
yes I agree with you.
——
Apple seems to have lost interest in certain segments of Mac users. or even Macs in general as they don’t even really ADVERTISE Macs they make, Apple doesn’t even run cheap Web Ads for Macs. There are some interesting experiments from their Mac engineers – like new keyboards etc – but in general there seems to be much less focus than on iPads etc. or a burning desire to max out Mac sales (and gain marketshare and thus developers).
Another example we read developer blogs complaining that the Mac App store is ‘abandoned’ and they don’t get help etc.
This is a tragedy as I believe Macs are an important ‘leg’ of Apple. A lot of us use ALL the apple products together, Macs are an important component.
A million 👍🏻
I must say I agree about their commitment to Pro users. It’s exactly this reason I question the iPad Pro’s future.
Now, for what it’s worth, the Mac Pro is no joke. The ‘New’ model is not much of an update, I’ll give you that, but I’m involved in a good deal of Pro environments and it’s really only the low end Pros who miss the big aluminum boxes. These are ‘Pros’ who don’t use server based storage and cataloging solutions, but instead build up individual workstations to be its own stand alone work horse. News flash, Thunderbolt is very fast and the Mac Pro has 6 ports over 3 channels. The Mac Pro is a beast of a computer that Apple just doesn’t care to update very often. It’s a shame.
Thank you for saying this! No one quite understands how far and fast they can take their computer with these thunderbolts! An update would be desired, but the thing can still do a ton of crap really well. They might could have gone down on price a year ago just to reflect the market better.
That spaceship HQ can’t come soon enough.
The dilithium crystals are being installed this January.
If Apple had bothered to keep the Mac Pro a top notch, high end machine that competed head-to-head with the best, then I’d sneer at this article. But Apple didn’t. Therefore, rock on John Kheit who writes for The Mac Observer. It’s Apple butt-kicking-time! 👞🍎
I like Apple’s Emoji better than WordPress’.
Further adventures in kicking Apple’s butt:
💨👟
Still upgrading a 2010 Mac Pro. Including Blu-Ray burner, SSD’s (multiple), USB 3.0, 80211.ac wifi, and Bluetooth 4.0.
If I could have gone Thunderbolt, there’d be no reason to consider the TrashCan 2013 for years. And still none.
Apple made a major miss-step with the Trashcan. So bad, they still can’t figure out where to go with it next, without admitting their mistake. Been a fan since the pre-Mac years. C’mon Apple, prove me wrong.
This picture is in the New York Times today. Look at what is siting behind the comment moderators. A couple of rows of REAL Mac Pros- not Jony’s Trashcan.
Everyone and every company makes mistakes. Sometimes big ones.
It’s the GOOD companies that own those mistakes and correct them. The BAD ones arrogantly double-down and tell their paying and potential customers “we’re right, you’re wrong”.
So where is Apple in your scenario? I’m not at all sure.
They have always been arrogant, but it was pretty much OK with me because I personally benefitted from the products, but not so much true any more. All of my projects cost me a lot more production time now with all of the “upgrades”.
No company is 100% good or 100% bad. Apple leaned a bit more on the good side, but skewed sharply toward bad with the 2013 Mac Pro, the 16 GB base storage on iPhone and iPad…
Massive conflict of interests risk them turning into another Sony, too. Their acquisition of Beats means they now don’t sell competing speakers and headphones that are clearly superior for the same or even less cost. And getting into content creation (music, and possibly TV/movies?) risks hardware design constraints imposed by an entertainment division, similar to how Sony’s answer to the iPod, the Atrac player, was crippled when it wasn’t allowed to play mp3s.
Asus makes a Thunderbolt PCIe card, though I’m not sure if it’s Mac-compatible: https://www.asus.com/us/Motherboard-Accessories/ThunderboltEX_II/.
I would LOVE to have a Mac Pro for a house full of kids/folks with movies, emails, music, pictures and what-nots. It would be the greatest machine I could possibly imagine for that!
Sadly, there is no need to spend so much when I can do all that on a 27″ iMac. Five years ago, maybe, not so much now.
Even sadder, why is the Mac Pro built? If it is for pros, why not give them what they want? I could honestly do as much in a family situation with a hopped-up Mini as a Pro, just not as fast (but so what? Add SSDs, ThunderSupmtin’ externals and go!)
So back to the Pro question; Why not just say “hey, we fucked up! During all that iPhone/iPad hullabaloo we forgot what people need to BUILD our crap with!!! Silly us. Oh, look at the TIME.”
WATCH out, Apple….Watch out.
In this P/C-upped world, one bad rumor/falsehood/dodge left the you should’ve dodged right can ruin a ‘cool’ company forever.
