Leaked Apple inventory list hints at new non-iOS hardware
Stay of execution for Mac Pro towers rumoured
Sweat is pouring down fanbois' foreheads today: a leaked inventory list and a stock shortage have sparked rumours of a new Mac Pro emerging at Apple's World Wide Developers Conference.
The Mac Pro desktop tower was last refreshed in August 2010, and the top-specced model is a 12-core £4,083 ($4,999) beast. Such muscle power is well outside the requirements of Apple's slab-fondling, phone-stroking, Angry Birds-hurling user base, so it is feared the maker of iOS-powered gadgets might let its high-end desktop line die out. The Reg's Rik Myslewski noted that combined sales of the Mac Pro, Mac Mini and iMac - all traditional desktops - only contributed $6.4bn to the company's $108bn net sales last year.
However, a shortage of Mac Pro units (Mac Rumours found that only 5 out of 100 US Apple stores had the entry-level model available in store) and an inventory list sent to 9to5Mac suggest that there may be a new Mac Pro model on the way.
The list purportedly shows new fruity stock headed for sale in Australia. The list of order numbers do not seem to match any order numbers for current Apple products but are in the same format. 9to5 infers that the three numbers below show a new Mac Pro is on the way:
- MD770X/A K5BPLUS,BETTER,BTR-AUS
- MD771X/A K5BPLUS,BEST,BTR-AUS
- MD772X/A K5BPLUS,ULTIMATE,BTR-AUS
The Reg knows that the current order number for the Mac Pro is MC915LL/A, but we cannot confirm that the Mac rumour mill's guess is right - or that the document is real. Other helpful whispers suggest that the Mac Pro will get an updated case, possibly featuring a 7-inch retina display screen. That sounds bonkers.
A separate spec sheet running wild on the internet seems to suggest a thinner, more expensive Macbook Pro with an Intel Ivy Bridge chip will be unveiled at WWDC. And other rumours suggest an update to the iMac and to the MacBook Air.
It's five days till the conference on 11 June, when we'll actually be able to find this stuff out, and won't have to keep staring at fuzzy JPGs of spreadsheets. ®
COMMENTS
Re: Does Anna have some overwhelming need to insult Apple users?
"She's just pointing out that the biggest Apple is terribly overpriced and underpowered and that there's about $7billion of people out there willing to part with their monies for that."
Apple'3 Mac Pro ($4,999):
12 cores (2.66 GHz Xeon), 6 GB RAM, 1TB HD
HP's Z820 Workstation ( $4,999):
8 cores (2.0 GHz Xeon), 4 GB RAM, 500GB HD
Dell's T7500 Workstation ($5,524):
12 cores (2.66 GHz Xeon) , 6 GB RAM, 1 TB HD
(All sourced from the manufacturer's sites)
WHO'S "terribly overpriced and underpowered"?
@Don Jefe - a Microsoft fanboy who's never priced a twin socket Xeon workstation I see
Try going to DELL or HP's website and doing so. By the time you've reached a spec roughly equivalent to even the current ageing Mac Pro you'll have blown more than £4K
Oh, and there are many Pro software packages for the Mac that business and academia make good, practical use of. People who think otherwise are demonstrating their own ignorence.
Does Anna have some overwhelming need to insult Apple users?
The vast majority of Windown and Android users don't need and aren't prepared to pay for Xeon workstations either. Does she want to insult them or complain about the prices that HP and DELL charge for such a device?
Re: Does Anna have some overwhelming need to insult Apple users?
>Apple is terribly overpriced and underpowered
Don, show us the body of evidence.
I just remember the Toms Hardware investigation into your tired claim... they attempted to build a PC using like-for-like components (ECC RAM etc) to the standards of a Mac Pro, and found that the base-line Mac was actually very fair value - though Apple would take the piss if you chose to upgrade storage and RAM from them. Remember that Toms are all about testing hardware empirically, mostly with a view to PC gaming but also general productivity, CAD and server workloads - hardly Apple Fanbois.
If you can support your assertion, please post link.
