Don't you dare speak that way about my Mac Pro! Besides, looks are only as deep as the aluminum casing. Her true beauty is on the inside!

The Mac Pro looks a lot better the way it is than the aberration you described, especially the cheese glow. You are looking for a Dell or AlienWare, and that isn't going to happen at Apple, fortunately for us.

Seriously.

My Mac pro is beautiful. Simple, robust, elegant. How can you say it's ugly?

I'll take Mr. Ive's judgment on the aesthetic decisions over yours.

I don't want an iMac or a MacPro. I want something I can upgrade, but I don't need 4 internal drives or 32 GB of RAM. Something that fits on my desk that I can attach any monitor to. Something that is good for a print pro or web designer, but maybe not for a professional video editor.

The Mac Pro and MacBook Pro have a timeless style about them. I'm about to replace my G5 PowerMac with a Pro, and despite its 4.5-year old look (the PowerBook G4/MBPs go back a further six months) they still look purposeful and sleek.

I'm not sure what Apple can do with their pro range that will do anything but ruin their classic industrial design.

The Mac Pros aren't for consumers. Plain and simple. They're for professional users. Look at the way Apple offers the system for sale. No monitor, the bare amount of RAM, small hard drives, a non-gaming centric video card, etc. It's up to the IT manager to configure the system as they see fit in a workstation environment.

Honestly, how many general consumers need what's in a Mac Pro? Unless you are doing intense Photoshop work, video editing, or using scientific applications, the Mac Pro is too much computer for most people. 8 cores for iMovie? Office? iTunes? Come on.

I have a Ford Excursion and a Mac Pro w/ 30" ACD. I love them both. The Excursion is big and burly, just the look for hauling stuff. The Mac Pro is very powerful looking, just as it is. Ugly? No way!

I'm sorry, but my aging g5 tower still looks good to me. My clients who are stuck with PC'c in their offices are usually impressed. I think the current design looks professional and serious. I hope the candy colors don't return to the towers.

I think they look great ... they just need to be half the size.

The Mac Pro's do have a timeless utilitarian look to them, in which form follows function. They're not meant to be iPhoney in their appeal. They're meant to get serious work done and be extremely practical. From a design standpoint, it may be an older design, but it's not stale. It still is much "sexier" (if you must) than any PC mfg machine (unless you are serious about the Alienware type machine being "sexy." Come on, those are like the tackiest things on the market).

I would agree however that there is a hole in Apple's line up--and you're hearing this more and more these days. They need a modular machine between the iMac & the Mac Pro. Something with the iMac's power, but configurable and upgradeable (without a monitor obviously). That machine might need a little more sex appeal, but I agree with the previous poster that the Pro line's designs are sort of timeless classics--not to mention, that is where their whole design direction has gone (aluminum everywhere).

My PowerMac G5 still works and looks as good as the day I bought it. Don't change a thing on the outside --except for new or more connectors.

Perhaps what you are really asking for is to add another model. Something like the Cube?

I could agree with that. The MacMini needs a bigger brother.

I don't really care what it looks like, I just want something that makes me want to order it. I don't want a mini, don't need a Mac Pro, and have a cinema display, so don't desire an iMac. I can't presently get an iPhone (business uses different mobile company)and have no use for an iPod. I would like a mid size desktop, period. I really don't understand people that say it will take away from the iMac and/or Pro sales. That's like saying Nissan will never make a Frontier because it doesn't want to take away from it's Titan sales. Absolutely love the products Apple is coming out with, but don't really need any of them. From all the different places this same subject comes up, it seems pretty clear there's a big market for the "Mythical Mac" as it's been called.

Wow, Mr. Martellaro, you seem to have struck a nerve here! Now, if we take into account the fact that there is a disproportionate share of visual artists in the Mac camp, it is possible that, judging by the responses here, you may be off-mark?

I do think the desktop tower is due for a re-design. And I'm sure Commander John (Johnatan Ive, CBE) will wow us with a Mac Pro that is just as elegant, serious, attractive and understated as the current one is, and would takes us into the next decade.

I agree with John. The Mac Pro needs some giant boobs and sexy lingerie.

I'm surprised you didn't call it by name.. the "Missing Mac" argument has been around ever since... um... iMacs came out? Or did it start when the mini's were introduced? In either case, I completely disagree that the MacPros are not good looking. I think they are a bit long-in-the-tooth, but a nice piece of machinery (maybe that's your argument) to look at.
But what I like best about the Mac Pro is the fact that I can hardly hear it running.. even in a quiet room. The extra space it takes to make enough airflow that they don't need high speed fans is worth it to me. Another aspect of the Aluminum design is that it is highly recyclable. A new, Plastic PC will end up in the landfill within 20 years (okay, maybe even 5), while you will still be able to turn in a Mac Pro case for a few dollars at a scrap yard. Yes, they'll pay YOU to dispose of your mac... even if it will no longer run the latest OS (20 years is a long time from now).

