Mac Pro petition gains traction as pro users seek information
With Apple's Mac Pro line growing long in the tooth after not having received an update for almost two years, a Facebook petition calling for information from the Mac maker on the fate of its professional-level desktops is steadily gaining traction.
The "We Want a New Macpro" group page on the social networking site had garnered over 4,000 likes as of late Thursday and a number of comments from group members calling for either a Mac Pro update or concrete information from Apple about its plans for the high-end machine.
According to the page, the petition was started by Lou Borella, a self-described "professional editor and graphic animator" in the New York City area, earlier in May.
On May 9, Borella posted an open letter to Apple asking for "a little clarity" about the Mac Pro.
"Its been neglected for far too long. We realize all the success of the iPad and iPhone and we're really happy with our new toys," he wrote. "But unfortunately many of us need to make decisions on hardware for professional uses that allow us to make a living."
The letter went on to say that professional software applications, such as Adobe Creative Suite 6, AVID, Protools and Smoke, require "the most powerful hardware available." In addition, creative professionals need configurable systems for their business.
"The iMac is not the answer for these situations," he said.
Borella is seeking for a "timeframe" for a new Mac Pro update or official confirmation as to whether the line is "dead."
"It's not too much to ask. We cannot wait any longer and it's really not fair to string us along like this," Borella concluded, also signing the letter on behalf of the "Creative Community."
According to an informal poll posted to the page last week, 267 people are willing to wait until "shortly after" the Worldwide Developers Conference in mid-June, while 47 people said they would wait until the end of this year. 143 respondents said they would wait until the Mac Pro was "officially discontinued" before taking the next step.
A second poll found that 197 people are willing to wait because their "current computer still works fine." 131 others said they would build a "Hackintosh," a custom-built computer running an unauthorized copy of OS X. Finally, 47 people said they would switch back to Microsoft Windows.
Apple did not immediately respond to a request for comment on both the petition and its plans for the Mac Pro.
AppleInsider reported last year that, according to people familiar with the matter, Apple's management had been undecided about the long-term future of the Mac Pro. Sales executives reportedly believed that the machine's days are numbered because sales of the workstations have dwindled in recent years.
Apple's neglect of the Mac Pro was especially felt last year as all of the other Mac models received upgrades adding Thunderbolt and Sandy Bridge processors. Some have even suggested that Thunderbolt is Apple's alternative to high-end workstations.
Customers have reported repeated delays of build-to-order models of the Mac Pro recently. Late last month, an AppleInsider reader reporter that his order from March had yet to ship and was still in processing.
The Mac Pro's important to Apple's bottom line has diminished as the company's profits have increasingly skewed toward mobile devices and the iPhone has come to account for the bulk of its revenue. Apple sold 1.2 million desktops in the second quarter of fiscal 2012, compared to 2.82 million notebooks during the period. Mac revenue for the quarter amounted to $5.1 billion, much less than the $22.7 billion in revenue from the iPhone and related products.
Though Apple has in the past been known as a niche hardware and software maker catering to creative professionals, the company has shown a willingness to adapt to better serve its mainstream customers. For instance, it announced plans to discontinue its Xserve server in 2010. Though the company redirected customers to its Mac Pro as a Mac-based server alternative, it has curiously not updated the Mac Pro since July 2010.
The Cupertino, Calif., company upset a number of professional video editors last year with the release of Final Cut Pro X. Power users complained that the new release more closely resembled iMovie, Apple's entry-level video editing software, than previous versions of Final Cut Pro. AppleInsider exclusively reported in May 2010 that Apple was planning to make Final Cut more of a "prosumer" product, but the company promised at the time that its pro customers would "love" it.
The "We Want a New Macpro" group page on the social networking site had garnered over 4,000 likes as of late Thursday and a number of comments from group members calling for either a Mac Pro update or concrete information from Apple about its plans for the high-end machine.
According to the page, the petition was started by Lou Borella, a self-described "professional editor and graphic animator" in the New York City area, earlier in May.
On May 9, Borella posted an open letter to Apple asking for "a little clarity" about the Mac Pro.
"Its been neglected for far too long. We realize all the success of the iPad and iPhone and we're really happy with our new toys," he wrote. "But unfortunately many of us need to make decisions on hardware for professional uses that allow us to make a living."
The letter went on to say that professional software applications, such as Adobe Creative Suite 6, AVID, Protools and Smoke, require "the most powerful hardware available." In addition, creative professionals need configurable systems for their business.
"The iMac is not the answer for these situations," he said.
Borella is seeking for a "timeframe" for a new Mac Pro update or official confirmation as to whether the line is "dead."
"It's not too much to ask. We cannot wait any longer and it's really not fair to string us along like this," Borella concluded, also signing the letter on behalf of the "Creative Community."
