I was a bit surprised to still see FB-DIMMS. I thought Intel was go to phase out the use of FB because of the extra latency, power consumption and cost?
I think you mean "was going to"...
Back on topic:
Still waiting until next week to decide whether I need to start thinking about how to pay for a Pro...
How many pro's are REALLY going to use them? Really?
That's why there are TWO 1 GB Ethernet connections on the back.
um...well, i am a pro, as are the six people i work with, i sit here surrounded by G5 and Intels, DVCams, video capture cards and RAIDs. We use wireless mice and keyboards, we need to update work schedules to our mobile phones, use Wi-fi for remote (as in a Cat 5 wouldn't be convenient) control of audio and video equipment
Also, if you're going to supply your lowest spec machines WITH these 'basics' yet not your £3000 flagship, it SEEMS a little shite....
So, yeah, as a pro i do REALLY use them. Really.
i don't give a shit about the numbers and who's got what PCI architecture and a SCSI jock strap, i just want my video to render quickly so i can go out with some girls...
If it keeps the cost down I'm glad the 2600xt is the default card. Not everyone uses a 30". I'm on a 24" and I think the 2600xt would be fine for most things besides any semi-serious gaming. They could have done worse... Like they did with the last rev... 7300gt as default card? LOL ... they could have put a x2300pro or 8300gt as default card.
I'm going to use the ATI 2600XT with a 30" and it will be just fine. I don't game. I just edit RAW photos and render HD video. People are really too spec-oriented. The stock card is great for most of us. It is the faster GPUs, FSB and RAM that are going to make the difference.
When Nehalem comes out, supposedly in the 3rd quarter of this year, Apple will be required to make a massive makeover of the internals of the machine, at least.
At that time Express 2 should be completely supported, and I would expect a new case to mark that major shift. This case will be 4 years old, and that's pretty old.
Nehalem, its supporting chipset, and full support of Express 2, will also allow for more lanes, giving more options in video, among others.
I would expect eSATA by then as well.
Why are you so bothered (assuming a few comments up was you too.. forgot to look)
about having the ports of the Mac Pro be PCIe 2.0 ??? Is there even a video card on the market that can saturate a PCIe 1.0 x16 slot?? For that matter, is there *ANY CARD* available for the Mac Pro that would get ANY benefit from a PCIe 2.0 slot? I mean 4 gigabytes a second seems to be enough for anything that we have now. Am I missing something?
Photoshop might not even be optimized for more processors yet.
So for all you heavy-duty Photoshop pro users out there ? get an iMac because Photoshop can't handle more than two cores effectively!
On a more serious note, this announcement doesn't bode well for new Cinema Displays or pricing. I doubt Apple would bother launching the new Mac Pro with all the sales collateral showing the old Cinema Displays if there were a new generation of Cinema Displays just around the corner.
There again, there are probably a good few Pro users who have been holding on for this update and they'll probably order up a Cinema Display as well. If Apple do have a new generation of Cinema Displays just around the corner, they could shaft the early Mac Pro adopters, shift the obsolete stock and then introduce a more realistically priced generation of displays in a few weeks time. Sounds like the kind of move Apple would pull on it's early adopters know I come to think of it!
The standard configuration uses the Radeon HD2600XT? That's such a horrible mismatch for Intel's mighty 8 cores @ 2.8Ghz @ 1600FSB!!!!!....You will be crawling at the 30 inch resolution for anything 3d. I don't know if iTunes can use the visualization at that resolution.
I am surprised that the Geforce 8800GT 512MB wasn't the default standard configuration. On the other hand, the 200 dollar upgrade for 8800GT isn't that bad. It costs $275 retail to buy a 8800GT. Considering the retarded 2600XT costs 80 bux, it's almost trivial to upgrade to the 8800GT.
Most pro's don't need a good 3D board, why charge for it? It's perfectly reasonable to expect those who do need it to upgrade.
Let's understand something. You don't get something for free. If Apple made the 8800 the standard, they would have raised the price on the computer by another $100 . The same is true for WiFi.
Then people would complain that the price was even higher.
No, it's better to have the upgrade.
I'm disappointed that the card wasn't the 8800GTX, or some higher performance version. The GT is not a great card, considering that the next one up the line costs $2,600 more.
