Mac Pro & More

[phisrow]

The hardware looks pretty cute. I am, however, amused to see Apple trotting out virtual desktops like they are something new. Welcome to the 80's enjoy your stay.

 

[0roo0roo]

streaming keynote?

 

[0roo0roo]

Originally posted by: manly

Originally posted by: ViRGE

Originally posted by: Zinthar

Originally posted by: CU
Apple has the chicken before the egg problem with a gaming Mac. Most games are not OSX native, so there is no real gaming Mac. Mac Pro is priced to high, and the iMac only comes with a ati 1600 and no upgradeablity. But why offer a gaming Mac with a limited number of games.

Because some people would buy a gaming Mac in order to use OS X for daily apps and then boot camp to XP just for gaming. Apple aims its products at mid to high-end users. A gaming conroe-based tower in the mid-range that offered upgradable graphics options would be excellent for those of us who don't need the outrageous CPU computational power of the Woodcrest x2 in Mac Pro.

It also brings up the interesting point of video card compatibility. Now that we have PCI-E slots on an x86 chasis, are there any technical problems from using traditional PC video cards?

I imagine you still need a Mac BIOS in the video card.

I wonder what RAM configurations work (without any performance hit) because the Apple offerings are rather restrictive.

really? i thought it was standard vid cards now

 

[halfadder]

I too am a little surprised there is no 2-core version of the MacPro... Woodcrest is great and all, but not everbody needs 4 cores!! (two dual-core Woodcrest Xeons)!!! Maybe they could have used a cheaper version of the Core2Duo anyway... the Woodcrest is expensive with its 4 MB L2 cache. Amazingly the MacPro is still quite a bit cheaper than a Woodcrest Dell, but those "workstation" class Dells are overpriced anyway.

I wonder why Apple didn't add some additional PCIe slots, it's not like x1 or x4 slots are very expensive to use. It looks like the MacPro only has one x16 and three x8 slots.

The Mac OS X 10.5 demos are interesting, but I'm waiting to read the Anand or ArsTechnica review of it before I make my judgement. Some of the features look nice. I hope they've updated the RSS screensaver to have some more options/features.

 

[ProfJohn]

"One more thing" dream

Conroe 20" IMac $1699
Conroe 17" IMac $1299
Core Duo 17" IMac $999

A MacMini with upgradeable video would be nice too, otherwise it makes no sense to get a MacMini, unless you already own a nice LCD screen.

 

[halfadder]

Originally posted by: 0roo0roo
really? i thought it was standard vid cards now

Somewhat standard. PCIe x16 with two DVI ports.

Keep in mind that while Apple uses x86 and Intel chipsets, they don't use a traditional BIOS. Apple is using Intel's new Extensible Firmware Interface (EFI). I'm guessing that the graphics cards in a MacIntel use a modified firmware that is compatible with EFI.

 

[Childs]

Originally posted by: CU

Originally posted by: mosco

Originally posted by: CU
Vista has already anouced their verions of Time Machine, so now who is photocoping Jobs. I wish they annouced new Desktops/Labtops based on Core 2. I was really looking forward to a new Mac Book Pro with a Core 2 chip. It also looks like the next version of OSX will not be out until Spring. Vista may beat them yet. Maybe!

Apple copying? You act like vista has already been released. its not like apple woke up this morning and decided they wanted to put in backups. this has probably been in the planning/coding stages for years.

But Leopard is not released yet either and Vista should, big should, be out first. And yes I know the backups stuff has probly been planned for a while on both sides, but Jobs was picking on MS pretty bad for photocopying, so I though it was funny when he annouced Time Machine. Also the backup system is already in Windows 2003 Server but only for system files.

Have you seen the demo of Time Machine? The backup concept has been around, but the UI is fairly unique.

 

[ViRGE]

Originally posted by: Childs

Originally posted by: CU

Originally posted by: mosco

Originally posted by: CU
Vista has already anouced their verions of Time Machine, so now who is photocoping Jobs. I wish they annouced new Desktops/Labtops based on Core 2. I was really looking forward to a new Mac Book Pro with a Core 2 chip. It also looks like the next version of OSX will not be out until Spring. Vista may beat them yet. Maybe!

Apple copying? You act like vista has already been released. its not like apple woke up this morning and decided they wanted to put in backups. this has probably been in the planning/coding stages for years.

But Leopard is not released yet either and Vista should, big should, be out first. And yes I know the backups stuff has probly been planned for a while on both sides, but Jobs was picking on MS pretty bad for photocopying, so I though it was funny when he annouced Time Machine. Also the backup system is already in Windows 2003 Server but only for system files.

Have you seen the demo of Time Machine? The backup concept has been around, but the UI is fairly unique.

It needs a TARDIS.

 

[Pantoot]

Originally posted by: ViRGE
It needs a TARDIS.

I half expected them to show it during one of the demos, kind of like how they were using all the mug shots.

 

[Chadder007]

WoodCrest = FTL

 

[w00t]

I would of liked them to make one with a single dual core processor than a another one with a higher clock speed than a quad core system for a total of 3 systems.

 

[ChAoTiCpInOy]

Originally posted by: Zinthar

Originally posted by: ChAoTiCpInOy
It's not like Apple will skip a whole generation of Intel chips. Just be patient. You know what sucks though. There was no "One more thing..."

hahaha, because Glorious Leader knew everyone was expecting it.

But seriously, this wasn't the place to unveil anything outside of the Leopard/Mac Pro realm. Apple can't announce Merom processors in the Macbook Pro yet with their release still being weeks away as it could cause consumers to hold off purchasing during a period that is a vital back-to-school shopping season for notebook sales.

New ipods and the much-rumored iPhone will get their own conferences.

