MAC PRO not on discount

[Carl Dieker]

Any reason why the MAC PRO is not on discount on Black Friday? I hope it is not because the rumours are true, being that Mac Pro is on its way to be discountued.

/Calle

[Trevor Meeks]

You can buy one using the academic discount if you're really wanting to save money on it... just select "education store" on store.apple.com and select a college, for instance, the one you went to... they do not verify that you are enrolled in school.

Great way to save $$ on your purchases.... not that I'd know or or anything though :ihih:

[Carl Dieker]

Thanks, my post was a little paranoid. It wasn't about money. :)

[Martin Widerberg]

Well, we can hope for a new form factor with optical thunderbolt, so you can grow after pleasure, but I doubt it.
Would be nice with a stackable solution like Red Station.
Wan't more graphic cards? Just another box on top:)

Nightmare scenario is that they build something without slots and optical thunderbolt. I always liked the idea of an integrated software/hardware solution. I really don't wan't to switch operating system.

[Matt Gottshalk]

You will not see another new Mac Pro in its current form.

[Jim McKinney]

I'm on the way to discontinuing Mac myself.

[Matt Gottshalk]

Same here.

[Kegan Sant]

Why do you say that Matt? A hunch or some kind of inside info?

Kegan

[Alexander Ibrahim]

Why do you say that Matt? A hunch or some kind of inside info?

Kegan

Its a guess.

It's wrong.

There will be at least one more Mac Pro.

The internal debate at Apple is whether or not it will be a "radically new" design (which they have contemplated and prototyped) or if it will be an update to Sandy Bridge/Ivy Bridge Xeon's with a Thunderbolt enabled video card.

Both products are under development.

That is inside information.

They are also developing a "desktop Mac." Think iMac type specifications in a desktop enclosure with the ability to take 2-3 PCIe cards.

The idea is that they are going to drop the single processor Mac Pro and instead sell single processor desktops in a different category from their workstations. In theory that frees them up to make the workstations even more "exotic."

Don't hold your breathe though.

That concept has been under constant development since the shift to Intel.

Apple won't make a "cheap" computer ... they insist on quality and innovation. They believe they'd be incapable of innovating that space effectively, and without innovation they believe there is no reason for Apple to compete in that market segment.

(Hence Thunderbolt on iMacs which a different inside source pitched at me like this: "Why do you want to have internal expansion? Why not external connectors?" I answered, "Bandwidth. You can't push around uncompressed 4k+ motion imaging data on any external cabling - even optical. The next day, "LightPeak" was announced.)

Here is what I want: A standard desktop, and a luggable mobile workstation. Magsafe connectors on both ... Thunderbolt.

Most importantly, I want a Thunderbolt graphics cards. If I can get a drop in replacement PCIe 2.0 x16 card with a current Nvidia GPU and 3 Thunderbolt ports ... I'll be happy riding my current Mac Pro for another 2-3 years.

I'd rather get some nice PCIe 3 Mac Pros though, and some delicious quad processor Mac Pros.

[Tom.Wong]

pack in the most powerful processors intel has to offer
give us plent of TB ports, u can even drop fw 800, i can buy adapters for TB.
more than 4 pci e slots, and more than 40 lanes, please.

a desktop version, and a rackmount version.

I don't think anybody would care if they dropped all their lowest end towers and just kept on chuggin with the most hardcore desktop line, while offering up cheaper more elegant solutions to the consumer. TB is proof they are committed to the professional and innovating. it's one of the most innovative things I've seen in a computer system let alone a laptop and imac. so if they can commit and just at least come out with one line of pro, high end, bleeding edge system they can concentrate the rest their energy on phones and tablets... we just need that one thing...

[M Most]

Both products are under development.

That is inside information.

If that's true, it's also a violation of confidentiality on your part to reveal it publicly, whether you signed an NDA or not.

Companies are entitled to privacy and confidentiality, just as individuals are. Those that violate that do so at their own risk, both legally and to their own reputation. Just a thought.