Having worked on efficient coding of multiprocessor software for my PhD about a decade back (look for it at http://www.itee.uq.edu.au/~philip/Publications/), I wouldn't be too surprised if the problem is that too few people understand the performance issues. If you don't have a good grounding in computer architecture with some understanding of OS and other hardware-software interactions, it's hard to get decent speedups. This is especially true as the speed gap between DRAM and processors grows. There's been a bit of a stall in clock speed increases the last few years, but DRAM hasn't been improving that dramatically either -- transfer rates have been going up but total time to start a new random access is still pretty slow compared with CPU cycle times. To look at some numbers, if you get a DDR3 SDRAM from Micron with a 1.5ns cycle time, it has an overhead of at least 24ns before any data starts to move. If your shiny new 8 core 3.2GHz machine is only trying to deliver a conservative 1 instruction per clock per core, it can execute over 600 instructions in the time it takes this kind of DRAM to heave into life. The DDR2 stuff the Mac uses is not far off this sort of speed.
But anyway, the point is that any code that uses all the cores has to avoid touching DRAM as much as possible, otherwise memory accesses become a serious bottleneck.
That's one reason why these processors have so much cache.
I was a bit surprised to still see FB-DIMMS. I thought Intel was going to phase out the use of FB because of the extra latency, power consumption and cost?
We have to wait for Nehalem for that. They will allow DDR-3. By then the price for those should be lower, and the speeds have been going up nicely.
The standard configuration uses the Radeon HD2600XT? That's such a horrible mismatch for Intel's mighty 8 cores @ 2.8Ghz @ 1600FSB!!!!!....You will be crawling at the 30 inch resolution for anything 3d. I don't know if iTunes can use the visualization at that resolution.
It's standard practice on workstations. The "standard" model of most workstations in the last decade a board that's promoted for 2D use, if you want better, you can pay a little more. It would probably be fine for Motion, and if you don't do anything massively complex Motion, and just edit photos, music or videos, 3D is not that important. Those three things are Apple's biggest markets for high end machines.
um...well, i am a pro, as are the six people i work with, i sit here surrounded by G5 and Intels, DVCams, video capture cards and RAIDs. We use wireless mice and keyboards, we need to update work schedules to our mobile phones, use Wi-fi for remote (as in a Cat 5 wouldn't be convenient) control of audio and video equipment
Also, if you're going to supply your lowest spec machines WITH these 'basics' yet not your £3000 flagship, it SEEMS a little shite....
So, yeah, as a pro i do REALLY use them. Really.
i don't give a shit about the numbers and who's got what PCI architecture and a SCSI jock strap, i just want my video to render quickly so i can go out with some girls...
I have to tell you that's unusual.
I'm assuming that you're not using Apple's new wireless keyboard?
I can hardly see what use WiFi is in a pro environment. Exactly what pro audio and video equipment do you control with WiFi? Offhand, I don't know of any.
Besides, what's the big deal? If you really need WiFi, add the module to your order.
Do you think Apple wouldn't charge for it if it was included? Be sure they charge for the Bluetooth module, and everything else that comes with the machine. nothing is free.
Most pro's don't need a good 3D board, why charge for it? It's perfectly reasonable to expect those who do need it to upgrade.
Let's understand something. You don't get something for free. If Apple made the 8800 the standard, they would have raised the price on the computer by another $100 . The same is true for WiFi.
Then people would complain that the price was even higher.
No, it's better to have the upgrade.
I'm disappointed that the card wasn't the 8800GTX, or some higher performance version. The GT is not a great card, considering that the next one up the line costs $2,600 more.
My son is excited about the WiFi option on the new Mac Pros. He got a Ninetendo Wii for Christmas and he says that if I order the Wifi option on the Mac Pro then he can use the Wifi option on his Ninetendo Wii to connect to the Internet via my Mac Pro. It seems to be reasonable, but I can't tell him for sure. Anyone got Wii and knows?
I currently have his Ninetendo Wii hooked up to the Internet with a router (hard wire) through my cable modem.
Yeah I know, they went from a four-core 2.66GHz, to an eight-core 2.8GHz, and they only got a 1.3x increase in Photoshop?
That's a bit of a let down from '2x faster'.
That's not the fault of the machine. It's the fault of Photoshop. PS doesn't use more than 2 cores yet. Adobe has told me that it's a priority for the next release, and possibly, they might be able to release an update that would help somewhat before then.
Of course, Apple's own tests are strange. They rate machines against the Quad G5, which according to them was still shipping as of December 2007!
