Apple did present a “sneak preview” of their upcoming Mac Pro last week at WWDC in San Francisco. As it is the case for most Apple product it created a lot of reaction. I did wait a bit before commenting to try to put in perspective what is the meaning behind it.
On one side, the very long renewal cycle the Apple pro line is a good illustration that this is not (and have not been for a longtime) their core market. Full attention is given to consumer products. Pro applications is a secondary market at best.
The other observation is that it is following the downward trend of the video market as a whole. It is an expanding market (more video is produced) but with less resources. There is less and less high end player and less money for high production. Therefore Apple (following good business practice) is addressing the market accordingly. It does not focus on the needs of large production organization but rather on the needs of independent professional. The target is those individual that have an home-based office and take contracts. The new Mac Pro is perfect for them. If they just need the power to do some editing project, some motion-graphics, some Photoshop then it’s perfect as-is. They need more for a project, they can add storage. They need video output, let’s put an external device! Since it’s all near them below the desk it’s all fine (yes, it’s not pretty with the wire but it’s manageable).
And what about large organization that would want to rack-mount the thing? What about offering blade solutions? No, this is a niche market and it is not Apple focus. In fact, I even wonder how many years is left to their offerings for the independent professionals!
I’m not so shure wheather you see the new MacPro in the proper light.
I’ts more or less a CORE. And – it is as many of that cores that you want. With Thinderbolt 2 you can put half a dozen of that black trashcans under your table – giving you all the power you ever dreamt of. And – why put storage in that box? Nonsens! I’m working with a Sharkoon bay where I can drop in naked SATA drives. Project done? Take out the drive and put it in the cabinet along with the other 30 or so drives. In my 12-Core MP I just have 2 500GB SSDs…
In need of PCIe? There are affordable Thunderbolt to PCIe boxes on the market.
I think the new MacPro is a game changer. And I’m shure that sooner or later there will be 19″ mount options where you can put 8 of them in a rack.
Dirk, I realize that it might be well suited for you. To help us understand your point of view better, would you be willing to share your usage scenarios? Are you an independent professional or are you using it as part of a small or large organization? I can tell you that the previous generation Mac Pro was not well suited to be mounted in standard EIA 19′ racks and I don’t see that with the new generation either (putting them on shelves is not really what I find practical).