BTW, this segment by John Siracusa on the Mac Pro/iMac Pro is pretty good... http://atp.fm/episodes/244 (35:13 min in) "... things who's function is heat-exchange don't look like lozenges, bars of soap ..." ... "... it's like the same people are there, but their philosophy has changed..."
Apple needs to get back to thinking about things like:
- what problems or goals does our product line need to solve or achieve for our customers? - how can we best design each product to do that? - how does each product fit into the big picture? - are there holes in the product line? - what are the LONG TERM benefits or detriments of making xyz decision?
Instead of: - what's our biggest seller? pour all recourse there! - which item can we make the most profit margin on?
- what design is going to be the most fashionable? - how far can we take the products in the direction of our wishes w/o a customer revolt? - how many dongles will they put up with? - what emojis will really drive the kiddos wild? - if we design the UI like this, do you think we can trick our users into updating? - which user segment don't we need anymore so we can make our products more 'sick'? - do people really need to type on their laptops? - don't you think reliability is way overrated?
cali said: and is it me or has HomePod hype died down?
I'm looking forward to it, but it all depends on whether it will be able to work with the Apple TV as both a speaker system for my TV and as a way of use Siri voice commands to control content without having to press and hold the Siri button on the Apple TV remote.
Another product that I don't really get, but once again I seem in the minority of our 'modern' society? I don't want a device in the middle of my home listening, nor do I need to voice-control my toilet paper delivery. And, does anyone care about sound quality anymore?
My wife actually said the other day that she finds stereo sound annoying! That hurt my soul, LOL. I'm not sure she's even ever heard a real relatively decent stereo system in her life. The 25+ yr-old HK receiver I had died before we got married, and nothing we've purchased since (even relatively expensive Kenwood and Yamaha AVR systems haven't come close... I think I'm done with attempting surround sound, too.) and while I've heard good Infinity < 5" speakers in the past, we've had nothing to match them let alone a nice big pair of 15" - 18" woofer, 3-way towers. There's something special about actual bass you can feel vs overblown 'thumping'. We don't even have a respectable pair of speakers anymore (besides the studio monitors I'm selling because they are paired with a too-noisy amp for my office environment). What is the world coming to???
There, I think that was my curmudgeon, get off my grass, rant of the day!
As a musician, and as a person that has always cared about sound quality (but isn't a crazy audiophile), I find the current attitudes around the consumption of music to be depressing. I don't understand how so many people can be so disinterested and unmoved by aural pleasures. Maybe it's because they are too busy being harangued by their rat race lifestyle and cramped, noisy, urban environments...
Soli said: 1) It has everything to do with why the Mac mini hasn't been updated.
2) It's odd (but not surprising) that you believe the iPhone is the only product Apple updates.
3) Apple dictates their own product line. People aren't buying low-yeild, low profit products so they have less incentive to update. Now you can argue that if they did update more they would get more revenue, and potentially more profit, but it's about finite resources going to things that are less relevant to the company's bottom line (i.e.: wasteful).
4) You can bitch and moan all you want but you just sound like a colossal douche when you tell a company what it should do because you want something.
5) Apple has never done anything "perfect" for me because I don't live in a fantasy world. There are changes and directions I'd take that Apple either doesn't make because my "perfect" product is too esoteric, or because my timeline is further ahead. The difference is you don't see me crying about it because I don't it personally when a company acts in their own best interest and my support for Apple begins and ends when I choose a product that best suits my needs. If another company comes along with something better than I take it. I own them nothing and they own me nothing. One day, hopefully, you will understand that very simple concept about the free market instead of the nightmare that they design around your singular needs.
How much resources does it take to put a modern chipset in that case and price it properly? For crying out loud, they started a whole silly AI-car project with *HUNDREDS* of people working for it! Don't tell me they couldn't spare the resources to update the Mini or Mac Pro or a number of other products. That's just a lame attempt at justifying their shortsightedness.
