Mac Pro 2010 speculations

june. upgrade most likely brings 6core CPU and new ATI GPU. will probably be expensive.

depends on what graphics card you get ofc.

While there are a lot of things they can do in regard to options, performance and price. If you are looking at a base model then it'll probably be just a minor speed bump. 2.66GHz quad to 2.8GHz quad and 2.26GHz 8 core to 2.4GHz 8 core, newer graphics card of a similar level and still the same amount of memory. The best thing would be to get a base model refurb and then wait on any upgrades if you can.

I've easily been waiting six months to purchase a Mac Pro, stupidly back in November I took the advice of the Apple store and decided to hold out for the anticipated Gulftown 12 core MP. Which they expected in January 2010.

Personally I want a system capable of producing in-house company promotion movies, mainly instruction and how to clips. This would mean not only a completely new approach for industry sector but also eliminate the need for third party suppliers (whom have on several occasions produced very good content but still not exactly what was wanted) and always at considerable cost.

Reading on here there's mention of both Gulftown and Sandy Bridge. And also mention of 27" LED screens and Ati 5xxx graphics cards etc all adding to the "oh shall I wait"

But worryingly there's also suggestions that Apple could be giving up on the Mac Pro market. Talk of problems with screens, concerns they are falling off the pace of cutting edge tech, bad relations with suppliers. Does this mean Apple are leaning towards concentrating on the main stream.

Personal; if there's a price drop I'd still today go ahead and buy the 16Gb 8 core MP with two 30' screens. Even if the 6 and 12 where released next month they would be more expensive than a late model 8 Core. And screens will always find a home. Although I can't believe there isn't more talk about Apple making a 3D compatible screen for a replacement to the 30"ACD

For what I want the 8 core is more than good enough. and as stated, on this occasion i wish impulse had forced me to buy there and then at least I'd have had my 8 core for nearly six months.

Cindori said:

will probably be expensive.

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Not really. Just have to give up a kidney or other body part.
My guess is 4 grand for a single 6 core.

bearcatrp said:

Not really. Just have to give up a kidney or other body part.
My guess is 4 grand for a single 6 core.

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Seeing the price of the single hexacore part is about the same as the current quads it probably will be at the same price points.

alphaod said:

Seeing the price of the single hexacore part is about the same as the current quads it probably will be at the same price points.

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I'd second that.

The six core chips are drop-in replacements for the four core chips and what Dell, for example, has done with their workstation line is just replace the old chips with the new ones and otherwise everything else remains the same. I suspect Apple might just do the same and keep the prices the same in the US (whilst fixing them at what ever the exchange rate is plus some for the UK and other overseas markets).

The 2010 Mac Pro will have a single-core AMD processor running at 1 GHz, with 256 MB of RAM, a GMA X3100, and 27 GB of HDD space.

I don't think it will be june before it is released. IT will probably be at the end of april or may. The iphone announcement will be in june and I doubt they are going to drop a new mac pro at the same time.

Either that, or they'll just drop the pro line altogether

Gonk42 said:

I'd second that.

The six core chips are drop-in replacements for the four core chips and what Dell, for example, has done with their workstation line is just replace the old chips with the new ones and otherwise everything else remains the same. I suspect Apple might just do the same and keep the prices the same in the US (whilst fixing them at what ever the exchange rate is plus some for the UK and other overseas markets).

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wholesale price list 2010 xeons

peejack said:

I have got the standard graphic card that comes with the 2.66 quad.

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It's got a Mini display port & a dual link DVI.
Will get a 2.93 quad tomorrow and ordered a MDP>VGA (second monitor that's just for bins, effect window etc.) for $19 at OWC. They have MDP>DVI (also cheep) but the MDP>Dual Link DVI runs about $100, so no an adapter is not listed in the box contents.

Note... I told them I'd been waiting for the new MP since December & she gave me $50 off. Worth a try to get a little bit of a discount.

RubbishBBspeed said:

the "oh shall I wait"

But worryingly there's also suggestions that Apple could be giving up on the Mac Pro market. Talk of problems with screens, concerns they are falling off the pace of cutting edge tech, bad relations with suppliers. Does this mean Apple are leaning towards concentrating on the main stream.

Personal; if there's a price drop I'd still today go ahead and buy the 16Gb 8 core MP with two 30' screens. Even if the 6 and 12 where released next month they would be more expensive than a late model 8 Core. And screens will always find a home. Although I can't believe there isn't more talk about Apple making a 3D compatible screen for a replacement to the 30"ACD

For what I want the 8 core is more than good enough. and as stated, on this occasion i wish impulse had forced me to buy there and then at least I'd have had my 8 core for nearly six months.

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Though some might disagree, I wouldn't count on Apple getting out of the pro market any time soon.

I'd say if you need it, get it, as I said earlier, I've been waiting since December. If you can wait 2-9 weeks, then wait. Either way, order on a Tuesday, that'll give you 2 Tuesdays (14 days from the date it's shipped) to see if they come out with a new machine & if so you can return it.

is it June when Intel releases more hexacores? I'm guessing Apple won't use any new parts until they can have a hexacore single CPU lineup.

Hey all, I'm new here, but I'm ready to purchase a Mac Pro, so I've been following the news of Apple developments for the last couple of weeks. Here's my take on the new Mac Pro's.

