High-quality photos of Apple at NAB 2007

[AppleInsider]

Apple Inc.'s presence at the National Association of Broadcasters conference this week includes a mind-boggling on-site server demonstration comprised of 130 Xserve components and over 3 miles of fiber optic cable.

In typical Apple fashion, staffers for Cupertino-based firm demanded our correspondents from the Savannah College of Art and Design Avid NAB Blog shut down their cams and cease taking photos. But we managed to get plenty, including several of the company's striking glass-encapsulated server demonstration that includes 3/4 Petabytes of storage space, 3 miles of fiber optic cable, 4 M2 Gb networks, 90 Xserves and 40 Xserve RAIDs.

Overall, Apple's booth at NAB stands out from most others due to its sheer simplicity. The layout features the firm's traditional large theater area in the center, set to seat about two hundred attendees at any one given time. All seats were filled for most presentations throughout the day.*

To the sides of the presentation area are demonstration displays featuring Apple's 8 core Macs and new Final Cut Pro and Server software offerings. And just across the aisle is an "Apple Lounge," filled with comfy black leather furniture where attendees can take a load off and tinker with their MacBook Pros.

Our photo gallery spans two pages. On the second page you'll also find some panorama shots of the Apple exhibits. If you enjoy the photos, please take a minute to visit our friends at the SCAD Avid NAB Blog who are on site covering the conference for Avid.

More photos and NAB coverage at the SCAD Avid NAB Blog

[ View this article at AppleInsider.com ]

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[vinney57]

Do you think Apple are taking this video stuff seriously?

Jeez, the size of the operation is extraordinary.

Ooh I'm first!

[Bergermeister]

How did you get those photos of my rig? Nobody has a key to my garage but me...


This is one awesome set up. Any price tag ideas?

[studiomusic]

They took down the big banner outside monday night for some reason...

[Kasper]

Originally Posted by studiomusic

They took down the big banner outside monday night for some reason...

It fell down because of the rain...

-K

[JeffDM]

Hopefully I can upload my pictures on Saturday. Some of the pictures are much nicer than what I've got (they didn't have big crowds in the way of the server "room"), but I think I have a few more comprehensive shots of the various stations in the booth.

[EruIthildur]

HOLY ****!

I honestly wouldn't know what to do with those servers and XRAIDS for my personal uses if I had them... And I'm one of those people who say "1,000 hp, I want more, what can another supercharger do for me... Can't you put a new gas pump on so you can get more nitrous in?".

[studiomusic]

Originally Posted by Kasper

It fell down because of the rain...

-K

It was raining outside? I was too busy at the craps table...

[SpamSandwich]

...mounted servers.

[nufase]

Originally Posted by Kasper

It fell down because of the rain...

-K

what a waste....

[yankidank]

I'm the photographer for these pics and I would be glad to answer any questions that you guys might have. The FCP banner above the entrance fell after the first day because there was a light rain for only a few minutes during the daytime. There's also been some crazy wind in Vegas this week, so I'm surprised it's still up. Please don't forget to Digg this story.

If you have a moment please visit our NAB 2007 Blog, we are participating in a competition to win some stuff for my school. The blog is filled with videos and images from NAB.
Some more panoramic pics from other Booths here.

[scottiB]

Each one of those Barcelona chairs in the Apple Lounge is $3,888 at DWR. What is there 20 of them--though they may be rentals. Those are very, very comfy chairs.

http://www.dwr.com/productdetail.cfm?id=7200

[mugwump]

Heheheh... Color Grading in the House.

I dig the lounge thing. Whoever pushed that through should be commended. Same with that server setup.

[solipsism]

I never knew the smallest Cinema Display was made to fit perfectly atop an Xserve. I guess Apple will be keeping that size in the coming months.

[Matthew Yohe]

Thats a third of petabyte... So much storage in such a small space!

[Gee4orce]

But..."Macs are 'toy' computers"...*

Riiiiiight !


* favourite retort of Windoze fanbois

[jpellino]

... I'll have something to say about this. That server rack. I'm speechless. I feel like one of the apes in 2001.

[solipsism]

Originally Posted by Gee4orce

But..."Macs are 'toy' computers"...*

Riiiiiight !


* favourite retort of Windoze fanbois

I don't think I've heard that excuse since Apple went to the Unix based OS X and Windows unleashed the Fisher-Price designed UI of WinXP.

[iPoster]

Originally Posted by EruIthildur

HOLY ****!

I honestly wouldn't know what to do with those servers and XRAIDS for my personal uses if I had them... And I'm one of those people who say "1,000 hp, I want more, what can another supercharger do for me... Can't you put a new gas pump on so you can get more nitrous in?".

Folding @ Home?

Xgrid?

[pazimzadeh]

Originally Posted by solipsism

I don't think I've heard that excuse since Apple went to the Unix based OS X and Windows unleashed the Fisher-Price designed UI of WinXP.

I still hear that often. Some people think that just because Macs (hardware) are white and smooth and have rounded corners they are toys. They think having a whole bunch of ugly holes and things sticking out makes their computers more "professional". I get that even about the Mac Pro! Actually the only computer's looks no one has ever complained about to me is the MacBook Pro (and PowerBook).

[jaghul]

Does anyone know what the 2 white boxes stacked behind one of the Mac Pros are (photograph http://images.appleinsider.com/nab-apple-2007-40.jpg). It looks like they have a power cord and a usb/firewire connection?