The iPhone isn't the only product that they update, but sometimes it seems like it's the only product that really matters to them... because, well, pie-chart. And, in 5 or 10 years when no one cares about the iPhone or it isn't the flavor of the month anymore, then what? Oh, yea, the silly AI-car project, I guess. Or, maybe the Watch or HomePod will hav become a hit by then? Meanwhile, the industry influences and content producers will have moved on, and then what?
Yes, Apple dictates their own product line. That doesn't mean I can't point out stupid. And, it doesn't mean a 30+ year Apple evangelist shouldn't try to call them out in hopes of some course-correction just as fervently as I've recommended their products over that time. Do they owe me something? Legally, no. But, I've effectively sold many $millions of their product and brand over the years, even in their darkest moments... for free. They do owe me something in terms of relationship, yes, just not on paper. I've at least earned the right to bitch and complain!
And, it's not just because I want something. It's because I actually care how things turn out for them. They have had a huge impact on the world, and have made technology a better place to be. I don't want to see that all thrown away and head back into another tech 'dark ages'. I've been through previous ones, and it wan't fun. If Apple just becomes another Windows, we all lose.
re: #5 - Please explain how an up-to-date Mac Mini or Mac Pro is a 'fantasy world'. It has nothing to do with esoteric or further ahead. It has to do with serving your core (and loyal) customers. And, it isn't in their best interest! If I really thought it was, I'd just move on to Windows and say bye-bye to Apple. (BTW, we're economically far from a free market.)
I second every point made above. Thanks for saying it so I don't have to. But then, I think both of us already have said it, several times, and we are still called trolls by this guy because we don't embrace Apple's current myopic MBA model of thinking. Sigh.
An Entry level inexpensive Mac, and one that doesn't suck.
Intel CPU performance / price hasn't really improved much in the past 5 years, especially in the lower end segment. We have DRAM and SSD ( *All Mac in 2018 should have default to SSD, it doesn't matter how you spin it, it is a SIN to offer computing devices with HDD as its main drive ) at historical high price. And both component are very unlikely to drop in price in the near future. Current prediction is that 2018 will be 30 - 40% more expensive for DRAM and NAND.
I expect it to be an AMD APU, Zen + Vega graphics, that is double the Core count and much better graphics. 4GB Memory and 256GB SSD.
Hopefully we could still get this at $399.
And more importantly it would mean 2018, the whole line of Mac will have Vega Graphics, which i think is important step forward.
Thunderbolt will be an open standard in 2018, i am hoping there will be some substantial cost saving in TB controller chip which is now at a ridiculously price $20 per unit. If Apple think this is important they should have their own TB Chip design and Fabbed.
I am hoping to see may be W3 chip inside Mac, which replaces all the Bluetooth 5 Chip and hopefully offer 802.11ac. The W2 already does 802.11n, so i dont think 802.11ac is too far off. I wish there is 802.11ax and we could skip ac, not sure if Apple is that adventurous in Wireless making.
P.S - This is entirely possible with Apple making the above Mac Mini with BOM cost of around $249.
This is a good example of an area where Apple does not get it. You have to update these things regularly to stay relevant (I mean the mini not Apple so chill out). They have done this on other products as well. Just my personal take it is BS and they need to do a better job.
Worse is that they use poor sales after these fiascos to justify dropping a product. The Mini especially has not had a decent upgrade in over decade
- how far can we take the products in the direction of our wishes w/o a customer revolt?
I have little opinion on this. Apple has historically been correct on what they see as the future of the industry.
- how many dongles will they put up with?
I guarantee this isn't a design consideration.
- what emojis will really drive the kiddos wild?
This serves Apple's user-base, but not "us." "We" are the vast minority of Apple's user base.
- if we design the UI like this, do you think we can trick our users into updating?
I guarantee this isn't a design consideration.
- which user segment don't we need anymore so we can make our products more 'sick'?