(at least that’s what I read on MySpace…..)
I’ve recently begun to convert from Windows 7 64-bit to El Capitan, ’cause I’m so disappointed and mistrusting of Windows 10. My next PC is a refurbished late 2012 model, Mac Mini, i5 2.5, 16gb RAM and 512gb SSD. More than sufficient for my needs. I did look at the Mac Pro, but it was stupidly expensive and overkill, for me.
I need a “truck”!
I need multiple internal disks with 3 different bootable OSs.
I need easy upgradable GCs and memory.
Well, for Final Cut, the new Mac Pro is faster than my 2010… But it just doesn’t match with my needs.
Maybe I’m not that alone, and a reason why Sir Ive has gotten almost invisible these times?…
I agree that Apple execution has been less than stellar lately. However regarding the Mac Pro update, Intel is more to blame. Intel hasn’t release a Xeon CPU worth upgrading since 2013. Intel has no competition and it shows. Unless Apple do his own CPU for the Mac Pro, this 3 years cycle won’t change any time soon. I like my new Mac Pro better than my old one. The only complain I have with it, is the fact that you can’t upgrade the graphic cards each year.
Mac Pro form factor updates are not tied to Intel roadmaps. Or at least they shouldn’t be.
Apple know, KNOWS based on feedback and complaints, that there’d be an instant and massive jump in Mac Pro orders even if they kept the exact same CPU and graphics capabilities if they replaced the trashcan with a proper tower with plenty of room for internal expansion.
Sure, some would still hold off for the next gen Xeon CPUs, and they’d catch some flak for using 2013 tech (though I believe there’s been at least an iterative Xeon update since 2013, don’t have time to verify), but at least it’s not doubling down on a terrible workstation form factor.
I need speedy drives in Mac Pro but black trashcan does not deliver what I need.
2013 Mac Pro 6,1 Samsung XP941 drive – 1180 MB/s Read and 900 MB/s Write – and no way to speed it up.
Old trusty 2010 Mac Pro 5,1 + Amfeltec Squid x4 + Samsung 4 x SM951 – 5900 MB/s Read and 5800 MB/s Write – Hallelujah!!!
http://barefeats.com/hard210.html
The same goes with graphic cards like D300 / D500 comapring with 2x Nvidia 980 in 2010 Mac Pro with external PSU.
Apple is getting distracted by consumer trends. That’s more than obvious.
I’m in the market for a new iPhone, but the pricing is no longer friendly. $500 + 2 years of subsidy? That’s a hard pill to swallow. But people keep buying iPhones, so Apple won’t listen to the little guy anymore.
The Mac Pro is a casualty of this new world.
The Mac Pro will get updaded when Thunderbolt 3 over USB Type C is released. Intel have not releases this yet!!! Q1 2016 is target
Why does Apple wait? So they can sell us some more stupid adapters? The rate of Apple’s connector change is now getting to be faster than chassis updates.
Ive and Cook need to go. Please get someone who has done serious computing to design a real workstation for Apple.
I Agree with the issues of quality control and glitches we seem to constantly get on software at the min From Apple
but i don’t agree with attacking Tim as he is doing a great job. The issues with the Mac Pro can be separated into a Two issues Apple can fix as soon as tech is ready
Problems:
1. Apple needs to have a super fast and direct Pcie port connection that takes direct external cards using an externally “Designed by apple’ pcie card bay that can house at least 3 Pcie cards.
This would fix the issue many hardcore users have
2. Apple has no power over the chip design and its time frame blame Intel as minor chip increments won’t change anything when the increments are to do with power usage.
3. Memory speed is about to take a massive leap but again Apple has to wait for it to be ready so memory speed is in limbo also not Apples fault.
I do think external storage could also be something Apple could design as a bolt on so that people could just add drives if thats what they need as it is very ugly seeing so many other brands on my desk with so many wires some users will just have the main computer but others can by the other family members in the form of the drive expansion and pie expansion so all bases are then covered.
Apple can easily appease the hardcore power users by adding these two new members of the pro family both designed by apple and with direct plug input to make them direct connections using apple tech that works.
1. external Pcie Card bay expansion
2. External Drive bay expansion
processors and memory are a global issue for the next super speed bump in real processing terms.
Don’t Blame Apple for these issues as any current increase would be token at best
I think the next pro will be the one we all drool over as soon as the new chips and memory are available.
If it’s a matter of technology not being ready, how come there are high end PCs with 24 and 64 core xeons. With 512gb of ram and mighty apple cannot keep up?
Can’t find what you’re talking about currently by doing a search on my own.. do you have a link? Thanks in advance.
