I have. Windows is not an option. That leaves me with either A) building a hackintosh, waiting for the new iMac or C) waiting for Apple to officially kill or refresh the Mac Pro. So the problem for me is the "not knowing". I can't pull the trigger on a new iMac until I know for certain what Apple will do with the Mac Pro.
I can't pull the trigger on a new iMac until I know for certain what Apple will do with the Mac Pro.
Nor should you! Definitely wait for the new iMacs. Apparently the super-high-end*of each line of desktop Ivy Bridge will be out on the 29th of this month, so we'll see iMacs in, what, June?
And then if Apple says NOTHING about the Mac Pro at WWDC, you may as well forget about it.
don't be loyal to Apple... they certainly dont care about you. if they are not meeting your needs... go elsewhere immediately, its the best thing you can do to show your discontent.
Yeah, that should work well. I'll just take Final Cut, Motion and Aperture "somewhere else." /s
When I called Apple telesales recently to buy Final Cut 7, I asked the sales rep if she knew when they would stop offering FCP7 for sale. She said, of course, that no date has been set, but that Apple would inform people when that would happen.
Aand, when Apple discontinued XServe, they gave customers 60-days notice so they could buy up what they needed before it was gone. Considering the Mac Pro is in that same sphere of professional and server-grade use, I have no doubt that there'd be a similar warning if it too is being discontinued.
Quote:
Originally Posted by loveandcapture
It's disheartening to hear about the Mac Pro possibly going bye-bye... I bought the most recent model in late 2010, and it's been a total dream (video editor/musician here).
But let's all please remember: no one really knows anything about what's going to happen to it, and what might be a simple Waiting-On-The-New-Intel-Chips has turned into a "It's Dead" fear mongering.
I have no clue what Apple plans to do with it, but I certainly hope it sticks around (hey, new design: awesome!), as my next machine after this one will be another Pro tower. Even just FCPX has certain features that, if Apple really wants to shine, will need a Mac Pro's power to fully deliver (you're going to edit 64 streams of multicam, 1080p or 2k video on an iMac?? come on...). Apple KNOWS what its expectations are for the machine, and while we think the numbers are small, that might be just fine in line with what they're willing to produce.
Apple is a HARDWARE company that makes its own software. While some think the FCPX debacle was them getting out of the pro market, even if a serious editor jumped to another software... they'd STILL be using Apple hardware. EVERY recording studio and production lab I've been in has many Mac Pro towers integrated. I'd like to think (and here's where my wishful thinking comes in) that Apple wouldn't want to lose the business of the majority of working creative professionals and schools..
Amazing - until just about a year ago, there was no reason to be dubious about Apple's intentions in this space. Now... yikes. If no refresh of the Pro comes along, there's the answer, and it's time to look elsewhere.
Apple KNOWS what its expectations are for the machine, and while we think the numbers are small, that might be just fine in line with what they're willing to produce.
Apple is a HARDWARE company that makes its own software. While some think the FCPX debacle was them getting out of the pro market, even if a serious editor jumped to another software... they'd STILL be using Apple hardware. EVERY recording studio and production lab I've been in has many Mac Pro towers integrated. I'd like to think (and here's where my wishful thinking comes in) that Apple wouldn't want to lose the business of the majority of working creative professionals and schools..
Amazing - until just about a year ago, there was no reason to be dubious about Apple's intentions in this space. Now... yikes. If no refresh of the Pro comes along, there's the answer, and it's time to look elsewhere.
SJ was known for eliminating low volume products. My sense is that Tim Cook likes to go after all market segments as long as they are reasonably significant in size and importance to Apple. I doubt they will kill the Mac Pro. They have not yet killed the iPod Classic which many have predicted Apple would.
They already axed the optical drive in the Mac Mini, a desktop machine, so the chances of it surviving in the Macbook Pro are pretty slim.
And I don't think the Mac Pro tower will be discontinued. If nothing else, Apple cares about iOS development, and some developers will want a proper workstation.
This week's stock-outs come as Intel is gearing up to launch its Ivy Bridge chips, which have been rumored to begin finding their way into Apple's Mac product line as early as this month or next.