If a user segment demands 10% of the effort, and returns 1% of the profit, it seems to me that "sick" is a better choice for the company.
- do people really need to type on their laptops?
This is a matter of opinion. I do at least half my AppleInsider work on the 2016 MBP's keyboard.
- don't you think reliability is way overrated?
Based on service statistics, Apple's reliability is twice as good as it was in 2000, and better than it was in 2010. The difference between both of those time periods and now is a larger visible number of failures because of an expanded user base rather than a higher percentage of failures.
MacPro said: Exactly, I feel port challenged for sure That said I parallel two TB2 Thunderbolt ports to a RAID 0 and get around 100 Gbps read using RAID 0 with 720 rpm HHD Barracudas and about 850 Gbps write . However, I will sell mine get the next Mac Pro as soon as they are released. You are right to wait for USB3/ TB3. That aside I love mine to bits. I had 4 cheese graters (and every Mac Pro / tower ever made) and loved them too but the new concept of all external storage was a tremendous weight off my back! lol. I'm updating Boot Camp to Windows Creator Fall edition as I type I have to add, the Apple late 2013 Mac Pro with its dual GPUs and Catalyst runs Windows 10 better than most PCs out there, I cannot quantify that but I bet it is in the top 5% of PCs on the planet.
Yea, storage is fine, it's the GPU I'm worried about. I guess given Mike's tests, even with TB2 I could add an eGPU, but I'd rather have TB3 on either a Mini or Pro if I get next. I had planned to move to a MBP, but given the new ones are %$#(, I'm probably going back to a desktop/lower-end laptop combo.
I debated that in my head and decided an external GPU and using up more TB2 ports with a 20% loss just isn't worth the gain. I also suspect my RAID throughput could suffer. Plus I doubt there will be any possibility of two GPUs for Windows Catalyst use any time soon in any of these external boxes. If we only have to wait a year for the new, new Mac Pro it could be the better cost/ performance path to take. Apple could revert to a single GPU, I hope not as it how Apple runs FCPro's filters and rendering I believe. Judging by the iMac Pro costs I suspect we better start saving up now! It is going to be something to behold I bet as will be the cost.
I'd love my mac Mini a lot more if it was easier to swap out the internal HD and RAM ... jeez what a PITA on my late 2012 i5, 4GB RAM model. I use it as a headless a server for Plex and Home sharing. It is soooo (f****g) slow I have to upgrade something. I don't mean its serving operations, it works fine, I mean doing anything on it directly. I can go for coffee while waiting for it to open System Preference for example. What have folks found to be the best bang for the buck, SSD or RAM or both?
Buy an external Thunderbolt SSD Install macOS on it and make it your boot drive. Make your internal drive your storage drive for Plex files.
Cost of external TB docks is ludicrous though, I have several already and don't want to buy more now TB3 is here. Simplest solution is underway, rip out the internal and add an SSD. RAM is cheap enough for the mac Mini so I'll add some more of that too. Having seen the difference booted form a USB3 mounted boot I am convinced its worth keeping. I'd half thought it was the i5, obviously not. I already have a 2TB external USB 3 for Plex media, I think the very slow internal HDD is going in the trash:)
Lose the pointless metal plate that made upgrades harder for no user benefit next time, please
They seem to have made this not to be upgraded by the average Joe IMHO. I am sure it could have been designed to be as simple as a new Mac Pro with a slide off case. Oh well, I bought OWC wee kit with all the tools and it's pretty easy if you don't drop the screws! lol
Based on service statistics, Apple's reliability is twice as good as it was in 2000, and better than it was in 2010. The difference between both of those time periods and now is a larger visible number of failures because of an expanded user base rather than a higher percentage of failures.
Interesting to hear, links? It can be easy to forget that most things do get better over time, and perhaps increasing reliability was one part of what drove all sealed in designs as well (not forgivable on a mini desktop though).
2010 is one thing though - that's when the world switched to lead free solder before it was ready, and we had 2009-2011 soldergate Macbook Pros as well as other devices (360 was partly caused by this, though a few years earlier).
