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Mac Pro gets half-assed “update”

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Re: Mac Pro gets half-assed “update”

#301

Post by astrodust »

gdubs wrote: post #213
astrodust wrote: post #179

Earlier quoted context omitted.

A touch screen display? Are you proposing everyone get gorilla arm ( http://catb.org/jargon/html/G/gorilla-arm.html )? There's nothing wrong with the Mac Pro but the whiny ones who can't afford it or prefer to scoff at the price rather than recognize the value. Yes, we all want a smaller "Pro" system you can upgrade, but there's no market for it. The sad truth is Apple sells only "thousands" of Mac Pro systems compar…

I'm aware of gorilla arm, and sure, that's an issue with an upright display... but I see no reason why you couldn't have the display on a swivel – like a drafting table. Swivel down, and the display becomes a table-top. Swivel up for traditional computer interaction. As far as Apple licensing OS X, that seems highly unlikely given how things went during the 1990s with Apple clones.

What's important to remember is in the 1990s the Mac business was the vast majority of the then "Apple Computer" company's revenue. Today it's a small and shrinking percentage.

Re: Mac Pro gets half-assed “update”

#302

Post by astrodust »

mjwalshe wrote: post #261
cageface wrote: post #222

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Exactly. Plus, for the kind of people that really need a machine this powerful +/- $1000 isn't decisive. And the cloud of uncertainty hovering over the Mac Pro has got to have a lot of people worried. It's bad enough that you can't get anything resembling a roadmap from Apple but it really looks like the Mac Pro is headed for extinction.

Your right I recall a few years back that sound on sound (pro audio industry bible) Mac columnist was getting worried that Apple was going to abandon the creative industrys. Looks like Apple is transitioning from a tech to a consumer company.

They made that transition when they dropped "Computer" from their name. The rest is just logical follow-up.

Re: Mac Pro gets half-assed “update”

#303

Post by greedo »

corwinstephen wrote: post #163
kbuck wrote: post #148

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I disagree. Apple is both a hardware and software company, and I would argue that most of the decision to buy a Mac lies in software, not hardware. People don't say "I need this computer because it has an aluminum case"; they say "I need a Mac because it's easier to use." Not charging for minor updates doesn't mean they're giving them away. It means they've already rolled the cost into the original sale price.

Let's be honest with ourselves here. True, it's not the aluminum case they're after. But it also isn't the ease of use; The ease of use paradigm is yet another clever Apple marketing tactic to give people something to talk about when trying to explain to their friends why they made the decision to buy. The real reasons people buy Macintosh (and I'm talking about the general public here, because admittedly, the person…

Let's be honest with ourselves here. This is a tired, tired, worn cliche about Apple, as well as a misunderstanding of fashion for real people. Top it off with rhetorical tricks that don't do your argument justice; "And sure, you might argue that not everyone does that..."

This is just a variation on the "Apple only succeeds because of marketing, or shiny iObjects, or consumer stupidity." That if consumers were only intelligently informed, they'd all run either Linux on home built desktops or something other than what is currently popular.

Why is it so hard to accept that sometimes things become popular because they are good?

Re: Mac Pro gets half-assed “update”

#304

Post by jcromartie »

wh-uws wrote: post #147
alaskamiller wrote: post #130

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The irony of this post is so hilarious to me, this is Apple coming full circle from its clone wars days. Man, those were some shitty experiences. Apple is an hardware company. They make money off the nuts and bolts pieced together with premium markup, software is but icing on top. They practically give away the results of their development costs on OSX. You're encountering the cognitive dissonance as experienced in t…

I agree with all you said except the software being the icing on the top part. Apple knows its the end to end experience (software to hardware). Apple is just fortunate to be in the very small category (if not the singular player) of companies that have great depth of talent in both the hardware and software realms. This and the market they cater too (those with the money to spend) allow them to pick either pushing t…

People bring up the "ridiculous markup", but when you compare the MacBook Air vs. the ASUS Zenbook, Apple really is competing on price in the "Ultrabook" market. When the form factor and construction are similar, the Apple version only adds about $150.

