The US has the best design minds and facilities, China has the best manufacturing infrastructure. A company like Apple needs factories who can provide volume. You can thank Bubya Junior making the US so dependent on China.
"The movement of American factory jobs and white-collar work to other countries is part of a positive transformation that will enrich the U.S. economy over time, even if it causes short-term pain and dislocation, the Bush administration said Monday." - LA Times, 2004
Ok what did bubba junior have to do with the current situation? Beyond that the Mac Pro has never been massed produced at best the sell a few thousand a month!!!! This is more about ignorant behavior from Apple than politics.
ZDNET did an interesting breakdown of the costs for the lowest end Mac Pro. Not surprisingly, they conclude it is super overpriced.
Once again for the dim ones in the back — a BOM breakdown does not represent the actual cost of a product. Any product.
By way of illustration, please do find me a workstation that is as close as possible to the Mac Pro in specs, ports, and software, and yet priced far below the base cost.
Go ahead, I’ll wait.
Agreed. Anyone who actually needs a Mac Pro as a business enabler and not simply because they lust after cool tech gadgets, is not complaining about the price. Businesses purchase tools and machinery to sustain their business and they pay for these as a cost of doing business. Oh, and they depreciate them on a schedule as cost (savings) of doing business. It's absolutely no different than a shipping company purchasing Peterbilt Semi Tractor Trailers or a farming operation purchasing John Deere Harvesters. Have you ever checked the price tags on those things? Probably not, or not unless you actually need one of those for your business. Are you going to complain about how much a Peterbilt, Freightliner, or Kenworth costs compared to an F150 pickup? I suppose if you really want to drive a Mack semi as your daily commuter vehicle then you're going to complain about the price. But that's a personal problem and not a problem for those folks who actually need the Mack semi for business and are managing its cost through normal business economic and accounting models. Sorry to say it, but if you want to blow that big semi's horn just for fun, it's going to cost you a big chunk of change.
Apple will not need to build the new Mac Pro in mass quantities, because they are only going to sell 102 of them. Or some small number catering to a high-end niche. Given what is happening at the political level, that decision to produce a niche high-end product off-shore appears to be ill-considered, and will very likely soon be the subject of a tariff. That should come as no surprise.
Agreed. I regard this particular Mac as a hero project. It will never be a big earner. They will not sell these in iMac pro volumes, let alone any other Mac. Apple could have let the margin slip a bit for the PR value alone.
ZDNET did an interesting breakdown of the costs for the lowest end Mac Pro. Not surprisingly, they conclude it is super overpriced.
Once again for the dim ones in the back — a BOM breakdown does not represent the actual cost of a product. Any product.
By way of illustration, please do find me a workstation that is as close as possible to the Mac Pro in specs, ports, and software, and yet priced far below the base cost.
Go ahead, I’ll wait.
Most workstations from the big three come with minimum 3 years of on-site warranty included (for ~$140 extra it can go to 5 years next day service), loads of ISV certifications and NVIDIA RTX Quadro graphics options.
They also typically can cost companies 10%~20% less than what Dell/HP/Lenovo's websites show and are actually on the market today, and not in a few months when new and refreshed models are due.
Apple is not even close to offering that type of value.
Thank you for getting it! Most people have no idea about the Workstation market. I made many of the same points when the new Mac Pro was introduced. In addition to Nvidia graphics, the major workstation vendors also offer a Dual CPU option and more drive slots + RAID. The Mac Pro is definitely an impressive piece of engineering, but it lacks features available on PC workstations and is pricy. Maybe Apple is re-visiting the price and decided that the ONLY way to bring the price down was to move manufacturing to China.
I believe mac pro should be priced at least $25,000.00 for the base model. It is a piece of art. it must be a beast.
I'll stick with my 2014 mac mini. Works just fine for me.
I am sure I am speaking only to the wind here... but man!!!! why can't people bother to read the stories and history for recent manufacturing in the US.... even AI brought a story over
The US simply does not even have the trained workers let alone the quantity needed to manufacture such products. I won't go any further as well.... its gets rather ugly and even some what insulting.
Agreed. Anyone who actually needs a Mac Pro as a business enabler and not simply because they lust after cool tech gadgets, is not complaining about the price. Businesses purchase tools and machinery to sustain their business and they pay for these as a cost of doing business.
I take it you aren't exactly in business with a comment like that?
To suggest business customers aren't as price sensitive or don't want the best value for money they can get shows a complete lack of understanding of how business works. We are in competition if I spend 2-3 times more on a computer that does exactly the same as a much cheaper computer what does that do to either my profits or the rate I have to charge my customer?