I'd be interested to see 2015 Macbook Pro vs 2016 Macbook Pro reliability, that tried and tested 2015 design vs the new butterfly/thinness design.
MacPro said: Exactly, I feel port challenged for sure That said I parallel two TB2 Thunderbolt ports to a RAID 0 and get around 100 Gbps read using RAID 0 with 720 rpm HHD Barracudas and about 850 Gbps write . However, I will sell mine get the next Mac Pro as soon as they are released. You are right to wait for USB3/ TB3. That aside I love mine to bits. I had 4 cheese graters (and every Mac Pro / tower ever made) and loved them too but the new concept of all external storage was a tremendous weight off my back! lol. I'm updating Boot Camp to Windows Creator Fall edition as I type I have to add, the Apple late 2013 Mac Pro with its dual GPUs and Catalyst runs Windows 10 better than most PCs out there, I cannot quantify that but I bet it is in the top 5% of PCs on the planet.
Yea, storage is fine, it's the GPU I'm worried about. I guess given Mike's tests, even with TB2 I could add an eGPU, but I'd rather have TB3 on either a Mini or Pro if I get next. I had planned to move to a MBP, but given the new ones are %$#(, I'm probably going back to a desktop/lower-end laptop combo.
I debated that in my head and decided an external GPU and using up more TB2 ports with a 20% loss just isn't worth the gain. I also suspect my RAID throughput could suffer. Plus I doubt there will be any possibility of two GPUs for Windows Catalyst use any time soon in any of these external boxes. If we only have to wait a year for the new, new Mac Pro it could be the better cost/ performance path to take. Apple could revert to a single GPU, I hope not as it how Apple runs FCPro's filters and rendering I believe. Judging by the iMac Pro costs I suspect we better start saving up now! It is going to be something to behold I bet as will be the cost.
The only way the math really works on an eGPU right now financially is if you were going to buy a dock for USB and Ethernet anyway. And, for TB2 owners, I'm recommending a TB3 enclosure with Apple's TB2 to TB3 adapter for future-proofing, so that's an additional $50.
This may change with Intel's loosening of TB3 licensing in 2018 -- but I don't have a feel for how much. On the other hand, I think that a new Mac Pro price is going to be... a bit more than most of us may want to spend.
I forget what machine you're on, MacPro, but you shouldn't see a slowdown from your RAID- assuming you took the eGPU route.
Based on service statistics, Apple's reliability is twice as good as it was in 2000, and better than it was in 2010. The difference between both of those time periods and now is a larger visible number of failures because of an expanded user base rather than a higher percentage of failures.
Interesting to hear, links? It can be easy to forget that most things do get better over time, and perhaps increasing reliability was one part of what drove all sealed in designs as well (not forgivable on a mini desktop though).
2010 is one thing though - that's when the world switched to lead free solder before it was ready, and we had 2009-2011 soldergate Macbook Pros as well as other devices (360 was partly caused by this, though a few years earlier).
I'd be interested to see 2015 Macbook Pro vs 2016 Macbook Pro reliability, that tried and tested 2015 design vs the new butterfly/thinness design.
We're still working on it. We've been collating data from the Genius Bars that I have access to since the iPhone 6 "touch disease" saga. I don't have enough info on the 2015-2017 MBP to say anything definitively right now. Seems about the same, but my sample size is pretty low.
A $250 aTV/Mac Mini Home Server would be very nice to have to hold media, photos, backups and stuff. MacOS isn't required. Just USB-C ports and a version of tvOS that can act as a home server.
