Re: What if there is no new Mac Pro?

Thunderbolt can solve a number of problems but not every problem. In situations where you need connectivity, but not necessarily the most horsepower, you were stuck with buying a Mac Pro even if an iMac would do. That's no longer the case.

Where I used to work we had about 25 seats on an Xsan and video router and they all had to be towers for connectivity reasons even though half of them were basically capture stations. Now w/ThB the non-editing stations are either going to be replaced with iMacs or Mac Minis using ThB adapters to connect to the Xsan and video router.

I think we are on the cusp of another hardware shift. 10-12yrs ago you basically had 'big iron' machines (ex. SGI) for heavy lifting, desktops for everyday tasks and laptops for internet/email while on the go. Today I think desktops are approaching where 'big iron' computers were a decade ago, laptops are the new everyday machines, and iPads are the new laptops for internet/email while on the road.

When Apple drops the traditional tower from it's line up (and this might not be until ThB goes optical) I think they'll introduce a new vision of the desktop computer (I'm thinking something that looks more like a Mac Mini on steroids than a Mac Pro). Will it work for everyone? No. But it will work good enough for enough pros that it will help do to desktop towers what desktop towers did to 'big iron' rigs.


-Andrew

2.9 GHz 8-core (4,1), FCP 7.0.3, 10.6.6
Blackmagic Multibridge Eclipse (7.9.5)