davgreg

The article describes it as a formerly premium and expensive option. Hardly.
VW has given it away on every model for years- my 2016 VW Golf S has it.

If memory serves, Apple and Google give away the supporting code, so it should not cost anything. BMW is just a bunch of money grubbers ripping off the sheeple because they can.

I cannot imagine who at Apple who actually needs and uses a workstation grade machine (Pro is just a marketing term) that would think anything with a spaghetti bowl full of cables and wall warts would be better than a tower with everything inside- especially if it was easily accessible and hot swappable.

To be honest, I just do not care about how thin the edge of the next MacBook (Pro or not), iMac or iPhone is. I do not care about the bezel. I do not care about the color for the most part.

I do care about the ability to repair, upgrade, maintain and modify my workstation. I care about connectivity and do not see a lack of ports as a feature to be promoted. I care about how quiet the unit is and how reliable it is.

With my Mac Pro Workstation when USB 3 came out I was able to buy an inexpensive card that was a quick plug in and go to add USB 3. It is nice to be able to have 5 internal HDs in the 4 regular and the lower optical bay. It is nice to be able to add BluRay HW and a couple of minutes. It is nice to have it all running from one power supply instead of all that crap needed to hook up the trashcan.

The slide out CPU/Heatsink unit allows for quick, affordable and painless CPU upgrades. The fact that the side opens easily and that unit came out means I can regularly blow out the heat sink with canned air and keep it as cool as a cucumber in the crisper drawer.

A slightly smaller form factor version of the Mac Pro Workstation would be the best possible outcome and I would buy one as soon as they went on sale. I am not paying $5 Grand for a sealed up all in one that is essentially a throwaway (iMac Pro) and am not going to fry a laptop to do desktop lifting.