“Yes, I bought a new Mac Pro. For certain values of ‘new,'” Chris Adamson writes for Time.code().
“I think my needs, for development and especially for video work (Motion and Wirecast, mainly) are best served by the Mac Pro,” Adamson writes. “Even the pathetic, three-year-old Mac Pro, because what I want is lots of cores, silent operation, and expandability of RAM and storage, something the iMac and MacBook Pro can’t offer.”
“I ordered on December 22, and the custom-built machine didn’t even ship until a week later on the 29th,” Adamson writes. “There’s likely a holiday break involved here, but it’s a safe bet the delay was not caused by excessive demand for the model.”
MacDailyNews Take: Now, there’s a pretty safe bet.
Adamson writes, “Indeed, I have to wonder if they only run the Austin factory one or two days a week at this point.”
MacDailyNews Take: Or month.
“I made one other Apple-related financial decision last week, and it was a big one,” Adamson writes. “[I sold] my entire position in AAPL. For the first time since 1998, I do not hold any Apple stock… I look at what Apple’s doing nowadays and ask myself if this is still what I believed in back in 1998. I’m not a fan of the new MacBook Pro, with what seems like a gimmicky Touch Bar (let’s give it a year and see if it’s any more salient a feature than Force Touch) and a de facto $500 price hike. In the Mac line, at least, 2017 Apple seems a lot like 1994 Apple: misguided products, propped up by gouging the loyalists. The difference is that today’s Apple isn’t dependent on computers, and indeed barely cares about them thanks to the timespace-warping enormity of the iPhone. It’s like being in an alternate timeline where the Newton was a smash success, so the Sculley/Spindler era went on indefinitely.”
MacDailyNews Take: Yeesh.
With the Mac Pro, “I surely overpaid wildly for what I got,” Adamson writes. “But I can be pretty confident it’ll give me about five years of solid productivity in Xcode, Motion, Wirecast and the other apps I depend on for my work. That’s an investment I can still get behind.”
Read more in the full article here.
MacDailyNews Take: Scathing, but note that he still bought a “new” Mac.
Cook et al. should take note: On your present course, there will rather quickly come a day when such users will choose another company’s wares.
They’ve chopped off the edges of the bell curve — and big chunks of their key users with them. — Chuq Von Rospach, January 1, 2017
SEE ALSO:
Attention, Tim Cook! Apple isn’t firing on all cylinders and you need to fix it – January 4, 2017
No, Apple, do not simplify, get better – December 23, 2016
Rare video shows Steve Jobs warning Apple to focus less on profits and more on great products – December 23, 2016
Marco Arment: Apple’s Mac Pro is ‘very likely dead’ – December 20, 2016
How Tim Cook’s Apple alienated Mac loyalists – December 20, 2016
Apple’s not very good, really quite poor 2016 – December 19, 2016
Apple’s software has been anything but ‘magical’ lately – December 19, 2016
Lazy Apple. It’s not hard to imagine Steve Jobs asking, ‘What have you been doing for the last four years?’ – December 9, 2016
Rush Limbaugh: Is Apple losing their edge? – December 9, 2016
AirPods: MIA for the holidays; delayed product damages Apple’s credibility, stokes customer frustration – December 9, 2016
Apple may have finally gotten too big for its unusual corporate structure – November 28, 2016
Apple has no idea what they’re doing in the TV space, and it’s embarrassing – November 3, 2016
Apple’s disgracefully outdated, utterly mismanaged Mac lineup is killing sales – October 13, 2016
Apple takes its eye off the ball: Why users are complaining about Apple’s software – February 9, 2016
Open letter to Tim Cook: Apple needs to do better – January 5, 2015
Mac user since 1985. Stock holder since the late 1990s. Have purchased around 150 Macs for my home and laboratory since then. Having a hard time justifying the price of the new MacBook Pro and am considering dumping my stock. I will probably will stay with Macs, but I now see the stock as being flat at best and most likely declining in value.
I do hear you and am somewhat in your camp… but not selling yet! My conviction ( barring some major disaster) is to hold on till 2018 and then reassess.
Been using Macs since 1985 too. Stock owned since the 90’s. While I’ve sold my AAPL over the years to do things in life, I would not be buying any soon either.
As for Macs, same for me, and I just also got a Mac Pro. Sure, it’s so 2013, but it’s a way cool Mac. It WILL run for years, and it does what I need. This does not make me happy that I had to buy a 4 year old design, but at least it feels “new”. I have hopes Apple will once again rise to the top and be enviable, but I also am not buying stocks. I hope I live to regret that and is kicking ass once again…Mac-wise.