Look to the botton of the page, just below the Mathamatica results in grey type.:
Why are you so bothered (assuming a few comments up was you too.. forgot to look)
about having the ports of the Mac Pro be PCIe 2.0 ??? Is there even a video card on the market that can saturate a PCIe 1.0 x16 slot?? For that matter, is there *ANY CARD* available for the Mac Pro that would get ANY benefit from a PCIe 2.0 slot? I mean 4 gigabytes a second seems to be enough for anything that we have now. Am I missing something?
I'm not "bothered". But, there are Express mobo's out in the PC world, and Express 2 cards have been out for months.
What you are overlooking it the longer range use of these machines. You can't ever consider the purchase of an expensive computer without thinking about how long you will own it.
It would be like having bought a PCI AGP bus machine a few months before everyone switched to Express. After a while, you would find that the latest cards weren't available, and the few that were didn't perform at the same level.
So, with this machine, Apple went halfway. It's not too bad, really, at least there are two 2 slots. I'd like to know if they perform at the speeds of 2 , or if there is some bottleneck there. 2 also offers more than just a speed jump from 1.
But, since they have added these two slots, once I know more about it, I may jump in and get this machine instead of waiting later this year for Nehalem, which will be the true successor to Apple's current machine.
I'm just disappointed with the video card line-up. If ATI was still producing cards for the machines, it would be different. I would just get the machine with the cheap 2600 card, and wait for a much better one. But, that might not happen.
My son is excited about the WiFi option on the new Mac Pros. He got a Ninetendo Wii for Christmas and he says that if I order the Wifi option on the Mac Pro then he can use the Wifi option on his Ninetendo Wii to connect to the Internet via my Mac Pro. It seems to be reasonable, but I can't tell him for sure. Anyone got Wii and knows?
I currently have his Ninetendo Wii hooked up to the Internet with a router (hard wire) through my cable modem.
My daughter's Wii goes through our 1 GHz Ethernet network. Latwer this year, I might pick upo an Apple router, if I can use it with my Internet Gateway, which I got from Covad.
I would get the WiFi for this as well, since it's so cheap. Actually this could serve as a basestation, but it's not on all the time.
My son is excited about the WiFi option on the new Mac Pros. He got a Ninetendo Wii for Christmas and he says that if I order the Wifi option on the Mac Pro then he can use the Wifi option on his Ninetendo Wii to connect to the Internet via my Mac Pro. It seems to be reasonable, but I can't tell him for sure. Anyone got Wii and knows?
I can connect my PSP to my Mac's airport card easily, it just detects it like any other wireless network. You just turn on internet sharing in system prefs. The Wii will be able to pick it up in the same way.
This is one reason why pros might want the airport card too despite the preference for hard-wired ethernet connections. They might have iphones or blackberries that need a wifi connection.
For the sake of the small fee for BTO, I'd be inclined to agree it should be included with the Mac Pro for free. They include bluetooth now and it would make the whole lineup the same.
That's not the fault of the machine. It's the fault of Photoshop. PS doesn't use more than 2 cores yet. Adobe has told me that it's a priority for the next release, and possibly, they might be able to release an update that would help somewhat before then.
Of course, Apple's own tests are strange. They rate machines against the Quad G5, which according to them was still shipping as of December 2007!
Look to the botton of the page, just below the Mathamatica results in grey type.:
But some programs will use all 8 cores, and that will make quite a difference.
the part about listing the quad g5 for sale in dec2007 is odd, but i don't think it's an odd comparison. many people bought the quad g5 to tide them over through the intel transition, just like i did. i'm happy to see the comparisons. there was so much confusion when the mac pros came out because CS was running in rosetta. so the mac pros weren't faster. even when it went native, the photoshop tests were still close enough for most imaging professionals to just put off upgrading longer.
My daughter's Wii goes through our 1 GHz Ethernet network. Latwer this year, I might pick upo an Apple router, if I can use it with my Internet Gateway, which I got from Covad.
I would get the WiFi for this as well, since it's so cheap. Actually this could serve as a basestation, but it's not on all the time.
just get a real WiFi router like this with N and 5 gig-e ports
Comments
I think you mean "kudos"
back on topic:
I was a bit surprised to still see FB-DIMMS. I thought Intel was go to phase out the use of FB because of the extra latency, power consumption and cost?
I think you mean "was going to"...
Back on topic:
Still waiting until next week to decide whether I need to start thinking about how to pay for a Pro...
I think you mean "was going to"...
Doh! Thank you. All fixed.
Still waiting until next week to decide whether I need to start thinking about how to pay for a Pro...
The disillusionment with Apple is over?
How many pro's are REALLY going to use them? Really?
