Briefly: Intel Mac mini in production; iBooks due at later date

123457»

Comments

  • Reply 121 of 135
    Quote:

    Originally posted by melgross

    I'm not playing a game, and I haven't looked at the rates. It was just a suggestion.



    I doubt that Apple sets their prices around the world arbitrarally.




    Well, it seems so, because it's not based on the exchange rate. They certainly aren't as bad as they were a few years ago though when they hung on and on to much higher European prices than US. These days it's only around 10% out.



    I remember working out that in 2001, for a Powerbook, I could fly to New York from London on a cheap flight, spend a romantic weekend with the girlfriend, buy a PowerBook (how romantic!) and fly back and I'd still be a few pounds up on the deal.
  • Reply 122 of 135
    melgrossmelgross Posts: 33,510member
    Quote:

    Originally posted by aegisdesign

    Well, it seems so, because it's not based on the exchange rate. They certainly aren't as bad as they were a few years ago though when they hung on and on to much higher European prices than US. These days it's only around 10% out.



    I remember working out that in 2001, for a Powerbook, I could fly to New York from London on a cheap flight, spend a romantic weekend with the girlfriend, buy a PowerBook (how romantic!) and fly back and I'd still be a few pounds up on the deal.




    Actually, that sounds pretty good to me!
  • Reply 123 of 135
    Quote:

    Originally posted by Mr. H

    Each individual bitmap is limited to the size of the screen, but there is not just one bitmap, there are many, many bitmaps (at least one bitmap for each window + plenty of other stuff), which are then blended together by the quartz compositor to make the final scene that is sent to the display.



    I suggest that you read this




    Even all the (tiny) bitmaps added up don't put a dent into things. I don't think you realize how little bandwidth is used by the compositing system. I'm not going any further with this because this is officially the most pointless argument I've ever gotten caught up in?I was just trying to correct a little misinformation.



    Also, Siracusa can be kinda flaky from time to time. Just thinking back to that whole thing he had about how Apple was DOOMED because Objective-C's memory model wasn't sufficiently managed. ( http://arstechnica.com/staff/fatbits...5/9/27/1372/p1 ). He's interesting from time to time, but not someone to quote as gospel.
  • Reply 124 of 135
    melgrossmelgross Posts: 33,510member
    Quote:

    Originally posted by gregmightdothat

    Even all the (tiny) bitmaps added up don't put a dent into things. I don't think you realize how little bandwidth is used by the compositing system. I'm not going any further with this because this is officially the most pointless argument I've ever gotten caught up in?I was just trying to correct a little misinformation.



    Also, Siracusa can be kinda flaky from time to time. Just thinking back to that whole thing he had about how Apple was DOOMED because Objective-C's memory model wasn't sufficiently managed. ( http://arstechnica.com/staff/fatbits...5/9/27/1372/p1 ). He's interesting from time to time, but not someone to quote as gospel.




    John is a recognized expert on cpu and systems design. That's where his degree is centered on. His ideas about other topics is not as expert.
  • Reply 125 of 135
    Quote:

    Been like that since the iMac Core Duo launch when the G5 was £899. The G5 iMac 20" is coincidentally £1049 but they've got that price right. We quite often get prices plucked out of thin air here... etc



    No I don't believe it is really and truly an Apple UK issue - although perhaps they do it just to fit in...



    It's more the UK rip off in general issue.
  • Reply 126 of 135
    mr. hmr. h Posts: 4,870member
    Quote:

    Originally posted by gregmightdothat

    Also, Siracusa can be kinda flaky from time to time. Just thinking back to that whole thing he had about how Apple was DOOMED because Objective-C's memory model wasn't sufficiently managed. ( http://arstechnica.com/staff/fatbits...5/9/27/1372/p1 ). He's interesting from time to time, but not someone to quote as gospel.



    Whether Objective-C's memory model is any good or not is a matter of opinion. How Quartz 2D extreme achieves vastly better performance than standard Quartz 2D is a matter of fact.
  • Reply 127 of 135
    aegisdesignaegisdesign Posts: 2,914member
    Quote:

    Originally posted by Mr. H

    Whether Objective-C's memory model is any good or not is a matter of opinion. How Quartz 2D extreme achieves vastly better performance than standard Quartz 2D is a matter of fact.



    Although it doesn't actually achieve better performance over Quartz 2D all the time. My CPU (G5 1.8Ghz) is way faster than the GPU (FX5200) at rendering text and the UI with just Quartz 2D. And to me, fast text and UI is much more important than line drawing or fills.