Businesses want to keep their overheads as low as possible, I'd be happy to spend 2-3x more on a computer if it gave me some competitive advantage or it did a task 2-3x better but the Mac Pro is just a workstation that runs MacOS instead of Windows or Linux. There is no advantage for me in MacOS and if there was it wouldn't be worth spending 2-3x more on it. The reality is that PC Workstations are vastly cheaper, much easier to customise to best fit your business demands (e.g Intel or AMD CPUs and nVidia or AMD GPUs) and come with better warranties.
As others have noted the Warranty and service agreements that other Workstation vendors offer, Apple's lug it back to an Apple store for servicing when we get round to it is so far from the expectations of business customers it isn't funny.
I don't see what the Mac Pro brings to the table, it can't now even bring manufacturing jobs back to the US because the overt SJW CEO would rather off-shore US jobs to China. Where's the social justice in that decision?
That’s too bad. Even the original cheese-grater bto’s we’re assembled in the US.
My 2008’s were.
Apple must have a lot of pre-order commitments on these from large studios. Or a plan to release a less expensive version next year possibly.
Or maybe Tim is just spiting Trump.
Anyone who can afford the new Mac Pro, with maximum CPU and memory, and its top-line monitor probably doesn't even ask "how much is it, and how much are the tariffs?"
I suppose Apple could have the $999 stand manufactured in America to avoid tariffs on that component. I'm sure American can manufacture a metal stand.
China doesn't only offer cheaper production but higher quality and more reliable production.
It was a wise choice. Trump pretty much surrendered at the G20. First: He had learned that China was serious about two things: They wanted peace and open & fair trade and that they were not going to be intimidated and were demanding respect and to be dealt with as equals. And second, he was learning that his chances for re-election were fading as it was becoming apparent that the U.S. economy would take a serious hit if he continued on his current, suicidal path.
So, he surrendered. But not fully. Going forward he will continue to throw stones in the path. But basically, he realized how much his re-election depends on the U.S. economy and how the U.S. economy depends on a healthy relationship with China.
I'm equating this to a roller coaster that just completed its last big hill and has a couple more little ones before it enters the station.
There was no trade war, or possibly even a President Trump when Apple started planning the new mac pro. Design considerations were likely in line with what Apple can do, rather than what Apple can do specifically in Texas.
It was a wise choice. Trump pretty much surrendered at the G20. First: He had learned that China was serious about two things: They wanted peace and open & fair trade and that they were not going to be intimidated and were demanding respect and to be dealt with as equals. And second, he was learning that his chances for re-election were fading as it was becoming apparent that the U.S. economy would take a serious hit if he continued on his current, suicidal path.
So, he surrendered. But not fully. Going forward he will continue to throw stones in the path. But basically, he realized how much his re-election depends on the U.S. economy and how the U.S. economy depends on a healthy relationship with China.
I'm equating this to a roller coaster that just completed its last big hill and has a couple more little ones before it enters the station.
Within days even the national security danger known as Huawei will be back in the US good graces, bans lifted and US companies back to business with them.
Comments
The US simply does not even have the trained workers let alone the quantity needed to manufacture such products. I won't go any further as well.... its gets rather ugly and even some what insulting.
To suggest business customers aren't as price sensitive or don't want the best value for money they can get shows a complete lack of understanding of how business works. We are in competition if I spend 2-3 times more on a computer that does exactly the same as a much cheaper computer what does that do to either my profits or the rate I have to charge my customer?
Businesses want to keep their overheads as low as possible, I'd be happy to spend 2-3x more on a computer if it gave me some competitive advantage or it did a task 2-3x better but the Mac Pro is just a workstation that runs MacOS instead of Windows or Linux. There is no advantage for me in MacOS and if there was it wouldn't be worth spending 2-3x more on it. The reality is that PC Workstations are vastly cheaper, much easier to customise to best fit your business demands (e.g Intel or AMD CPUs and nVidia or AMD GPUs) and come with better warranties.
As others have noted the Warranty and service agreements that other Workstation vendors offer, Apple's lug it back to an Apple store for servicing when we get round to it is so far from the expectations of business customers it isn't funny.
I don't see what the Mac Pro brings to the table, it can't now even bring manufacturing jobs back to the US because the overt SJW CEO would rather off-shore US jobs to China. Where's the social justice in that decision?
First: He had learned that China was serious about two things: They wanted peace and open & fair trade and that they were not going to be intimidated and were demanding respect and to be dealt with as equals. And second, he was learning that his chances for re-election were fading as it was becoming apparent that the U.S. economy would take a serious hit if he continued on his current, suicidal path.
So, he surrendered. But not fully. Going forward he will continue to throw stones in the path. But basically, he realized how much his re-election depends on the U.S. economy and how the U.S. economy depends on a healthy relationship with China.
I'm equating this to a roller coaster that just completed its last big hill and has a couple more little ones before it enters the station.