These are critiques of Apple. In buying a Mac Pro, you're lending financial support to a company that does the things spelled out in those articles.

I don't know why you're getting downvoted, this is an objective trend that you're pointing out and it's a legitimate basis to use for predicting the style of any future Apple device. A company's product launches aren't discrete probabilistic events like tosses of a coin -- they tend to follow patterns...

[Edit]: Man, I didn't even say I supported/cared about this manufacturing aspect (hint: I don't) and I'm already getting downvoted... Considering all the controversial things I've said on this site that hadn't earned me a negative score before, this doesn't exactly shed a positive light on Apple proponents. It's OK to not care about a certain aspect/political issue, but the guy's argument was a sound one, at least give him/her that much.

I think some people get tired of repeated comments by geek-liberal activists coming out of the woodwork to attack Apple, when, in reality, very few people share their particular perspective. "Ah, now we see the violence inherent in the system!"

Obligatory: http://xkcd.com/743/

In all seriousness, this is a real problem in IT. People see shiny new products, and focus on the shininess, not the ethics behind it.

E.g. reviews of new Android devices that so rarely investigate whether the manufacturer is abiding by the terms of the GPL.

Why do people think we come out of the woodwork? I want you to be free if that's important to you! If you disagree (with either being free or my analysis of the situation) you can still buy it.

> Man, I didn't even say I supported/cared about this

> manufacturing aspect (hint: I don't) and I'm already

> getting downvoted...

Cognitive dissonance FTW. When people make a tradeoff decision that involves an entity with a provable history of unethical behaviour (patent lawsuits anyone?), they'd rather not be reminded of it in public.

This from a Spotify and Google user, note. I'm not saying that tradeoff decisions are necessarily wrong, just that my theory is that sensitivity about them is why you're getting downvoted.

> [...] this is an objective trend that you're pointing out and it's a legitimate basis to use for predicting the style of any future Apple device.

How is this relevant to a device that no longer needs to be predicted?

All of the articles are about Apple's proprietary lock-in and difficulty in making your own repairs. This definitely looks like more proprietary form factors and parts to me - I think it's safe to say this will be a definite downgrade in terms of an iFixit score.