    If I could switch it on for some apps (eg. Illustrator), and off for others (eg. SubEthaEdit), that would be useful.
  • Reply 128 of 135
    mr. hmr. h Posts: 4,870member
    Quote:

    Originally posted by aegisdesign

    Although it doesn't actually achieve better performance over Quartz 2D all the time. My CPU (G5 1.8Ghz) is way faster than the GPU (FX5200) at rendering text and the UI with just Quartz 2D. And to me, fast text and UI is much more important than line drawing or fills.



    If I could switch it on for some apps (eg. Illustrator), and off for others (eg. SubEthaEdit), that would be useful.




    As I alluded to earlier, I suspect that this is because Apple are having difficulty getting QuickDraw and Quartz 2D extreme to co-exist happily.



    I did use the wrong terminology, though. QuickDraw has already been deprecated (which means it is not going to see any further development), but we will probably have to wait until QuickDraw is removed from the OS before Quartz 2D extreme is worth having.
  • Reply 129 of 135
    aegisdesignaegisdesign Posts: 2,914member
    Quote:

    Originally posted by Mr. H

    As I alluded to earlier, I suspect that this is because Apple are having difficulty getting QuickDraw and Quartz 2D extreme to co-exist happily.



    I did use the wrong terminology, though. QuickDraw has already been deprecated (which means it is not going to see any further development), but we will probably have to wait until QuickDraw is removed from the OS before Quartz 2D extreme is worth having.




    Wouldn't have thought it was Quickdraw related. SubEthaEdit is an NSTextView and completely Cocoa.



    From what I gather the problem is that the GPU just isn't as quick at drawing fonts from their cached metrics as the CPU is. Since most UI elements involve text too, I'd guess that's the problem there too.



    Of course, a much faster GPU would probably sort out the issue for me but that's a bit tricky in an iMac. :-)
  • Reply 130 of 135
    mr. hmr. h Posts: 4,870member
    Quote:

    Originally posted by aegisdesign

    Wouldn't have thought it was Quickdraw related. SubEthaEdit is an NSTextView and completely Cocoa.



    Oh



    I wonder if it Apple's software implementation, or if they are reaching hard limits of current GPUs?
  • Reply 131 of 135
    melgrossmelgross Posts: 33,510member
    Quote:

    Originally posted by aegisdesign

    Well, it seems so, because it's not based on the exchange rate. They certainly aren't as bad as they were a few years ago though when they hung on and on to much higher European prices than US. These days it's only around 10% out.



    I remember working out that in 2001, for a Powerbook, I could fly to New York from London on a cheap flight, spend a romantic weekend with the girlfriend, buy a PowerBook (how romantic!) and fly back and I'd still be a few pounds up on the deal.




    I just remembered something about this. My audio company used to ship products around the world. Different areas cost us different amounts to ship. we had to had those costs into the total product cost.



    It's like when you read the price of a car on the window sticker (at least here in the States. I don't know how you do it there). They have different prices depending on whether it is the price including shipping to the dealer or "delivered".
  • Reply 132 of 135
    aegisdesignaegisdesign Posts: 2,914member
    Quote:

    Originally posted by melgross

    I just remembered something about this. My audio company used to ship products around the world. Different areas cost us different amounts to ship. we had to had those costs into the total product cost.



    Possibly, although the Intel iMac weighs less than the G5 iMac so you'd think shipping was less.



    Trying to make sense of Apple UK pricing is a fruitless task.
  • Reply 133 of 135
    melgrossmelgross Posts: 33,510member
    Quote:

    Originally posted by aegisdesign

    Possibly, although the Intel iMac weighs less than the G5 iMac so you'd think shipping was less.



    Trying to make sense of Apple UK pricing is a fruitless task.




    Distance is the rule. Closer to ship to California from the Far East, than to ship to Europe.



    I thought that the Intel iMac weighed almost exactly the same as the last gen G5 model. That was where they lowered the weight. When they changed the case.
  • Reply 134 of 135
    zengazenga Posts: 267member
    so where will the new MacBooks (iBooks) will show up???
  • Reply 135 of 135
    melgrossmelgross Posts: 33,510member
    Quote:

    Originally posted by Zenga

    so where will the new MacBooks (iBooks) will show up???



    I guess, April 1st.
Sign In or Register to comment.