Give the Mac Pro a steep price cut. Let's face it. Take the £700-1000 display off the Nehalem iMac? And you're left with a £700 computer.
Hmmm. That's a 'turbo' edition Mac Mini with 4850.
Many 'mid tower' buyers would take that.
Or give the Mac Pro quad (massively overpriced as it is...especially in light of the Nehalem iMac...) a massive price cut. £700. It's about all it's worth to me without a '27.5 inch' monitor.
It's hardly an all out effort for Apple to give us a 'Mac Maxi' along the lines of the Mac Mini but with a quad i5 with 4850.
One is a cpu that costs a few hundred and the other is a gpu that is less than a hundred. Hardly premium parts (oh...they're in the 'top of the range' iMac...)
The only reason for a tower is expandability and with video professionals moving to tapeless storage and with the necessity of external storage the need for a big box that holds a lot of "stuff" is waning.
The i7 is the first iMac that is somewhat suitable for Prosumer work regarding speed. I think that if Light Peak takes off it'll allow for very fast exernal storage and other peripherals. Basically all the content creator needs in front on him/her is a good display setup and the grunt power.
Well, the fact that you can probably run the forthcoming 'sexa-Mac Pro' 12 hard cores through a '27.5' inch iMac is a state of things to come. You basically turbo your prosumer workstation with the 'render farm' Pro box.
It doesn't look like the 'mid tower' is coming. But it's not like they can't fit it in their line up. The Mac Mini is still under powered and expensive to me. STILL no discrete gpu and where's the quad core option? At least offer the option. And if it's too small...make a bigger special edition one.
It's not like Apple's desktop options are overcrowded with choice.
Performance numbers of Intel's new six-core Xeon were prematurely revealed by Polish website PCLab, showing strong increases in performance for the chip rumored to be in the next iteration of the Mac Pro.
This begs the following question: when will Apple (and others) re-write their software to take full advantage of these multi-core processors? I've had Compressor encoding jobs last over 2 days (really long HD projects, different output formats). Same with Color rendering.
When will we see the following take advantage of OpenCL, GCD, and become 64-bit?
Final Cut Pro
Color
DVD Studio Pro
Compressor
Photoshop
etc etc.....
We are waiting for this updated MacPro and hoping that Apple starts eating its own dog food (rewrite its own software to take advantage of its own OS techs).
Neruda, that's a good point. Without a complete overhaul of Final Cut Studio, Logic etc this software won't be able to take advantage of these cores and GPUs etc.
It's time for Apple to stop talking about these technologies and start using them.
All developers know that optimization is most driven by in-house use. These technologies won't mature until Apple start using them on their own major projects. The quality required for professional computer applications will surely drive Apple to further optimize and bugcheck their features. Until Apple proves they themselves trust the new features, then there's no valid reason to expect other development houses to do the same.
For the quality of Apple's professional line, for the good of these new technologies, and for the trust of all major Mac developers, Apple needs to start eating it's dogfood and ungrade their professional line to Snow Leopard tech.
That's neat in getting a 50% boost in processing while saving 50% in power. Must be the smaller die size of the chips.
Now that AMD has a billion and a half or more of Intel's money we may see some good products coming from them. Maybe then Apple will offer AMD procs in their wares.
This begs the following question: when will Apple (and others) re-write their software to take full advantage of these multi-core processors?...
Well Snow Leopard with Grand Central Dispatch was just released, it will obviously take time for programs to be rewritten to take full advantage of it.
I would buy this machine in s heartbeat! Great post!
I know. Buying the machine i
mean. Perfect timing. Remeber the sales of the air? Very flat and should have used a small non ssd drive and sold for $999 but they painted themsef into a corner, thus no notebook.
Now with the 12/24 core, they can, in thory make that the mac pro and release a headless 4/8 core gaming, prosumer,pci card semi high end machine for $999 and would have sales from pros for their b and c rooms, prosumers, gamers, you name it. It would fill a huge gap. It's the perfect opportunity. Or just slash the existing pro in half and call it the mac Pro Sumer. Lol
fwiw, with the low heat, pc windows users will have a field day with hackntosh. Since heat is the number one enemy, this chip looks to run cool and because if tge bios we could see theses Chios running almost double their iringinal speed so even if apple does not do thus, these new chips would O/C big time and would be insanly fast.
In a previous story, Hardmac reported that the new Mac Pro will have a modified motherboard with a 10Gbit/second Ethernet port and will support 8GB and 16GB RAM modules, allowing for a maximum of 128GB of RAM. The report also stated that it is likely that Apple would have short-term exclusive use of the i9 processor. Apple has enjoyed short-term exclusivity during the release of the previous two Mac Pro lines.
