Apple knows the Mac Pro was a disaster, major redesign coming in the future

[William Gayde]

With the majority of Apple's focus on mobile devices and laptops, they have been largely ignoring their desktop users. In an extremely rare move for the company, Apple has owned up to this mistake and now has plans for a total Mac Pro redesign. Speaking to a small group of reporters including TechCrunch, Phil Schiller, Apple Senior VP of Worldwide Marketing, apologized for what happened with the Mac Pro and stated Apple was "going to come out with something great to replace it." Apple doesn't often share much about their future plans, so this announcement carries extra weight.

Apple has come to believe that the aggressive industrial design of the 2013 Mac Pro was a mistake and that they designed themselves "into a bit of a thermal corner." The small form factor was a nice idea, but was flawed from the beginning. The Mac Pro was aimed at serious professionals that needed a high performance workstation for content creation and other applications. Many of them didn't care about the size and would gladly have accepted a slightly larger Mac in exchange for better performance.

Since everything was crammed into the small form factor, Apple wasn't able to upgrade it very much either. With a Windows PC, creators could upgrade their hardware nearly every month it seemed, but the Mac Pro went 3 years without a single substantial upgrade. While the new modular redesign won't be coming out anytime this year, Apple is refreshing the Mac Pro in the meantime. A 6-core Xeon with 16GB of RAM and two AMD FirePro D500s will cost $3000 and for an additional $1000, you can upgrade to an 8-core processor with dual FirePro D700s.

While the Mac desktop line only accounts for about 20% of Apple's computer sales, it's still an important segment of the market for them. These professional users help give the Mac its brand recognition and high end appeal.

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https://www.techspot.com/news/68797-apple-knows-mac-pro-disaster-major-redesign-coming.html

 

[m4a4]

Ah yes, the trash can design.

 

[Kenrick]

Our trash can approved it to tossed in with my other garbages.

 

[oldikes]

Bigger trash can with removeable lid incoming

 

[Trillionsin]

So are they replacing the ones people bought? I know that's asking for too much, isnt it?

 

[bmw95]

The next one will be designed to resemble a basket.

 

[Greg S]

There is a really simple solution. Get a case that holds SSI EEB boards, throw in Quadro cards instead of FirePro cards so you don't have garbage rendering quality from the majority of industrial animation and modeling software, and just make the thing big to handle the heat. 4k and 8k video editing takes mass amounts of storage and having at least 4 scratch disks plus some just for storage would be ideal.

But, this is Apple. They will probably release something that is far less functional than just going to amazon.com, spending $2k on parts, and throwing them in a $30 case and hoping for the best.

 

[umbala]

So are they replacing the ones people bought? I know that's asking for too much, isnt it?

HAHAHAHAHAHA Good one

 

[Rockstarrrr]

Focusing on iPhone got Apple very, very, very rich but I dont even consider them as part of PC market. Design is the only thing holding them in laptop market, in terms of performance, they are doing horrible. Long gone are their computer days. And, in the long run, Android will prevail, make no mistake. You can sell overpriced gadget only for a short while.

 

[Reehahs]

Redesigned Mac Pro will be a wheelie bin now.

 

[hood6558]

Get a life, Apple...

 

[imronburgundy]

Shift + delete on that Apple product...

 

[Theinsanegamer]

Focusing on iPhone got Apple very, very, very rich but I dont even consider them as part of PC market. Design is the only thing holding them in laptop market, in terms of performance, they are doing horrible. Long gone are their computer days. And, in the long run, Android will prevail, make no mistake. You can sell overpriced gadget only for a short while.

I dont think they are going anywhere in the phone market anytime soon. iOS still has far better support then android, and consistent security and feature updates are things most android users can only dream of. Apple is currently the only company offering a flagship 4" phone. iOS is the only phone which can use a browser wide adblocker without rooting (or using the horrendously slow mobile firefox).

The majority of good android phones are just as expensive and overpriced as iphones. Apple isnt going anywhere anytime soon, unless every major flagship OEM goes under first.

 

[Rockstarrrr]

The majority of good android phones are just as expensive and overpriced as iphones. Apple isnt going anywhere anytime soon, unless every major flagship OEM goes under first.

Yes, and now you have to realize that Android market too is being overrun by cheaper, mid-range devices and that the difference between flagships and mid-rangers keeps shrinking even performance-wise. Quite simple - market will start rejecting $1000 devices, its insanity that we even come to this. Anything over $500 for a phone is just wrong.

And Apple keeps losing its market share for two years now. No, iPhone 8 wont change that.

 

[psycros]

Focusing on iPhone got Apple very, very, very rich but I dont even consider them as part of PC market. Design is the only thing holding them in laptop market, in terms of performance, they are doing horrible. Long gone are their computer days. And, in the long run, Android will prevail, make no mistake. You can sell overpriced gadget only for a short while.

I dont think they are going anywhere in the phone market anytime soon. iOS still has far better support then android, and consistent security and feature updates are things most android users can only dream of. Apple is currently the only company offering a flagship 4" phone. iOS is the only phone which can use a browser wide adblocker without rooting (or using the horrendously slow mobile firefox).

The majority of good android phones are just as expensive and overpriced as iphones. Apple isnt going anywhere anytime soon, unless every major flagship OEM goes under first.

Firefox runs just fine on Android. Mobile browsing of any kind remains pretty awful, though.

As for the Mac Pro, they need to go in a completely different direction..and one that Apple understood a long time ago. A power user machine should be about function first and form second like most PCs. There's really no excuse for the ludicrous overhead Apple asks for any of its products but on a desktop computer its comical. Bring back the towers with "handles", use 100% standard hardware and even allow people to easily install Windows on them if they like - I mean, why not? Its the hardware and iOS apps Apple makes money from. The Mac Pro should be a high end Hackintosh and Apple should be its own bootlegger.

 

[Rockstarrrr]

Firefox runs just fine on Android. Mobile browsing of any kind remains pretty awful, though.

Its the hardware and iOS apps Apple makes money from. The Mac Pro should be a high end Hackintosh and Apple should be its own bootlegger.

Actually, it is. Apple nowdays is selling iPhones, apps in iStore and music/videos in iTunes. Their computer department relies too much on laptops and they are too far away from hi-end with their RX460 in there...

 

[TheBigT42]

So are they replacing the ones people bought? I know that's asking for too much, isnt it?

They knew they were buying trash when they bought it. That is why they call it "the bleeding edge"