Seems like if sales of Mac Pro are slow - they should give people a reason to get one. Given that processor upgrades are not really the answer (as indicated above), and Apple isn't going to budge on price, some other features need to provide that incentive.

My take on this issue is that Mac Pros are becoming unnecessary for most mac users who find that they're getting adequate performance for $500 less with a fully expanded iMac.

Maybe - which gets back to the "update it or kill it" comment that someone posted earlier.

I've got no interest in an iMac (for a variety of reasons), but I wish Apple would make something like a "Mac Mini Pro" - a compact, quiet, attractive, headless machine suitable for desktop use, and sized to fit multiple units in a 1U rack space efficiently. Make them capable of driving two monitors with no extra hardware, and build in all "Apple TV" capability. They could even do two models:

Mac Mini Pro: $1199
1 3.5" drive bay, 4 memory slots, no expansion slot, 2 USB-3 ports, 2 TB ports, FW800 port, eSata port, ethernet port, SD card slot. 2.7GHz. Quad-Core Intel Core i5, 4GB memory, 1TB hard drive, AMD Radeon HD 6770M with 512MB. Build in (or make as a $100 CTO option) "time capsule" capability.

Mac Mini Pro Plus: $1699
2 3.5" drive bays, 6 memory slots, 1 expansion slot, 4 USB-3 ports, 2 TB ports, FW800 port, eSata port, 2.6GHz quad-core Intel Core i7,8GB memory, 2TB hard drive (7200 rpm), AMD Radeon HD 6770M with 1GB. Have a $500 CTO option for Fiberchannel. Build in "time capsule" capability.

If they were available today, I would DEFINITELY buy a Mac Mini Pro and would seriously consider a Mac Mini Pro Plus.

In June Tim Cook responded to an email from a Mac Pro owner. Apple confirmed that this email reply was genuine. A quote:

"Although we didn’t have a chance to talk about a new Mac Pro at today’s event, don’t worry as we’re working on something really great for later next year."

Note that he doesn't say anything specific about what they are working on. I think it's a good guess that it will be physically smaller than a Mac Pro and have up to date ports. Other than that, it's hard to guess.

I do think that high end iMacs have taken a lot of business away from Mac Pros. Some of my graphic artist clients made the switch from Power Mac to Intel iMac with ease, some of them still wanted separate, 30 inch displays. Now Apple's external display is smaller than an iMac display, which is one more reason to buy an iMac instead of a Mac Pro. If the Pro is more of a niche product instead of the flagship product the Power Mac used to be, that explains the lag in getting new features to it.

Furthermore (following on from post #24), even if you have a large screen connected to your current box, an Apple converter (mini display port to dvi d) will allow running it from one of the Thunderbolt ports on an iMac. I do this now to connect a 22" Samsung to my 27" iMac.