Hardmac or its original, French, web site, Macbidouille http://www.macbidouille.com are well connected and generally quite reliable. I used to read MacBidouille until they stopped publishing rumors at the request of Apple legal. This was also when MacOSRumors was closed down at the request of Apple legal.
My own personal guess is that they are well connected with the French and European developpers of Mac OS X and related software. Apple VP of software development is Bertrand Serlet, a Frenchman working in Paris.
And, contrary to the prevailing opinion, I believe that Apple does NOT dislike rumors, provided that they are forward looking, e.g. one year in advance, because they generate a positive buzz and free publicity. In some cases (not here), floating a rumor is an inexpensive way to test the market for upcoming features.
If I were on the market for a MacPro or an XServe, I would believe this rumor and wait for the Core i9 upgrade. As Apple is both the only computer builder with an Intel exclusive policy and a small market (4% or 5% world market share), it enjoys an early access to pre-release units of new CPU models.
Just my 2¢, but it is backed up by 21 years on the Apple rumor and news scene.
You can never have enough power. As long as you convert a HD movie from one format to another and twiddle your thumbs, there will be room for innovation. I'd just like to see some hard drive innovation alongside the CPU. SSDs are very nice and look to be the future, so how about a modular approach to designing the inners of our computers. At least we could jump on future improvements a little more cheaply.
You can never have enough power. As long as you convert a HD movie from one format to another and twiddle your thumbs, there will be room for innovation. I'd just like to see some hard drive innovation alongside the CPU. SSDs are very nice and look to be the future, so how about a modular approach to designing the inners of our computers. At least we could jump on future improvements a little more cheaply.
Yes. More great ideas. Turn on the computer and it's there. Make the os on the chip. Instant on. The file, storage on ram,like the new ssd but fastercas apparently, the more you add, the slower it gets. The wndoze world had this prgram that took dailey, the weekly, etc programs and moved them to the fastest part of the HD. ImAgine something like that on programmble Ram. It remembered.
The current one is something like 4 years old at this point, so it's long overdue.
I'm looking for a quad-core MacBook Pro.
Actually I don't see a quad core as of now. The Power consumption would be the issue. Battery and bus requirements are a demand. Only a lower powered lower nanometer cpu would work. I would see a Core i7 http://www.intel.com/Consumer/Learn/...ei7-detail.htm Apple has been migrating over to the ix Based Processor's for their machines. Makes sense. They are going to become mainstream and the next gen processors will come out in 2 to 3 years depending on the quarter.
Also the next gen Graphics cards will be a plus in the Mac Pro and Mac Book Pro. Nvidia rules the market in gaming. How many of us who play games have seen "Nvidia the way it's meant to be played". I would prefer the 17" glossy and bump up the ram to pleasing 16 GB. Currently all books come to 4 and some to 8. i7 Processor is sweet. i9 is even sweeter in a Mac Pro. Case design.. You will just have to see. I do know that the current one has been working well. But the labor in assembly is a bit time consuming. Manufacturing the sheets is not so bad and the bending process is OK. Its the internal chassis and internal assembly that cost on the labor side. Size, weight and cost of shipping is a factor. The Mac Pro can weigh about 50 pounds. That takes up some fuel. I would say it is the most costly unit on fuel to ship.
One more thing. Apple has a new technology for the transfer of data between two devices. It is in the future. It will make Fire Wire a thing of the past.
If my spelling is off please forgive me. It's my way of relaxing.
been wondering if Apple was gonna phase out the MacPro :O
This is one for the wish list - at least until I win a comp
anyway
OK, when it comes to saying that the Mac Pro will go bye bye in it's current case design... Or go bye bye all together... Probably not on the later as for the previous, maybe a new revision. I cannot say... I do know that as technology advances (evolves) so does the need to develop new housings. The current design of the mac pro case is pretty nice and functional by some standards. A new upgrade to chassis design will most likely be spawned by saving on energy, material and labor. It will be determined by such standards.
Apple has paved the way in combining three words. GREEN and Personal Technology. you will have to wait and see. But I do agree... Chomp.
Performance numbers of Intel's new six-core Xeon were prematurely revealed by Polish website PCLab, showing strong increases in performance for the chip rumored to be in the next iteration of the Mac Pro.
Hardmac reported that test and performance results of Intel's new 6-core Xeon chips code-named "Gulftown" were briefly featured on PCLab before being taken down at the request of Intel. According to the test results, the new chips are nearly 50% faster than the previous quad-core Xenon during parallel tasks, and use up to 50% less power.
