Next-gen Mac Pro processors could arrive March 29

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  • Reply 241 of 253
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by kkapoor View Post


    To be honest, no one really can really predict what Apple will or won't do. After all no one thought that they'd ever switch to Intel architecture either. You never know what they have up their sleeve.



    True... let's hope they surprise us... but I've been waiting a long time... I'm not getting excited until I see it.
  • Reply 242 of 253
    wizard69wizard69 Posts: 13,377member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by kkapoor View Post


    To be honest, no one really can really predict what Apple will or won't do. After all no one thought that they'd ever switch to Intel architecture either. You never know what they have up their sleeve.



    To anyone that avoided becoming a victim of Apples marketing or Steves RDF, it was pretty obvious that they had to do something about PPC. The peformance of PPC sucked massively unless you leveraged very specific features with tailored code. Now that is far from saying Apple would or will switch to Intel, but considering the performance gap what choice did the have?



    As to what is up their sleeves, no knowledgeable hints here. I will say that the continued hardware delays in the face of chip set availability tends to indicate a very large overhaul of the line up. Let's face Nvidia and Intel have some nice hardware that could go into both the iMac and Mini right now. The lack of updates here indicate that the new machines coming will be a far bigger overhaul than the wanted updates. The big unknown, like you hint at here, is just how will those machines be configured.





    Dave
  • Reply 243 of 253
    outsideroutsider Posts: 6,008member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by wizard69 View Post


    As to what is up their sleeves, no knowledgeable hints here. I will say that the continued hardware delays in the face of chip set availability tends to indicate a very large overhaul of the line up. Let's face Nvidia and Intel have some nice hardware that could go into both the iMac and Mini right now. The lack of updates here indicate that the new machines coming will be a far bigger overhaul than the wanted updates. The big unknown, like you hint at here, is just how will those machines be configured.





    Dave



    I think this is spot on. I've been saying it for a while now. It's hard to explain why the iMac and the mini in particular hasn't been upgraded unless there is going to be a drastic overhaul of Apple's consumer space.
  • Reply 244 of 253
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by Outsider View Post


    I think this is spot on. I've been saying it for a while now. It's hard to explain why the iMac and the mini in particular hasn't been upgraded unless there is going to be a drastic overhaul of Apple's consumer space.



    What are you guys getting at?



    As a casual observer, it seems to me that things are progressing in an expected fashion... first the smaller laptops get an overhaul, then the larger laptops. Then it would make sense to see the same Nvidia chipset in the Macmini and the iMacs which could happen in the next quarter or so followed by the Mac Pro based on the Gainstown a quarter later.



    I think the only thing that's unexpected about Apples product cycles is the lack of graphic card support in the current MP.
  • Reply 245 of 253
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by VirtualRain View Post


    What are you guys getting at?



    As a casual observer, it seems to me that things are progressing in an expected fashion... first the smaller laptops get an overhaul, then the larger laptops. Then it would make sense to see the same Nvidia chipset in the Macmini and the iMacs which could happen in the next quarter or so followed by the Mac Pro based on the Gainstown a quarter later.



    I think the only thing that's unexpected about Apples product cycles is the lack of graphic card support in the current MP.



    I was going to mention that myself. But if we're guessing by sequence, I think AppleTV would be the next candidate for a big update . Ignoring of course that Apple's updates don't tend to happen in such a predictable way....



    By order then, my (probably way off) guesses would be: AppleTV, MacMini, iMac, and MacPro... The MacPro is still a very powerful machine after all, so in order to update it I'm guessing there's going to be a good gap in there. :/



    Prove me wrong, kids. Prove me wrong.



    Jimzip
  • Reply 246 of 253
    drboardrboar Posts: 477member
    Apple have been offering flexible desktops for a long time (since IIci at least)

    The run of the mill PPC 7200 had room for 4 memory sticks, two hard disks and 3 PCI cards, and the option to add more VRAM and L2 cache. Getting the 7500 and you had 8 memory slots and a CPU that could be upgraded.

    A G4/400 sawtooth could have 3 more harddisks added, the ATI 128 replaced by a ATI 9800, USB2 and serial ATA cards added as well as dual G4 CPU upgrades up to close to 2 GHz added.



    Between the 7500/100 MHz 601 and the Sawtooth/400 Mhz G4 we had both the 7600/200 MHz 604E and the B&W 300 MHz G3. So between 1989 and 2003 there were upgradeable desktops that were not top of the line expensive. (anyone remember that there were a power PC upgrade a 100 MHz 601 for the IIci )
  • Reply 247 of 253
    Quote:

    LBB, I don't know how long you've been at this



    My beard dangles. Does that help?







    Lemon Bon Bon.
  • Reply 248 of 253
    Quote:

    I think the only thing that's unexpected about Apples product cycles is the lack of graphic card support in the current MP.



    Were that so. They have history of offering underpowered GPUs as standard and not offering the latest GPUs or, typically for Apple, enough choice. It's a farce to claim 'workstation' or 'Pro' standards and not offer that standard when, apparently, you're synonymous with the graphics market.



    *Shrugs.