[Brian Merlen]

guys not to be "that guy" but we already had a thread on if they were killing the mac pro or not...adding that none are discounted today i don't think warranted a new thread...but i am not a mod, so don't mind me:beatdeadhorse5:

fyi buying refurb is often even better then the education discounts for those fixated on budget constraints. plus apple refurbs carry the same warranties, so from now on personally speaking if i stay on the apple train of hurt i am going refurb...but as of lately i find it quite difficult to justify needing an apple machine if FCPX never gains the ground of its predecessor in our industry. i sure don't want to go back to windows, but do i truly need an apple machine if i can't find software justifying the apple outrageous pricing? i feel quite conflicted and am going to sit this one out until Ivy Bridge or Haswell drops, and I will reevaluate my options at that juncture. as for guessing the mac pro is going EOL based on the black friday discounts, i think if it was going on EOL soon it would be heavily discounted to move the remaining stock, since this is not the case maybe your paranoia could just as well argue the opposite view? who knows, apple is so quiet, and everyone has a blanketed NDA so none of us will ever know anything without public releases. i hate how apple does this, its so hard for businesses to figure out when to update based on their privacy standards. at least intel gives roadmaps, without them we truly would be lost on whats coming down the pipe!!!

[Trevor Meeks]

yep, gotta love refurb and the excellent warranty coverage. Never had a problem with a refurbished mac, everything that I didn't need to have built to order I've bought refurbished.

[Matt Gottshalk]

Late spring with even less slots is what I have heard.

[Alexander Ibrahim]

If that's true, it's also a violation of confidentiality on your part to reveal it publicly, whether you signed an NDA or not.

Companies are entitled to privacy and confidentiality, just as individuals are. Those that violate that do so at their own risk, both legally and to their own reputation. Just a thought.

To be perfectly clear, companies are a legal fiction. They are entitled to nothing at all. They have no rights.

Companies can form contracts in accordance with contract law, and are treated as natural persons when party to a contract. Hence NDAs, which are contracts. As it turns out you can not sign away your intrinsic rights by contract ... so you can't sign a contract that restricts your free speech, and if you do, that contract is null and void. (Which is why most contracts worth a damn have severability clauses, which allow the rest of the contract to remain in force if some part is found invalid or unenforceable.)

As it turns out the greatest utility of an NDA is that it serves as notice that a particular action (revealing something) can be grounds for dismissal.

So, I had no NDA, and no working arrangement with Apple, other than using their hardware and software, all legally purchased at retail.

If the employee (or anyone else) committed a crime to get the information, then that's a different matter. So, for example if I had hacked Apple's computers to get this information, then I would be guilty of unlawfully accessing a computer. Even then Apple has no recourse other than reporting it to the authorities, and then the US or state's district attorneys could file criminal charges after an investigation.

In this country talking isn't a crime yet.

As to their plans, I have more specific details ... but those represent development products at least 6 months out of date now.

I don't think that Apple can be show to have been damaged in any way by my statement. If you read it again, legally it amounts to saying "they are developing all sorts of stuff, and haven't decided yet." Not exactly a huge secret.

Contrary to how you painted this, I am providing Apple a service its own employees can't. Quashing an invalid rumor that Mac Pro's are discontinued. Such rumors cost them money and damage their reputation.

My general advice with Apple is buy what you need today, use it as long as that makes sense. Evaluate Apple on its released announcements, never on the wild rumors.

Let's just say Apple discontinues the Mac Pro. Hypothetically.

Mac Pro's are an order of magnitude (at least) more popular than XServe systems. The Xserve was discontinued with notice, and new products were released that Apple thought answered many of their existing XServe customers needs. We will get at least that much notice on the Mac Pro's demise, probably more. If they do end the Mac Pro, I expect a consumer tech Mac will replace it lowering price points.

I mean ... once you get rid of the Xeon processors you can make a machine roughly equivalent to, and potentially superior to, the Mac Pro single core for much less money - even with Apple design and build standards.

Ultimately you have to ask yourself if Apple is stupid.

They know 4K is coming. They see Red, Canon, Sony all gearing for 4K+ production. They want FCP X to dominate. They need at least another generation of traditional PCIe expandable desktop computer. By 2013 and with optical Thunderbolt ... iMacs may well have all the firepower needed for 5K editorial.

If that's true if an iMac can really be your desktop 5K workstation, and they discontinue the Mac Pro ... who cares? Isn't the real uproar that the only current Mac that can handle this stuff the Mac Pro - that's why I care.

[Alexander Ibrahim]

Late spring with even less slots is what I have heard.

Well, Applecare runs out on my 2010 Mac Pro around then, so you may have the timing right! ;)

I'm not gonna worry about it until the news is out. I mean ... my 2010 Mac Pro still handles all my work beautifully. Sure my next computer may be Windows or Linux ... but I'll worry about that when its time for the next computer. Until then I'm happier with OS X than I would be with Windows 7 or Linux.