This chip will, according to sources, be featured in future Mac Pro models that could arrive as early as the first quarter of 2010. The "Gulftown" chip will be sold under the Core i9 name and will be Intel's first six-core, dual-socket processor. The 32 nanometer chips feature 12MB of L3 cache. If paired with another chip, as Apple usually does in its high-end workstations, the processors will offer 12 physical and 24 logical cores.
In a previous story, Hardmac reported that the new Mac Pro will have a modified motherboard with a 10Gbit/second Ethernet port and will support 8GB and 16GB RAM modules, allowing for a maximum of 128GB of RAM. The report also stated that it is likely that Apple would have short-term exclusive use of the i9 processor. Apple has enjoyed short-term exclusivity during the release of the previous two Mac Pro lines.
They could use gulf town, but I doubt they'll use the Core i9 designation unless intel plans on getting rid of the Xeon branding. Then again with current cores and xeons being repackaged versions of the same CPUS, that would make sense.
I wonder if there will still be 4 core versions made on the 32nm process sold alongside the 6 cores for less money.
Not a prediction, but a wish:
Apple intoduces 2 workstation class machines.
Line 1:
Current case, all dual processor. 4x2 or 6x2 cores.
12 DIMM slots.
Line 2:
All new smaller design. (smaller power supply, 3 PCI Express slots, 3 HDD bays, 1 Optical bay)
Single processor. 4x1 or 6x1 cores.
6 DIMM slots.
The Line 2 case would be their introduction to the line that eventually take over the high end as well, perhaps a larger version of it to accommodate the 2 processors. It's not an xMac, but would use less expensive components cut down on some expansion (the 'only' 3 drive bays can be converted to 6 SSD - 2.5" - bays with an optional sled) and use less material externally (greener).
Comments
A mid-tower is a semantic for me.
Give the Mac Pro a steep price cut. Let's face it. Take the £700-1000 display off the Nehalem iMac? And you're left with a £700 computer.
Hmmm. That's a 'turbo' edition Mac Mini with 4850.
Many 'mid tower' buyers would take that.
Or give the Mac Pro quad (massively overpriced as it is...especially in light of the Nehalem iMac...) a massive price cut. £700. It's about all it's worth to me without a '27.5 inch' monitor.
It's hardly an all out effort for Apple to give us a 'Mac Maxi' along the lines of the Mac Mini but with a quad i5 with 4850.
One is a cpu that costs a few hundred and the other is a gpu that is less than a hundred. Hardly premium parts (oh...they're in the 'top of the range' iMac...)
Lemon Bon Bon
A midrange tower is not coming folks.
The only reason for a tower is expandability and with video professionals moving to tapeless storage and with the necessity of external storage the need for a big box that holds a lot of "stuff" is waning.
The i7 is the first iMac that is somewhat suitable for Prosumer work regarding speed. I think that if Light Peak takes off it'll allow for very fast exernal storage and other peripherals. Basically all the content creator needs in front on him/her is a good display setup and the grunt power.
Well, the fact that you can probably run the forthcoming 'sexa-Mac Pro' 12 hard cores through a '27.5' inch iMac is a state of things to come. You basically turbo your prosumer workstation with the 'render farm' Pro box.
It doesn't look like the 'mid tower' is coming. But it's not like they can't fit it in their line up. The Mac Mini is still under powered and expensive to me. STILL no discrete gpu and where's the quad core option? At least offer the option. And if it's too small...make a bigger special edition one.
It's not like Apple's desktop options are overcrowded with choice.
Lemon Bon Bon.
I think the mini will go Quad when we get Sandy Bridge products but until then I expect that Arrandale will be the "go to" processor.
I'd love for the Mini to start at $499 (remove the optical drive and ship it with an open SATA bay). It's a great utilitarian desktop.
Performance numbers of Intel's new six-core Xeon were prematurely revealed by Polish website PCLab, showing strong increases in performance for the chip rumored to be in the next iteration of the Mac Pro.
This begs the following question: when will Apple (and others) re-write their software to take full advantage of these multi-core processors? I've had Compressor encoding jobs last over 2 days (really long HD projects, different output formats). Same with Color rendering.
When will we see the following take advantage of OpenCL, GCD, and become 64-bit?
Final Cut Pro
Color
DVD Studio Pro
Compressor
Photoshop
etc etc.....
We are waiting for this updated MacPro and hoping that Apple starts eating its own dog food (rewrite its own software to take advantage of its own OS techs).
It's time for Apple to stop talking about these technologies and start using them.