April 29th looks to be the launch date for the chips:
I do think it will be strange if they continue to sell the 13" MBP with an optical drive alongside redesigned 15" MBPs. It seems to me far more likely that they will discontinue the 13" MBP at the same time and simply replace it with the Air.
They already axed the optical drive in the Mac Mini, a desktop machine, so the chances of it surviving in the Macbook Pro are pretty slim.
And I don't think the Mac Pro tower will be discontinued. If nothing else, Apple cares about iOS development, and some developers will want a proper workstation.
What's wrong with the iMac as a developers workstation?
What's wrong with the iMac as a developers workstation?
I was thinking exactly the same thing. I learned how to write apps on an old-design Mac Mini, even. All Macs are easily powerful enough for any app development.
SJ was known for eliminating low volume products. My sense is that Tim Cook likes to go after all market segments as long as they are reasonably significant in size and importance to Apple. I doubt they will kill the Mac Pro. They have not yet killed the iPod Classic which many have predicted Apple would.
Agree. The trick will be to figure out ways to help make other products bridge the holes in the line-ups. I can't picture a Promise RAID on my desktop below my iMac when it comes to storage (due to noise more than anything). However, I'm starting to think that is the generally rational approach to the situation. Not much sense in having an internal (high-end) sound card for audio pros if you can have a more effective external solution that doesn't create too much chaos. Almost all I/O type needs can be done externally.
I do hope they can figure out a way to have dual power supplies in whatever they use as a replacement-- something that can bridge from the server room to the desktop.
Eliminating the Mac Pro would also be somewhat of a blow to OS X server as the Mac Pro was also configured as server model. That would leave the Mac Mini as the only dedicated hardware to run OS X server.
What's wrong with the iMac as a developers workstation?
There's nothing wrong with it per se. But iOS development is very iterative: often you make a small change, fire up the simulator, test it out, make another small change, etc. Perhaps more so than other development (such as server side) due to the desire to get the GUI perfect in iOS apps.
If that cycle can be sped up by just a few seconds each time it could make a big difference to how many times the developer tweaks a particular feature before getting fed up and deciding it's "good enough." Multiply that by a thousand developers making a thousand apps and the overall quality of iOS software could be effected by having the best available dev box a few seconds slower than it could have been.
Screen resolution should be the most interesting space to watch for since it's a foregone conclusion that the optical is out and it'll get thinner. The screen should be up for mountain lion and pixel doubling, hopefully.
What's wrong with the iMac as a developers workstation?
Getting rid of a 27" monitor and every other part every time you need a CPU or GPU upgrade? No workstation graphics cards or ECC memory? It would work for some, not for everyone. Depends on what you mean by "developer" I guess, for someone tinkering with iOS development of course any modern machine would do, but development can mean much more than that.
External Thunderbolt workstation graphics cards would certainly reduce some limitations though. It's not fast enough for an external CPU though.
Eliminating the Mac Pro would also be somewhat of a blow to OS X server as the Mac Pro was also configured as server model. That would leave the Mac Mini as the only dedicated hardware to run OS X server.
I'm tired of the Mac Mini and Mac Pro as the only 2 choices for a monitorless desktop or server. With all of the hardware design experience Apple has, they should be able to make a desktop/rack mount combo machine that is at most half the size of the current Mac Pro. If it's not a 50lb boat anchor that costs $3000+ for the base model, it would sell much better.
SJ was known for eliminating low volume products. My sense is that Tim Cook likes to go after all market segments as long as they are reasonably significant in size and importance to Apple. I doubt they will kill the Mac Pro. They have not yet killed the iPod Classic which many have predicted Apple would. Just my 2cents.
They haven't killed the iPod classic yet - but we all know it's coming as soon as they push out a 128GB iPod touch.
Apple is only interested in what's best for Apple. If the Mac Pro doesn't sell well anymore they will ditch it even if it means leaving customers high and dry. They've done it before and will do it again.
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Investigate other options.
