When MacPro was released in 2006 an Xeon processor costed about 300-400 dollar. This meant that you could get a dual CPU system under 2000 dollars.
With I7core Intel raised the Xeon prices dramatically. The slowest dual capable processor costed almost 700 dollar. Dual processor macs started to cost 3000 dollars.
Thans to competition from AMD, intel has slashed the Xeon prices back to 300-400 dollar. We should be able to get a dual processor MacPro that is 600-800 cheaper.
Intel will only begin to be concerned when Bulldozer finally makes it into the market.
Theoretically - Thunderbolt is just a cable connecting a PCI bus right?
I mean... they could release a TINY MacPro, with an external box for expansion. The external box could plug into the new tiny MacPro, or the iMac, or the MacMini - giving any of them a chassis for addition of hard disks, other PCI cards (including high end graphics).
I doubt they're thinking that way... so I'm just asking if this is possible.
Apple will release updates for its Mac Pro and Mac mini desktops in August, adding Intel's latest generation Sandy Bridge processors and the new high-speed Thunderbolt port, according to a new rumor.
The E7 series Xeon is too expensive and the E3 series is too slow (E3-1260L would work great in a Mini though). This leaves either the 5000-series or the upcoming E5 series due in October (which they may get early access to). There doesn't seem to be anything to replace the entry quad though.
Right now, they use the following Westmere chips:
E5620 2.40GHz 4c/8t 80W = $387
X5650 2.66GHz 6c/12t 95W = $996
X5670 2.93GHz 6c/12t 95W = $1440
There's nothing to replace the E5620 but they could use the following that came out in Q1 '11:
E5649 2.53GHz 6c/12t 90W = $774
X5675 3.06GHz 6c/12t 95W = $1440
This could bring the 12-core $4999 model down to $4499 so that the pricing is $2499, $3499, $4499. This isn't Sandy Bridge though, which arrives in October.
I guess the current Westmere chips get dropped down to the $2499 and $2999 models and replace Nehalem but this means going from a quad 2.8GHz Nehalem to a quad 2.4GHz Westmere.
If it was the intention to do this, Thunderbolt and Lion must have been the delaying factors or possibly a new chassis design. There needs to be PCI 3.0 in this one too. It'll be interesting to see how they integrate the TB ports on the MP when it uses PCI GPUs.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Joseph L
I want to see the Mac Mini with nothing. Nothing but a Thunderbolt port.
I'd say two Thunderbolt ports. HDMI can be achieved with a Mini-DP -> HDMI adaptor leaving a TB port free for storage or some external MXM graphics card that NVidia/AMD ought to be making.
The Mac Mini can come as soon as Lion arrives as well as the Pro if they use the above processors. The MBA, not until the new Toshiba NAND but that could be July too.
I mean... they could release a TINY MacPro, with an external box for expansion. The external box could plug into the new tiny MacPro, or the iMac, or the MacMini - giving any of them a chassis for addition of hard disks, other PCI cards (including high end graphics).
Apple certainly never... EVER... will.
But some other PC manufacturer? It's marketing GOLD. Why sell people an entire computer when you can force them to buy everything separately? And it makes upgrades a cinch.
It's funny that this rumor came out today, for I was just discussing with my better half about how I'd like to upgrade from my 5+ year old Core Duo-powered MacBook to a Core 2 Duo or better product that would allow me to stay current with the upcoming Lion. I have an even older Mac mini (the original) that is pulling light duty as a "guest room" computer, and that worked pretty well for my needs back in the day. If Apple is indeed coming out with an Intel i3/5/7 CPU refresh for the Mac mini in August, I may take them up on it if the price is right!
I'm still disappointed that there's not an entry level tower. It's pretty much the gimp Mac Mini or the iMac + screen which I don't favor.
If the refreshed Mac Mini specs are decent though I'll consider it.
I know what you're saying but consider that if Apple could pull off a surprise or two, the Mini form factor could yield a device closer to the bang for the buck sort of device many of us would love to see.
