

Apple to cease Mac Pro shipments to Europe - bane
http://www.geek.com/articles/chips/apple-to-cease-mac-pro-shipments-to-europe-2013021/

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adamt
I think this is about apple to cease shipping the _current_ Mac Pro to Europe.

If Apple had a new version of the Mac Pro around the corner, then they
probably wouldn't bother release an update/redesign of the existing version in
order to meet new EU laws.

~~~
masklinn
> If Apple had a new version of the Mac Pro around the corner

Which is fairly likely, a Cook-sent email stated pretty much that last year:
<http://forums.macrumors.com/showthread.php?t=1383915>

> Although we didn't have a chance to talk about a new Mac Pro at today's
> event, _don't worry as we're working on something really great for later
> next year_. We also updated the current model today.

(emphasis mine)

~~~
hilko
as an aside, I wonder if there's some Steve Jobs vernacular style guide lying
around at Apple, or if it's just from personal interaction that much of what
Cook says (and others perhaps) sounds so much like him.

Sure, I may be reading too much into 'really great', but I can't stop reading
this stuff in Jobs voice.

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netcraft
I'm typing this on a 2009 mac pro. I bought it back then, because at the time
it could do everything I wanted it to - snow leopard was fairly new, and as a
programmer / photographer, a *nix box with a gui was pretty much my sweet
spot. But as the newer os x versions have been released and they have stopped
updating the mac pro line, its becoming less appealing as a power user as time
goes on. My next purchase probably wont be a mac. I completely realize that I
am no longer their target demo, but I don't like my overall options really.
But the fact is, for the majority of what I do, a windows 7/8 box with enough
power to run linux vms is my best option.

~~~
pm90
ok, I have a slightly unrelated question: is it advisable (efficient, easy
etc) to run a linux vm over windows or the other way around? Why or wht not?

~~~
5h
I run ubuntu 12.04 on an i5-2500k, 16gb ddr3-1600 ram and intel ssd .. I
currently have 4 windows vms running, 1 for adobe cs4, one for adobe cs6 (both
windows 7) and 2 xp vms for ie7/8 ... runs just fine, quite often have an IE6
vm running also.

using awesome wm for a triple head setup, which i guess is a lot lighter than
unity or whatever.

I ran the same thing but in reverse before, windows 7 with a couple of linux
VMs, for making web stuff to run on linux servers it was painful.

oh, and is it's vaguely relevant i bought the bits for a grand total of £700
excluding screens/keyboard/mouse/optical drive.

~~~
w1ntermute
Can I ask you why you need a VM running CS4 and another one running CS6? And
aren't there better ways to test sites with different browser versions?

~~~
5h
because i've only just upgraded, and cloning a fresh VM & installing CS6 was
quicker than installing it, then removing it when weird things happen (mostly
plugins/file compatibility have pained me in the past).

And sure there are lighter ways to test different browsers, but I don't trust
them, been caught out before by silly differences like font rendering, testing
eflyers outlook express/outlook etc, in the multi-ie-in-one-app things before,
now i have a one-keystroke switch between an environment i can trust 100% to
be authentic, and is easy to move around too.

basically using vm's in this way is one of the things that let me sleep at
night.

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brudgers
This 'leak' will insure Apple clears out existing inventory quickly without
dropping the price.

~~~
SoftwareMaven
Apple doesn't hold very much inventory and they could always ship them to
another region. If this is a leak, I would bet it is for their customers. This
gives them a month to buy should they want to before the EU regulation stops
them from selling.

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raverbashing
Unfortunately, due to the evolution of systems the Mac Pro's market share is
diminishing.

Of course, we hope that there's a new Mac Pro around the corner, but the
chances are slim. Also, the advantages are getting smaller, except for the
most specific uses.

I really want Apple to come up with a worthy Mac Pro substitute, something
that has power. I sorely miss the G5 PowerMac, it seemed the epitome of what
Mac could do. (even though the specs look silly today)

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cllns
Marco was right: <http://www.marco.org/2011/11/02/scaling-down-the-mac-pro>

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pavlov
This is not the first time that Apple has cut off an obsolete line before the
replacement is ready to ship. They're not afraid to do bold moves sometimes to
empty the channel.

In 2004, the "sunflower" iMac G4 was actually discontinued for months before
the iMac G5 shipped. Today it seems pretty incredible that less than 10 years
ago there was a period of several months when Apple simply wasn't shipping any
iMacs.