Tim,Team
Respect Pro/power Users……. give them a roadmap they can count on and trust so they wont be afriad to invest in the platform…. you are systematically pushing your loudest and best advocates away to the competition …
You are loosing ground in the education sector… ..
Fun apple Fun! Is a big part of the game… do someting fun and exciting … tease us.. make us wonder/anticipate about increadible possibilities on the horizon. There is reason why your PE is so low…. you are way to opaque ! Riding Apple is like a ride in thick Fog!
You have gone from being a dynamic company who kept everyone full of excitement in anticipation of next great thing … to a boring/slow company who keeps the fans chewing on their nail in anticipation of another bla/disapointing product release.
Bring the Excitement and the Fun back Apple !
yojimbo007, Team,
We hear you. Loud and clear. Stay tuned. We have exciting products in the pipeline, including;
– Watch Bands in new materials and colors
– Touch Bar Emoji’s
– Garage Band: Singing Emoji’s (too fun!)
… and for you power users:
– Final Cut X Emoji’s – Drag and Drop your way to YouTube Success!!
— Tim
Really… no f-ing way Tim.. come on.. seriously?? WOW..:) !
-Flabbergasted Yoji
Sadly that is far too close to the truth. If Cook one more time tells us that there are amazing products in development (yet its always tomorrow) then I will be convinced that I am indeed simply a powerless character in the Foundation Trilogy where the expectant audience is told by the long dead hero in a projected 3D image, that everything is going wonderfully well and full steam ahead guys on the long projected roadmap of unending dominance lies before you. Especially when Cook starts using that eerily similar auditorium at the new Campus 2.
LMFO!!!
I have been laughing all night and morning remembering your post….😂😂🤣🤣👍👍
I agree.
First Apple was a ][ back in the day- learned to write code and saved them on a cassette drive, first Mac at the Robinson Barracks PX in Stuttgart, Germany when they first became available there. Began accumulating Apple stock about the time of the Mac OS X Public Beta if memory serves me correctly. I didn’t switch to the Mac because I never switched to Windows.
I stopped buying when Apple was in the low $300’s per share and have not bought any more since that time. Nothing I have seen from Apple leads me to believe that there is significant money to be made on Apple stock. Other investment in companies like Tesla and Amazon have done very well, indeed.
Apple has become Microsoft under Steve Ballmer- imitating and iterating instead of innovating. It is absolutely scandalous how little they have done given the massive resources they control as they seem unable to walk and chew gum at the same time. The watch ( which I own) is an overpriced toy and the iPad Pro (which I also own) will never be a replacement for any Mac until the file system is open to the user. The advantage Apple Phones ( I have an iPhone 7) have over Android devices as seen in the market gets smaller every day.
Steve Jobs famously used the analogy of cars and trucks describing mobile devices and Laptop/Desktop computers, but someone forgot to tell Tim Cook that trucks outsell cars in the United States. Some of us prefer a powerful computer at a Desk with a nice big screen and I do not mean a black cylinder connected by a bundle of cables and Wall Warts or a laptop connected to an external display. I also expect for my $2-3 thousand plus dollars to have an upgradeable chassis and internal expansion of memory, storage and Graphics Cards.
If Macs are trucks, the MacBook is a Kia Sportage, the MacBook Pro a RAV4 or CRV, the iMac an Explorer and the Trashcan a Nissan Murano. Some of us want a Jeep Wrangler, Land Cruiser, Geländewagen or Xterra- not a Crossover (read minivan with doors and truck styling). Others want an F-250 Crew Cab and Apple is not meeting the needs or desires of the customer.
Cook is pissing away all the scientists, engineers, artists, editors, composers, performers and others who want a proper workstation Mac. My 2010 Mac has been updated, but is old and spending money on it is a risky proposition given the availability of spare parts- I had to buy a new power supply last summer.
The iPhone and iPod were developed to wean Apple off of outsized dependence on the Mac and they have traded that for outsized dependence on the iPhone. If Apple spent just a little time or money on the Mac they could own PC gaming and make huge inroads in the enterprise. The new HP Elite Slice will take corporate sales that a decent Mac mini could have easily served- it is open, upgradeable and offers Quad Core i7 CPUs.
Apple is fat and lazy and that is a formula to be a ripe target for the next disruptive technology which can come from anywhere. I have not sold all my Apple Stock, but have not bought any in a very long time. Tim Cook and Jony Ive have no fire in the belly.
