I think that the Mac Pro will be here for a good while. However, the market is certainly dwindling. Things that needed a Mac Pro a couple of years ago can now be done with an iMac. Sooner or later there will be no need for server boards for most people, and although that will hit some in the industry, the number will be smaller and smaller as time goes on.
For example, I have been using a server board with dual CPU for around 4 years. However, my next PC will probably not use a server board at all. The reasons for this are twofold:
- Getting the fastest dual CPU machine is great, but the next generation single CPUs are always faster, and usually come out within a year, making my machine obsolete. Obviously it still works fine, but it's not cost effective to replace a dual server machine every year. The single CPU desktops are so much cheaper, so replacing a machine every year, or even more often, is way cheaper.
- Server boards can utilise more RAM. This has traditionally been very important for composers who use samples. However, with SSD becoming more mainstream, developers are likely either to set lower pre-load buffers or allow the user to decide for themselves, thus making more than 12GB or so unnecessary. Again this will mean using the "normal" desktop boards will be possible for me.
Now obviously (at the moment) I'm not using a Mac, but I think the same thinking applies. The boards available for single CPU are so much cheaper (as are the chips) that using them in the new line of Mac Pro (which would be the same as the current generation in name only) would make sense, because not only would they be much cheaper, allowing for a user base expansion that doesn't want to buy into the iMac line, but would also be able to supply the needs of most power users.
DG