According to an informal poll posted to the page last week, 267 people are willing to wait until "shortly after" the Worldwide Developers Conference in mid-June, while 47 people said they would wait until the end of this year. 143 respondents said they would wait until the Mac Pro was "officially discontinued" before taking the next step.
A second poll found that 197 people are willing to wait because their "current computer still works fine." 131 others said they would build a "Hackintosh," a custom-built computer running an unauthorized copy of OS X. Finally, 47 people said they would switch back to Microsoft Windows.
Apple did not immediately respond to a request for comment on both the petition and its plans for the Mac Pro.
AppleInsider reported last year that, according to people familiar with the matter, Apple's management had been undecided about the long-term future of the Mac Pro. Sales executives reportedly believed that the machine's days are numbered because sales of the workstations have dwindled in recent years.
Apple's neglect of the Mac Pro was especially felt last year as all of the other Mac models received upgrades adding Thunderbolt and Sandy Bridge processors. Some have even suggested that Thunderbolt is Apple's alternative to high-end workstations.
Customers have reported repeated delays of build-to-order models of the Mac Pro recently. Late last month, an AppleInsider reader reporter that his order from March had yet to ship and was still in processing.
The Mac Pro's important to Apple's bottom line has diminished as the company's profits have increasingly skewed toward mobile devices and the iPhone has come to account for the bulk of its revenue. Apple sold 1.2 million desktops in the second quarter of fiscal 2012, compared to 2.82 million notebooks during the period. Mac revenue for the quarter amounted to $5.1 billion, much less than the $22.7 billion in revenue from the iPhone and related products.
Though Apple has in the past been known as a niche hardware and software maker catering to creative professionals, the company has shown a willingness to adapt to better serve its mainstream customers. For instance, it announced plans to discontinue its Xserve server in 2010. Though the company redirected customers to its Mac Pro as a Mac-based server alternative, it has curiously not updated the Mac Pro since July 2010.
The Cupertino, Calif., company upset a number of professional video editors last year with the release of Final Cut Pro X. Power users complained that the new release more closely resembled iMovie, Apple's entry-level video editing software, than previous versions of Final Cut Pro. AppleInsider exclusively reported in May 2010 that Apple was planning to make Final Cut more of a "prosumer" product, but the company promised at the time that its pro customers would "love" it.
Comments
1. Facebook.
2. Absolutely. No. Weight. in the real world.
3. I don't want it discontinued, either. But Apple will talk to its users thereof directly, not some… petition. Remember pre-FCPX? They gave software to people early to test it and to make it better. And they listened to the people after launch and made changes.
I still trust Apple to count on its pro users. Is six years ago too far back to cite? The first 15" MacBook Pro. Lack of FireWire 800. Threw a fit, brought it back. Apple will either ignore pros completely and discontinue it or build a breakthrough new machine designed to take the best advantage of Thunderbolt possible.
CS6 runs fine on Snow Leopard. If I could build my own dual xeon Hacintosh I would be fine. Trouble is that it is not that easy. The MBs that are somewhat compatible are just not up to spec, especially the audio, and of course no TB which is going to be pretty important for video applications. So unless there are some breakthroughs on the Hackintosh front we are apparently stuck with iMac as an upgrade path. I have nothing against iMacs. I have a couple at home but I really need slots for my Intensity pro card and more memory, fast internal HDs, etc. for professional work at the office.
They are not going to change tactics because of some petition etc.
If these folks don't wait to wait then they are welcome to go buy a windows system etc. it isn't going to bother Apple if they lose those sales.
Yeah we all know how the creative pros stood by Apple blah blah. But that time is done. It died way before Steve did. The writing has been on the walls for years. Either you embrace the change or you move on.
Post hoc, ergo propter hoc. There is no evidence that shows that Apple had no intention of including FW800 from the PB to the MBP transition when it was feasible for them to do so.
That transition also dropped the 8x SuperDrive with DVD+R DL in favour of a 4x SuperDrive with no DVD±DL. I don't recall any assumption that Apple was going to always use the lower performance and worse feature SuperDrive. It was unwelcome for those that needed the PB's SuperDrive but those that wanted a better one in a MBP knew it would arrive when it was feasible.
And they were doing so well up until the "Macpro" part. They did get the first four words correct, though.
Great Job!
Quote:
Originally Posted by SolipsismX
There is no evidence that shows that Apple had no intention of including FW800 from the PB to the MBP transition when it was feasible for them to do so.
That transition also dropped the 8x SuperDrive with DVD+R DL in favour of a 4x SuperDrive with no DVD±DL.
Therefore the question becomes why this port and part were removed when Apple knew they worked previously.