All developers know that optimization is most driven by in-house use. These technologies won't mature until Apple start using them on their own major projects. The quality required for professional computer applications will surely drive Apple to further optimize and bugcheck their features. Until Apple proves they themselves trust the new features, then there's no valid reason to expect other development houses to do the same.
For the quality of Apple's professional line, for the good of these new technologies, and for the trust of all major Mac developers, Apple needs to start eating it's dogfood and ungrade their professional line to Snow Leopard tech.
Now that AMD has a billion and a half or more of Intel's money we may see some good products coming from them. Maybe then Apple will offer AMD procs in their wares.
This begs the following question: when will Apple (and others) re-write their software to take full advantage of these multi-core processors?...
Well Snow Leopard with Grand Central Dispatch was just released, it will obviously take time for programs to be rewritten to take full advantage of it.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grand_Central_Dispatch
What's the problem with the current design?
I know huh. I mean the case is what it is ands it's perfect the way it is. Don't see any reason to change it.
I would buy this machine in s heartbeat! Great post!
I know. Buying the machine i
mean. Perfect timing. Remeber the sales of the air? Very flat and should have used a small non ssd drive and sold for $999 but they painted themsef into a corner, thus no notebook.
Now with the 12/24 core, they can, in thory make that the mac pro and release a headless 4/8 core gaming, prosumer,pci card semi high end machine for $999 and would have sales from pros for their b and c rooms, prosumers, gamers, you name it. It would fill a huge gap. It's the perfect opportunity. Or just slash the existing pro in half and call it the mac Pro Sumer. Lol
fwiw, with the low heat, pc windows users will have a field day with hackntosh. Since heat is the number one enemy, this chip looks to run cool and because if tge bios we could see theses Chios running almost double their iringinal speed so even if apple does not do thus, these new chips would O/C big time and would be insanly fast.
Peace.
Cmon apple. This I'd the time to do it. :-)
A measly 6 cores?
I'll wait for the 80 core Intel monster to arrive in 5 to 6 years
http://www.eetimes.com/news/latest/s...leID=196901229
And if that's not enough there's the 1000 core processor in the works
http://www.hizook.com/blog/2007/03/1...vision-of-asap
Too much power, but if you need to get drunk what's better than power?
Now that's hardcore.
In a previous story, Hardmac reported that the new Mac Pro will have a modified motherboard with a 10Gbit/second Ethernet port and will support 8GB and 16GB RAM modules, allowing for a maximum of 128GB of RAM. The report also stated that it is likely that Apple would have short-term exclusive use of the i9 processor. Apple has enjoyed short-term exclusivity during the release of the previous two Mac Pro lines.
Hardmac or its original, French, web site, Macbidouille http://www.macbidouille.com are well connected and generally quite reliable. I used to read MacBidouille until they stopped publishing rumors at the request of Apple legal. This was also when MacOSRumors was closed down at the request of Apple legal.
My own personal guess is that they are well connected with the French and European developpers of Mac OS X and related software. Apple VP of software development is Bertrand Serlet, a Frenchman working in Paris.
And, contrary to the prevailing opinion, I believe that Apple does NOT dislike rumors, provided that they are forward looking, e.g. one year in advance, because they generate a positive buzz and free publicity. In some cases (not here), floating a rumor is an inexpensive way to test the market for upcoming features.
If I were on the market for a MacPro or an XServe, I would believe this rumor and wait for the Core i9 upgrade. As Apple is both the only computer builder with an Intel exclusive policy and a small market (4% or 5% world market share), it enjoys an early access to pre-release units of new CPU models.
Just my 2¢, but it is backed up by 21 years on the Apple rumor and news scene.
So 12 cores would be Duodecore or Duodecacore, although I prefer the Greek prefix:
Dodecacore
But not as sexy as Sexacore.
I wonder if there'll ever be a Centicore = 100 cores!
...aaand that's gonna be a monster too!
You can never have enough power. As long as you convert a HD movie from one format to another and twiddle your thumbs, there will be room for innovation. I'd just like to see some hard drive innovation alongside the CPU. SSDs are very nice and look to be the future, so how about a modular approach to designing the inners of our computers. At least we could jump on future improvements a little more cheaply.
Yes. More great ideas. Turn on the computer and it's there. Make the os on the chip. Instant on. The file, storage on ram,like the new ssd but fastercas apparently, the more you add, the slower it gets. The wndoze world had this prgram that took dailey, the weekly, etc programs and moved them to the fastest part of the HD. ImAgine something like that on programmble Ram. It remembered.
I wonder if Apple will refresh the case.
The current one is something like 4 years old at this point, so it's long overdue.
I'm looking for a quad-core MacBook Pro.