I do, however, feel that the time has come for the Missing Mac to make an appearance... especially now that the Mac Pros are 8 core machines by default. We're in the process of replacing about 100 G5 towers.. to be honest, the 8 core Mac Pros are a bit overkill, even for graphic artists. We're considering iMacs, but would rather have a sweet spot in-between the two options.

Quote

Bosco wrote:
I agree with John. The Mac Pro needs some giant boobs and sexy lingerie.

I already had this idea of making lacy bras for autos, kind of like those vinyl things, but with more class.

I don't think that falsies on my G4 MacPro are a good idea, but it would look nice with a lace, satin or silk dust cover when I put it to bed for the night.

I actually love the MacPro design. Yes it's a big case, but it has to hold plenty of expansion space. The "grater" is a highly functional air filter that I can vacuum regularly. The purity of the aluminum has drawn plenty of appreciation and when I really want to impress I just open the hood. But, boy oh boy, do these babies need fueling. My electric bill is reeling, supplying this hog with a kilowatt (I have a G5 Dual 2.5). My 300sf studio stays heated in the winter from two Power Macs. I am patiently waiting to buy a Mac Pro when the max-power usage drops below 300w.

...pretty much a guarantee that if you talk aesthetics, and pick on the lovechild of the power users, you are going to get an argument.

Taste is taste. Look at every Mac and Apple since inception... they are ALL at least a few steps ahead design wise than anything else on the market. That's why we buy them. The tower still is, by a longshot. The canday apple crap is an option you can choose... just paint yours. But the neutral, powerful, elegant aesthetic of the entire product line is what puts Macs in a class of their own. i personally feel that most of the time, the immediately replaced boxes seem uglyish and outdates (powerbooks and cubes notwithstanding), so I'm sure that whenever the next version comes out we'll all do our pavlovian duty.

Oh, and I agree that a mid-Mac is logical. After all, given real tools, people can turn into real professionals, and another incremental increase in power makes sense.

Obviously, John Martellar's sense of style is rampant. The Mac Pro is a beautifully simple and elegant design that both serves as form and function. All aluminum simplicity on the outside with raw processing power on the inside. When Apple first showed off the all aluminum Mac Pro and thought "its perfect, how are they going to improve on this?" I think if Apple designers and engineers can come up with a better looking and more functional design I would be very impressed. The Mac Pro is perfect especially with its 8 Cores under the hood... just talking about it makes me week in the knees.

I think the Mac Pro is a beautiful machine, so much so, I put it on TOP of my desk to show it off! It's quiet, has big handles, and is gorgeous to look at. I love the way the side pops off, and that it can be run with the plastic cover so you can see all the beauty inside. Everything is very accessible, except the power supply, which is hard to get at. I'm glad Apple has kept this beautiful design, I love it!

I never liked the giant cheese-greater wind-tunnel aluminum enclosure since it first shipped as a G5 machine. I suppose it has the look of a robust no-nonsense work-station but I always liked how the translucent plastic G3 and G4 towers added to the creative atmosphere of my design studio.

The Core 2 Duo Processors handle Adobe Creative Sweat just fine as long as the hard drive is 7200 RPM.

If Apple made a Mac Mini expandable to 4 GBs of RAM with a 3.5" 7200 RPM drive with a dedicated Graphics Processor, from ATI, with 250 MBs of video memory and a dual display hookup, that would be all I would need for design-for-print.

The Mac Pro is too large for my self-employed, design-for print-operation.

The G5/MacPro tower is full of mostly unused space for many people...How many people are really adding new cards to their mac towers these days? I realize there's many customers who NEED a giant expansive box with room for giant special purpose cards, but surely Apple and their ID masterminds can come up with a svelte pro desktop machine that has the fastest processors and a top of the line graphics card. Give it a lot more ports on the back, and I can add external drives...Really ought be the size of an xbox360 or something...

I am seeing many major corporations buying imacs for their pro graphics users, since it's such a simple package...That ain't right...make a high end small box for $2,000 or less and that should do it..

Sorry John, but I have to agree with the earlier "Guest" post:

Quote

Simple, robust, elegant.