Just speculating but imagine what would happen if by switching the Mini to a solidstate drive, Apple could engineer in more ability to handle heat. If the additional space and better heat-handling meant being able to use a discrete GPU, that's a whole new ball game.
Lightning fast drive performance and decent graphics. Surely that addresses the biggest complaints levelled against the current Mini. Sure going this route would mean less internal drive space at a given price point but if most current Mini owners are like me they already have tons of external drive space as part of their set-up. I have a 3TB drive hooked up via Firewire 800. I'm using that external to run my OS to avoid running it off the 5,400 RPM internal. Set up that way, even 128GB of internal memory would get the job done. Store the rest externally and also take advantage of Apple's soon-to-arrive iCloud service. If Apple wanted to really be adventurous, they might try offering the Mini in base configuration without an optical drive, something that, like more storage, is easy to add externally.
Yep, I wouldn't expect Apple to release a new Mac Pro until the Sandy Bridge-E chips are available. The non-E ones do not compare to the level normally used. To use current non-E Sandy Bridge would be a downgrade. Sandy Bridge-E not due til Q4 as Marvin said.
With Apple's current direction, I'm wondering if the Mac Pro and Mac mini will lose their optical drives in these updates. Certainly the optical drive is an endangered species.
There's no reason to lose an optical drive in machines that don't go anywhere. There's plenty of reasons to still include optical drives. And while I know I'm in the minority, I'm not even happy that (if the rumors are correct) they'll be removed from the MacBook Pro line - I still need that drive, although I don't necessarily need it outside of the house. But at least there's a strong reason to remove it from laptops: it will make them a bit lighter and potentially thinner and/or give it more room for the battery, etc. The MacPro is in a gigantic case. How is making it any smaller going to make it a better machine? Besides, I don't think they're going to change the case anyway and DVD-R drives cost about $30 retail - I bet Apple is paying only about $12-$15 for them.
Removing the optical drive would be Jobs dictating that we can't use optical media anymore. I would resent that. There are still people who prefer the quality/content of DVD (and of course BD, but he's NEVER going to allow us to have that.) This is the one side of Apple that I've never liked - their arrogance and the emphasis of convenience over quality. Apple's video downloads don't come close to BD quality.
Removing the optical drive would be Jobs dictating that we can't use optical media anymore. I would resent that. There are still people who prefer the quality/content of DVD (and of course BD, but he's NEVER going to allow us to have that.) This is the one side of Apple that I've never liked - their arrogance and the emphasis of convenience over quality. Apple's video downloads don't come close to BD quality.
You're coming it from the angle. You assume that Apple's exclusion of Blu-ray in Macs means they are arrogantly ignoring the benefits of Blu-ray over DVD or digital downloads. This isn't Bill Gates house where Apple products aren't allowed; I bet most of Apple's their higher-ups have Blu-ray players in their home theater where it belongs, not sitting in a 13" MBP, the size and type machine they reportedly sell the most. I'll even go farther and say that Jobs and kids watch Pixar movies in Blu-ray at their home on some big display not made by Apple, not huddled around a 27" iMac watching iTunes Store 720p media.
I hope that they drop the legacy HDMI port now that they have Thunderbolt. In fact, they could drop all the ports except Thunderbolt, because that is now all that is needed. The rest are like floppy Disks.
sill need USB for stuff like keyboards and mouse and you will need like 3-4 TB ports or a mess of hubs to go all TB. Also still need sound out analog / digital / TOSLINK.
Comments
heres hoping theres a BTO Mac Pro fast enough to make iTunes run smootly with a large music collection
Yes I know I'm delusional but we can live in hope - it'll probably happen b4 apple get around to rewritting it from the ground up
It's 64-bit now. Wouldn't that constitute it being Cocoa and therefore having been rewritten?
Amazing how long the Mac Pro has held it's current style. Nice to see it will change though my 2009 Nehalem Mac Pro is in no need of updating.
Who says they're redesigning it?
When MacPro was released in 2006 an Xeon processor costed about 300-400 dollar. This meant that you could get a dual CPU system under 2000 dollars.
