I've become a little jaded, I guess. The hardware innovation is great, but it's the software that determines obsolescence. Given the way software is interconnected these days, and the necessity for constant security patches, I'd be surprised if OS updates for it continue for more than 4 years or so (Snow Leopard is 4 years old).

Even if you're just doing coding or running database stuff on it, eventually OS limitations will catch up with you.

I could certainly be wrong, though.

Apple usually prices mid-range versions of the MacPro around $2500 with top-of-the-range versions around $4000. That's a huge amount of money for a PC these days. Sure, apples and oranges, and so forth, compared to an Alienware gaming box or a traditional multi-CPU server. But it's still not an easy choice.

One advantage of the MacPro is that they hold their value pretty well, so if you don't hold on to them too long, you can get a substantial fraction of the money back for the next one. But if you wait too long, they're not that desirable - http://www.macofallt...-Desktops-s/2.htm

I've still got J's dual G5 in the corner - we stopped using it because FF couldn't be kept current. MoaT lists one for $199.

It'll be interesting to see how they position it. I expect it to be a premium box and that they don't really want to sell a lot of them. Bugatti doesn't want to sell millions of units. ;-)

We'll see.

Cheers,
Scott.

But the clever engineers have ways of making one "need" to buy new boxes. Even if OS X stays 64-bit, you can bet that that as Intel pushes their design rules (they're claiming 10 nm chips will be ready in 2015), they'll be changing memory interfaces and probably have PCI-EIEIO interfaces. They only make money when people continue to buy boxes to replace their "obsolete" boxes.

I wouldn't be surprised if changes to internet communications comes in the next 4 years or so (though I haven't kept up with what's being worked on there). MS tried to lock things down with their "secure boot"; locking down internet connections in hardware seems like something that companies and ISPs might demand (e.g. in an attempt to make things more secure from NSA and Chinese snooping). Maybe mandatory Smart Card authentication for connections or something. Maybe not, but the point I'm trying to make is that I'd be very surprised if you could take any PC/Mac purchased today with Win8.1 or Ubuntu 13.04 or OSX 10.8 and be able to keep it updated and "usable" with a current OS and current software in September 2021 by only adding RAM. Something about the hardware will make it impractical to stay current. RAM for it will be obsolete and extremely expensive, or OS updates won't be available, or ...

(We've got a bunch of Win PCs at work that we had to take off the network because we couldn't keep the OS and software updated and the weren't able to run later versions. The hardware still worked fine.)

Thanks.

Cheers,
Scott.

Fair enough.

I have a similar reaction when reviewers tell me something is "affordable". Says who?

Glad we basically agree, otherwise. ;-)

Cheers,
Scott.