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MacPro Sales To Stop March 1 in EU Countries


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MacPro Sales To Stop March 1 in EU Countries

 

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If you live in a country under the European Union and you were thinking of purchasing a Mac Pro, do it before March 1st. Apple told reseller and channel partners recently that it would stop all sales of the desktop system on March 1st to comply with new EU regulatory standards. IEC 609501 Amendment 1, covers safety and electrical standards as they relate to electrical equipment and unfortunately for EU customers, the Mac Pro does not comply with this standard, due to issues with power provided to its I/O ports and the placement of its fan guards.

 

The MacPro is the only Apple product to fall under this ruling, because the desktop computer hasn’t had an overhaul since 2010, other than a minor speed bump last June. This ruling only affects countries within the European Union, EU-candidate countries, and EFTA countries. Residents of unaffected countries (including the United States and Canada) can continue to order the Mac Pro after March 1 with no problem. However potentionally don’t ring the alarm bells just yet. Tim Cook has said repeatedly to customers that the company is currently working on the Mac Pro’s successor and with luck, we should hear more about it later in 2013.

 

http://bit.ly/14L8Kwm

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I know many, many post houses who are very nervous about the lack of momentum Apple desktop computers have had in the last couple of years. It's disconcerting that Apple now pays so little attention to the professional market, and inexpensive PCs are out that have three or four times the power of the top-of-the-line Mac desktop, for half the money.

 

The disparity usually hasn't been quite this bad, but it sure is now. I know a number of critics (particularly on Digidesign's Pro Tools User group and also the LA Final Cut Pro User Group) who are screaming about this, and some are even just throwing in the towel and switching over to Windows (and using Avid, in the case of FCP). It's sad to see Apple discard their professional users and instead become more of a consumer products company... like a cellphone/tablet company that makes a few computers on the side.

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It's sad to see Apple discard their professional users and instead become more of a consumer products company

Not for its stockholders. We in the professional community just don't generate enough unit sales to justify investing in product development... not when compared to popular consumer products like phones, pods, and pads. 

 

I prefer the Mac OS. But the only reason I'm using MacPro towers now is because of their customizability with third-party PCI cards. Once Apple makes a more powerful Mini (not hard to imagine) and the price of Thunderbolt<>PCI chassis comes down (ditto) it'll be easy to switch.

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http://appleinsider.com/articles/13/02/06/apple-tells-reseller-new-mac-pro-coming-in-spring-2013

 

France Systemes disclosed the details in its latest newsletter, as first discovered by French site Mac4Ever. This year, the spring season runs from March 20 to June 20.



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Apple apparently disclosed the launch window for the new Mac Pro to ease concerns over the fact that the current model will no longer be available in Europe starting March 1. Sales of the Mac Pro desktop will cease in less than a month because of new regulatory requirements in Europe.

In a rare public disclosure about an upcoming product, Apple announced last June that it was planning on updating the Mac Pro in 2013. Apple Chief Executive Tim Cook sent an email in which he confirmed his company was "working on something really great."

Cook's comments assuaged concerns that Apple could be planning to ax the Mac Pro from its lineup entirely. The high-end professional desktop is largely a niche product for the company, and it hasn't seen a meaningful upgrade in years.

While Apple has signaled it will update the Mac Pro this year, there's been no indication as to exactly what the company is planning to do. Some have speculated that a complete redesign of the current tower, the design of which dates back to the company's Power Mac G5.

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I know many, many post houses who are very nervous about the lack of momentum Apple desktop computers

 

 LA Final Cut Pro User Group) who are screaming about this, and some are even just throwing in the towel and switching over to Windows (and using Avid, in the case of FCP).

Maybe a support group to reassure them Its just a computer and life will go on?

 

Friend on mine refuses to give up on FCP. He just spent over 200 hours transcoding Red footage to Prores.

I just shake my head and go "whatever dude"......

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Apple Tells Reseller that the New Mac Pro is Arriving in Spring 2013

Wednesday February 6, 2013 5:39 am PST by Arnold Kim
French Apple Reseller France Systems sent out a newsletter to its customers on the newsthat Apple will be halting sales of the Mac Pro on March 1st, 2013 due to new EU regulatory requirements. 

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As noted by both Mac4Ever and MacGeneration, the reseller also reports in thatnewsletter that they have heard from Apple that a new Mac Pro will be arriving in Spring of 2013. Translation:

However, we believe that the judgment of the Mac Pro is temporary, Apple informs us that new Mac Pro will be released in spring 2013.

While Apple typically doesn't leak such information, even to resellers, they have been strangely candid about a 2013 Mac Pro revision. In June, after a disappointing revision to the Mac Pro, an Apple spokesperson confirmed that Apple was working on a new Mac Pro for release in 2013. 

Update: Apple declined to comment to Ars Technica about the reseller's claims, merely pointing back to earlier comments by Tim Cook about a new Mac Pro coming "later" in 2013.

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Not for its stockholders. We in the professional community just don't generate enough unit sales to justify investing in product development... not when compared to popular consumer products like phones, pods, and pads. 

 

I believe I was reading the other day that if you take just the income that Apple makes from iPhones alone, it's more than what Microsoft makes in a year. So there is a danger that Apple could just drop everything from their line that contributes to less than 10% of their profits and just concentrates on the stuff that makes the most money. It's not coincidental that a few years ago, they changed their name from "Apple Computer" to "Apple, Inc."

 

 

Maybe a support group to reassure them Its just a computer and life will go on?

 

What if you had a post house that had 22 edit bays and a staff of 40 editors, all of which use Mac Pros? What if you also had another dozen systems in use just for ingesting and creating viewing copies? What if you were responsible for delivering 20 network and cable series every week? When you're faced with three dozen or more systems that could become obsolete in a year, and these machines are critical to the survival of your company, then it does become a life or death issue in terms of technology.

 

It was only a year ago that Bunim-Murray, one of the major reality/infomercial companies, completely dropped Apple and Final Cut Pro and switched over to Windows and Avid. I'd be sad to see everybody forced into the same direction, simply because I think the post industry is better when sound and picture editorial companies have multiple choices. If it's all just Windows, then you have a captive audience that won't have the flexibility to go in different directions based on user preference, speed, reliability, and cost. 

 

BTW, it's no big deal to use RedCineX Pro to convert to ProRes 422 HQ -- it's done all the time for reality TV and a lot of other documentary-style projects that have tight deadlines. If it's HD delivery only, 4K isn't a factor. My preference is for RedLogFilm for final color correction, but the 2K RedColor3 outputs work fine too, as do uncompressed DPX. 4K is a huge bottleneck for post, and I don't think it buys you anything except in theatrical delivery. Even The Hobbit edited in lower-res Avid DNxHD, and then conformed the original 4K files at the very end. Editing is a multiple-step process, and you don't have to actually cut the R3D files themselves.

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Switching from FCP to Avid MC would no doubt come with pain.

The place I do most of my post audio for just switched last year from FCP to Premiere Pro.

They slowly integrated in order to stay productive.

In the end the market will dictate whether or not they can be competitive with a FCP workflow.

Seems to me they are putting off the inevitable but I am on the fringe of the business so I really don't know.

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