Hasta La Gadget!

Due to changes made to regulatory standards, Apple will be discontinuing the Mac Pro in Europe starting March 1. MacRumors received a copy of a note sent out to European distributors regarding the discontinuation of Apple’s tower computers, saying that the Mac Pros “are not compliant with Amendment 1 of regulation IEC 60950-1, Second Edition which becomes effective on this date.”

While the Mac Pro has been slowly dying off the past couple of years, due to lack of demand and what seems like no interest from Apple to give the series a big update, the discontinuation of the Mac Pro in Europe actually has nothing to do with this lack of demand from users. This only affects Europe and a few other surrounding nations, so Mac Pro sales will continue in all other countries as usual.

The new product certification standards in Europe appear to have something to do with a few internal components in the Mac Pro systems, such as power supply parts and various wiring. It’s currently unclear exactly which aspects of the Mac Pro line don’t meet regulatory standards, but any new Mac Pro systems will not be shipping over to Europe after March 1.

Resellers in Europe will be able to continue selling existing Mac Pro systems that have already shipped over, even if the March 1 date has passed, but starting at that point, no new shipments will be going to Europe. Apple has announced that a redesigned Mac Pro will come sometime this year after the company barely updated the line in June 2012 with outdated processors and no big improvements.

[via MacRumors]

Apple discontinuing Mac Pro in Europe starting March 1 is written by Craig Lloyd & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.

Peter Zigich, the designer behind the Modular Mac Pro concept, sent us details of his next Apple computer concept: a Mac Pro based on ARM architecture that takes advantage of that processor’s high power efficiency to drastically alter its form factor and case design. It’s obviously a flight of pure fancy, but one that takes seriously the question of what comes next for the standalone desktop PC in a mobile-first world.

The design features a dramatically reduced physical footprint, with dimensions roughly a quarter of the current Mac Pro. That’s made possible by a quieter, cooler and more energy-efficient processor (that’s also cheaper to boot), based on ARM architecture which Zigich imagines could be an in-house successor to Apple’s A-series of mobile processors, dubbed the A10. These live on boards with integrated 16GB of RAM for each card, making for a maximum of 48 cores with 96GB of RAM when they’re combined inside the workstation’s CPU. Imaginary? Sure. But also tantalizing.

The design ticks a lot of boxes for Apple, including giving them control over CPU design, optimizing energy performance and lightening the physical footprint. That said, I doubt we’ll ever see the company actually build something like this, for the simple reason that while definitely cool, it would have very limited mass market appeal, and it manages to maintain a lot of upgradeability, something which Apple seems to be actively moving away from with its computer designs. The Mac Pro is due for an update, and we may yet see one (though I wouldn’t put good money on that), but it definitely won’t be an evolutionary leap like this concept.

Apple’s event on Tuesday was fun. The company offered up a slew of hardware products for consumers to drool over, and it did a fine job of appealing to everyone from mobile customers to computer purchasers.

The iPad mini will undoubtedly be a fan favorite, as will the fourth-generation iPad. The new iMac is downright beautiful with a thinness that has yet to be matched. Even the 13-inch MacBook Pro with Retina display, which is admittedly expensive, should attract quite a few customers.

But the only part of the market that Apple didn’t touch at its event was the power segment. Apple had products for mobile customers and casual users. But what about those of us who need power and sophistication?

Apple has once again updated its Mac line without once mentioning the Mac Pro. That computer, which is used heavily in the corporate design world, hasn’t been updated in two years. And so far, it’s as if Apple doesn’t really care. In fact, the company has gone out of its way to ignore the computer while it attempts to wow us with its other products.

I’m starting to wonder if Apple hates the Mac Pro. For months now, we’ve been hearing whispers that a new version of the desktop was in the works, only to be disappointed when it goes missing at Apple’s many press events.

According to some reports earlier this year, Apple executives have promised an update. So far, however, there’s been no public explanation for why the computer has been ignored. I’m not saying that Apple has to update the Mac Pro today (though it would be nice), but I do believe that the company should at least provide an explanation.

“Should Mac Pro users ditch Apple and go buy a high-end PC?”

Right now, there are countless Mac Pro users that are stuck with an obsolete computer, not knowing what they need to do. Should they ditch Apple’s product and go buy a high-end PC? Should they wait Apple out to see if it updates the Mac Pro at some point soon? Apple, for some reason, doesn’t want to provide them with an answer.

Not providing them with an answer is a big mistake. Eventually, designers will need more power, and if Apple doesn’t allay some fears soon, they’ll go elsewhere. And when they go elsewhere, they might never come back.

It’s odd to me that the Mac Mini, a product that was largely ignored by Apple for so long, has received more updates in the past couple of years than the Mac Pro. The Mac Mini is a cheap product that likely has a razor-thin margin. The Mac Pro could be a cash cow for Apple.

And yet, here I sit, writing this on a Mac Pro, wondering why Apple doesn’t see things the way I do. Yes, I know Apple is successful and it has made many smart moves, but this time around, I think it’s making a mistake.

Mac Pro users are arguably Apple’s most loyal and trusted fans. They’re buying the company’s most expensive product, and in the past, acted as evangelists when there weren’t that many products worth drooling over. It’s about time Apple shows those folks some respect and delivers a new Mac Pro.

Apple hates the Mac Pro, doesn’t it? is written by Don Reisinger & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.

NVIDIA’s Kepler-powered Quadro K5000 GPU will be making its way to Apple’s Mac Pro systems, the company announced today at IBC. The professional graphics card made its debut earlier this summer and is slated to ship beginning in October for $2,249. Timing for the Quadro K5000 for Mac isn’t quite so firm, with NVIDIA simply stating that it’ll ship “later this year,” though pricing is expected to be in line with the previously announced flavor. The next-gen GPU is said to offer up to 2x faster performance over the Quadro 4000, while also delivering 4K display support, quad display capability through two DVI-DL and two DisplayPort 1.2 connectors, and 4 gigs of graphics memory. Furthermore, each Mac Pro will be able to support up to two separate cards, should you need the extra power. You’ll find full details in the press release after the break.

Continue reading NVIDIA announces Quadro K5000 for Mac Pro, brings 4K support, 2x performance over Quadro 4000

Filed under: Desktops, Gaming

NVIDIA announces Quadro K5000 for Mac Pro, brings 4K support, 2x performance over Quadro 4000 originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 07 Sep 2012 04:00:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Motorola filed its most recent ITC complaint against Apple so late into last week that the court system couldn’t immediately provide more details; we’re only just seeing documents now that the weekend is over. As it stands, the case involves seven patents that mostly touch on staple technologies of the modern mobile world, such as syncing messages between devices and bookmarking media playback on one device to resume on another. Does that last technique sound familiar? You might recall it being a cornerstone of the movie and podcast support that Apple has implemented since 2005. Despite reaching that far back into history, Motorola is just as eager to modernize the targeted hardware list to keep its complaints relevant — the current iPad, the iPhone 4S and other devices are at risk of a trade ban, posing more of a threat to Apple’s bottom line than the dust-covered (and near-finished) initial legal challenge from October 2010. Before coming to any conclusions, though, remember that the newer complaint isn’t likely to have any speedy resolution of its own. Past ITC cases have usually taken a year and a half to complete, which could leave most or all of today’s technology as another distant memory.

Filed under: Cellphones, Desktops, Laptops, Tablet PCs

Motorola’s latest ITC complaint against Apple targets newer iOS devices and Macs, messaging and sync originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 20 Aug 2012 22:04:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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