    Lemon Bon Bon.
  • Reply 249 of 253
    Quote:

    Originally Posted by wizard69



    As to what is up their sleeves, no knowledgeable hints here. I will say that the continued hardware delays in the face of chip set availability tends to indicate a very large overhaul of the line up. Let's face Nvidia and Intel have some nice hardware that could go into both the iMac and Mini right now. The lack of updates here indicate that the new machines coming will be a far bigger overhaul than the wanted updates. The big unknown, like you hint at here, is just how will those machines be configured.





    Dave



    Well, after the G4 debacle, Apple blew the barn doors off with the G5. Few Mac Pro updates since then have been as memorable.



    I guess we're about due for a massive update this time...(the Mac Pro has been limping around with naff gpu as standard and no high end consumer option for ages.)



    This time we can look forward to a new OS, new Cosmetic Case design (external mainly, I'm guessing...), the Xeon Nehalem, a 280 (at least, though the 290-ish is out there and Ati are imminent with a card that's set to outdo the 4870x2 by 20-30%!) and new memory, more as standard eg 4 gigs, bigger hard drive as standard. Should be a Terrabyte drive as standard this time.



    It should be one hell of a computer. But I, along with Macworld Mag' , will mark it down if there is no option for a cheaper entry model. And the i7 consumer chip is the ideal way to bring Mac Pro costs down in a Credit Crunch.



    Personally, I'm hoping for a more compact case...but I don't mind being ostentatious (spelling?)



    Lemon Bon Bon.
  • Reply 250 of 253
    Quote:

    Apple have been offering flexible desktops for a long time (since IIci at least)

    The run of the mill PPC 7200 had room for 4 memory sticks, two hard disks and 3 PCI cards, and the option to add more VRAM and L2 cache. Getting the 7500 and you had 8 memory slots and a CPU that could be upgraded.

    A G4/400 sawtooth could have 3 more harddisks added, the ATI 128 replaced by a ATI 9800, USB2 and serial ATA cards added as well as dual G4 CPU upgrades up to close to 2 GHz added.



    Between the 7500/100 MHz 601 and the Sawtooth/400 Mhz G4 we had both the 7600/200 MHz 604E and the B&W 300 MHz G3. So between 1989 and 2003 there were upgradeable desktops that were not top of the line expensive. (anyone remember that there were a power PC upgrade a 100 MHz 601 for the IIci )



    You gotta like this guy.



    Ah, be still my beating heart...the Computer Warehouse Manhattan Clone I had. 604e. 160 megs of memory. 4 gig HD. (It was massive, y'know.) And I paid 600£ ($1200) for a Formac 80 GPU that only had 2d acceleration. My who rig cost my £7000 including 21 inch D2 monitor...and Photoshop software etc... Sure, I had to sell my grandma...but it was worth it...)



    Anybody wonder why I've been waiting 9 years since then for my dream Mac. I still have to apply vaseline for the reaming my 'wallet' received.



    It shouldn't be as painful this time. I have the glass table ready. In fact, the 'table' has been waiting 3 years already...



    Hey. I post on these boards. I don't have to be sane, eh?



    Lemon Bon Bon.



    PS. I just wish they'd bring the tower entry price to within 'reason'. I seem to remember the G3 entry price for the tower being reasonable. And they even offered a G5 entry at £995 once. They CAN do it.
  • Reply 251 of 253
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by wizard69 View Post


    ...As to what is up their sleeves, no knowledgeable hints here. I will say that the continued hardware delays in the face of chip set availability tends to indicate a very large overhaul of the line up...



    Oh, I wouldn't build up my hopes. It could be a massive mind-blowing overhaul, or, it could be a discontinuation of the Mini, or, there could be no updates to the Mini and only an iMac update of some small amount in more than a few months time. What is going on at Apple. I miss Steve



    Quote:
    Originally Posted by VirtualRain View Post


    LBB, I don't know how long you've been at this, but you might as well just realize, that in the last 20 years, Apple has refused to offer an affordable (albeit premium) flexible product similar to what PC users have been enjoying since it's debut.



    While I completely agree with you, that they are missing out on a significant market segment... I honestly don't think they will ever do it. Otherwise, they could have done so long before now.



    I understand what you're getting at, but what the heck is going on with the iMac starting to become more like a "big screen with a Mac built inside it" instead of an iMac... There's an existing market segment that Apple is willing to slowly let slide...
  • Reply 252 of 253
    outsideroutsider Posts: 6,008member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by nvidia2008 View Post


    Oh, I wouldn't build up my hopes. It could be a massive mind-blowing overhaul, or, it could be a discontinuation of the Mini, or, there could be no updates to the Mini and only an iMac update of some small amount in more than a few months time. What is going on at Apple. I miss Steve



    The mini hasn't been updated in 2 years and Steve was in charge all that time. I think having Steve-o out for a bit may be a good thing for Apple's desktops.
  • Reply 253 of 253
    Quote:

    The mini hasn't been updated in 2 years and Steve was in charge all that time. I think having Steve-o out for a bit may be a good thing for Apple's desktops.




    Nods.*



    Lemon Bon Bon.
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