WWDC 2012 Mac Pro "Update"

[MacMan]

Pre-WWDC Mac Pro (2010)

Quad-Core:
Intel® Xeon® Processor W3530 (8M Cache, 2.80 GHz, 4.80 GT/s Intel® QPI) 4/8 $2,499.00
Intel® Xeon® Processor W3565 (8M Cache, 3.20 GHz, 4.80 GT/s Intel® QPI) 4/8 BTO $2899
Intel® Xeon® Processor W3680 (12M Cache, 3.33 GHz, 6.40 GT/s Intel® QPI)6/12 BTO $3699

8-Core:
2 x Intel® Xeon® Processor E5620 (12M Cache, 2.40 GHz, 5.86 GT/s Intel® QPI) 4/8 $3,499.00

12-Core:
2 x Intel® Xeon® Processor X5650 (12M Cache, 2.66 GHz, 6.40 GT/s Intel® QPI) 6/12 $4,999.00
2 x Intel® Xeon® Processor X5670 (12M Cache, 2.93 GHz, 6.40 GT/s Intel® QPI) 6/12 BTO $6199


WWDC Update (2012)

Quad-Core:
Intel® Xeon® Processor W3565 (8M Cache, 3.20 GHz, 4.80 GT/s Intel® QPI) 4/8 $2,499.00
Intel® Xeon® Processor W3680 (12M Cache, 3.33 GHz, 6.40 GT/s Intel® QPI)6/12 BTO $2999

12-Core:
2 x Intel® Xeon® Processor E5645 (12M Cache, 2.40 GHz, 5.86 GT/s Intel® QPI) 6/12 $3,799.00
2 x Intel® Xeon® Processor X5650 (12M Cache, 2.66 GHz, 6.40 GT/s Intel® QPI) 6/12 BTO $4,999
2 x Intel® Xeon® Processor X5675 (12M Cache, 3.06 GHz, 6.40 GT/s Intel® QPI) 6/12 BTO $6,199

So they dropped the entry Mac Pro and made the quad core BTO the new base, dropped the 8-core configuration, lowered the price of the entry 12-core configuration and changed CPUs in 12-core BTO options.

BFD

Where are the Sandy Bridge-E LGA 2011 systems? : : :

 

[powerpcg5]

Re: WWDC 2012 Update

BFD indeed!!!

As I just posted in another thread, "like a car company releasing the same exact 2010 model car but with a faster engine and calling it the new 2012 models."

 

[DoctorWho]

Re: WWDC 2012 Update

This is by NO means an update.

How can it be a pro system if it's using a 2 year old GPU???

 

[tonymacx86]

Ya this is weird- in my opinion it's a signal to people that the existing Socket 1366 Mac Pro is it. There will be no faster Mac Pro, even though Socket 2011 is here. Also, having the same discrete gpus 5770/5870 seems like a bad joke.

 

[tonymacx86]

Between this, and the fact the iMac hasn't been updated - think its time we said our goodbyes to the Mac desktop, before apple bury it!

I'm sure we'll see a new Ivy Bridge iMac, and possibly Mac mini with the Mountain Lion release next month.

 

[aspen]

Ha.

Mountain lion, For PC and MAC.
I can see it coming.

 

[genzai]

Between this, and the fact the iMac hasn't been updated - think its time we said our goodbyes to the Mac desktop, before apple bury it!

Dude,
The iMac will be updated. Thats not going anywhere.
There is a big difference between what Apple did with the iMac (no update) and the very questionable "update/refresh" to the Mac Pro. Apple usually spaces out their updates somewhat. In fact today was remarkable mostly for the unusual number of simultaneous updates. iMac and probably mac mini will receive updates soon, probably sometime after ML hits, and in time for the back to school rush.

The Mac Pro situation is really amusing though. Obviously people can read it different ways. The more optimistic (and probably delusional at this point) folks will cling to this refresh as a sign that apple is still maintaining the Mac Pro, and that some miraculous new super computer will be released "soon".

The pessimists (realists?) will point out that the hardware for a real mac pro update has been available since around the start of the year, that apple has slowly but surely been phasing out its lower-volume professional-only products, and that historically apple rarely (in fact never?) refreshes a product only to release a full update anytime "soon" after.

Though being in the Apple prediction business is a bad business to be in, it does seem very likely to me that this is the end of the Mac Pro - and that apple sees the future for consumers and professionals alike - to be using high end laptops or imacs with thunderbolt expansion. Since there are few and dwindling circumstances when even the most decked out mac pro will outperform a high end imac, the line will probably be retired in another cycle or so when (perhaps hasswell) makes the mac pro totally obsolete and hopefully thunderbolt has made more significant inroads as a serious pro/expansion technology.

In my opinion if this is the course they are on, they would have been better off not "updating" the mac pro at all. But then again some of those aging parts might have become hard to source even at low volumes. And the fact that Apple didn't even bother to mention the mac pro means they might not have even wanted to call it an "update". The "new" tag on the mac pro in the apple store is pretty ludicrous though. And i think they would have been better off making this refresh as invisible/transparent as possible since all it seems to have done is further inflamed the emotional folks in the Pro market.
g\

 

[BoomR]

Did anyone see any mention of Thunderbolt being added to the "updated" [cough-cough] lineup?

 

[Neccros]

Do you think due to Steve's death that things will be updated differently than they were with Steve in charge????

Maybe Apples not as aggressive as they used to be with updates????

Who knows

 

[tonymacx86]

Did anyone see any mention of Thunderbolt being added to the "updated" [cough-cough] lineup?

No new components- no Thunderbolt, no USB3, no new GPUS even. It's basically the 2010 Mac Pro with a spec bump that should've happened in 2011 if at all.