Trouble is part of the reason for poor sales figures is everyone waiting, certainly I've held off and I know of a few others. I have big decisions to make if they don't upgrade.

http://mobile.theverge.com/2013/1/31/3937442/apple-discontinuing-mac-pro-in-europe-over-regulatory-standards


I wonder if they will tweak it to make it compliant or whether we'll be hearing similar stories over the next few years?

The First Amendment to the Second Edition of IEC 60950-1 was published in December 2009

As long as they don't change the specification, they can continue to sell it in Europe. The change only affects new products being submitted for certification after March 1st 2013. The previous Mac Pro was certified in 2011, so they could still sell it in its current form.

Only if they change any internal components would they need to re-certify and meet the changed standard.

An amendment to the IEC 60950-1 regulation puts more emphasis on electrical port protection and fan guards within devices, pushing the Mac Pro machines outside the requirements.

"At issue are the large fans within the Mac Pro. Since they are unprotected, it would be possible to touch the fan blades," MacWorld reports Apple as saying.

"According to Apple, the new requirements necessitate fan guards and some increased protection on the ports on the electrical system."

Apple believes the machines are safe and reliable, and will continue to sell the machines outside of EU countries, although some other European territories are also affected.

The company is working on an updated machine that complies with the regulation, but that won't be available until later this year.

It looks like the problem is the exposed fans inside the case, which Apple says you can touch the moving fans, because they are not sufficiently shielded (which is part of what the new regulation covers). Putting a mesh fanguard on the casing shouldn't be that difficult and only cost a few cents...

I am surprised that the lack of a shield around a fan is going to be a problem. I doubt that it would be operating at the power to sever fingers even if the case was off.

Bloody decent carrot slicer those Mac Pros.

How do you clean it afterwards?

I am surprised that the lack of a shield around a fan is going to be a problem. I doubt that it would be operating at the power to sever fingers even if the case was off.

Wrong fans. It won't slice fingers, the EU is worried about the virtriol the Fan(bois) spit out at passers by. That is why they need cages!