What I don't get is why hasn't anyone Connected the 5K iMac as a MacPro display? How would Xgrid work in this config?
Apple plainly states that this is unsupported. They don't use a standard displayport 1.2 protocol here. Note that The mac pros support up to 4K. There is some amount of custom work done here, presumably in terms of drivers. It's also an embedded design rather than one that is limited to whatever bandwidth can be run over the current thunderbolt. Also what does Xgrid have to do with anything? Xgrid died a long time ago, and it related to distributed computation. You may want to verify that you're thinking about the same thing. If you mean display tiling, which isn't the same thing at all, the 5K imac can't be run as the display for another machine. Displayport 1.3 was finalized last year, but I don't expect it to be supported by the next mac pro. It seems reasonable that they would release one later this year with the Haswell EP chips, given that Haswell and Broadwell will use the same socket.
Displayport 1.3 was finalized last year, but I don't expect it to be supported by the next mac pro. It seems reasonable that they would release one later this year with the Haswell EP chips, given that Haswell and Broadwell will use the same socket.
I can't imagine why DP 1.3 wouldn't be supported on the next Mac Pro. While it was finalized last fall, its major design has almost certainly been in company labs for more than a year.
And I had thought we were expecting the next Mac Pro update to be unveiled mid-year (at WWDC?) and to feature Skylake chips, not Haswell.
I can't imagine why DP 1.3 wouldn't be supported on the next Mac Pro. While it was finalized last fall, its major design has almost certainly been in company labs for more than a year.
And I had thought we were expecting the next Mac Pro update to be unveiled mid-year (at WWDC?) and to feature Skylake chips, not Haswell.
You are probably correct on that, but recall the amount of time it took to see implementation of displayport 1.2. Apple was one of the last to get it due to being tied to thunderbolt, but it still took a couple cycles to see adoption by other companies. Note that it was finalized in 2009. As of right now I can't find confirmation of whether thunderbolt 3 bundles support for displayport 1.3. it's possibly still an unknown. Thunderbolt 3 looks like it won't ship before Q3 of this year.
A haswell update to the mac pros cpus came out last year, but you won't have a Broadwell EP before 2016. It's really all speculation, but sites suggest Q1 2016. I guess they could wait for it, assuming it's difficult to adjust and validate. If they want to ship Haswell, I don't see why they would drag it out. Chips have been out 4 months or so.
You can’t do it because DP 1.2 can’t handle 2880. Boom.
That is true, and as I mentioned it's not yet confirmed that TB3 will support displayport 1.3, especially at launch. It could be held up by driver issues, but if they are actually interested in making mac pros, it shouldn't be precisely tied to thunderbolt updates.
...but if they are actually interested in making mac pros, it shouldn't be precisely tied to thunderbolt updates.
True, but if they are interested in promoting Thunderbolt 3 as the future they need to tie the new plug to the Mac products with the biggest upgrade cycles this year.
That means getting it out on the Mac Pro (and iMac 5K and Macbook Pros) as soon as possible. If they skip the V2 upgrade of the Mac Pro, it will be another year before TB3 is introduced to the Pros who are most likely to use it.
True, but if they are interested in promoting Thunderbolt 3 as the future they need to tie the new plug to the Mac products with the biggest upgrade cycles this year.
That means getting it out on the Mac Pro (and iMac 5K and Macbook Pros) as soon as possible. If they skip the V2 upgrade of the Mac Pro, it will be another year before TB3 is introduced to the Pros who are most likely to use it.
There's no way to tell, but it would almost certainly push an update to next year, as it's unlikely that DP 1.3 support will be ready on that timeline. It's not even confirmed to support DP 1.3, although I expect it will. Broadwell EP will be out next year, but that means skipping Haswell EP even though they use the same chipset/socket. Basically if they want to wait, the next practical time for an update could be well into next year due to the number of things that aren't ready at any given time. Thunderbolt 3 is one. The Haswell / Broadwell / general EP processor cycle is another, as is the cycle on GPUs, and their other product launches, which they typically space out. If they really base it on that, we're back to product updates every 24-28 months rather than 14-16 months (EP cpu cycle). If they're that interested in the line, they would probably ship Haswell now and ship thunderbolt 3 with Broadwell next year. Otherwise you still have a potential for delays and things not being ready, so you would end up shipping Haswell potentially a year after it was released.
Comments
Because you can’t.
What I don't get is why hasn't anyone Connected the 5K iMac as a MacPro display? How would Xgrid work in this config?