[ai51240]

Originally Posted by AppleInsider

...our correspondents from the Savannah College of Art and Design

Go Bees!

[Matthew Yohe]

Originally Posted by jaghul

Does anyone know what the 2 white boxes stacked behind one of the Mac Pros are (photograph http://images.appleinsider.com/nab-apple-2007-40.jpg). It looks like they have a power cord and a usb/firewire connection?

Those are the power bricks for the Apple Cinema Displays... As you can see the two DVI cables are coming from the video card, thus two power bricks...

There is only one cable coming from the display which carries the video signal, power, and firewire 400/usb ports.

[iPoster]

Originally Posted by jaghul

Does anyone know what the 2 white boxes stacked behind one of the Mac Pros are (photograph http://images.appleinsider.com/nab-apple-2007-40.jpg). It looks like they have a power cord and a usb/firewire connection?

Power bricks for MacMinis? Other than that...iDunno.

The legendary Asteroid, perhaps?

[the_snitch]

External brick power supply, most likely for the displays

edit: too slow, bet to it x2 :P

[ecking]

Wow apple kNizows how 2 throw teh g33k party!!1!!1!one!!1!

[JeffDM]

Originally Posted by Matthew Yohe

Those are the power bricks for the Apple Cinema Displays... As you can see the two DVI cables are coming from the video card, thus two power bricks...

There is only one cable coming from the display which carries the video signal, power, and firewire 400/usb ports.

The FW/USB extension cables for the monitors don't appear to be in use, they look like they are tied off behind the desk, the cables connected to the Mac Pro are either the wrong color or the wrong shape. The demo stations do look to be very connected, 2x fiberchannel connections and 2x gigE connections, several SDI. Basically, every station had two monitors, and a fairly large widescreen Panasonic HDTV connected to it. I don't know why there were so many Xserves in the racks other than to just show them off, there were more Xserve servers than there were demo stations.

[michaelb]

Originally Posted by AppleInsider

In typical Apple fashion, staffers for Cupertino-based firm demanded our correspondents from the Savannah College of Art and Design Avid NAB Blog shut down their cams and cease taking photos.

What are the rules about taking photos here? Is it because they are private premises that a company can forbid photography?

I remember when the iPod shuffle was due to be announced. Inadvertently some promotional displays became visible through a window and a few fans rapidly started to snap pictures with their cellphones.

An Apple security guard actually grabbed the arm of one of them to stop them. Since they were on public premises, I believe the word "lawsuit" was mentioned...

[JeffDM]

Originally Posted by michaelb

What are the rules about taking photos here? Is it because they are private premises that a company can forbid photography?

I remember when the iPod shuffle was due to be announced. Inadvertently some promotional displays became visible through a window and a few fans rapidly started to snap pictures with their cellphones.

An Apple security guard actually grabbed the arm of one of them to stop them. Since they were on public premises, I believe the word "lawsuit" was mentioned...

Yeah, a security guard being out of line is almost a possible liability. I don't know where taking photos of a store display in a publicly accessible area, by itself, would be a legal problem.

It looks like many of those shots were taken during set-up where attendees are not allowed in, but I don't know if that makes it any more of a legit reason they might try to "shut you down" or not. They might be able to chase people out of the booth, but that's about it.

[lasomba]

Great photos man!
Can I ask you a favor? Can you send me the original of the last photo from the 1st page?
It's me in blue shirt and Plantronics headset

Also, it was a hell of a conference and the booth was beatiful. Avid booth was great also and I loved the Avid on Mac

[carloblackmore]

Originally Posted by mugwump

Heheheh... Color Grading in the House.

I dig the lounge thing. Whoever pushed that through should be commended. Same with that server setup.

How did Apple organize the MacBook Pro loaners? 1-request per person? For how long?

Wish I could've stayed in Las Vegas longer for the show.

[Bengt77]

Originally Posted by scottiB

Each one of those Barcelona chairs in the Apple Lounge is $3,888 at DWR. What is there 20 of them--though they may be rentals. Those are very, very comfy chairs.

http://www.dwr.com/productdetail.cfm?id=7200

Hehe... that was my thought, too. Once I scrolled past that picture, the other pictures and the news itself couldn't hold my interest anymore. Great chairs. Would die to have one at my house. Mies van der Rohe is a genius. Way too expensive, though, for a mere mortal like myself.

[iPoster]

Originally Posted by Bengt77

Hehe... that was my thought, too. Once I scrolled past that picture, the other pictures and the news itself couldn't hold my interest anymore. Great chairs. Would die to have one at my house. Mies van der Rohe is a genius. Way too expensive, though, for a mere mortal like myself.

A chair...that costs about 2X a MacPro? I guess there are people with money to burn...

[JeffDM]

Originally Posted by iPoster

A chair...that costs about 2X a MacPro? I guess there are people with money to burn...

It's actually about the price as Apple's previous top-tier MacPro (3GHz Quad/2GB/ATI).

A Mac Pro has a much shorter useful life though, so it's hard to compare. Some exotic chair might have 10x the useful life of any computer.

They are nice chairs, but even with my above statement, I don't think it's necessarily worthwhile.

[JeffDM]

I've finally managed to upload photos of Apple's booth, I tried to catch each demo station group. The photos didn't turn out as well as I thought they would, but they are still pretty servicible.

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