Apple's Mac Pro ship times drop to 2-3 weeks, shortest wait since launch
For the third week in a row, Apple has lowered ship-by times for its flagship Mac Pro desktop, with the latest two to three week estimates suggesting the company is quickly catching up with demand.
Apple has found it difficult to keep up with supply of the redesigned Mac Pro since the computer debuted in December.
As of Thursday, however, the Online Apple Store is showing shipping availability at 2-3 weeks, a vast improvement over the more than month-long waits some customers experienced in January and February. Last week, ship-by dates dropped to below one month for the first time since launch.
The new shipping estimates apply to all Mac Pro configurations, including fully maxed-out models that go for more than $13,000.
Historically, ship-by dates have steadily improved over the first quarter, with checks in April showing estimates at 5-6 weeks, which moved up to 4-6 weeks on Apr. 11, 4-5 weeks on Apr. 18 and 3-5 weeks on Apr. 24.
Due to constrained supply, in-store models are non-existent. In January, Apple said it didn't expect to have models available at brick-and-mortar Apple Stores until at least March.
As Apple builds its inventory, authorized resellers like MacMall and Adorama have limited supplies of select Mac Pro configurations, which can be seen in AppleInsider's live Price Guides.
Apple has found it difficult to keep up with supply of the redesigned Mac Pro since the computer debuted in December.
As of Thursday, however, the Online Apple Store is showing shipping availability at 2-3 weeks, a vast improvement over the more than month-long waits some customers experienced in January and February. Last week, ship-by dates dropped to below one month for the first time since launch.
The new shipping estimates apply to all Mac Pro configurations, including fully maxed-out models that go for more than $13,000.
Historically, ship-by dates have steadily improved over the first quarter, with checks in April showing estimates at 5-6 weeks, which moved up to 4-6 weeks on Apr. 11, 4-5 weeks on Apr. 18 and 3-5 weeks on Apr. 24.
Due to constrained supply, in-store models are non-existent. In January, Apple said it didn't expect to have models available at brick-and-mortar Apple Stores until at least March.
As Apple builds its inventory, authorized resellers like MacMall and Adorama have limited supplies of select Mac Pro configurations, which can be seen in AppleInsider's live Price Guides.
Comments
Just as they get to ship same day, they will be releasing the new Mac Pro v2 I bet!
I bet it won't be far behind. I wouldn't be surprised to see a small update before years end.
Well maybe not on the same day but it won't be far behind. Then we will have to listen to all the whining about Apple updating the Mac Pro too fast. Demands for refunds will follow and so forth.
On the other hand you never know, Apple might wait for the next Xeon process shrink. What ever they do they can't let the machine lag for years like they find the last Mac Pro. They need to work with Intel to make sure the evolution of Xeon is right for this platform.
Hey maybe in a couple of months the low cost variant will come out. Wishful thinking I know but the possibility intrigues me to no end. A Haswell/Broadwell/SkyLake APU as the base processor with the option of a GPU board would make my day. Ship it with just four TB ports to cut expenses slightly and for the stingy amongst us put in another PCI-Express SSD slot with the saved PCI Express lanes from the deleted TB interface Price it at $1500 and they will have a new desktop Mac customer.
It is entirely possible, Intel did release new XEONs late this winter into spring. The architecture has been significantly enhanced so it might lead to a nice bump in performance.
The new Mac Mini will take the MacPro form and perhaps even the case design, but in white. Take a look at the new Time Capsule. We are evidently going vertical.
I saw the Mac Pro in an Apple Store and thought it was a beautiful computer. In a way I'm glad that it's taken them so long to match supply with demand because it probably means they underestimated demand, which means there's more people using computers for serious work than people think.
Not everyone is in to Tablets and Apps, some people actually want Computers and Applications and want to use computers to advance the human condition.
I'm waiting for the inevitable 'Mac Pro demand is flagging' spin.
It wouldn't really need that if the cost of those pesky ultra fast SSDs could just come down and capacity increase. That said why not two mounts?
Every time they reduce the wait time, the delivery date stays the same.
Meaning that when I ordered it in early April, the delivery date was the end of May.
And after the first reduction, mentioned earlier here on AI, if you ordered it at the end of April the delivery date was the end of May.
Whereas if you ordered it now, the delivery date is the end of May.
Am I the only one that's noticed this?
Any ideas of what's happening late in May that apple is back-stocking for?
And perhaps a 2nd SSD?
The list of "the perfect machine" seems relatively short:
1) a second SSD slot
2) at least one USB on the front (duh)
3) replaceable GPUs
4) (least important) perhaps a small-form hard drive bay (yes, ONE)
With those relatively minor upgrades I think there's be zero complains with form factor.
the mac pro needs more Pci-e lanes to have 2 SSD slots.
Huh. That sounds wrong. I haven’t looked at… we’re on Broadwell, right… the spec for that, but I’d think that with the fewer PCIe lanes taken up by potential cards that there would be some unused ready for future expansion.
For example, Apple’s implementation of Tylersburg allowed for 6 SATA and 12 RAM slots, but they only took advantage of 4 and 8, respectively. I realize that’s not PCIe, but I don’t remember those stats offhand…
I can understand the need for all this, but I don't believe for a second that they'll add a HDD port. They made a statement with this design, and that is that HDD's are dead. Or at the least going external. Don't be surprised to see them remove the HDD from their last computers this year. (iPod Classic is a different story)
As for a front facing USB port; turn the machine around, that's what [@]digitalclips[/@] does.
And the soldered GPU is here to stay. The nMP is a blueprint to the rest of their PC lineup.
I think he's right though. [@]Marvin[/@] posted a breakdown on the PCI lanes...I'll never find it though.
And the soldered GPU is here to stay. The nMP is a blueprint to the rest of their PC lineup.
I think he's right though. @Marvin posted a breakdown on the PCI lanes...I'll never find it though.
They have 40 lanes per cpu package. They should be compatible with PCI 3 devices, but anyway they have to allocate 2 gpus, three thunderbolt 2 chips, ethernet, usb 3, and the ssd. I don't think they're running it as PCI 3.0, as it's not fully certified on that chipset. Note that the chipset is the same one that was used for Sandy Bridge EP in 2012. The next generation will have a new chipset, which should be fully validated for PCI 3.0, so it could happen. They're still keeping it to 40 lanes either way, but right now it appears to be oversubscribed when totaling up the discrete components that are attached to the bus.
You can now only use it at a refresh rate if 30Hz which is a shame
for Apple as they sell those monitors!!!
Nice, but still no driver solution for the 4K SHARP Monitor.
You can now only use it at a refresh rate if 30Hz which is a shame
for Apple as they sell those monitors!!!
It depends what port you plug it in to I think. The HDMI port can only do 30Hz but the Thunderbolt port can do 60Hz (run a cable from Thunderbolt port on Mac to Mini Displayport on monitor).
th the final systemupdate 10.9.3, or not.
No it does not work with the displayport. (in Europe the Sharp is not equiped with a HDMI port) Apple confirmed that to me weeks ago and said they are working on a solution... It may be solved wi
th the final systemupdate 10.9.3, or not.
Ah, ok. Well I hope 10.9.3 fixes it for you then.
Thanks for that.
There are some good posts on the 40 lanes in this thread, including from you:
http://forums.appleinsider.com/t/161376/teardown-of-apples-new-mac-pro-reveals-socketed-removable-intel-cpu/160