Actually I don't see a quad core as of now. The Power consumption would be the issue. Battery and bus requirements are a demand. Only a lower powered lower nanometer cpu would work. I would see a Core i7 http://www.intel.com/Consumer/Learn/...ei7-detail.htm Apple has been migrating over to the ix Based Processor's for their machines. Makes sense. They are going to become mainstream and the next gen processors will come out in 2 to 3 years depending on the quarter.
Also the next gen Graphics cards will be a plus in the Mac Pro and Mac Book Pro. Nvidia rules the market in gaming. How many of us who play games have seen "Nvidia the way it's meant to be played". I would prefer the 17" glossy and bump up the ram to pleasing 16 GB. Currently all books come to 4 and some to 8. i7 Processor is sweet. i9 is even sweeter in a Mac Pro. Case design.. You will just have to see. I do know that the current one has been working well. But the labor in assembly is a bit time consuming. Manufacturing the sheets is not so bad and the bending process is OK. Its the internal chassis and internal assembly that cost on the labor side. Size, weight and cost of shipping is a factor. The Mac Pro can weigh about 50 pounds. That takes up some fuel. I would say it is the most costly unit on fuel to ship.
One more thing. Apple has a new technology for the transfer of data between two devices. It is in the future. It will make Fire Wire a thing of the past.
If my spelling is off please forgive me. It's my way of relaxing.
Stvin8tr hsu just admit it.
been wondering if Apple was gonna phase out the MacPro :O
This is one for the wish list - at least until I win a comp
anyway
very cool,
been wondering if Apple was gonna phase out the MacPro :O
This is one for the wish list - at least until I win a comp
anyway
OK, when it comes to saying that the Mac Pro will go bye bye in it's current case design... Or go bye bye all together... Probably not on the later as for the previous, maybe a new revision. I cannot say... I do know that as technology advances (evolves) so does the need to develop new housings. The current design of the mac pro case is pretty nice and functional by some standards. A new upgrade to chassis design will most likely be spawned by saving on energy, material and labor. It will be determined by such standards.
Apple has paved the way in combining three words. GREEN and Personal Technology. you will have to wait and see. But I do agree... Chomp.
A midrange tower is not coming folks.
.
I agree. The i5 iMac drove a stake through the heart of the xMac and twisted it for good measure.
The gulf between the iMac and Mac Pro now isn't just narrowed, it's completely erased. Just what niche is this xMac going to fill?
If I was a Mac Pro I'd be looking over my shoulder, especially if light peak is all that.
Performance numbers of Intel's new six-core Xeon were prematurely revealed by Polish website PCLab, showing strong increases in performance for the chip rumored to be in the next iteration of the Mac Pro.
Hardmac reported that test and performance results of Intel's new 6-core Xeon chips code-named "Gulftown" were briefly featured on PCLab before being taken down at the request of Intel. According to the test results, the new chips are nearly 50% faster than the previous quad-core Xenon during parallel tasks, and use up to 50% less power.
This chip will, according to sources, be featured in future Mac Pro models that could arrive as early as the first quarter of 2010. The "Gulftown" chip will be sold under the Core i9 name and will be Intel's first six-core, dual-socket processor. The 32 nanometer chips feature 12MB of L3 cache. If paired with another chip, as Apple usually does in its high-end workstations, the processors will offer 12 physical and 24 logical cores.
In a previous story, Hardmac reported that the new Mac Pro will have a modified motherboard with a 10Gbit/second Ethernet port and will support 8GB and 16GB RAM modules, allowing for a maximum of 128GB of RAM. The report also stated that it is likely that Apple would have short-term exclusive use of the i9 processor. Apple has enjoyed short-term exclusivity during the release of the previous two Mac Pro lines.
[ View this article at AppleInsider.com ]
They could use gulf town, but I doubt they'll use the Core i9 designation unless intel plans on getting rid of the Xeon branding. Then again with current cores and xeons being repackaged versions of the same CPUS, that would make sense.
Not a prediction, but a wish:
Apple intoduces 2 workstation class machines.
Line 1:
Current case, all dual processor. 4x2 or 6x2 cores.
12 DIMM slots.
Line 2:
All new smaller design. (smaller power supply, 3 PCI Express slots, 3 HDD bays, 1 Optical bay)
Single processor. 4x1 or 6x1 cores.
6 DIMM slots.
The Line 2 case would be their introduction to the line that eventually take over the high end as well, perhaps a larger version of it to accommodate the 2 processors. It's not an xMac, but would use less expensive components cut down on some expansion (the 'only' 3 drive bays can be converted to 6 SSD - 2.5" - bays with an optional sled) and use less material externally (greener).