[MacosNerd]

Its down, and some people are murmuring that the new MBPs could appear. I'd wonder why they would do that with MWSF just around the corner.

[Chongo]

something new this way comes

[Dork.]

Ever since they ditched the "Computer" from their name, they've made their incremental updates to their computer hardware away from MacWorld. They save the keynote for the Next Big Thing.

[Eug]

I know you've been waiting for these...

[MacosNerd]

True, but since MWSF is next week why not wait and show off the new stuff there, even if its an incremental update.

[Eug]

Originally Posted by MacosNerd 

True, but since MWSF is next week why not wait and show off the new stuff there, even if its an incremental update.

They may, in passing. This way they don't have to devote as much time to it (if they devote any at all).

I'm hoping for an HDMI enabled HDCP-compatible Mac mini, but I suspect they're not going to give us that.

[ajprice]

Glass half full : The stuff at MWSF will be so huge and amazing they don't want to weaken the event with a small update announcement.

Glass half empty : Maintenance update ready for next week.

[ajprice]

8 core across the range

[wallinbl]

I bet they sit around in Cupertino saying "I'm bored. You want to screw with the fanboys by taking the store down for a few minutes?"

[starman]

So....they announce a new Mac Pro a week before MacWorld. Huh. I suppose that means they have something else to fill the hour or two with.

[wallinbl]

Originally Posted by starman 

So....they announce a new Mac Pro a week before MacWorld. Huh. I suppose that means they have something else to fill the hour or two with.

Maybe they're hoping no one will notice how friggin expensive they are! The "standard" model is $2799. Maybe they're finally making room in the line up for the xMac (ha!).

[MacosNerd]

Wow, so much from an incremental update. Again I state the obvious. Why now and not next week?

[mdc]

I'm guessing there will be talk of the new Mac Pro next week and then they're going to be spending most of the keynote showing off "consumer" products.

[Eug]

Originally Posted by ajprice 

8 core across the range

There is still a 4-core model.

[iMan G5]

Originally Posted by Apple Store

* 8-core: Two 2.8GHz, 3.0GHz, or 3.2GHz Quad-Core Intel Xeon 5400 series processors
* Quad-core: One 2.8GHz Quad-Core Intel Xeon 5400 series processor
* Enhanced Intel Core microarchitecture
o 12MB of L2 cache per processor (each pair of cores shares 6MB)
o 128-bit SSE4 SIMD engine
o 64-bit data paths and registers
o Energy efficiency optimization
* 1600MHz, 64-bit dual independent frontside buses

So it will be like the Power macs? at least one lower end model still.

[turtle777]

Weird timing

-t

[besson3c]

I would still like to know why they have to take their entire store offline to update inventory.

[ajprice]

Originally Posted by besson3c 

I would still like to know why they have to take their entire store offline to update inventory.

For the show, and to get some media coverage to remind the people at CES that they are around.

[turtle777]

Originally Posted by besson3c 

I would still like to know why they have to take their entire store offline to update inventory.

I think it's a combination of two things:

1) PR effect
2) Making sure that no customer buys stuff while the changes are applied. It probably would be more complicated to program the store to apply changes to people that are in midst of checking out a cart.

-t

[wallinbl]

It can only be PR effect. Online stores aren't that difficult to update.

[Chuckit]

Originally Posted by wallinbl 

It can only be PR effect.

Yes, I hear this mythical PR effect generates a lot of buzz among the leprechaun and dragon community.

Seriously, nobody in the media reports when the Apple Store is down, and nobody remembers at all more than maybe a day later. If it's a publicity stunt, it's a consistent failure. It seems more likely they're doing it just to tweak besson personally than to generate some kind of "PR."

[wallinbl]

Originally Posted by Chuckit 

Yes, I hear this mythical PR effect generates a lot of buzz among the leprechaun and dragon community.

Seriously, nobody in the media reports when the Apple Store is down, and nobody remembers at all more than maybe a day later. If it's a publicity stunt, it's a consistent failure. It seems more likely they're doing it just to tweak besson personally than to generate some kind of "PR."