I have. Windows is not an option. That leaves me with either A) building a hackintosh, waiting for the new iMac or C) waiting for Apple to officially kill or refresh the Mac Pro. So the problem for me is the "not knowing". I can't pull the trigger on a new iMac until I know for certain what Apple will do with the Mac Pro.
I can't pull the trigger on a new iMac until I know for certain what Apple will do with the Mac Pro.
Nor should you! Definitely wait for the new iMacs. Apparently the super-high-end*of each line of desktop Ivy Bridge will be out on the 29th of this month, so we'll see iMacs in, what, June?
And then if Apple says NOTHING about the Mac Pro at WWDC, you may as well forget about it.
don't be loyal to Apple... they certainly dont care about you. if they are not meeting your needs... go elsewhere immediately, its the best thing you can do to show your discontent.
Yeah, that should work well. I'll just take Final Cut, Motion and Aperture "somewhere else." /s
When I called Apple telesales recently to buy Final Cut 7, I asked the sales rep if she knew when they would stop offering FCP7 for sale. She said, of course, that no date has been set, but that Apple would inform people when that would happen.
Aand, when Apple discontinued XServe, they gave customers 60-days notice so they could buy up what they needed before it was gone. Considering the Mac Pro is in that same sphere of professional and server-grade use, I have no doubt that there'd be a similar warning if it too is being discontinued.
It's disheartening to hear about the Mac Pro possibly going bye-bye... I bought the most recent model in late 2010, and it's been a total dream (video editor/musician here).
But let's all please remember: no one really knows anything about what's going to happen to it, and what might be a simple Waiting-On-The-New-Intel-Chips has turned into a "It's Dead" fear mongering.
I have no clue what Apple plans to do with it, but I certainly hope it sticks around (hey, new design: awesome!), as my next machine after this one will be another Pro tower. Even just FCPX has certain features that, if Apple really wants to shine, will need a Mac Pro's power to fully deliver (you're going to edit 64 streams of multicam, 1080p or 2k video on an iMac?? come on...). Apple KNOWS what its expectations are for the machine, and while we think the numbers are small, that might be just fine in line with what they're willing to produce.
Apple is a HARDWARE company that makes its own software. While some think the FCPX debacle was them getting out of the pro market, even if a serious editor jumped to another software... they'd STILL be using Apple hardware. EVERY recording studio and production lab I've been in has many Mac Pro towers integrated. I'd like to think (and here's where my wishful thinking comes in) that Apple wouldn't want to lose the business of the majority of working creative professionals and schools..
Amazing - until just about a year ago, there was no reason to be dubious about Apple's intentions in this space. Now... yikes. If no refresh of the Pro comes along, there's the answer, and it's time to look elsewhere.
Apple KNOWS what its expectations are for the machine, and while we think the numbers are small, that might be just fine in line with what they're willing to produce.
Apple is a HARDWARE company that makes its own software. While some think the FCPX debacle was them getting out of the pro market, even if a serious editor jumped to another software... they'd STILL be using Apple hardware. EVERY recording studio and production lab I've been in has many Mac Pro towers integrated. I'd like to think (and here's where my wishful thinking comes in) that Apple wouldn't want to lose the business of the majority of working creative professionals and schools..
Amazing - until just about a year ago, there was no reason to be dubious about Apple's intentions in this space. Now... yikes. If no refresh of the Pro comes along, there's the answer, and it's time to look elsewhere.
SJ was known for eliminating low volume products. My sense is that Tim Cook likes to go after all market segments as long as they are reasonably significant in size and importance to Apple. I doubt they will kill the Mac Pro. They have not yet killed the iPod Classic which many have predicted Apple would.
Just my 2cents.
...And then if Apple says NOTHING about the Mac Pro at WWDC, you may as well forget about it.
Agreed. That'll be the sad truth.
And I don't think the Mac Pro tower will be discontinued. If nothing else, Apple cares about iOS development, and some developers will want a proper workstation.
This week's stock-outs come as Intel is gearing up to launch its Ivy Bridge chips, which have been rumored to begin finding their way into Apple's Mac product line as early as this month or next.
