My "DREAM" Pro Workstation from Apple.
First of all - I am not brand-new to these forums, It's just been about a year since I've been here and I cannot find my previous login credentials. Oh well - starting from scratch is fun too.
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MY DREAM "PRO SETUP"
-- Part One: The issue
Like many of you... I am a power-user that needs the muscle of a "Pro" tower. I run 3 (three) 21" displays at 1600x1200, I have over 20 USB peripherals and dongles plugged-in, I have PCI cards for many things - one of which runs my MOTU recording setup. I have all of the high-end applications including CS4, LightWave, Logic Studio, FinalCut Studio, etc, etc, etc...
To be efficient, I need(want) to have the fastest computer I can buy at each upgrade cycle.
BUT...
I am also in-love with the idea of a laptop. The problem is, not only are laptops a compromise in speed/power... they are limiting as to what hardware you can connect to it and so-on.
Sure, you COULD do what some do and buy both - and keep your files on a networked drive... but you STILL have to manually manage data & files between the two. It's not the same.
-- Part Two: The Dream
Imagine (if you will) having a laptop with respectable computing power when portable - such as the spec's for the current top-of-the-line 17" MBP.
Now, imagine being able to bring that computer back to your office and "DOCK" it to a device that houses Quad-Core processors, 16GB RAM, PCI slots, high-end video card and room for expansion, etc...
So when I get back to my desk and dock my MacBook Pro... it becomes a high-end system running-off the shared resources of the processors in the "other box".
So I could STILL run multiple displays... still have dozens of high-end plugins running in logic, still render with radiosity at reasonable rendering times.
I know that there are break-out boxes for WinPC laptops that have video cards in them, allowing you to run more displays once docked.. I know Apple is building an infrastructure to allow the operating system to recognize multiple processors more readily in non-standard uses.
I know it's a goofy dream, but I would LOVE to have the best of both worlds. ONE computer to manage, but that's capable of being a workhorse AND becoming portable when necessary - like when I want to multi-track record a live show or give a presentation.
Sorry for the long-winded rant, but I am in a holding-pattern; waiting for the "next generation" of "Pro" machines from Apple. I am ready to spend the $$$, but waiting for the next evolution of the Pro desktop series. As sexy as the 17"MBP is... it just won't work for me. I need more from my workstation. Hence the daydreaming.
---
MY DREAM "PRO SETUP"
-- Part One: The issue
Like many of you... I am a power-user that needs the muscle of a "Pro" tower. I run 3 (three) 21" displays at 1600x1200, I have over 20 USB peripherals and dongles plugged-in, I have PCI cards for many things - one of which runs my MOTU recording setup. I have all of the high-end applications including CS4, LightWave, Logic Studio, FinalCut Studio, etc, etc, etc...
To be efficient, I need(want) to have the fastest computer I can buy at each upgrade cycle.
BUT...
I am also in-love with the idea of a laptop. The problem is, not only are laptops a compromise in speed/power... they are limiting as to what hardware you can connect to it and so-on.
Sure, you COULD do what some do and buy both - and keep your files on a networked drive... but you STILL have to manually manage data & files between the two. It's not the same.
-- Part Two: The Dream
Imagine (if you will) having a laptop with respectable computing power when portable - such as the spec's for the current top-of-the-line 17" MBP.
Now, imagine being able to bring that computer back to your office and "DOCK" it to a device that houses Quad-Core processors, 16GB RAM, PCI slots, high-end video card and room for expansion, etc...
So when I get back to my desk and dock my MacBook Pro... it becomes a high-end system running-off the shared resources of the processors in the "other box".
So I could STILL run multiple displays... still have dozens of high-end plugins running in logic, still render with radiosity at reasonable rendering times.
I know that there are break-out boxes for WinPC laptops that have video cards in them, allowing you to run more displays once docked.. I know Apple is building an infrastructure to allow the operating system to recognize multiple processors more readily in non-standard uses.
I know it's a goofy dream, but I would LOVE to have the best of both worlds. ONE computer to manage, but that's capable of being a workhorse AND becoming portable when necessary - like when I want to multi-track record a live show or give a presentation.
Sorry for the long-winded rant, but I am in a holding-pattern; waiting for the "next generation" of "Pro" machines from Apple. I am ready to spend the $$$, but waiting for the next evolution of the Pro desktop series. As sexy as the 17"MBP is... it just won't work for me. I need more from my workstation. Hence the daydreaming.
Comments
Take a portable or small desktop. Deliver it with capable onboard graphics as well
as being able to take advantage of external GPU and tie the processing power in with Grid Computing for adding processing on demand and smart processing via a server version of Grand Central.
Connections could be Ethernet (10G for fastest performance) and Fibre Channel for those who are well heeled. As well as Tesla support. Perhaps a breakout box for the desktop could be made which housed multiple USB, eSATA and FW ports for local device connections.
Sync would be transparent if you wanted. You could literally attach a new computer (providing it had the same software/hardware requirement met and be up and running with the grid in no time. Mobile Me sync for Pro uses.
A built in coffee maker would be nice too.
The idea of the OS being able to just add/remove processors from its available list on-the-fly is a tall order.
My suggestion is not that the other "box" be a full-fledged computer... it's a housing with all the extended components and connections, but the boot-drive and master processor reside on the laptop - when docked, the additional hardware becomes available to the laptop - essentially making it a power-house workstation with the flexibility of a tower.
Again - I know it's a pipe dream... but I like to dream.