That's why there are TWO 1 GB Ethernet connections on the back.
um...well, i am a pro, as are the six people i work with, i sit here surrounded by G5 and Intels, DVCams, video capture cards and RAIDs. We use wireless mice and keyboards, we need to update work schedules to our mobile phones, use Wi-fi for remote (as in a Cat 5 wouldn't be convenient) control of audio and video equipment
Also, if you're going to supply your lowest spec machines WITH these 'basics' yet not your £3000 flagship, it SEEMS a little shite....
So, yeah, as a pro i do REALLY use them. Really.
i don't give a shit about the numbers and who's got what PCI architecture and a SCSI jock strap, i just want my video to render quickly so i can go out with some girls...
8 core vs 4 cores for the mid line models.
Faster bus, faster memory, faster cpu's etc.
It's all theoretical.
We'll find out when they land in the sites hands and we see tests.
Yeah I know, they went from a four-core 2.66GHz, to an eight-core 2.8GHz, and they only got a 1.3x increase in Photoshop?
That's a bit of a let down from '2x faster'.
If it keeps the cost down I'm glad the 2600xt is the default card. Not everyone uses a 30". I'm on a 24" and I think the 2600xt would be fine for most things besides any semi-serious gaming. They could have done worse... Like they did with the last rev... 7300gt as default card? LOL ... they could have put a x2300pro or 8300gt as default card.
I'm going to use the ATI 2600XT with a 30" and it will be just fine. I don't game. I just edit RAW photos and render HD video. People are really too spec-oriented. The stock card is great for most of us. It is the faster GPUs, FSB and RAM that are going to make the difference.
When Nehalem comes out, supposedly in the 3rd quarter of this year, Apple will be required to make a massive makeover of the internals of the machine, at least.
At that time Express 2 should be completely supported, and I would expect a new case to mark that major shift. This case will be 4 years old, and that's pretty old.
Nehalem, its supporting chipset, and full support of Express 2, will also allow for more lanes, giving more options in video, among others.
I would expect eSATA by then as well.
Why are you so bothered (assuming a few comments up was you too.. forgot to look)
about having the ports of the Mac Pro be PCIe 2.0 ??? Is there even a video card on the market that can saturate a PCIe 1.0 x16 slot?? For that matter, is there *ANY CARD* available for the Mac Pro that would get ANY benefit from a PCIe 2.0 slot? I mean 4 gigabytes a second seems to be enough for anything that we have now. Am I missing something?
Yeah I know, they went from a four-core 2.66GHz, to an eight-core 2.8GHz, and they only got a 1.3x increase in Photoshop?
That's a bit of a let down from '2x faster'.
Photoshop might not even be optimized for more processors yet.
Photoshop might not even be optimized for more processors yet.
So for all you heavy-duty Photoshop pro users out there ? get an iMac because Photoshop can't handle more than two cores effectively!
On a more serious note, this announcement doesn't bode well for new Cinema Displays or pricing. I doubt Apple would bother launching the new Mac Pro with all the sales collateral showing the old Cinema Displays if there were a new generation of Cinema Displays just around the corner.
There again, there are probably a good few Pro users who have been holding on for this update and they'll probably order up a Cinema Display as well. If Apple do have a new generation of Cinema Displays just around the corner, they could shaft the early Mac Pro adopters, shift the obsolete stock and then introduce a more realistically priced generation of displays in a few weeks time. Sounds like the kind of move Apple would pull on it's early adopters know I come to think of it!
The standard configuration uses the Radeon HD2600XT? That's such a horrible mismatch for Intel's mighty 8 cores @ 2.8Ghz @ 1600FSB!!!!!....You will be crawling at the 30 inch resolution for anything 3d. I don't know if iTunes can use the visualization at that resolution.
I am surprised that the Geforce 8800GT 512MB wasn't the default standard configuration. On the other hand, the 200 dollar upgrade for 8800GT isn't that bad. It costs $275 retail to buy a 8800GT. Considering the retarded 2600XT costs 80 bux, it's almost trivial to upgrade to the 8800GT.
Most pro's don't need a good 3D board, why charge for it? It's perfectly reasonable to expect those who do need it to upgrade.
Let's understand something. You don't get something for free. If Apple made the 8800 the standard, they would have raised the price on the computer by another $100 . The same is true for WiFi.
Then people would complain that the price was even higher.
No, it's better to have the upgrade.
I'm disappointed that the card wasn't the 8800GTX, or some higher performance version. The GT is not a great card, considering that the next one up the line costs $2,600 more.