MacPro said: Exactly, I feel port challenged for sure That said I parallel two TB2 Thunderbolt ports to a RAID 0 and get around 100 Gbps read using RAID 0 with 720 rpm HHD Barracudas and about 850 Gbps write . However, I will sell mine get the next Mac Pro as soon as they are released. You are right to wait for USB3/ TB3. That aside I love mine to bits. I had 4 cheese graters (and every Mac Pro / tower ever made) and loved them too but the new concept of all external storage was a tremendous weight off my back! lol. I'm updating Boot Camp to Windows Creator Fall edition as I type I have to add, the Apple late 2013 Mac Pro with its dual GPUs and Catalyst runs Windows 10 better than most PCs out there, I cannot quantify that but I bet it is in the top 5% of PCs on the planet.
Yea, storage is fine, it's the GPU I'm worried about. I guess given Mike's tests, even with TB2 I could add an eGPU, but I'd rather have TB3 on either a Mini or Pro if I get next. I had planned to move to a MBP, but given the new ones are %$#(, I'm probably going back to a desktop/lower-end laptop combo.
I debated that in my head and decided an external GPU and using up more TB2 ports with a 20% loss just isn't worth the gain. I also suspect my RAID throughput could suffer. Plus I doubt there will be any possibility of two GPUs for Windows Catalyst use any time soon in any of these external boxes. If we only have to wait a year for the new, new Mac Pro it could be the better cost/ performance path to take. Apple could revert to a single GPU, I hope not as it how Apple runs FCPro's filters and rendering I believe. Judging by the iMac Pro costs I suspect we better start saving up now! It is going to be something to behold I bet as will be the cost.
The only way the math really works on an eGPU right now financially is if you were going to buy a dock for USB and Ethernet anyway. And, for TB2 owners, I'm recommending a TB3 enclosure with Apple's TB2 to TB3 adapter for future-proofing, so that's an additional $50.
This may change with Intel's loosening of TB3 licensing in 2018 -- but I don't have a feel for how much. On the other hand, I think that a new Mac Pro price is going to be... a bit more than most of us may want to spend.
I forget what machine you're on, MacPro, but you shouldn't see a slowdown from your RAID- assuming you took the eGPU route.
Hi Mike, mine is the middle of the road 6 Core released Christmas 2013. 16 GB RAM and 256 GB SSD, I going to remove the 4 x 4 GB and pop in 2 x 32 GB OWC SDRAMS when they arrive. I can't justify the price of larger SSDs for this Mac but have no problem with the small one as I have most everything on externals, I even have Boot Camp on there with 60 GB space left over. I use it for Windows a lot and the two GPUs work great with AMD Catalyst so I wonder if a single external GPU is going to out perform the dual, albeit lesser GPUs? My guess for a mid rage next gen Mac Pro is going to be $3.5K what's your best guess?
Lose the pointless metal plate that made upgrades harder for no user benefit next time, please
Didn't that happen when the RAM became soldered? And with the HDD at the top, which makes replacing it far from a job the average person can do, what is the point of the bottom plate have a few extra screws to remove? And that's all before we get to the expensive case that is milling from a single block of aluminium. For Apple that might be a low-yeild test to refine their milling skills but for me it's just a pain in the ass, which is why I have yet to take an afternoon to upgrade my HDD to an SSD.
Lose the pointless metal plate that made upgrades harder for no user benefit next time, please
Didn't that happen when the RAM became soldered? And with the HDD at the top, which makes replacing it far from a job the average person can do, what is the point of the bottom plate have a few extra screws to remove? And that's all before we get to the expensive case that is milling from a single block of aluminium. For Apple that might be a low-yeild test to refine their milling skills but for me it's just a pain in the ass, which is why I have yet to take an afternoon to upgrade my HDD to an SSD.
MacPro said: Exactly, I feel port challenged for sure That said I parallel two TB2 Thunderbolt ports to a RAID 0 and get around 100 Gbps read using RAID 0 with 720 rpm HHD Barracudas and about 850 Gbps write . However, I will sell mine get the next Mac Pro as soon as they are released. You are right to wait for USB3/ TB3. That aside I love mine to bits. I had 4 cheese graters (and every Mac Pro / tower ever made) and loved them too but the new concept of all external storage was a tremendous weight off my back! lol. I'm updating Boot Camp to Windows Creator Fall edition as I type I have to add, the Apple late 2013 Mac Pro with its dual GPUs and Catalyst runs Windows 10 better than most PCs out there, I cannot quantify that but I bet it is in the top 5% of PCs on the planet.