Apple plainly states that this is unsupported. They don't use a standard displayport 1.2 protocol here. Note that The mac pros support up to 4K. There is some amount of custom work done here, presumably in terms of drivers. It's also an embedded design rather than one that is limited to whatever bandwidth can be run over the current thunderbolt. Also what does Xgrid have to do with anything? Xgrid died a long time ago, and it related to distributed computation. You may want to verify that you're thinking about the same thing. If you mean display tiling, which isn't the same thing at all, the 5K imac can't be run as the display for another machine. Displayport 1.3 was finalized last year, but I don't expect it to be supported by the next mac pro. It seems reasonable that they would release one later this year with the Haswell EP chips, given that Haswell and Broadwell will use the same socket.
Because you can’t.
Best explanation ever.
Displayport 1.3 was finalized last year, but I don't expect it to be supported by the next mac pro. It seems reasonable that they would release one later this year with the Haswell EP chips, given that Haswell and Broadwell will use the same socket.
I can't imagine why DP 1.3 wouldn't be supported on the next Mac Pro. While it was finalized last fall, its major design has almost certainly been in company labs for more than a year.
And I had thought we were expecting the next Mac Pro update to be unveiled mid-year (at WWDC?) and to feature Skylake chips, not Haswell.
I can't imagine why DP 1.3 wouldn't be supported on the next Mac Pro. While it was finalized last fall, its major design has almost certainly been in company labs for more than a year.
And I had thought we were expecting the next Mac Pro update to be unveiled mid-year (at WWDC?) and to feature Skylake chips, not Haswell.
You are probably correct on that, but recall the amount of time it took to see implementation of displayport 1.2. Apple was one of the last to get it due to being tied to thunderbolt, but it still took a couple cycles to see adoption by other companies. Note that it was finalized in 2009. As of right now I can't find confirmation of whether thunderbolt 3 bundles support for displayport 1.3. it's possibly still an unknown. Thunderbolt 3 looks like it won't ship before Q3 of this year.
A haswell update to the mac pros cpus came out last year, but you won't have a Broadwell EP before 2016. It's really all speculation, but sites suggest Q1 2016. I guess they could wait for it, assuming it's difficult to adjust and validate. If they want to ship Haswell, I don't see why they would drag it out. Chips have been out 4 months or so.
He didn’t ask for one.
You can’t do it because DP 1.2 can’t handle 2880. Boom.
He didn’t ask for one.
You can’t do it because DP 1.2 can’t handle 2880. Boom.
That is true, and as I mentioned it's not yet confirmed that TB3 will support displayport 1.3, especially at launch. It could be held up by driver issues, but if they are actually interested in making mac pros, it shouldn't be precisely tied to thunderbolt updates.
...but if they are actually interested in making mac pros, it shouldn't be precisely tied to thunderbolt updates.
True, but if they are interested in promoting Thunderbolt 3 as the future they need to tie the new plug to the Mac products with the biggest upgrade cycles this year.
That means getting it out on the Mac Pro (and iMac 5K and Macbook Pros) as soon as possible. If they skip the V2 upgrade of the Mac Pro, it will be another year before TB3 is introduced to the Pros who are most likely to use it.
True, but if they are interested in promoting Thunderbolt 3 as the future they need to tie the new plug to the Mac products with the biggest upgrade cycles this year.
That means getting it out on the Mac Pro (and iMac 5K and Macbook Pros) as soon as possible. If they skip the V2 upgrade of the Mac Pro, it will be another year before TB3 is introduced to the Pros who are most likely to use it.
There's no way to tell, but it would almost certainly push an update to next year, as it's unlikely that DP 1.3 support will be ready on that timeline. It's not even confirmed to support DP 1.3, although I expect it will. Broadwell EP will be out next year, but that means skipping Haswell EP even though they use the same chipset/socket. Basically if they want to wait, the next practical time for an update could be well into next year due to the number of things that aren't ready at any given time. Thunderbolt 3 is one. The Haswell / Broadwell / general EP processor cycle is another, as is the cycle on GPUs, and their other product launches, which they typically space out. If they really base it on that, we're back to product updates every 24-28 months rather than 14-16 months (EP cpu cycle). If they're that interested in the line, they would probably ship Haswell now and ship thunderbolt 3 with Broadwell next year. Otherwise you still have a potential for delays and things not being ready, so you would end up shipping Haswell potentially a year after it was released.