~~~
smackfu
Wasn't there a month last year where Apple wasn't shipping any iMacs?

~~~
killerpopiller
I am waiting a month now for my iMac :(

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lunchladydoris
My wife is a photographer and works with large RAW files. Her year-and-a-bit-
old MacBook Pro is a bit of a dog and she needs something more powerful.

She was considering a Mac Pro but I guess that's out the door now. For those
of you in a similar situation, what do you do? Does an iMac cut it, or have
you moved over to Windows?

~~~
Osmium
The new iMacs have gorgeous screens with great colour reproduction, so I
imagine that's what's most important to a photographer. Specs are fine: up to
3.4GHz i7, 32 GB RAM, SSD/HDD Fusion drives, 2GB 680MX, and even with a custom
config would still be cheaper than Mac Pro (though, naturally, much more
expensive than building your own). The new MacBook Retinas are great for
photography too and plenty beefy enough, though will probably need a
supplementary external monitor.

On the subject of the Mac Pros themselves, speculation here:

[http://www.reddit.com/r/apple/comments/17mzf5/apple_to_disco...](http://www.reddit.com/r/apple/comments/17mzf5/apple_to_discontinue_mac_pro_in_europe_in_march/c871b96)

is that it's because they draw too much power when switched off but still
plugged in. As for those worrying Apple's discontinuing Mac Pros they're on
record as saying there are new ones coming, so this just means they're
probably coming sooner rather than later:

[http://www.macrumors.com/2012/06/12/apple-spokesperson-
confi...](http://www.macrumors.com/2012/06/12/apple-spokesperson-confirms-new-
mac-pro-and-imac-designs-likely-coming-in-2013/)

~~~
potatolicious
> _"The new iMacs have gorgeous screens with great colour reproduction"_

IMO not good enough for professional image work. The LED backlighting gives
the panel more consistent, longer life, but also means a pretty dramatic
reduction in color gamut.

Even the Dell UltraSharp series will soundly beat out the 27" iMac display in
every color accuracy measure, and those are on the lowest end of the
professional scale - Eizo, NEC, and others have even more exacting panels.

The issue isn't performance - I agree a top-line iMac will trounce practically
any image you throw at it (short of, say, the 100MP images coming out of a
Phase One back), but the monitor is a big problem. Professionals frequently
invest multiple thousands in a monitor that will last a long time - they
aren't interested in throwing it out every time they need to upgrade the CPU.

~~~
Osmium
> Professionals frequently invest multiple thousands in a monitor that will
> last a long time - they aren't interested in throwing it out every time they
> need to upgrade the CPU.

Definitely agreed with that -- the iMac screen certainly isn't suitable for a
lot of pros, but it ultimately depends on what you're doing and what your
budget is. The iMac screens are still much better than a lot of what's out
there, and price-wise is actually a good deal when you consider how much just
the monitor would cost separately. I actually thought they used the same
panels as the Dell UltraSharps? but I must be mistaken about that.

Edit: from The Verge's review

"...on the 27-inch behemoth, you get a 2560 x 1440 panel that's matched only
by the Dell XPS 27."

"The IPS panels are the same as in last year’s iMacs, but they’re better
integrated now — Apple says that by laminating the display to the glass it
reduced reflections up to 70 percent, and indeed the glare problems that beset
so many displays are much less present here, though there's still some
reflection and glare. The improved manufacturing also makes whatever’s on the
screen feel closer to you, almost like things are jumping out of the panel.
The display's glossy bezel, which houses its HD FaceTime camera, is actually
the most reflective part of the whole machine now.

I have to say, I was really surprised to see how much better the screen could
be without a single change to the actual technology — but hey, I guess plastic
surgery can work wonders. Both screens have fantastic color reproduction, are
remarkably (like, blindingly) bright, and have near-180-degree viewing
angles."

[http://www.theverge.com/2012/11/30/3709120/apple-imac-mac-
mi...](http://www.theverge.com/2012/11/30/3709120/apple-imac-mac-mini-review)

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barredo
Current Mac Pro. Not Mac Pro as a line forever

------
brianbreslin
Doesn't it boil down to not being able to modify the current power supplies to
comply with EU regulations? I bet they would have a new design entirely coming
out this year. The current design is 8 years old.

~~~
ajasmin
If they had a new design in the queue don't you think they would have released
it by now? Long before that regulation would be effective.