Yea, storage is fine, it's the GPU I'm worried about. I guess given Mike's tests, even with TB2 I could add an eGPU, but I'd rather have TB3 on either a Mini or Pro if I get next. I had planned to move to a MBP, but given the new ones are %$#(, I'm probably going back to a desktop/lower-end laptop combo.
I debated that in my head and decided an external GPU and using up more TB2 ports with a 20% loss just isn't worth the gain. I also suspect my RAID throughput could suffer. Plus I doubt there will be any possibility of two GPUs for Windows Catalyst use any time soon in any of these external boxes. If we only have to wait a year for the new, new Mac Pro it could be the better cost/ performance path to take. Apple could revert to a single GPU, I hope not as it how Apple runs FCPro's filters and rendering I believe. Judging by the iMac Pro costs I suspect we better start saving up now! It is going to be something to behold I bet as will be the cost.
The only way the math really works on an eGPU right now financially is if you were going to buy a dock for USB and Ethernet anyway. And, for TB2 owners, I'm recommending a TB3 enclosure with Apple's TB2 to TB3 adapter for future-proofing, so that's an additional $50.
This may change with Intel's loosening of TB3 licensing in 2018 -- but I don't have a feel for how much. On the other hand, I think that a new Mac Pro price is going to be... a bit more than most of us may want to spend.
I forget what machine you're on, MacPro, but you shouldn't see a slowdown from your RAID- assuming you took the eGPU route.
Hi Mike, mine is the middle of the road 6 Core released Christmas 2013. 16 GB RAM and 256 GB SSD, I going to remove the 4 x 4 GB and pop in 2 x 32 GB OWC SDRAMS when they arrive. I can't justify the price of larger SSDs for this Mac but have no problem with the small one as I have most everything on externals, I even have Boot Camp on there with 60 GB space left over. I use it for Windows a lot and the two GPUs work great with AMD Catalyst so I wonder if a single external GPU is going to out perform the dual, albeit lesser GPUs? My guess for a mid rage next gen Mac Pro is going to be $3.5K what's your best guess?
I'm hoping for a 1,1 Mac Pro surprise at $2500, but I'm expecting $4000.
But, I'm not sure you need to get one.
As far as your 2013 goes, I'd consider re-coring it at some point with the E5-2690 v2 processor, or possibly the E5-2667 v2 -- the street price is about $340 on either. There are a few YouTube videos should you choose to go that route.
As far as drives go, TB3 RAID arrays are cheaper than TB2 -- and backwards compatible.
I imagine they've been waiting for a decent upgrade time to the case. I imagine they will have TB 3 on the next one, not sure if they'll go the iMac route or the macbook route though(all TB or 1/2 and 1/2.
Comments
http://atp.fm/episodes/244 (35:13 min in) "... things who's function is heat-exchange don't look like lozenges, bars of soap ..." ... "... it's like the same people are there, but their philosophy has changed..."
Apple needs to get back to thinking about things like:
- how can we best design each product to do that?
- how does each product fit into the big picture?
- are there holes in the product line?
- what are the LONG TERM benefits or detriments of making xyz decision?
Instead of:
- what's our biggest seller? pour all recourse there!
- which item can we make the most profit margin on?
- how far can we take the products in the direction of our wishes w/o a customer revolt?
- how many dongles will they put up with?
- what emojis will really drive the kiddos wild?
- if we design the UI like this, do you think we can trick our users into updating?
- which user segment don't we need anymore so we can make our products more 'sick'?
- do people really need to type on their laptops?
- don't you think reliability is way overrated?
Instead of:
- what's our biggest seller? pour all recourse there!