X10
“It is absolutely scandalous how little they have done given the massive resources they control as they seem unable to walk and chew gum at the same time. the iPad Pro (which I also own) will never be a replacement for any Mac until the file system is open to the user. The advantage Apple Phones ( I have an iPhone 7) have over Android devices as seen in the market gets smaller every day.”
Though i love the watch and feel it has huge potential….
Welcome aboard the dump Cook train everyone (well, not quite yet but soon). If only you had listened earlier the company could be in a full recovery mode by now. Is it too late? Probably but it’s still worth a try.
Nah, just dump MacOS and you never have to be bothered by WHO is running Apple, whether it’s some guy hand picked my Steve Jobs himself or some rando off the street. You’ll be out of the swirling morass of ever profitable mobile devices and using a nice chunky box, POSSIBLY of your own design (non-MacOS users build their own all the time).
Do what many others have done and be happier sooner.
I just recently sold 1/2 of my holdings in Apple, purchased originally in December of 2005. They were in my IRA’s so no tax burden (is that a tax avoidance loop hole?). I invested the entire (substantial) proceeds in 4.5% dividend paying utilities. Come on Apple, try to keep up. I’ll reinvest if you do.
I sold most of my shares too, as soon as I heard they got rid of their AirPort team. Apple has made me sad for years now.
Dumped all AAPL last summer…done with ’em until there’s a management change.
My Apple Mac software investment is dwindling to the point a transition would be almost cost-effective since the subscription model has pretty much gutted the ‘own-your-own’ software concept.
And I hear really good things about Windows…like still the most vulnerable system….
Sorry, that was my Obama indoctrination of doublespeak coming out….
Seriously, if Apple does intend to continue the MacOS line, we will be paying more for less and less. After all, Apple is all about its 33% profit margins over its ‘it just works’ mantra of old.
The only people who should be buying the current iteration of the Mac Pro are those in a truly desperate situation, e.g. your current trash can Mac Pro died and is not repairable, you have a full mirror backup, you can’t use another machine in house, you have a company critical project that was on that dead Mac Pro with a true make or break deadline within two or three weeks, you can’t find one on ebay or similar source. Then in an act of desperation, you buy a “new” Mac Pro to replace the dead one.
Anyone buying any version of the current Mac Pro that is not under circumstances other than something similar is a true idiot.
I am NOT happy to say it but you can build a Hacintosh for as little as 1/3 the cost (with 3 to four year old components — or get a better machine for as little as 1/2 the cost) and still run your projects on it. I wish it were not true, but it is.
“e.g. your current trash can Mac Pro died and is not repairable…”
Pretty amazing that a $4000 machine can be “not repairable” but that is a reality with Apple.
Mac user since 1988
It’s the best out there, but has more issues than ever. Those two ideas don’t have to be mutually exclusive.
Time was when things like the Apple Human Interface Guidelines were the basis of how well Mac operating systems AND software worked, and that made Apple what it is.
Now, the apps that are built for both Mac and Windows generally work equally well, depending on the quality and experience of the app developer.
Windows developers are now nearly as likely as Apple developers to have an interface that matches the old common sense guidelines that made Apple successful.
It’s’s now the app developers that determine how well things work, not so much OS developers. Apple could get that advantage back by going back to those guidelines in the OS and ESPECIALLY Apple apps.
Will they? My guess is that the developers at Apple are so young that they might not be aware of the guidelines, and heaven forbid they could acknowledge something created when they were 3 years old. Didn’t the history of the world begin the day they were born?
What is so hard about saying this?
Tim Cook: Apple Corporation is committed to the long term support of the Mac platform and the OS X operating system. We will update both our desktop and laptop computers on an approximately yearly basis for the next five to ten years. We intend on building the best, highest quality computers in the industry. We will work with our professional users to understand the needs of the people who depend on our computers for their livelihoods. We appreciate their long term support. We will support THEM in the long term.
Duh.
I think Apple is missing a huge opportunity to fight and win PC wars 2.0.
Just because Windows is losing steam doesn’t mean Mac OS needs to. Macs are also the most important “satellite” device in the iOS ecosystem.
10-15% growth in Macs would be just as valuable as 10-15% growth in iPad’s, and easier to get since the overall PC market is still much bigger than the overall tablet market, and Mac marketshare is so small.
Wake up Apple, and grow Mac share by shipping great Macs, to grow Apple. Ship iOS apps like News simultaneously on Macs. Upgrade specs every year so customers can count on getting good value.