Having worked on efficient coding of multiprocessor software for my PhD about a decade back (look for it at http://www.itee.uq.edu.au/~philip/Publications/), I wouldn't be too surprised if the problem is that too few people understand the performance issues. If you don't have a good grounding in computer architecture with some understanding of OS and other hardware-software interactions, it's hard to get decent speedups. This is especially true as the speed gap between DRAM and processors grows. There's been a bit of a stall in clock speed increases the last few years, but DRAM hasn't been improving that dramatically either -- transfer rates have been going up but total time to start a new random access is still pretty slow compared with CPU cycle times. To look at some numbers, if you get a DDR3 SDRAM from Micron with a 1.5ns cycle time, it has an overhead of at least 24ns before any data starts to move. If your shiny new 8 core 3.2GHz machine is only trying to deliver a conservative 1 instruction per clock per core, it can execute over 600 instructions in the time it takes this kind of DRAM to heave into life. The DDR2 stuff the Mac uses is not far off this sort of speed.
But anyway, the point is that any code that uses all the cores has to avoid touching DRAM as much as possible, otherwise memory accesses become a serious bottleneck.
That's one reason why these processors have so much cache.
I think you mean "kudos"
back on topic:
I was a bit surprised to still see FB-DIMMS. I thought Intel was going to phase out the use of FB because of the extra latency, power consumption and cost?
We have to wait for Nehalem for that. They will allow DDR-3. By then the price for those should be lower, and the speeds have been going up nicely.
The standard configuration uses the Radeon HD2600XT? That's such a horrible mismatch for Intel's mighty 8 cores @ 2.8Ghz @ 1600FSB!!!!!....You will be crawling at the 30 inch resolution for anything 3d. I don't know if iTunes can use the visualization at that resolution.
It's standard practice on workstations. The "standard" model of most workstations in the last decade a board that's promoted for 2D use, if you want better, you can pay a little more. It would probably be fine for Motion, and if you don't do anything massively complex Motion, and just edit photos, music or videos, 3D is not that important. Those three things are Apple's biggest markets for high end machines.
um...well, i am a pro, as are the six people i work with, i sit here surrounded by G5 and Intels, DVCams, video capture cards and RAIDs. We use wireless mice and keyboards, we need to update work schedules to our mobile phones, use Wi-fi for remote (as in a Cat 5 wouldn't be convenient) control of audio and video equipment
Also, if you're going to supply your lowest spec machines WITH these 'basics' yet not your £3000 flagship, it SEEMS a little shite....
So, yeah, as a pro i do REALLY use them. Really.
i don't give a shit about the numbers and who's got what PCI architecture and a SCSI jock strap, i just want my video to render quickly so i can go out with some girls...
I have to tell you that's unusual.
I'm assuming that you're not using Apple's new wireless keyboard?
I can hardly see what use WiFi is in a pro environment. Exactly what pro audio and video equipment do you control with WiFi? Offhand, I don't know of any.
Besides, what's the big deal? If you really need WiFi, add the module to your order.
Do you think Apple wouldn't charge for it if it was included? Be sure they charge for the Bluetooth module, and everything else that comes with the machine. nothing is free.
I'm surprised you even brought this up.
Most pro's don't need a good 3D board, why charge for it? It's perfectly reasonable to expect those who do need it to upgrade.
Let's understand something. You don't get something for free. If Apple made the 8800 the standard, they would have raised the price on the computer by another $100 . The same is true for WiFi.
Then people would complain that the price was even higher.
No, it's better to have the upgrade.
I'm disappointed that the card wasn't the 8800GTX, or some higher performance version. The GT is not a great card, considering that the next one up the line costs $2,600 more.
My son is excited about the WiFi option on the new Mac Pros. He got a Ninetendo Wii for Christmas and he says that if I order the Wifi option on the Mac Pro then he can use the Wifi option on his Ninetendo Wii to connect to the Internet via my Mac Pro. It seems to be reasonable, but I can't tell him for sure. Anyone got Wii and knows?
I currently have his Ninetendo Wii hooked up to the Internet with a router (hard wire) through my cable modem.
Yeah I know, they went from a four-core 2.66GHz, to an eight-core 2.8GHz, and they only got a 1.3x increase in Photoshop?
That's a bit of a let down from '2x faster'.
That's not the fault of the machine. It's the fault of Photoshop. PS doesn't use more than 2 cores yet. Adobe has told me that it's a priority for the next release, and possibly, they might be able to release an update that would help somewhat before then.