This serves the shareholders, and the company in equal measure.
- which item can we make the most profit margin on?
That's the Mac by about two percentage points, not the iPhone.
See #1.
- how far can we take the products in the direction of our wishes w/o a customer revolt?
I have little opinion on this. Apple has historically been correct on what they see as the future of the industry.
- how many dongles will they put up with?
I guarantee this isn't a design consideration.
- what emojis will really drive the kiddos wild?
This serves Apple's user-base, but not "us." "We" are the vast minority of Apple's user base.
- if we design the UI like this, do you think we can trick our users into updating?
I guarantee this isn't a design consideration.
- which user segment don't we need anymore so we can make our products more 'sick'?
If a user segment demands 10% of the effort, and returns 1% of the profit, it seems to me that "sick" is a better choice for the company.
- do people really need to type on their laptops?
This is a matter of opinion. I do at least half my AppleInsider work on the 2016 MBP's keyboard.
- don't you think reliability is way overrated?
Based on service statistics, Apple's reliability is twice as good as it was in 2000, and better than it was in 2010. The difference between both of those time periods and now is a larger visible number of failures because of an expanded user base rather than a higher percentage of failures.
I debated that in my head and decided an external GPU and using up more TB2 ports with a 20% loss just isn't worth the gain. I also suspect my RAID throughput could suffer. Plus I doubt there will be any possibility of two GPUs for Windows Catalyst use any time soon in any of these external boxes. If we only have to wait a year for the new, new Mac Pro it could be the better cost/ performance path to take. Apple could revert to a single GPU, I hope not as it how Apple runs FCPro's filters and rendering I believe. Judging by the iMac Pro costs I suspect we better start saving up now! It is going to be something to behold I bet as will be the cost.
Lose the pointless metal plate that made upgrades harder for no user benefit next time, please
Cost of external TB docks is ludicrous though, I have several already and don't want to buy more now TB3 is here. Simplest solution is underway, rip out the internal and add an SSD. RAM is cheap enough for the mac Mini so I'll add some more of that too. Having seen the difference booted form a USB3 mounted boot I am convinced its worth keeping. I'd half thought it was the i5, obviously not. I already have a 2TB external USB 3 for Plex media, I think the very slow internal HDD is going in the trash:)
They seem to have made this not to be upgraded by the average Joe IMHO. I am sure it could have been designed to be as simple as a new Mac Pro with a slide off case. Oh well, I bought OWC wee kit with all the tools and it's pretty easy if you don't drop the screws! lol
This may change with Intel's loosening of TB3 licensing in 2018 -- but I don't have a feel for how much. On the other hand, I think that a new Mac Pro price is going to be... a bit more than most of us may want to spend.
We're still working on it. We've been collating data from the Genius Bars that I have access to since the iPhone 6 "touch disease" saga. I don't have enough info on the 2015-2017 MBP to say anything definitively right now. Seems about the same, but my sample size is pretty low.
For $500? No.
Will Apple make a $250 Mac Mini? Not a chance.
A $250 aTV/Mac Mini Home Server would be very nice to have to hold media, photos, backups and stuff. MacOS isn't required. Just USB-C ports and a version of tvOS that can act as a home server.
Hi Mike, mine is the middle of the road 6 Core released Christmas 2013. 16 GB RAM and 256 GB SSD, I going to remove the 4 x 4 GB and pop in 2 x 32 GB OWC SDRAMS when they arrive. I can't justify the price of larger SSDs for this Mac but have no problem with the small one as I have most everything on externals, I even have Boot Camp on there with 60 GB space left over. I use it for Windows a lot and the two GPUs work great with AMD Catalyst so I wonder if a single external GPU is going to out perform the dual, albeit lesser GPUs? My guess for a mid rage next gen Mac Pro is going to be $3.5K what's your best guess?
As far as drives go, TB3 RAID arrays are cheaper than TB2 -- and backwards compatible.