[Macworld]

Post your comments for At WWDC, context matters for hardware announcements here

[MacDave54]

Unfortunately, you are probably correct… our wild expectations for a mass hardware update on the Mac side is very unlikely. However, MacBook Pro and Mac Pro are more than due for an update. Arghhh… those new shiny things always appeal to me.

[cseeman]

Unlike some of the past updates listed above. The potential hardware changes in MacBookPro and MacPro may be mission critical to developers. It won't be center stage nor does it have to be but I wouldn't want to be developing a PCIe card when I should be developing a Thunderbolt card without knowing if/when they'll be a MacPro replacement.

[charlituna]

cseeman, on 10 June 2012 - 05:09 PM, said:

Unlike some of the past updates listed above. The potential hardware changes in MacBookPro and MacPro may be mission critical to developers. It won't be center stage nor does it have to be but I wouldn't want to be developing a PCIe card when I should be developing a Thunderbolt card without knowing if/when they'll be a MacPro replacement.

WWDC is about developing for Apple's software so what you are describing isn't what the core audience is going to be interested in. So it is not likely to be included.

[darrynpeterlowe]

cseeman, on 10 June 2012 - 05:09 PM, said:

Unlike some of the past updates listed above. The potential hardware changes in MacBookPro and MacPro may be mission critical to developers. It won't be center stage nor does it have to be but I wouldn't want to be developing a PCIe card when I should be developing a Thunderbolt card without knowing if/when they'll be a MacPro replacement.

But the developers Apple aims at at WWDC are software developers not hardware generally. Apple isn't going to remove PCIe anytime soon especially when Thunderbolt is an external technology built on PCIe.

A hardware refresh isn't really going to be of any real consequence to software developers who develop for the OS not a particular piece of hardware which is largely handled by the OS frameworks available to developers.

[jonyo]

Normally, I wouldn't really care too much if new HW is unveiled at the WWDC or if they waited until a little later and released them without any sort of in-person gathering sort of fanfare. However, this time around I happen to be in the market to replace my older Macbook Pro, so I reeeeally hope that they announce new laptop models tomorrow and put them on sale ASAP, as I've been waiitng quite a while for them. Of course, I'm not the target audience for WWDC, just as the article states, but one can hope...

[kriri]

So, let's say Apple is building touch interactivity into Mountain Lion. They would have to refresh the whole built-in-display line of hardware, don't they?

[pawhite524]

Your evidence in support of no new hardware toys is plenty sound and convincing. Unfortunately, I, too, want shiny new Apple products to pine about. If I was 55 years younger I'd be feeling like you just told me there is no Santa Claus and wish to hear from you again.
Thankfully I'm not and continue to read your stuff and enjoy your work on the Macworld podcasts. Cheers!

[d00d]

charlituna, on 10 June 2012 - 06:47 PM, said:

cseeman, on 10 June 2012 - 05:09 PM, said:

Unlike some of the past updates listed above. The potential hardware changes in MacBookPro and MacPro may be mission critical to developers. It won't be center stage nor does it have to be but I wouldn't want to be developing a PCIe card when I should be developing a Thunderbolt card without knowing if/when they'll be a MacPro replacement.

WWDC is about developing for Apple's software so what you are describing isn't what the core audience is going to be interested in. So it is not likely to be included.

You do realize that hardware requires software support, right?

[bastion]

"Take the Mac Pro, for example. That’s a machine that appeals to people who build software for a living, thanks to its multiple cores and processing oomph."

Honestly, the Mac Pro is *massive* overkill for virtually all people who build software for a living. Every current Mac (for years now) has had multiple cores and sufficient "processing oomph" for mainstream software development. Mac Pros are primarily for digital media and scientific work.

Really, given modern machines, the biggest improvement for developers is probably the mainstreaming of SSD. Building software is a disk-bound process.

[offcs]

I received a MacBook Pro 17" from Apple for an old one they couldn't repair on Saturday, so if they do announce an update I hope that it's in the next two weeks so I can swop mine.

Just seen that the UK Apple Store is being updated, so fingers crossed.

This post has been edited by offcs: 11 June 2012 - 05:40 AM

[KPOM]

Well, the online store is down, so SOMETHING new is being released today. I doubt it is simply a spec-bumped Airport Express.

[zarmanto]

bastion, on 11 June 2012 - 04:40 AM, said:

Honestly, the Mac Pro is *massive* overkill for virtually all people who build software for a living. ...

Personally, I'd go farther then that and say that the Mac Pro is massive overkill for nearly everyone. I'm still waiting for Apple to announce something akin to Dan's "mythical midrange Mac minitower". ( reference )

[bastion]

zarmanto, on 11 June 2012 - 06:21 AM, said:

bastion, on 11 June 2012 - 04:40 AM, said:

Honestly, the Mac Pro is *massive* overkill for virtually all people who build software for a living. ...

Personally, I'd go farther then that and say that the Mac Pro is massive overkill for nearly everyone. I'm still waiting for Apple to announce something akin to Dan's "mythical midrange Mac minitower". ( reference )

Well, I did go a bit farther than that a couple of sentences later, by indicating the markets for which I thought it was really an appropriate machine.

I understand the appeal of a mid-sized tower to some people, but as noted here a lot of times, I really don't see its appeal to *Apple*. From what I can tell the audience for that form factor is quite small and quite fragmented in terms of what the phrase "mid-sized tower" means inside their heads.