Apple will ship its redesigned Mac Pro in 2019

[Kaido]

https://www.engadget.com/2018/04/05/apple-2019-mac-pro-shaped-by-customers/


Per the article:

1. Apple has created a Pro Workflow Team that helps it optimize its hardware and software based on real production chains, not just abstract goals. The company has hired creatives in 3D animation, music, video editing and visual effects to have them produce real projects and pinpoint the "bottlenecks," whether it's the computer design or an app feature.

2. It's been 6 years since a significant hardware revision.


Gripe time!

1. How the heck does a company with a nearly one-trillion-dollar market cap ignore the Pro market for so long? They botched FCPX & then left everyone hanging with the same hardware for years & years. I feel like when Jobs died, all innovation at Apple stopped...all they care about is iOS now. I am also upset that there hasn't been a Mac Mini update in over three years. Why should I trust them now? I see no reason for them to be committed to Pro work again in the future, as much as I hate to say that.

2. If the ARM rumors are true, then how is that going to affect compatibility with every single x86 program on the market?

3. Maybe they'll hit it out of the ballpark, who knows. The world of computers is crazy...Apple was DOA for a long time back in the day, until Jobs made his comeback with the iPod & all that, so it's entirely possibly that they could have a disruptive entry.

Blah blah blah get off my lawn

 

[manly]

LMAO it wouldn't be an Apple (TM) product but they could probably get a fine pro workstation design from a Taiwanese ODM done in just a few weeks. No clue why it's going to take them 18 months but I'm not a hardware engineer.

In unrelated news, will they ever update the Mac mini?

 

[Commodus]

LMAO it wouldn't be an Apple (TM) product but they could probably get a fine pro workstation design from a Taiwanese ODM done in just a few weeks. No clue why it's going to take them 18 months but I'm not a hardware engineer.

In unrelated news, will they ever update the Mac mini?

Odds are that they're not just doing a straightforward tower design, even if it does have internal expansion and other checklist items. I remember how the Power Mac G5 was relatively revolutionary in that it had compartmentalized airflow, cable-free drive bays and other clever touches that made it more than just another box.

 

[Oyeve]

https://www.engadget.com/2018/04/05/apple-2019-mac-pro-shaped-by-customers/

Gripe time!

1. How the heck does a company with a nearly one-trillion-dollar market cap ignore the Pro market for so long? They botched FCPX & then left everyone hanging with the same hardware for years & years. I feel like when Jobs died, all innovation at Apple stopped...all they care about is iOS now. I am also upset that there hasn't been a Mac Mini update in over three years. Why should I trust them now? I see no reason for them to be committed to Pro work again in the future, as much as I hate to say that.

2. If the ARM rumors are true, then how is that going to affect compatibility with every single x86 program on the market?

3. Maybe they'll hit it out of the ballpark, who knows. The world of computers is crazy...Apple was DOA for a long time back in the day, until Jobs made his comeback with the iPod & all that, so it's entirely possibly that they could have a disruptive entry.

Blah blah blah get off my lawn

You must realize that Apple is ONLY alive because of the iphone and a bit of ipad. Their computer market share is like 7.5%. They never have focused on it and maybe now they will.

 

[Ichinisan]

You must realize that Apple is ONLY alive because of the iphone and a bit of ipad. Their computer market share is like 7.5%. They never have focused on it and maybe now they will.

7.5% is pretty huge.

 

[Kaido]

You must realize that Apple is ONLY alive because of the iphone and a bit of ipad. Their computer market share is like 7.5%. They never have focused on it and maybe now they will.

Market share percentage doesn't necessarily correlate to a company staying alive or even to profitability. The iPod was released in 2001; here's Apple's financial data from 3 years prior:

1998: $5.9 billion in sales, $309 million in profits
1999: $6.1 billion in sales, $601 million profits
2000: $7.9 billion in sales, $786 million in profits

So even before pocketable i-Devices existed, they were already on track to making a billion in profits. Of course, as with any other company, there were lean years where they lost & there were good years where they gained, and they're obviously extremely savvy about not blowing through their savings. The iOS Store turned out to be a huge cash cow for them, but even prior to the iPhone's release in 2007, they had already hit a billion in profits as of 2005 without any kind of cellular device or tablet on the market. Of course, post iOS, they skyrocketed up to $45 billion in profits (as of 2016) & their overall market cap stands at $854 billion today. But they definitely weren't hurting by any means.