Slots are sooooo 1987. mstone, you most likely will not need slots at all. Many manufacturers are developing external boxes in which to install your existing cards, which attaches via Thunderbolt. For those who do not offer a card recycling solution, or in lieu of upgrades, they will be building Thunderbolt interfaces for boxes which implement the same functionality as cards. Yes it means the purchase of additional hardware, but what else is new?
Well i can tell you what we do. We have i7 iMacs in places where we had Mac Pros and we use Xgrid to distribute tasks over a fast network. Works very well and is cheaper. Of course an all-in-one design has its disadvantages, but it's not like we live in a perfect world.
Quote:
Originally Posted by ksec
Are those Apps not running well on the latest and fastest iMac? The Top End Consumer Grade iMac has gotten so fast it doesn't make a difference.
The Pros need slots and more processing power.
Quote:
Originally Posted by SolipsismX
Post hoc, ergo propter hoc. There is no evidence that shows that Apple had no intention of including FW800 from the PB to the MBP transition when it was feasible for them to do so.
That transition also dropped the 8x SuperDrive with DVD+R DL in favour of a 4x SuperDrive with no DVD±DL. I don't recall any assumption that Apple was going to always use the lower performance and worse feature SuperDrive. It was unwelcome for those that needed the PB's SuperDrive but those that wanted a better one in a MBP knew it would arrive when it was feasible.
Really? Even my plastic Macbook from 2006 had DVDDL superdrive.
If the Mac Pro is a money-losing product for Apple, then it's as good as gone. What's the point of Apple holding onto a financial boat anchor? For Apple, it's all about profits and I guess that's the proper way to run the company. I could see if consumers or enterprise users were knocking the door down for Mac Pros, but they probably aren't. A handful of consumers petitioning isn't going to change anything. It looks like the whole world of computing is changing and the Mac Pro is almost like a dinosaur. Too bad. They're wonderfully designed machines but I guess their time has passed. I think that Apple should build a heavy-duty iMac Pro and call it a day. There's no way a Mac Pro will gain any traction with all those specialized Wintel desktop boxes available for such low prices. When a company refuses to update a product for a couple of years and the company is practically bursting with excess cash, then they've just plain lost interest in the product and those target customers.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Mac_128
Slots are sooooo 1987. mstone, you most likely will not need slots at all. Many manufacturers are developing external boxes in which to install your existing cards, which attaches via Thunderbolt. For those who do not offer a card recycling solution, or in lieu of upgrades, they will be building Thunderbolt interfaces for boxes which implement the same functionality as cards. Yes it means the purchase of additional hardware, but what else is new?
Protools still uses PCIe cards. UAD still uses PCIe cards. They still need lots of storage, lots of option choices in one cabinet rather than a lot of external devices whenever possible.
When is the last time you have been in a Professional audio/video studio? a Quad Core chip isn't enough. They want multiple 6 or 8 core chips. Some of these places would take whatever you could give them in additional processing power. People working with 4K video? They need TONS of processing power.
Apple doesn't care, and for good reason. They can completely scrap the Mac Pro, and it won't make a shred of a blip on their financial statements.
Also, can someone explain to me who exactly needs a Mac Pro, apart from those extreme niche cases like studios who do professional 3D rendering, etc? What exactly can't a high end iMac do these days? Short of Avatar, it can even handle HD video editing, 3D rendering, etc.
3 things can happen:
a. It will be silently updated, but may not even make it to Apple's front page
b. They will leave the Mac Pro hanging like the iPod classic with no more updates.
c. It will be removed from the store and completely discontinued.
I see all these as having a near equal chance of happening.
Oh, and 4000 signatures isn't called 'gaining traction' for a company that sells 60-70 million products a quarter. It's called a drop in a very big ocean.
Quote:
Originally Posted by drblank
The Pros need slots and more processing power.
Old farts you mean. Today a 16 year old kid can do stuff with an iMac and when shown you won't even be able to tell that 16 year old kid did it until someone tells you. That's how things are going to be now.
We have to draw a line between Avatar type Pro (huge films, many effects and so on) and editing some TV Show episode Pro which can be done using a MacBook Pro while on train to Utah.
It wasn't for 1.5 years after the 15" MBP was first introduced, in June 2007, that they finally were able to add an 8x SuperDrive with DVD±DL like what had been available in the PowerBooks.
I'd say it's because of thinness of the new casings but the 17" MBPs started with the 8x Slot-loading SuperDrive (DVD+R DL/DVD±RW/CD-RW) right away and it was also 1" thick so there is clearly at least one other factor I haven't considered.
And as they're saying: the iMac is not the answer. Uncompromised power is.
I knew Amtrak was slow but damn!
It's clear Apple needs an entry-level tower. People shouldn't have to build Hackintoshes just to fill that need, or to be able to switch to a more powerful graphics card a couple of years down the road.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Aizmov
I knew Amtrak was slow but damn!