Sure, here’s one
http://www.mediaworkstations.net/i-x2.html
http://www.pcworld.com/article/2887581/boxx-apexx-5-heres-what-a-36-core-five-gpu-workstation-looks-like.html
64cores exist too
http://www.titancomputers.com/category-s/706.htm
Some crazy powerful boxes out there, and apple isn’t anywhere to be found.
Thanks!
… and LOL! I guess I got all of those 1 stars for not knowing how to use Google properly 🙁
So what’s available for the Mac Pro the Apple should have updated to? Why would Apple sit on something like that? I can’t imagine updating the internals requires that much attention.
I have bitched about the Trashcan as much as anyone here and think the Trashcan is a nice Home Theater PC- aka a Mac Mini Pro. It is however, in no way a replacement for the real Mac Pro series that preceded it.
Some of US need lots of local storage and do not want a spaghetti bowl of cables, wall warts and boxes all over the damned place. Some of US would like to buy an off the rack card and be able to plug it in to our Mac. Some of US would like to buy a memory upgrade set and plug it in and be back running in 3 minutes. Some of US would like INTERNAL hot swappable Hard Drives. Some of US like to be able to open up our Macs and take some canned air to the inside. Some of US would like to buy a Graphics Card and plug the thing in and go.
That was all flushed down the toilet with the Trashcan. I Think Phil said “Apple can’t innovate my ass”.
Uh-Huh.
Steve Jobs famously said some of want trucks and the Mac Pro was a Super Duty 4×4 of a truck. Some of us want a damn truck and need a truck and are tired of Apple’s clueless planners trying to force us all into Laptops and iMacs.
I said upon seeing it, that the Trashcan was the sequel to the Cube. The only part I missed is that the Cube probably sold better.
Wow, I must be missing something I love my MacPro its screams thru my simulations and drives a couple of 34 inch monitors with ease. I haven’t seen the need to upgrade and will consider a new MacPro if its a big leap in performance but no way this computer is a failure it perfect for me.
It works for many but not for some (me). All depends on your purpose, power and peripheral needs.
The issue isn’t processor power. The issue is form factor.
The old Mac Pro form factor allowed for a lot of internal expansion while the new one does not.
I have the same complaint about the Retina MacBook Pros; you can’t upgrade the Solid State Drive(at a reasonable price), RAM and wireless card. In my 2011 MacBook Pro, I CAN upgrade the RAM, hard drive, and wireless card. I can even replace the optical drive with a hard drive. In a regular pre-2013 MacBook Pro, you could put in a 480-512 gigabyte Solid State Drive and a 2 terabyte hard drive. Now that’s expansion!
I’m about to push the button on a powerful PC (blech!) Workstation since there’s no way Thunderbolt 2 matches current PCIe 3 16X slot speed nor the upgradability factor and versatility of a big box. I love Apple’s aesthetic with everything but professional machines. It’s starting to look as though in that aspect we part ways. Minimalist design before function doesn’t cut it for many Pro’s.
I’m staging to go hold my nose and go to the Dark Side(TM) also.
It is being driven by the systematic dismantling of the Apple EcoSystem – – – both the demise of Photo Management software (“photos” isn’t a joke – its an insult) and the trash can Mac Pro.
And initial estimates are that I’ll save around $2000 per seat that I convert over to Windows…plus additional savings in labor from having a productivity Workflow that does not suck as bad.
I share your pro pain. I never used any of Apple’s Photo software as I deemed it risky. It always seemed one false innocent move could have devastating impact. It’s like the idiot move to remove “Save As” so you now have to remember to Duplicate an image before processing in some apps or change the behavior in Terminal.
Yep I think a PC Workstation costs are now cheaper and of course more versatile, once you get around the idea of having to use Winblows and assuming you aren’t using Apple software like FCP or Logic. I am getting into 4K production and then 3D, compositing, all the usual high end stuff that needs a great pro solution.
Two points here the trashcan need to be regularly updated and expanded its not exactly like Apple is short of the cash to do so with even a dent in their profit making machine.
However I am sick and tired of these various idiots going on about it being inadequate for graphics or creative professional. It depends on what creative pros you are talking about. Fact is long before the previous model bit the dust the majority of those ‘pros’ were and still are working on iMacs so the trashcan is more than enough for the majority of that group they refer to. Its only a subset of those who are deeply invoked in 3D, high end and heavy duty creative work who more than the trashcan can offer. They are important and they should be given what they want its vital to the perception of the Mac to keep them happy but please don’t lets imagine that they are even half let alone the majority of Mac creatives in the World, far from it.
*once in a while