 

[Kaido]

Odds are that they're not just doing a straightforward tower design, even if it does have internal expansion and other checklist items. I remember how the Power Mac G5 was relatively revolutionary in that it had compartmentalized airflow, cable-free drive bays and other clever touches that made it more than just another box.

Yeah, that was a dang great machine to work on at the time.

 

[Kaido]

LMAO it wouldn't be an Apple (TM) product but they could probably get a fine pro workstation design from a Taiwanese ODM done in just a few weeks. No clue why it's going to take them 18 months but I'm not a hardware engineer.

But it's gonna be modular! Can't you imagine the futuristic, Apple-esqe beauty of such a setup?

 

[Herr Kutz]

So apple will redesign the mac pro for 2019, but rumors say they will ditch intel CPUs in 2020. Something is not adding up. It seems like the would either (A) wait until 2020 for the redesign or (B) they are not ditching intel CPUs.

 

[Commodus]

So apple will redesign the mac pro for 2019, but rumors say they will ditch intel CPUs in 2020. Something is not adding up. It seems like the would either (A) wait until 2020 for the redesign or (B) they are not ditching intel CPUs.

Well, ditching Intel CPUs doesn't necessarily mean ditching x86. One theory (just a theory) is that Apple will make custom x86 chips and do to Intel what it did to Qualcomm (that is, offer consistently faster performance than the industry giant).

Another theory is that Apple will keep Intel CPUs around for 'heavy lifting' tasks, but use ARM in systems like the plain MacBook.

 

[Kaido]

Well, ditching Intel CPUs doesn't necessarily mean ditching x86. One theory (just a theory) is that Apple will make custom x86 chips and do to Intel what it did to Qualcomm (that is, offer consistently faster performance than the industry giant).

Another theory is that Apple will keep Intel CPUs around for 'heavy lifting' tasks, but use ARM in systems like the plain MacBook.

I'm just trying to figure out if even making a laptop makes sense. The popular style right now are thin touchscreen laptops that do a 360 flip to turn into a tablet. And Apple already makes the iPad Pro...so just add a Magsafe keyboard? Hmm.

 

[Kaido]

This is what they should do with the iOS ARM Macbook:

https://www.theverge.com/circuitbre...2-chrome-os-tablet-detachable-keyboard-stylus

Touchcreen + detachable tablet + pen:

HP also emphasized that the keyboard was designed to hold firmly enough to the tablet that it should feel like a clamshell laptop when the two are connected.

 

[Chaotic42]

I wonder if the lack of Nvidia GPUs is going to hurt this thing. CUDA seems to be becoming more and more of a requirement, at least in the industries I follow. I've got a Mac Pro at work and I booted into OSX once to play around for about five minutes.

 

[TheStu]

I wonder if the lack of Nvidia GPUs is going to hurt this thing. CUDA seems to be becoming more and more of a requirement, at least in the industries I follow. I've got a Mac Pro at work and I booted into OSX once to play around for about five minutes.

They're _more likely_ to go with AMD for the GPUs, but there's nothing saying that they won't do an nVidia option. And even if the GPU it ships with can be replaced, adding additional GPU Compute power via eGPUs is a viable option.

 

[Chaotic42]

They're _more likely_ to go with AMD for the GPUs, but there's nothing saying that they won't do an nVidia option. And even if the GPU it ships with can be replaced, adding additional GPU Compute power via eGPUs is a viable option.

True, but then on top of $4,000+, you're having to buy an Nvidia GPU plus and enclosure and you're stuck with a potentially proprietary AMD card you can't use.

 

[TheStu]

True, but then on top of $4,000+, you're having to buy an Nvidia GPU plus and enclosure and you're stuck with a potentially proprietary AMD card you can't use.

Why couldn't you use it? The OS will take all the GPU power it can get. So even if that AMD GPU isn't power your display (though it could still power displays), the OS will still tap it for Compute purposes.