So, their web store is so pathetically implemented that it requires taking the whole thing down to update one product line? It's really not hard to implement staging so that you can prep all of the products and content and then publish on a schedule.

[Chuckit]

Poorly written Web apps exist — that's the whole reason The Daily WTF exists. But there is no "PR" that results from shutting the store down, so I don't get what you think this is accomplishing. You think it's a horribly failed publicity stunt that they just keep repeating over and over?

[Eug]

It works quite well to generate publicity. Witness the existence of this thread.

[Chongo]

Yikes !!!!!!

Summary

Subtotal $26,291.90

Estimated Ship:
3-5 weeks
Free Shipping Next business day delivery available
Click "Update Details" to reflect changes to system price and shipping.


* Two 3.2GHz Quad-Core Intel Xeon (8-core)
* 32GB (8 x 4GB)
* Mac Pro RAID Card
* 300GB 15,000-rpm SAS
* 300GB 15,000-rpm SAS
* 300GB 15,000-rpm SAS
* 300GB 15,000-rpm SAS
* NVIDIA Quadro FX 5600 1.5GB (Stereo 3D, two dual-link DVI)
* Apple Cinema HD Display (30" flat panel)
* Apple Cinema HD Display (30" flat panel)
* Two 16x SuperDrives
* AirPort Extreme card (Wi-Fi)
* Quad Channel 4Gb Fibre Channel PCI Express Card
* Apple USB Modem
* Apple Mighty Mouse
* Apple Keyboard (English) + Mac OS X
* iWork '08 preinstalled
* Final Cut Express preinstalled
* Aperture 1.5 preinstalled
* Logic Express preinstalled
* Canon PIXMA MX700 Office All-in-One Printer
* 1-year basic membership
* AppleCare Protection Plan for Mac Pro (w/or w/o Display) - Auto-enroll

[Chuckit]

The existence of a thread on a forum is not publicity. I could post about anything I wanted, but that doesn't mean anybody would give a crap. If there had been no update, the thread would have died instantly and nobody would have remembered that the Apple Store was ever down. If they had released a product without bringing the store down, there would have been threads about it anyway. It's the product, not the store being down, that garners attention.

[RAILhead]

Hm, I'm was hoping for a new form factor. I've been holding out for all this time for no reason, really. But, for $3049 I can get a decent upgrade from my Dual 2.0GHz G5 by getting the Dual 2.8GHz 8-Core with AirPort.

[besson3c]

Originally Posted by turtle777 

I think it's a combination of two things:

1) PR effect
2) Making sure that no customer buys stuff while the changes are applied. It probably would be more complicated to program the store to apply changes to people that are in midst of checking out a cart.

-t

I'm not sure if I buy reason #2. A well designed store would refer to each product by product ID and a price would be associated with this. It would be absolutely trivial to throw up a notification page if the original price being carried by the form did not match the database price due to a change at final checkout time.

[besson3c]

Originally Posted by Chuckit 

Yes, I hear this mythical PR effect generates a lot of buzz among the leprechaun and dragon community.

Seriously, nobody in the media reports when the Apple Store is down, and nobody remembers at all more than maybe a day later. If it's a publicity stunt, it's a consistent failure. It seems more likely they're doing it just to tweak besson personally than to generate some kind of "PR."

It doesn't tweak me, but it does (or could) result in lost sales during the time it is offline, which is the part I'm trying to understand...

[lpkmckenna]

This early update means one thing: there are many more changes coming next week.

[MacosNerd]

Originally Posted by lpkmckenna 

This early update means one thing: there are many more changes coming next week.

To the MacPro? I doubt it. Of course we were expecting this next week at MWSF.

People are still waiting to see if the MBP gets updated and possibly the displays are also updated.

[MacinTommy]

Get ready for a publicity stunt at MWSF. Someone will run across the stage naked during Steve'sKeynote™.

[Chuckit]

Originally Posted by besson3c 

It doesn't tweak me, but it does (or could) result in lost sales during the time it is offline, which is the part I'm trying to understand...