This weekend the iPad is being released, so obviously all the buzz is around that right now. It wouldn't make sense for Apple to release an update to the Mac Pro lineup right at this moment, so they haven't.

Others are saying the Mac Pro update will happen in June. I honestly don't think so for two reasons. It would appear that WWDC is going to be in late June or early July. It would make sense for the new iPhone OS, etc. to be announced around then, so all the buzz will involve that device. I doubt Apple will steal the thunder from the iPhone with a new Mac Pro.

The second reason involves the Macbook Pro updates. From what I have seen, these are extremely popular with people my age (college students). So, obviously it would make sense for Apple to update these in late May or early June, right when most high school students graduate and start planning for college. So, if you ask me, that pretty much rules out half of May and all of June for a Mac Pro update.

I really see the Mac Pro update happening in April, probably around the second Tuesday of the month, April 12th. First, because the Mac Pro appears to be mostly used by creative professionals. Right around that date is when many events are happening (NAB and associated announcements, etc.) Now, regardless of if Apple has any presence at that event or not, a lot of creative professionals are paying attention to new products during the second week of April. All of this attention would seem like the perfect time to "show off" the updated Mac Pro.

In addition, let's face it, the Mac Pro is REALLY overdue for update.

Days Since Update: 394 (Avg = 236)

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Having an update in one or two weeks, right after the iPad buzz dies down, makes much more sense than releasing a new machine in 2-3 months, when it is fighting for attention along with a new Macbook Pro and iPhone updates.

Anyway, this is all just my opinion, and perhaps, myself just really hoping they release the new Mac Pros already!

My vote is that they are trying to get it right this time, rather than just drop in a CPU & GPU & call it an upgrade.

I agree with the post before me

The Mac Pro has simply been a box with powerful CPUs etc. for the last few years, the only major innovation going on is the increasingly organized case; and this doesn't even seem to be useful due to the lack of GPU options you can really only add more RAM (you can change the CPU/s, however, you can only buy one with a faster clock for each of the sockets, if you bought a quad/six, you can't update to 8/12). I really hope that apple is trying to innovate something on this machine in order to set it a pace ahead of other powerful boxes. Currently the only thing it has going for it over a windows machine is OSX. also, the windows thing instead of apple is funny, april fools...apple

If they stick with a single cpu/dual cpu model I would like to see:

Single CPU model:
-$1500 entry price
-motherboard based on Intel X58 CH10R chipset LGA 1366 socket
-Intel i7 2.8 quad core (upgarde option to 6-core 980X for a price)
-normal DDR3 memory (no ECC etc.)
-Latest graphics cards


Dual Core Model:
Obviously more expensive, would have to be server/Xeon based supporting new 6-core Xeons.
-Latest graphics cards

It would also be nice to see suppport for SATA 6, Blu-Ray, 2.5 SSD trays in addition to the normal 3.5" sleds.
I don't think I would change the case design much at all, I have the 2006 intel model, love it and it is still running strong.

Dr.Pants said:

is it June when Intel releases more hexacores? I'm guessing Apple won't use any new parts until they can have a hexacore single CPU lineup.

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The mid range ($562 @ 3.2GHz) part is coming in Q3 which is July - September and likely closer Q4. The $284 part is next year probably.

Altimeter88 said:

If they stick with a single cpu/dual cpu model I would like to see:

Single CPU model:
-$1500 entry price
-motherboard based on Intel X58 CH10R chipset LGA 1366 socket
-Intel i7 2.8 quad core (upgarde option to 6-core 980X for a price)
-normal DDR3 memory (no ECC etc.)
-Latest graphics cards

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You can use non-ECC memory if you like and the use of Xeons and ECC memory doesn't increase the price to the consumer. The price would be nice, but I doubt they will under cut the iMac with the Mac Pros.

rajbonham said:

I doubt Apple will steal the thunder from the iPhone with a new Mac Pro.

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I really don't see any scenario where that could happen. No relation whatsoever.

In any case, people are making all sorts of guesses about when/why etc, like Apple is secretly waiting for the exact right time to release the MP's, but from what I can gather, it is simply a matter of hardware availability, prototype testing, assembly and then the final announcement, and that's it. Once that is done, I don't see Apple holding back at all. The very next Tuesday it will then hit. There really is no mystery behind it. When it is done, it will be out.

xgman said:

In any case, people are making all sorts of guesses about when/why etc, like Apple is secretly waiting for the exact right time to release the MP's, but from what I can gather, it is simply a matter of hardware availability, prototype testing, assembly and then the final announcement, and that's it. Once that is done, I don't see Apple holding back at all. The very next Tuesday it will then hit. There really is no mystery behind it. When it is done, it will be out.

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I think the speculation arises because Apple had the choice of simply updating the cpus (like Dell and others) which would require a small change in firmware so could have been done very quickly. This hasn't happened, which leads people to assume that a much more major update is going to happen.

It may, as you say, just be down to chip availability. In which case, if the upgrade is just a change from 4 to 6 cores per processor, there will be an interesting flurry of threads from disgruntled people who are expecting a lot more.

I'm expecting a modest list of upgraded items and I'm not expecting usb 3 yet, but from what I can tell, the performance boost will be the primary reason for this update.

xgman said:

I'm expecting a modest list of upgraded items and I'm not expecting usb 3 yet, but from what I can tell, the performance boost will be the primary reason for this update.

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Gosh darnit, just give me a blu-ray CTO.