~~~
masklinn
No? <http://forums.macrumors.com/showthread.php?t=1383915>

> Although we didn't have a chance to talk about a new Mac Pro at today's
> event, don't worry as we're working on something really great for later next
> year. We also updated the current model today.

From June 2012, confirmed by Apple as having been sent by Tim Cook.

------
drawkbox
If they stop selling the Mac Pro they have lost many game developers for their
platform, iMacs are nice and I have a couple but I still need a beast. A
laptop doesn't cut it for much of the 3d work and production you need to
launch games. Most game devs I know making cross platform including myself
have a Mac Pro beast that runs OSX and Windows. This is needed.

I think this is a HUGE error on the part of Apple and makes me wonder if Steve
Jobs wasn't just really good but absolutely horrid at picking CEOs. Or maybe
they are updating the line like they mentioned in 2013 and these are the older
ones.

I actually thought Apple would be smart and use their advantage to own desktop
as well (which is a big market for them and not attractive to others). Most of
the people I know that got Apple desktops/laptops get into their devices and
vice versa. At a time when Windows loyalty is weak I think this is an error.
Maybe I am skewed by the industry I am in but I need a big machine that runs
OSX! I do tons of work on my iMacs and Mac Pro but wouldn't rely on just iMacs
yet.

If iMacs are their biggest machines I suspect many game developers going
Hackintosh and that is a HUGE missed opportunity. Sometimes you just need a
tower that can expand big time.

~~~
coob
> HUGE error

Yeah those lost $0.5mm worth of sales are really going to kill Apple off.

~~~
Zarathust
According to this[0], this is closer to $6B - $7B per year. [0]
<http://images.apple.com/pr/pdf/q2fy12datasum.pdf>

~~~
astrodust
"Desktops" includes the Mac Mini, iMac and Mac Pro, of which the Mac Pro
probably makes up less than 10% of the sales by revenue and 2-3% of the sales
by volume.

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yread
A comment on El Reg suggest it has to do with tool-less access to the inside
where there are wires and running fans. Another raises a valid point that
regulation like this is sometimes good for the companies as when something bad
happens to the consumer they can just point to the regulation and say we've
done what is required by the law.

~~~
TillE
Unlikely, unless there's a very specific detail involved. I've seen plenty of
computer cases in Germany that are designed to be opened up with just two
fingers (those screws with a large grippy area).

~~~
astrodust
Apple's computer is the only one so far to be affected by these regulations.

It's possible that a screw, even one like that, qualifies as some kind of
mechanical barrier to entry. Apple's tab apparently doesn't even though,
ironically, it can be locked to prevent access to the components within.

You'd think if they just slapped a zip-tie on the outside of the case they'd
be able to get approval.

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jseliger
The last paragraph in the article is inane: "Apple’s failure to update the Mac
Pro demonstrates the changing marketplace for consumers. People want Apple
laptops or super thin all-in-one desktops like the new iMac." Not updating the
Mac Pro doesn't demonstrate "the changing marketplace for consumers:" it
demonstrates that Apple doesn't offer a compelling tower and basically hasn't
for at least five years.

Which is a choice, and I've read many defenses of that choice, but let's not
pretend: for most people, the Mac Pro is a terrible value. Right now, it's a
terrible value in absolute terms. If Apple made a $1,000 tower, I'd probably
use that in lieu of an iMac, and there must be others in my situation.

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jpxxx
The Mac is niche, the Mac Pro is niche^2, and Mac Pro sales into Europe are
niche^3. It's unlikely this event is going to force the schedule of a new Mac
Pro design.

~~~
walshemj
No but it was the MACs lock on the "creative" industrys that helped generate
halo effect on the mac brand.

And high end mac users have been worried that apple is throwing them under the
buss for the consumer market for years now.

If I where MS id set up a workstation division just for this market and
produced built to the hilt machines for the high end users

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anovikov
These computers really suck for their price, and while some other apple
hardware sucks, too, it still sells because it is a way to show off - not in
this case, you don't carry a bulky desktop with you to show off.

I am a long time apple user, but will not buy a Mac Pro even if it's
available, it is a ripoff at this price.

