Despite new CPU options, Apple reportedly questioning future of Mac Pro

Despite new CPU options, Apple reportedly questioning future of Mac Pro

Despite the coming availability of a new generation of Sandy Bridge desktop CPUs suitable for advancing Apple's Mac Pro line, the company has reportedly been evaluating whether to continue to invest in furthering its full-sized workstation line beyond this year in the face of limited sales.

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I don't think its just Apple friends in the retail business say laptops and tablets are 95% of their sales in the computer departments .

drop the price and ill buy loads of them.

I have to agree with Rob. The Mac Pro is a fantastic work horse but obviously geared more toward professionals. It's a big investment which is probably why sales have been lagging.

robduckyworth said:

drop the price and ill buy loads of them.

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chscag said:

I have to agree with Rob. The Mac Pro is a fantastic work horse but obviously geared more toward professionals. It's a big investment which is probably why sales have been lagging.

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I'm with you both. I'll buy a few as well if the price does drop.

I have been promising myself a Mac Pro after the next update, so I hope they go ahead with at least one more release. ;P

I guess Apple planning to completely abandon the creative professional crowd should have been obvious after trying to pass off iMovie Pro as a new version of Final Cut Pro.

Maybe, if they built something that was more tailored for doing work and less with aesthetics, they could introduce a model that was more affordable. This tank uses so much aluminum...I would not mind if they used less of it to drop the price of materials and manufacturing. They should also drop the expensive Xeons. The new i7 series is a fine replacement, and can be cheaper.

The problem I notice is that there is no real reason for media users to spend the min $2500 when they can go the h@######sh route with a cheaper and more powerful setup that is easily customizable if need be...sad truth. I actually know a lot of people who do that in design(for Mac Pro alternatives).

Doesn't sound surprising. Many people can't justify the prices of Mac Pros anymore when they can make small sacrifices to get one of the new, more capable iMacs.

I'd be disappointed - personally, I like the flexibility and power the Mac Pro has to offer. If I want an internal blu-ray burner, I can get one. If I want or need multiple internal drives, I can get it (and for a lot less then a thunderbolt array that I don't necessarily need); If I want USB 3, I can get it; if I want a high end graphics card for gaming, I can get it. If I want eSata, I can get it; etc., etc., etc.

I understand that a lot of people use an iMac, Mac Mini, Macbook or Macbook Pro - but abandoning the flexibility of the Mac Pro is IMHO a poor choice. The price of the Mac Pro is what pushes away potential buyers - I know the technology in them is expensive (xeons have never been cheap, even custom built xeon boxes are pricey and the ram they require (ECC Buffered, can't get away from it with xeon) is expensive, the chipsets are pricey, etc.). They probably more need to re-think the design of it (maybe a dual processor i7 design instead of xeons?) to offer it in a better price range like $2500 - 5K max instead of the huge spread of like $2500 - $19K max.

But it seems that Apple wants to focus on consumer level so they will probably phase out the mac pro entirely.

Desktop towers at a Mac price are hard to justify. Admittedly - if you buy a supported Windows system they are about the same price - but if you build your own desktop it is half the price for the same components. If I needed the fastest thing out there - I would build a windows/linux desktop - instead of the Mac. That being said, building isn't for everyone - and the aforementioned hack has its own set of quirks - which IMHO negate a lot of the benefits of going to a Mac.

Ultimately, just like everyone else, I've been buying laptops - my last 3 purchases have been laptops - and the only desktop I am considering is a Mac Mini Server for a media/vpn server

I'd rather just see them focus that energy on squeezing more horsepower into the iMacs - I think my days of using a tower are done. I'd be curious to know just how many Mac Pros Apple has sold over the last 2 years - it has to be just a tiny fraction of overall Mac sales, I would guess.

BrianLachoreVPI said:

I'd rather just see them focus that energy on squeezing more horsepower into the iMacs - I think my days of using a tower are done. I'd be curious to know just how many Mac Pros Apple has sold over the last 2 years - it has to be just a tiny fraction of overall Mac sales, I would guess.

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Your logic is fine, but you won't see hardcore graphic designer/media designers using iMac...which is why everyone is having a problem with this news. For media users, the screen in any iMac is not up to par with the quality levels to depict actual colors, which is something that a tower allows to you to do by using your own screen. The Mac Pro was never designed for regular users that could do fine with a Mac Mini, which is what a iMac truly is with the exception of a better gpu.