Re: Mac Pro gets half-assed “update”

#305

Post by jcromartie »

forrestthewoods wrote: post #29

Our sound guy is PISSED at the lack of update. Seriously, incredibly pissed. I've honestly never seen him this angry before. He'd been counting down the days till WWDC and a long overdue update. There are three major pieces of software he uses on his Mac that he swears by. It sounds like they have all just released or are about to release Windows versions. I'm beginning to wonder if this is a trend? Apple is clearly…

What does your sound guy need that a top-end MBP with Thunderbolt storage wouldn't handle?

Re: Mac Pro gets half-assed “update”

#306

Post by jcromartie »

gallerytungsten wrote: post #134
blueprint wrote: post #31

Earlier quoted context omitted.

To confirm, what kind of professionals are you talking about for whom a new Macbook Pro isn't going to be fast enough?

All of the above. Audio, video, 3D. Any pro level design. Even print design. Having a Mac Pro with lots of storage and big monitors when you're working on a 300 page book with 300GB of photos is much less annoying than poking along with a laptop. It's not just the speed, it's also the usability. Eg, a comfortable trackball and a nicer keyboard. Sure, you can add those to a laptop, but then you have a kludge.

How is that a kludge? You have to add them to a Mac Pro exactly the same. And you can just stick all of your "desktop" stuff on a USB hub and call it a docking station...

Re: Mac Pro gets half-assed “update”

#307

Post by mjwalshe »

astrodust wrote: post #302
mjwalshe wrote: post #261

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Your right I recall a few years back that sound on sound (pro audio industry bible) Mac columnist was getting worried that Apple was going to abandon the creative industrys. Looks like Apple is transitioning from a tech to a consumer company.

They made that transition when they dropped "Computer" from their name. The rest is just logical follow-up.

Presuambly EVGA and the Other Workstaion Class kit makers will be holding a viking funeral for the Old Apple Woz would be invited to light the funeral pyre

Re: Mac Pro gets half-assed “update”

#308

Post by marquis »

verisimilidude wrote: post #35
marquis wrote: post #12

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Mac OSX is still solidly used in many industries, such as media and publishing. Recording studios need the Pro to install expansion cards, video production houses the same. I've seen close to riots because a production house wanted to move all their staff to Windows, and as much as you think it might save costs, you don't have to worry about Anti-Virus and Firewall software management, admin permissions etc on top of…

I (still) work in old-world publishing. Honestly, Mac Pros are losing their edge in this industry. My machine was recently upgraded from an old Mac Pro to a new Mac Mini. Even when I spam my machine with a half-dozen Adobe apps at once, I don't really hurt for performance. Granted, some still need a Mac Pro to drive multiple huge monitors, cut video, add weird device interfaces, etc. Some will demand super expensive…

Right, I wonder if the Thunderbolt isn't going to replace the expansion cards in the future. As long as latency is as low there is no other reason I can think of to maintain expansion card chassis, and thus discontinue the Mac Pros for the Minis.

Re: Mac Pro gets half-assed “update”

#309

Post by dpres »

> I bet this is the last Mac Pro. If you wanted to kill a product line, an “update” like today’s would be a good way to clear out parts and keep selling to a few desperate buyers for a bit longer without any real investment.

Apple's products build off one another. Apple is not going to kill the Mac Pro line because the iPad and iPhone would suffer.

Re: Mac Pro gets half-assed “update”

#310

Post by FireBeyond »

flyinRyan wrote: post #289
robomartin wrote: post #98

This illustrates the issue I highlighted in another thread: http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=4097141 The fact that Apple keeps hardware and, increasingly, software, so tightly controlled leads to a situation like that of this "new" Mac Pro. If the Apple hardware ecosystem were open like that of Windows you'd have major companies all over the world evolving the platform in wonderful ways. Performance would go up an…

> If the Apple hardware ecosystem were open like that of Windows you'd have major companies all over the world evolving the platform in wonderful ways. And OSX would also be crashing all the time, getting a reputation for being unstable. This is exactly why they have such tightly controlled hardware configurations: so some cheap company with bad drivers can't make Grandmothers think Mac OSX crashes all the time. It's…

"Crashing all the time"? This isn't the days of 95, 98, and early XP...

Crashing and BSODs are a thing of the past now, unless you buy a non-name peripheral, or have faulty hardware (which will crash an Apple just as quickly).

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