April 29th looks to be the launch date for the chips:
http://www.fudzilla.com/home/item/26...ith-three-skus
A good bet would probably be the following Tuesday (May 1st), same time as the HP models:
http://www.techradar.com/news/mobile...aptops-1071989
2.6GHz quad-core entry model.
I do think it will be strange if they continue to sell the 13" MBP with an optical drive alongside redesigned 15" MBPs. It seems to me far more likely that they will discontinue the 13" MBP at the same time and simply replace it with the Air.
They already axed the optical drive in the Mac Mini, a desktop machine, so the chances of it surviving in the Macbook Pro are pretty slim.
And I don't think the Mac Pro tower will be discontinued. If nothing else, Apple cares about iOS development, and some developers will want a proper workstation.
What's wrong with the iMac as a developers workstation?
What's wrong with the iMac as a developers workstation?
I was thinking exactly the same thing. I learned how to write apps on an old-design Mac Mini, even. All Macs are easily powerful enough for any app development.
SJ was known for eliminating low volume products. My sense is that Tim Cook likes to go after all market segments as long as they are reasonably significant in size and importance to Apple. I doubt they will kill the Mac Pro. They have not yet killed the iPod Classic which many have predicted Apple would.
Agree. The trick will be to figure out ways to help make other products bridge the holes in the line-ups. I can't picture a Promise RAID on my desktop below my iMac when it comes to storage (due to noise more than anything). However, I'm starting to think that is the generally rational approach to the situation. Not much sense in having an internal (high-end) sound card for audio pros if you can have a more effective external solution that doesn't create too much chaos. Almost all I/O type needs can be done externally.
I do hope they can figure out a way to have dual power supplies in whatever they use as a replacement-- something that can bridge from the server room to the desktop.
What's wrong with the iMac as a developers workstation?
There's nothing wrong with it per se. But iOS development is very iterative: often you make a small change, fire up the simulator, test it out, make another small change, etc. Perhaps more so than other development (such as server side) due to the desire to get the GUI perfect in iOS apps.
If that cycle can be sped up by just a few seconds each time it could make a big difference to how many times the developer tweaks a particular feature before getting fed up and deciding it's "good enough." Multiply that by a thousand developers making a thousand apps and the overall quality of iOS software could be effected by having the best available dev box a few seconds slower than it could have been.
What's wrong with the iMac as a developers workstation?
Getting rid of a 27" monitor and every other part every time you need a CPU or GPU upgrade? No workstation graphics cards or ECC memory? It would work for some, not for everyone. Depends on what you mean by "developer" I guess, for someone tinkering with iOS development of course any modern machine would do, but development can mean much more than that.
External Thunderbolt workstation graphics cards would certainly reduce some limitations though. It's not fast enough for an external CPU though.
/please let it be next week...
Eliminating the Mac Pro would also be somewhat of a blow to OS X server as the Mac Pro was also configured as server model. That would leave the Mac Mini as the only dedicated hardware to run OS X server.
I'm tired of the Mac Mini and Mac Pro as the only 2 choices for a monitorless desktop or server. With all of the hardware design experience Apple has, they should be able to make a desktop/rack mount combo machine that is at most half the size of the current Mac Pro. If it's not a 50lb boat anchor that costs $3000+ for the base model, it would sell much better.
A shortage now kind of makes sense leading to an announcment at Apple WWDC in June.
I somehow doubt there'll be any new hardware at WWDC.
It'll be monopolized by Mountain Lion and iOS 6.
SJ was known for eliminating low volume products. My sense is that Tim Cook likes to go after all market segments as long as they are reasonably significant in size and importance to Apple. I doubt they will kill the Mac Pro. They have not yet killed the iPod Classic which many have predicted Apple would. Just my 2cents.
They haven't killed the iPod classic yet - but we all know it's coming as soon as they push out a 128GB iPod touch.
Apple is only interested in what's best for Apple. If the Mac Pro doesn't sell well anymore they will ditch it even if it means leaving customers high and dry. They've done it before and will do it again.