What the PowerMac should have!

[pgwalsh]

Technologies that I think should be standard on the Pro Line. What do you think Apple should offer? Can you add anything realistic to the list?
FSB 400/533Mhz
DDR 366/400/433Mhz up to 4 gig's
AGP 2.0 4x/8x
Serial ATA
On board Raid
Bluetuth
FireWire 2 (gigawire?)
USB 2
6 Channel Digital Surround Sound or 5.1/7.1
SP/DIF Output and Input
I have one caveat regarding Apple not haveing a CPU that can support the FSB I have listed, so, I'm assuming (praying, hoping) they will in the near future.

Note: Most PC motherboard Manufactures are bringing out equipment with similar specifications. I don't think Apple's current Pro line should be considered Pro just because it offers PCI slots and comes in a tower case. In my opinion they need to add technology features as listed above to really be considered Pro.

I think Apple's has the best OS, the best hardware design, now they need the best hardware inside.

[Nipsy]

Originally posted by pgwalsh
Technologies that I think should be standard on the Pro Line. What do you think Apple should offer? Can you add anything realistic to the list?

FSB 400/533Mhz
It we get the IBM 970 (99% chance), we should get a 6-900MHz FSB
DDR 366/400/433Mhz up to 4 gig's
Again, with the 970, RAM speed will not be an issue for a few years, but I would like to see support for 16GB, as those $8000 4GB DIMMs will be $2000 next year, and $500 the following year.
AGP 2.0 4x/8x
Agreed
Serial ATA
Agreed
On board Raid
We already have software RAID, which is a reasonably good speed improvement, with very low overhead. I have a HW SIIG IDE raid, and it only shows a 10% speed advantage over the software RAID, which could be written off to the drive speed
Bluetuth
Agreed
FireWire 2 (gigawire?)
Agreed
USB 2
Kind of useless, but why not...
6 Channel Digital Surround Sound or 5.1/7.1
This is really a consumer feature, and should not be included on a pro machine. If you're doing authoring, you'll need a better card than the onboard decoder. If you're a photoshop wiz, a programmer, a designer, etc. This just adds expense. Can you imagine 30 machines in a design shop with 180/240 speakers hanging off 'em?
SP/DIF Output and Input

Again, this would be under utilized as an onboard feature. The pros would use a very high end solution, and most wouldn't use it at all.

Apple had similar features on the 7x00 and 8x00 machines, as well as the Beige G3's (AV cards/personality card). In business use, they were never used.

I have one caveat regarding Apple not haveing a CPU that can support the FSB I have listed, so, I'm assuming (praying, hoping) they will in the near future.

Note: Most PC motherboard Manufactures are bringing out equipment with similar specifications. I don't think Apple's current Pro line should be considered Pro just because it offers PCI slots and comes in a tower case. In my opinion they need to add technology features as listed above to really be considered Pro.

I think Apple's has the best OS, the best hardware design, now they need the best hardware inside.[/size]

While full featured mobos are common in the prosumer market, most of the better PC dual processor boards lack these things. The reasoning is that a pro will need the best thing in their industry (audio, visualization, development, etc.), and the feature set on the mobo can not be best of class due to costs.

One thing I would love to see, is a BTO option for a Quad display AGP graphics card, or at least a return of more PCI slots.

[pgwalsh]

Originally posted by Nipsy
6 Channel Surround SoundThis is really a consumer feature, and should not be included on a pro machine. If you're doing authoring, you'll need a better card than the onboard decoder. If you're a photoshop wiz, a programmer, a designer, etc. This just adds expense. Can you imagine 30 machines in a design shop with 180/240 speakers hanging off 'em?
Again, this would be under utilized as an onboard feature. The pros would use a very high end solution, and most wouldn't use it at all. You have a valid point. However, I use my PowerMac at home and for selfish reasons would like 6 Channel surround. I have M-Audio Delta 10/10 for audio mixing etc. However, if I were to make a DVD with surround or something I'd want to listen to the full effects on my system before burning and that I can't do with the Delta 10/10.

So, I'm a prosumer and therefor I crave surround. Plus you can't have a gaming system without it, it's just not the same. I think Apple wants those systems to appeal to hardcore gamers as well as Pro's. They both live for power. Funny thing is while at Nortel most of tech people around me played games and had pretty decked out systems. However, those were there own modifications. I suppose I'd like to see something like the Audigy for the Mac.