I think that statement would be correct if you deleted the “, static” part. The lack of mobility of powerful machines is surely just something that has happened to be the case historically, rather than a core part of their attraction.

At my own company we’ve moved all of our OSXServer installs to Minis for mission critical stuff (LDAP, DNS) and have been toying with hacked VirtualBox OSXS VMs for the past few months.

Fact is the desktop is going nowhere for a while. iPads and laptops don’t yet have the grunt to do everything and not everyone can use a laptop in their day today work, ie photographers, designers, 3D artists, video editors etc. There’s no way Apple are going to kill the desktop until they have an alternative, as there’s way too much software that still requires huge amounts of processing power.

Finally, I have a Macbook pro which is set up to use my 24″ screen at work but provides me with a powerful mobile solution when I need it. It can be a little slow when editing large graphics but the later models are much quicker than mine, therefore I suspect this won’t be a problem when I upgrade. Face it, this is the future whether you like it or not. Desktops as we have known them, are a dying breed.

I had a Macbook Pro for my main machine, but decided to go iMac for my next purchase and I haven’t regretted the decision yet. The MBP was always hooked up to a 30″ monitor, external hard drive, Wacom tablet, and keyboard. Now I have an 27″ iMac hooked up to the 30″ monitor.I’m a senior art director and probably not the typical user, though. I’m not much of a road warrior and I’ll take whatever screen real estate I can. I’ve done a decent job of separating work hours and after hours (which I regard as a constantly repeating vacation time) so I’m glad to leave my work machine in the office.

My iMac and iPad combo (work and play) are working well for me and the Macbook Pro sees little-to-no use.

I don’t know why I felt so down that the XServe was removed, but I don’t have much need of it. I imagine I’d feel the same way if the Mac Pro desktop went away. Hopefully Apple does something drastic to the Mac Pro (like a case redesign) to alleviate fears of it going extinct.

All that said, I expect the movement to laptops to continue. Computers are a hobby for me, but if you want to buy just one, then buy a laptop: powerful enough to use as a desktop and portable too.

Granted, portability is king. But no MacBook can replace the capability, power and big screens of desktops. Nor can the provide the $699 entry price of a Mac Mini.

Sigh … Mac Pro is used for Final Cut Pro workstations, Logic Pro workstations, Xcode workstations, and Adobe Creative Suite workstations. Servers are not nearly as important, which is why Xserve got killed, not Mac Pro. And Mac OS X Server is 98% Mac OS X, what is hard about developing it? Further, ARM servers with flash storage are the rage in enterprise circles because of size and power, so don’t be surprised if Apple does an Apple TV -style box with Mac OS X Server on it for $199 and drinks everybody else’s milkshakes.

I think the entire premise of this article is off base. By this same logic, you can predict the end of iTunes Store because it only contributes a tiny share of the profit. iTunes Store contributes primarily by selling iPhones, iPods, iPads, and Macs. The movies, music, and apps in iTunes Store are made with Final Cut Pro, Logic Pro, and Xcode, often running on Mac Pro because when you spend 8 plus hours a day in one of those apps, a dozen processors and 32GB of memory saves you a ton of time and money. There are other benefits also, like software gets optimized for many CPU’s for Mac Pro, then when we see 4-way and 8-way notebooks the software can take advantage of that.

MacBook Air only makes Mac Pro more necessary, not less. If you buy a smaller, less performance-optimized notebook then you want a more powerful workstation. The 17-inch MacBook Pro is Apple’s least popular notebook. People are choosing small for the road. Some only need smack, true, but try editing 18 megapixel 16-bits per channel photos in Photoshop with 4GB or 8GB of RAM it is painful. Try editing 4K movies on a MacBook Air. Yet that kind of professional work on Mac Pro results in consumer media that people buy iPads to consume.

Finally: Apple is only interested in products that lead … Mac Pro is the world’s best workstation by far. Xserve was not the world’s best server. End of story.