The Mac Pro is quite possibly my favorite desktop design of all time. The design is simple and elegant, without being too plain and really delivers when it comes for function too. The design is near perfect for housing large amounts of high-end components, cooling them and allowing them to be easily removed and replaced.

While I prefer the aesthetics of the G5's which had the PSU in the belly of the case it was a nightmare to replace, a real pain, and as such it's worth having the cable droop from the top of the case just to make it more practical. The use of the handles/feet being built into the case design is brilliant, and much more stable than the plastic monstrosities of the G4's.

Every revision of that case has gotten better and better, while not sacrificing form of function over the other (except maybe in the case of the PSU). If I didn't need to be portable, or had the money I would buy one in an instant.

I personally like the deliberately simple lineup that Apple has right now, and I like the idea of a Mac Pro (read that again) having high-end components as standard. I am however starting to see more and more of my clients who need something just like the Mac Pro, but about 1/2 or 2/3 the size with less power, and finally I am starting to come round to the idea (although for most of them the iMac will do fine if they just try it).

The Mac Pro case is an amazing and beautiful design, and I have to disagree with you on all points. I hate the chintzy look of the Alienware's of this world.

I replaced my G5 Power Mac with an iMac.
However, I still think the cheese grater design is elegant.
Think German design versus Japanese design.

Quote

davebarnes wrote:
I replaced my G5 Power Mac with an iMac.
However, I still think the cheese grater design is elegant.
Think German design versus Japanese design.

German design? See my MacTopolis

John has one thing right, the handles on the tower are painful with their square corners, a step down in comparison with the previous G4 tower design.
A similar problem I've found is that you can see the fans from the front of the computer, and when they spin, the holes in the cheese grater vary in darkness. It doesn't give me seizures, but when that's in my peripheral vision, it has given me headaches... kinda like when you stare at a cheap CRT PC monitor with a slow refresh rate.

Mac Pro aside, I think we're all waiting for a serious evolutionary design refresh anywhere in the mac line.

I switched because!
Apple developed a great OS (OSX) Based on Unix and they got rid of the childish girly look that discouraged most people
from switching. I for one hope they stay the course because
they are picking up a bigger user base every day and I am glad they have became a more serious computing platform.

I really like the Mac Pro and Xserve designs. They're simple, but still elegant to me.

While the Mac Pro is big, I don't think the PCI slots add that much extra bulk to it. Same goes for the hard drive bays. They add up, sure, but looking at the inside of my G5, they don't take up as much space as the box around the CPU. And personally I'd rather have a bunch of HD bays than a bunch of ports to plug external drives into. Less clutter on the desk and fewer things to plug into the outlets.

As for the look, yeah the current box isn't their best. But I'd still take it over any PC box anyday. And I personally love the XServes. If I could get a Mac Pro that looked like that, with the externally accessible hard drive bays and the thin rackmount design, I would.

Quote

Guest wrote:
The G5/MacPro tower is full of mostly unused space for many people...How many people are really adding new cards to their mac towers these days? I realize there's many customers who NEED a giant expansive box with room for giant special purpose cards, but surely Apple and their ID masterminds can come up with a svelte pro desktop machine that has the fastest processors and a top of the line graphics card. Give it a lot more ports on the back, and I can add external drives...Really ought be the size of an xbox360 or something...

I am seeing many major corporations buying imacs for their pro graphics users, since it's such a simple package...That ain't right...make a high end small box for $2,000 or less and that should do it..

That might make sense for some customers, but it would be terrible for Apple. Each different form factor costs additional money to design, engineer, test, and manufacture. That extra space costs essentially nothing. Getting rid of it would cost a small fortune.

you are an idiot!

I'm writing this on my new 24" iMac and I say it's got all the sex appeal I could ask for. Name something (other than display upgrades for environmental reasons) I would actually want added to this. You couldn't, It's perfect!

Nice troll!

I have allways been using macs but now iÒ‘m tired of waiting mid-range model so i make one with pc parts and use leopard with that. Mac pro had cost about 3300$ in Norway (with one 2,8ghz processor, GeForce 8800GT, 320GB hard drive and 2GB RAM) and itÒ‘s too much money for me. And i donÒ‘t want imac because i want to have a raid 5 disk.
If i make one selv i get it for about 2000$ with a pretty big case, Asus P5E motherboard, Core2Quad Q6600 processor (which easily overclocks to 3 Ghz), 4 GB of PC 6400 RAM, an Geforce 8800 GT, 700w power supply and 4x500Gb disks.
I could pay some hundreads of dollars more if Apple actually had an model with core2quad, some good graphics card and place for same expansion but they donÒ‘t and i think they wouldÒ‘t