Apple's supply chain is reportedly gearing up to ship components for the company's next-generation iMac this month, with a product launch expected in October.
An email from Apple CEO Tim Cook confirms that the company is indeed working on a professional-level Mac to be released sometime in 2013, allaying current Mac Pro owners' fears that the desktop has reached its end of life.
An Apple executive has reportedly indicated that redesigned iMac and Mac Pro models are in the works and might not arrive until next year.
Though it wasn't mentioned onstage at WWDC, the Mac Pro was given a long-awaited refresh on Monday with a modest speed bump.
Apple's anticipated Mac Pro update will feature Intel Xeon E5 series processors with either six or eight cores, as well as native support for USB 3.0 and Thunderbolt.
With the WWDC keynote now just five days away, a list of alleged part numbers provided to AppleInsider suggests Apple may be preparing to revamp nearly its entire Mac lineup.
Apple's aging tower computer is seeing a drought of in-store availability with many stores quoting new stock shipments on June 12, which could mean that a refresh of the long-in-the-tooth PC is imminent and may be announced at WWDC next week.
One well-connected insider has given Mac users hope that Apple will release a new Mac Pro with a comment that there is no chance Apple will discontinue the line.
With Apple's Mac Pro line growing long in the tooth after not having received an update for almost two years, a Facebook petition calling for information from the Mac maker on the fate of its professional-level desktops is steadily gaining traction.
The latest U.S. sales data from NPD suggests Apple's Mac sales were up 5 percent year over year during the March quarter, a number lower than some have expected.
Build-to-order models of the Mac Pro have seen significant delays in recent weeks, as the future of Apple's professional desktop line remains in question.
Intel's new Sandy Bridge update for its Xeon line of high end CPUs is due next week, suggesting the potential for Apple to refresh the Mac Pro, which hasn't changed since the middle of 2010.
As Apple considers scrapping its Mac Pro line of desktops, the latest beta of Mac OS X 10.7.3 includes support for AMD's "Tahiti" graphics cards. But whether Tahiti-powered Mac Pros will ever be released remains to be seen.
Build-to-order iMacs with 2-terabyte hard drives now have an estimated shipping time of 5 to 7 weeks, in what is potentially the first sign of Apple being hit by a lingering global hard drive shortage.
Apple resellers have launched their Black Friday deals, offering savings of up to $101 on Mac Book Airs, $250 of MacBook Pros, $128 on iMacs, $39 on Mac minis and $260 on Mac Pros [updated with price changes].
Despite the coming availability of a new generation of Sandy Bridge desktop CPUs suitable for advancing Apple's Mac Pro line, the company has reportedly been evaluating whether to continue to invest in furthering its full-sized workstation line beyond this year in the face of limited sales.
A new unverified report claims Apple's next-generation Mac Pro will feature a custom CPU and have a rack-mountable "server" version.
Apple will release updates for its Mac Pro and Mac mini desktops in August, adding Intel's latest generation Sandy Bridge processors and the new high-speed Thunderbolt port, according to a new rumor.
The discovery of how to install new firmware updates on 2009 Mac Pros enables the machines to support dual six-core Westmere Xeon CPUs, faster 1333MHz RAM, and adds audio-out support to the Mini DisplayPort interface, features that were not delivered by Apple until mid 2010.
According to one analyst's check with sources along Apple's supply chain, Apple plans to refresh the rest of its Mac lineup, which would include the MacBook, Mac Pro, Mac Mini and MacBook Air, "in upcoming months."
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AppleInsider Staff
Mikey Campbell
Josh Ong
Sam Oliver
Neil Hughes
Daniel Eran Dilger
Katie Marsal
Kasper Jade
