The current Mac Pro models are showing their age, and Reschke says one is obliged to to wonder if the Mac Pros aren’t going to be ushered out of Apple’s Mac system lineup like the XServe was a year ago. He hopes the Mac Pro gets the update it badly needs and that recent rumors of its demise are “greatly exaggerated.” If not, he suggests the Mac Pro may become the next Apple product to “walk the plank”.

The Apple online store went down briefly this morning and returned with the updated line of Mac Pros—including the brand new 12-core model—available for order. The Macintosh updates were announced late July, with the Mac Pro said to become available in August. The most significant update to Apple’s most powerful Mac is the ability to have up to 12 processing cores, each at 2.93 GHz, which you’d think would be enough for most of NASA’s requirements, let alone your own Photoshop needs.

When Apple announced their smorgasbord of product refreshes last week, the first thing I did was order a Mac Mini. Okay, that’s just a reflex, but after that was taken care of, I started to think; something is different, and I don’t like it. I’m fairly certain the source of my mild dissatisfaction with the recent announcements stemmed from the absence of that Steve Jobs touch.