With I7core Intel raised the Xeon prices dramatically. The slowest dual capable processor costed almost 700 dollar. Dual processor macs started to cost 3000 dollars.
Thans to competition from AMD, intel has slashed the Xeon prices back to 300-400 dollar. We should be able to get a dual processor MacPro that is 600-800 cheaper.
Intel will only begin to be concerned when Bulldozer finally makes it into the market.
I mean... they could release a TINY MacPro, with an external box for expansion. The external box could plug into the new tiny MacPro, or the iMac, or the MacMini - giving any of them a chassis for addition of hard disks, other PCI cards (including high end graphics).
I doubt they're thinking that way... so I'm just asking if this is possible.
Apple will release updates for its Mac Pro and Mac mini desktops in August, adding Intel's latest generation Sandy Bridge processors and the new high-speed Thunderbolt port, according to a new rumor.
The E7 series Xeon is too expensive and the E3 series is too slow (E3-1260L would work great in a Mini though). This leaves either the 5000-series or the upcoming E5 series due in October (which they may get early access to). There doesn't seem to be anything to replace the entry quad though.
Right now, they use the following Westmere chips:
E5620 2.40GHz 4c/8t 80W = $387
X5650 2.66GHz 6c/12t 95W = $996
X5670 2.93GHz 6c/12t 95W = $1440
There's nothing to replace the E5620 but they could use the following that came out in Q1 '11:
E5649 2.53GHz 6c/12t 90W = $774
X5675 3.06GHz 6c/12t 95W = $1440
This could bring the 12-core $4999 model down to $4499 so that the pricing is $2499, $3499, $4499. This isn't Sandy Bridge though, which arrives in October.
I guess the current Westmere chips get dropped down to the $2499 and $2999 models and replace Nehalem but this means going from a quad 2.8GHz Nehalem to a quad 2.4GHz Westmere.
If it was the intention to do this, Thunderbolt and Lion must have been the delaying factors or possibly a new chassis design. There needs to be PCI 3.0 in this one too. It'll be interesting to see how they integrate the TB ports on the MP when it uses PCI GPUs.
I want to see the Mac Mini with nothing. Nothing but a Thunderbolt port.
I'd say two Thunderbolt ports. HDMI can be achieved with a Mini-DP -> HDMI adaptor leaving a TB port free for storage or some external MXM graphics card that NVidia/AMD ought to be making.
The Mac Mini can come as soon as Lion arrives as well as the Pro if they use the above processors. The MBA, not until the new Toshiba NAND but that could be July too.
New dates would be:
July/August = Mini, dual core i5/i7 with Intel graphics, Thunderbolt, possibly SSD
July/August = Macbook Air, Macbook discontinued, double SSD capacity, dual core-i ULV, Intel graphics, Thunderbolt
July/August = non-Sandy Bridge Mac Pro with above CPUs, TB etc
August/September = iPhone, same design, A5 chip
October/November = Sandy Bridge Mac Pro, 8-cores per CPU for high-end to reach 16-cores, 32-threads, PCI-3.0, new design, Thunderbolt
January 2012 = Ivy Bridge, starting with MBP refresh again in Q1
Will there be a 15" model?
No, of course not.
I mean... they could release a TINY MacPro, with an external box for expansion. The external box could plug into the new tiny MacPro, or the iMac, or the MacMini - giving any of them a chassis for addition of hard disks, other PCI cards (including high end graphics).
Apple certainly never... EVER... will.
But some other PC manufacturer? It's marketing GOLD. Why sell people an entire computer when you can force them to buy everything separately? And it makes upgrades a cinch.
The Mini only would if the new Time Capsule/AirPort Extreme have drives built in.
The Mac Pro won't for a decade, even though anyone using it for work would already have a standalone multi-disc burner...
What?! You're saying that the TC/AEBS will come with optical drives so the Mac mini can be ODD-free
Who says they're redesigning it?