Exactly. I mean this is the WWDC, it is made for developers, not for end users. This was neither the time nor the place to debut any iPods or iTunes updates. It should've been the place for an update for all the current generation of intel chips, and moving them to the conroe and merom architecture, while keeping the price.

 

[DJCrunkMix]

Why the hell was that guy pickin vista for copying sh**? I hate MACs just because they do this kind of lame stuff... I have used windows since 95 and I won't switch to anything no matter what. That said, they did some innovative stuff like iChat backdrops, to-do lists which can be tagged from an email, web clips!. It would be better if they concentrate on their own stuff than pickin on vista all day long.

and i hate that "PC vs Mac" commercials... god its soo annoying.

 

[CU]

Originally posted by: Childs

Originally posted by: CU

Originally posted by: mosco

Originally posted by: CU
Vista has already anouced their verions of Time Machine, so now who is photocoping Jobs. I wish they annouced new Desktops/Labtops based on Core 2. I was really looking forward to a new Mac Book Pro with a Core 2 chip. It also looks like the next version of OSX will not be out until Spring. Vista may beat them yet. Maybe!

Apple copying? You act like vista has already been released. its not like apple woke up this morning and decided they wanted to put in backups. this has probably been in the planning/coding stages for years.

But Leopard is not released yet either and Vista should, big should, be out first. And yes I know the backups stuff has probly been planned for a while on both sides, but Jobs was picking on MS pretty bad for photocopying, so I though it was funny when he annouced Time Machine. Also the backup system is already in Windows 2003 Server but only for system files.

Have you seen the demo of Time Machine? The backup concept has been around, but the UI is fairly unique.

Yes I have and it's just a WOW gimick. Like most of apples software Time Machine, Widgets, Spaces, Front Row, etc. it just uses some fancy animation to catch people and make it look new when it really isn't anything new. It is just being presented differently. If I could I would turn off all these animations just so everthing would happen faster instead of waiting on some animation to complete. It looks cool the first few times, but then it just gets old. I like new toys not my old ones rewrapped for me.

 

[CU]

Originally posted by: DJCrunkMix
Why the hell was that guy pickin vista for copying sh**? I hate MACs just because they do this kind of lame stuff... I have used windows since 95 and I won't switch to anything no matter what. That said, they did some innovative stuff like iChat backdrops, to-do lists which can be tagged from an email, web clips!. It would be better if they concentrate on their own stuff than pickin on vista all day long.

and i hate that "PC vs Mac" commercials... god its soo annoying.

I agree and they are starting to do it more and more. When was the last commerical from MS you saw bad mouth anybody. I think Apple is just desperate. Also I have to use and administor Mac's at work and trust me they are not any more stable than 2000 or XP. Actually they appear to be less stable. I am always fixing the Mac's, either hardware dies or software needs to be reinstalled where as the Dells just keep going.

 

[Dubb]

I'm really curious about the video card thing. If I could buy a barebons 3GHz for $3K (edu price) and drop a proper 4GB of ram and a quadro 3500, that'd be significantly cheaper than building one myself.

....But in reality I probably won't have the money for that till cloverton comes out

 

[chcarnage]

Originally posted by: DJCrunkMix
Why the hell was that guy pickin vista for copying sh**? I hate MACs just because they do this kind of lame stuff... I have used windows since 95 and I won't switch to anything no matter what. That said, they did some innovative stuff like iChat backdrops, to-do lists which can be tagged from an email, web clips!. It would be better if they concentrate on their own stuff than pickin on vista all day long.

Because Widgets have been around for years (Konfabulator/Yahoo and Apple). And now Microsoft is like "ooh let's innovate desktop thingies and call them 'Gadgets'!"

and i hate that "PC vs Mac" commercials... god its soo annoying.

I don't like them either but the sketch from the WWDC is 100% appropriate.

 

[Esquire]

Originally posted by: ViRGE
On the RAM, to put things in perspective, Crucial is charging $107 for 512MB FB-DIMMs.

were? couldn't locate it?
thanks

 

[Ika]

Originally posted by: Chadder007
WoodCrest = FTL

Why? Woodcrest ~ Conroe. Same architecture.

 

[Esquire]

any thoughts on putting 750GB drives in it?

 

[Esquire]

oh, what about, adding a wdigital raptor?

 

[LethalWolfe]

Originally posted by: AmigaMan
The MacPro is a nice, workstation-class machine, but I still think it's a bit overpriced. Having 2GB and more than 250GB HD should be standard for $2499.

For the target audience I don't see anything wrong w/a 250gig system drive. Are people doing audio, video, or gfx for a living going to use the system drive as a scratch/media drive? No. All that's gonna be on their is the OS and some apps. 250gig is more than enough for that.


Lethal

 

[ViRGE]

Originally posted by: Esquire

Originally posted by: ViRGE
On the RAM, to put things in perspective, Crucial is charging $107 for 512MB FB-DIMMs.

were? couldn't locate it?
thanks

Part CT6472AF667. I don't know if this exact part is compatible of course, but it's the kind of memory the MacPro will use.

 

[gxsaurav]

i just can't stop laughing at their price list & comparision

a 7300GT for workstation usage :rofl & then they compare it with a dell having a quadro which itself costs a lot more then $ 80 or 7300GT, & say Dell is costly

seriously, what are they targetting this machine at, Pro users, well, then adding a quadro raises the price to over $4000 easily

i m glad they didn't actully gave intel onboard graphics in this

 

[ViRGE]

Originally posted by: Esquire
any thoughts on putting 750GB drives in it?

I'm sure a 750GB drive would work, a Raptor would be a bit more iffy mainly because as a faster drive, heat may be an issue(I'm not sure exactly how much it puts out). In spite of their cable-free system, it looks like standard drives can fit in just fine.