Of course, Apple's own tests are strange. They rate machines against the Quad G5, which according to them was still shipping as of December 2007!
Look to the botton of the page, just below the Mathamatica results in grey type.:
http://www.apple.com/macpro/performance.html
But some programs will use all 8 cores, and that will make quite a difference.
Why are you so bothered (assuming a few comments up was you too.. forgot to look)
about having the ports of the Mac Pro be PCIe 2.0 ??? Is there even a video card on the market that can saturate a PCIe 1.0 x16 slot?? For that matter, is there *ANY CARD* available for the Mac Pro that would get ANY benefit from a PCIe 2.0 slot? I mean 4 gigabytes a second seems to be enough for anything that we have now. Am I missing something?
I'm not "bothered". But, there are Express mobo's out in the PC world, and Express 2 cards have been out for months.
What you are overlooking it the longer range use of these machines. You can't ever consider the purchase of an expensive computer without thinking about how long you will own it.
It would be like having bought a PCI AGP bus machine a few months before everyone switched to Express. After a while, you would find that the latest cards weren't available, and the few that were didn't perform at the same level.
So, with this machine, Apple went halfway. It's not too bad, really, at least there are two 2 slots. I'd like to know if they perform at the speeds of 2 , or if there is some bottleneck there. 2 also offers more than just a speed jump from 1.
But, since they have added these two slots, once I know more about it, I may jump in and get this machine instead of waiting later this year for Nehalem, which will be the true successor to Apple's current machine.
I'm just disappointed with the video card line-up. If ATI was still producing cards for the machines, it would be different. I would just get the machine with the cheap 2600 card, and wait for a much better one. But, that might not happen.
My son is excited about the WiFi option on the new Mac Pros. He got a Ninetendo Wii for Christmas and he says that if I order the Wifi option on the Mac Pro then he can use the Wifi option on his Ninetendo Wii to connect to the Internet via my Mac Pro. It seems to be reasonable, but I can't tell him for sure. Anyone got Wii and knows?
I currently have his Ninetendo Wii hooked up to the Internet with a router (hard wire) through my cable modem.
My daughter's Wii goes through our 1 GHz Ethernet network. Latwer this year, I might pick upo an Apple router, if I can use it with my Internet Gateway, which I got from Covad.
I would get the WiFi for this as well, since it's so cheap. Actually this could serve as a basestation, but it's not on all the time.
My son is excited about the WiFi option on the new Mac Pros. He got a Ninetendo Wii for Christmas and he says that if I order the Wifi option on the Mac Pro then he can use the Wifi option on his Ninetendo Wii to connect to the Internet via my Mac Pro. It seems to be reasonable, but I can't tell him for sure. Anyone got Wii and knows?
I can connect my PSP to my Mac's airport card easily, it just detects it like any other wireless network. You just turn on internet sharing in system prefs. The Wii will be able to pick it up in the same way.
This is one reason why pros might want the airport card too despite the preference for hard-wired ethernet connections. They might have iphones or blackberries that need a wifi connection.
For the sake of the small fee for BTO, I'd be inclined to agree it should be included with the Mac Pro for free. They include bluetooth now and it would make the whole lineup the same.
That's not the fault of the machine. It's the fault of Photoshop. PS doesn't use more than 2 cores yet. Adobe has told me that it's a priority for the next release, and possibly, they might be able to release an update that would help somewhat before then.
Of course, Apple's own tests are strange. They rate machines against the Quad G5, which according to them was still shipping as of December 2007!
Look to the botton of the page, just below the Mathamatica results in grey type.:
http://www.apple.com/macpro/performance.html
But some programs will use all 8 cores, and that will make quite a difference.
the part about listing the quad g5 for sale in dec2007 is odd, but i don't think it's an odd comparison. many people bought the quad g5 to tide them over through the intel transition, just like i did. i'm happy to see the comparisons. there was so much confusion when the mac pros came out because CS was running in rosetta. so the mac pros weren't faster. even when it went native, the photoshop tests were still close enough for most imaging professionals to just put off upgrading longer.
My daughter's Wii goes through our 1 GHz Ethernet network. Latwer this year, I might pick upo an Apple router, if I can use it with my Internet Gateway, which I got from Covad.
I would get the WiFi for this as well, since it's so cheap. Actually this could serve as a basestation, but it's not on all the time.
just get a real WiFi router like this with N and 5 gig-e ports
1 for the internet side and the other 4 for your network. http://www.tigerdirect.com/applicati...&Sku=D700-5426