Apple Introduces the new Mac Pro 8-Core (Today)

ScottW

ScottW

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The fastest Mac ever, the new Mac Pro has eight processor cores and a new system architecture that delivers up to twice the performance of its predecessor.* It combines two of Intel’s new 45 nanometer Quad-Core Xeon processors running up to 3.2 GHz, powerful new graphics and up to 4TB of internal storage, offering the ideal system for creative professionals, 3D digital content creators and scientists. The standard 8-core configuration starts at just $2,799.

http://www.apple.com/macpro/
 
Ah. :) I first thought the Mac Pro simply didn't have BT. The icon on the online store is misleading, where at the "WiFi and Bluetooth" part, you can only select WiFi. (Edit: They've removed the BT icon from that section by now.)
 
Oscar Castillo said:
Big mistake not to make the new video cards backward compatible.
Click to expand...

There were unavoidable technical reasons for that. The new cards use PCI-Express 2.0, which wasn't included on the older Mac Pros.

I think this is an impressive machine, but it highlights even more the immense gap between some of Apple's consumer lines and their high-end lines. I would not be surprised at all if Apple starts introducing something to fill that gap, they've pretty much had two tiers of hardware for a decade now, and I really think a lot of users fall into the in-between category, especially gamers, IT professionals, photographers and film-makers.
 
The PCI-E 2.0 spec is supposed to be backward and forward compatible with 1.0 and 1.1.
A 2.0 card would simply run at the lesser spec. These things should not happen on any high-end system.
 
I agree the gap between iMac and Mac Pro has definitely widened too much. We're in desperate need of the "desktop Mac". A smaller tower that can take one or two harddrives, run 2-4 cores, take a decent graphics card etc. Then again, we've been saying that for years, and Apple simply drove people away...
 
I wouldn't be surprised at all if Apple announces exactly that product four days from now. The customer base has greatly grown, and I've felt their product line has been somewhat diminutive for a rather long time. So, a new laptop and a new desktop please.
 
Don't forget that "too many models" was one of the biggest problems Apple had to solve first at their turnaround point ten years ago, back when "Apple's gonna die" was _the_ one headline you read about Apple again and again. I guess the Mac mini already looks quite out of place in Apple's grid (it's not four products anymore). It would look even more out of place once yet another desktop model appeared.
 
Now that Apple has 8% of the US market, it can create one or two new models without killing its margin. One high margin ultra portable abd one high growth desktop would be interesting... even if we have to remember that the desktop market is shrinking fast, it will therefore be very challenging to have a sustainable growth on this market.
 
Having a lot of products isn't bad if they all serve a distinct purpose. The problem with Apple's models in the early- to mid-90s was that nobody could tell what the hell the difference was between all of them, so choosing one was confusing and stressful.

The truth is, most PC makers have that same problem today. I've occasionally gone to various PC makers' web sites to see what they have, and I can never tell at a glance what's what. They have a dozen different models titled with cryptic numbers and no descriptions besides "Great for Photos!!" (okay...so what isn't?!).

Apple could add any number of new products to their lineup IF they keep it easy to understand. So no, introducing an iMac XL, iMac GX, iMac XS725, iMac WTF and iMac Multimedia Edition would probably not be appropriate. But introducing a minitower wouldn't confuse anyone.

As an all-in-one, the iMac can be considered in a class of its own. I don't think of a minitower in terms of putting a new machine between the iMac and the Mac Pro, I see it as putting a new machine in the huge gap between the Mac Mini and the Mac Pro.
 
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