I agree it's strange, but it just seems a lot weirder to suggest they're doing it for publicity when the "publicity" basically amounts to two posts on a couple of forums. Only when they release a product following the outage is there any real publicity, and that would happen whether or not the store went down.

[ort888]

$2,300 is simply too much for the low end Mac Pro.

You used to be able to get a baseline Pro-Level Mac for $1,600. There is just too much of a gap between the iMac and the Mac Pro.

Anyway, new Mac Pros now is very weird... something big must be coming at Macworld.

[Eug]

I don't believe it, but if the xMac does come, I'd consider one. However, it'd have to be under $1000. I'm not paying $1500 for a crippled minitower.

But if such a sub-$1000 minitower came, then it would kill Mac mini sales to a large extent, which is why I don't believe the rumour of said xMac for Macworld.

[wallinbl]

I'd rather see the xMac below the iMac. The iMac's price is so high because of the builtin LCD. However, it is a bit curious that the Mac Pro is so freaking expensive.

[Eug]

Originally Posted by wallinbl 

I'd rather see the xMac below the iMac. The iMac's price is so high because of the builtin LCD. However, it is a bit curious that the Mac Pro is so freaking expensive.

I used to think that way, except now the iMac is actually a decent computer, even for some semi-pro work. Dual-core, Firewire 800, huge screen, half-decent GPU, 4 GB support. This is in stark contrast to the past when iMacs were generally quite useless for pro work.

But yeah, I want an xMac below the iMac... but that's where the Mac mini is.

[lpkmckenna]

Originally Posted by lpkmckenna 

This early update means one thing: there are many more changes coming next week.

Originally Posted by MacosNerd 

To the MacPro?

Of course not.

[ort888]

They should dump the Mini and make something that is cheap and upgradable.

A Mini that is more worried about being expandable and affordable then small.

Who wanted small anyway? People don't want small, they want cheap. The mini has always been so weird.

[Mastrap]

I'm in the market for a new PowerBook.

I'm going to sell my iMac and go 100% mobile at home. I'm spending too many evenings working in my office when I could at least be in the same room with my wife.

[Eug]

Originally Posted by ort888 

They should dump the Mini and make something that is cheap and upgradable.

A Mini that is more worried about being expandable and affordable then small.

Who wanted small anyway? People don't want small, they want cheap. The mini has always been so weird.

I want small. And cheap.

[Dakar the Fourth]

Originally Posted by Mastrap 

I'm in the market for a new PowerBook.

You may have trouble finding one of those new. wink

[Mastrap]

True that. Old habits and all that.

[Dakar the Fourth]

It still rolls off the tongue better, I think.

[MacosNerd]

Originally Posted by Mastrap 

I'm in the market for a new PowerBook.

I'm going to sell my iMac and go 100% mobile at home. I'm spending too many evenings working in my office when I could at least be in the same room with my wife.

That's what I did, but I sold my MacPro last year and I'm using my MBP exclusively. It was a bit of an adjustment coming from a MP. My credit card is happy (lowered the balance), and I'm happy because I'm no longer tied to my office.

With that said, have an 8 core beast is tempting, but not for > 3k

I'm hoping that that apple releases a new monitor next week, I'm just about in the market for one and if they come out with something nice, I could be easily tempted to buy one.

edit: I use an external monitor when the MBP is on my desk.

[lpkmckenna]

Originally Posted by ort888 

Who wanted small anyway? People don't want small, they want cheap.

If they stick a slower Core2Duo in the Mac Pro, they could have cheap. But for some reason, they don't want to do that.

[moep]

it’s that time again.

[Dakar V]

To bring forth the rhythm and the rhyme?

[Chongo]

New iPod nano, going from fat to slim.

[besson3c]

11:30 AM here, and the Apple Store is DOWN!!! DOWN DOWN DOWN!!! What could it be down for?

Why the hell does Apple have to take their store down to update it anyway? This is such a weird PR move, and Apple is probably the only company that could make a move like this work in their favor!