There is still time for Apple to address professional Mac users. But not this year. For the record, it’s been three full years since Apple introduced the made-in-the-U.S. of A. Mac Pro and all signs point to abandonware with No. Upgrade. Ever. The fact that Mac Pro has never received an upgrade and the recent MacBook Pro models are not upgradeable to even the minimum amount of RAM that so-called professionals demand, tells me that Apple, a) doesn’t really care that much about professionals who use Macs, or, b) Apple wants to change the definition of professional, or perhaps, c) the definition of professional is changing and Apple is just going with the flow.
If the current situation is the former, then it’s a sad day for Apple’s professional-level Mac users. If the situation is the latter, then the definition of professional must mean expensive because all the Pro monicker gets you these days is thinner, lighter, faster, coupled to a higher sticker price.
Think about what Pro means at Apple.
For the Mac user, the choices are simple. MacBook Pro or Mac Pro. The former is a new smaller, thinner, lighter Mac notebook with a bigger price tag than last year’s MacBook Pro price tag. Apple has doubled down on price for so-called Pro users. The latter is a so-called Pro device which cannot be upgraded, hasn’t been upgraded since it was introduced, a Pro-level device which isn’t really for professionals who demand upgradeability and power. But the Mac Pro has a hefty pro-like price tag considering the technology is old by even PC standards.
What’s going on?
Apple’s executives are not idiots and it’s unlikely that anyone knows the customer base better. The professional market is changing and Apple is helping it along. The Mac market is less actual professional these days than it is professional wannabe, those of us who are willing to pay for more power, but don’t really want all the upgradeability options that were once available in the famed cheese grater Mac Pros of just a few years ago.
Apple executives are pushing the Mac where the market is going and just as macOS Sierra is another iteration of a somewhat dumbed down operating system for the masses and more resembles iOS than ever, our favorite Mac maker goes where the customers go because that’s where the money is going.
Apple did something similar to the iPad. Witness the two iPad Pro models at the high end of the spectrum; so high that a fully tricked out iPad Pro with Smart Keyboard is almost the same price as a new MacBook entry-level model. The Pro models have the latest screen technology, the news CPUs, and a few other tricks but mostly look and work much like iPads of the past. Just like a new MacBook Pro.
The many nattering nabobs of negativity that tout marketshare as another example of how Apple doesn’t get it and how the company will soon go the way of BlackBerry or Gateway haven’t figured out what Apple already knows. Marketshare means less than profitshare and Apple prices their product lines to maximize profits and not marketshare. Professional Macs are not really for professionals anymore. They’re for those of us who want to be considered professionals, the so-called professional wannabe or pro-sumer group which is willing to pay for the privilege.