Rumor at
http://9to5mac.com/2011/04/21/protot...ble-stackable/
If the refreshed Mac Mini specs are decent though I'll consider it.
I'm still disappointed that there's not an entry level tower. It's pretty much the gimp Mac Mini or the iMac + screen which I don't favor.
If the refreshed Mac Mini specs are decent though I'll consider it.
I know what you're saying but consider that if Apple could pull off a surprise or two, the Mini form factor could yield a device closer to the bang for the buck sort of device many of us would love to see.
Just speculating but imagine what would happen if by switching the Mini to a solidstate drive, Apple could engineer in more ability to handle heat. If the additional space and better heat-handling meant being able to use a discrete GPU, that's a whole new ball game.
Lightning fast drive performance and decent graphics. Surely that addresses the biggest complaints levelled against the current Mini. Sure going this route would mean less internal drive space at a given price point but if most current Mini owners are like me they already have tons of external drive space as part of their set-up. I have a 3TB drive hooked up via Firewire 800. I'm using that external to run my OS to avoid running it off the 5,400 RPM internal. Set up that way, even 128GB of internal memory would get the job done. Store the rest externally and also take advantage of Apple's soon-to-arrive iCloud service. If Apple wanted to really be adventurous, they might try offering the Mini in base configuration without an optical drive, something that, like more storage, is easy to add externally.
With Apple's current direction, I'm wondering if the Mac Pro and Mac mini will lose their optical drives in these updates. Certainly the optical drive is an endangered species.
There's no reason to lose an optical drive in machines that don't go anywhere. There's plenty of reasons to still include optical drives. And while I know I'm in the minority, I'm not even happy that (if the rumors are correct) they'll be removed from the MacBook Pro line - I still need that drive, although I don't necessarily need it outside of the house. But at least there's a strong reason to remove it from laptops: it will make them a bit lighter and potentially thinner and/or give it more room for the battery, etc. The MacPro is in a gigantic case. How is making it any smaller going to make it a better machine? Besides, I don't think they're going to change the case anyway and DVD-R drives cost about $30 retail - I bet Apple is paying only about $12-$15 for them.
Removing the optical drive would be Jobs dictating that we can't use optical media anymore. I would resent that. There are still people who prefer the quality/content of DVD (and of course BD, but he's NEVER going to allow us to have that.) This is the one side of Apple that I've never liked - their arrogance and the emphasis of convenience over quality. Apple's video downloads don't come close to BD quality.
Removing the optical drive would be Jobs dictating that we can't use optical media anymore. I would resent that. There are still people who prefer the quality/content of DVD (and of course BD, but he's NEVER going to allow us to have that.) This is the one side of Apple that I've never liked - their arrogance and the emphasis of convenience over quality. Apple's video downloads don't come close to BD quality.
You're coming it from the angle. You assume that Apple's exclusion of Blu-ray in Macs means they are arrogantly ignoring the benefits of Blu-ray over DVD or digital downloads. This isn't Bill Gates house where Apple products aren't allowed; I bet most of Apple's their higher-ups have Blu-ray players in their home theater where it belongs, not sitting in a 13" MBP, the size and type machine they reportedly sell the most. I'll even go farther and say that Jobs and kids watch Pixar movies in Blu-ray at their home on some big display not made by Apple, not huddled around a 27" iMac watching iTunes Store 720p media.
Rumor at
http://9to5mac.com/2011/04/21/protot...ble-stackable/
Not only is this information old though, it comes from Seth Weintraub who is a complete idiot and often wrong.
August is pretty late, Apple should have already updated them, they are way over due for an update.
Them Mac Mini? Sure.
Them Mac Pro? August is still too early.
I hope that they drop the legacy HDMI port now that they have Thunderbolt. In fact, they could drop all the ports except Thunderbolt, because that is now all that is needed. The rest are like floppy Disks.
sill need USB for stuff like keyboards and mouse and you will need like 3-4 TB ports or a mess of hubs to go all TB. Also still need sound out analog / digital / TOSLINK.
E-net is also needed!!