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Are You Waiting For A Stoakley-Seaburg and 2007 Graphics Cards 8-Core Mac Pro

  • No. I bought the FrankenMac

    Votes: 30 7.1%
  • Yes I Will Wait 'Til Apple Gets It Right

    Votes: 246 58.0%
  • Not sure. Waiting for benchmarks on the 4.4.07 model.

    Votes: 27 6.4%
  • I'll stick with 4 cores, thank you very much.

    Votes: 121 28.5%

  • Total voters
    424
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Soo..After that update,has people tried to boot to OS X with 8800series cards?

Does it help to have the kex at all? Is the 8600GTM so different from 8800 series that it is impossible to use the cards under OSX?

Very much so.

Although there is a hacked kext floating around...
 
Soo..After that update,has people tried to boot to OS X with 8800series cards?

Does it help to have the kex at all? Is the 8600GTM so different from 8800 series that it is impossible to use the cards under OSX?

The cards you mention don't share the same cores, so it's unlikely they can work with existing drivers...

The 8600GT mobile uses a G84 core, while the 8800GT desktop uses the G92 etc etc.

G4DP said:
we've seen the iJoke, sorry phone.

I'm not much of a fan of the iPhone myself, but the joke's on you if you think it's that bad...they're flying of the shelves, and will undoubtedly continue to do so through the Christmas season.
 
I'm refering to the iPhone as a joke because I don't think Apple have a full understanding of the mobile market in the UK.

Wanting £269 just for the phone
Then at least £35.00 x 18 = £630.00 (for a basic useless package)

They are having a laugh. It doesn't cost that much more to do business in the UK.

I just wish we would have a decent rumour to go on. The Pro community kept with Apple when they were about to go down the pan, I know customer loyalty doesn't really exsist anymore.

Doesn't have to be anything specific, just let us know it's coming.
 
I'm refering to the iPhone as a joke because I don't think Apple have a full understanding of the mobile market in the UK.
Yes, but most other phones don't replace people's music players (however hard they try), but this will have a hit on iPod buys...
 
Yes, but most other phones don't replace people's music players (however hard they try), but this will have a hit on iPod buys...

The new Nokia, being pretty much direct copy, should make it clear what a rip the iPhone/O2 offering is here.

Relevant Mac Pro content: Three more weeks until a new Mac Pro!
 
For me, the most exciting rumors are always those related to the pro towers, because that is the machine I want to own.

A bit ironic I suppose, because I think Steve Jobs sees the Mac Pro as a necessary evil - software developers and other professionals need it, but it is big, ugly and not as profitable as the consumer machines - Steve wants to sell more iMacs and MacBooks.
 
Yes my Lord

I have to agree that it appears Apple see's the Pro Tower as a pain in the ass! And no longer truely cares about those Pro users. It's a shame because they are missing out on a real trick.

But I guess the moment Apple Inc. came into existance we should have realised that the MacPro no longer mattered.
 
I have to agree that it appears Apple see's the Pro Tower as a pain in the ass! And no longer truely cares about those Pro users. It's a shame because they are missing out on a real trick.

But I guess the moment Apple Inc. came into existance we should have realised that the MacPro no longer mattered.

I think you may be right to a small degree, but I think that those waiting don't take in to account that workstation technology moves slowly, yes they could have updated GPUs, but I doubt it made financial sense for any one involved. Let's not forget that Apple are still offering the fastest Intel four and eight core workstation they can, with GPUs that likely have more than enough performance for the majority of their audience.
 
Let's not forget that Apple are still offering the fastest Intel four and eight core workstation they can, with GPUs that likely have more than enough performance for the majority of their audience.

This is correct, and probably reflects Apple's thinking. However, I would argue that Apple could significantly expand its GPU offerings with existing off-the-shelf hardware at relatively little cost, making the Mac that much more attractive to people cross-shopping the iMacs and MacBooks with PCs, as well as the "gamer" crowd.
 
Steve wants to sell more iMacs and MacBooks.
Well, he takes what he can get - can you blame him? The notebook market is huge, and iMacs offer an incredible value per Dollar spent. So that's where most of the customer demand is - I don't think it's a matter of what Steve wants to do.

Do I like this? Right now, the wait and suspense are killing me. A month from now, when that new Penryn-based Mac Pro will be sitting under my desk, I'll be sleeping much better, though, knowing that this will be a top-of-the-line system for quite a while! :)

- Martin
 
Well, he takes what he can get - can you blame him? The notebook market is huge, and iMacs offer an incredible value per Dollar spent. So that's where most of the customer demand is - I don't think it's a matter of what Steve wants to do.

I disagree...Jobs' philosophy has always favored an all-in-one form factor. The notion of constantly fooling around in the case to upgrade components is something he's never really liked. The design of the Macintosh over the years has reflected that, especially in the Steve Jobs / Jonathan Ive era, but the origin is clearly visible in the Lisa/128k annd its direct descendents. Back in the the 90s there was a time when Apple had nearly abandoned the all-in-one, with only the Performa line using this form factor. Now only the Mac Pro uses a separate case/display form factor.

"Customer demand" is focused on what is available, and that means iMacs. Mac Pros are not consumer machines with consumer prices. On the other hand, the PC world shows us that mid towers are also in "demand", since they dominate that market completely.
 
"Customer demand" is focused on what is available, and that means iMacs. Mac Pros are not consumer machines with consumer prices. On the other hand, the PC world shows us that mid towers are also in "demand", since they dominate that market completely.

Of course in the PC world the mid towers are the cheapest, best bang for the buck systems. I'm pretty sure this has a major impact on why they dominate the market so completely, not necessarily because the general public (non-gamers) prefers them. That may be the case, however, it cannot be inferred.
 
Of course in the PC world the mid towers are the cheapest, best bang for the buck systems. I'm pretty sure this has a major impact on why they dominate the market so completely, not necessarily because the general public (non-gamers) prefers them. That may be the case, however, it cannot be inferred.

It may also be the reason why Apple have decided not to compete in that market.
 
Of course in the PC world the mid towers are the cheapest, best bang for the buck systems. I'm pretty sure this has a major impact on why they dominate the market so completely, not necessarily because the general public (non-gamers) prefers them. That may be the case, however, it cannot be inferred.

PC vendors argue that mid towers offer the most content for the lowest cost. They are easy to reconfigure as new hardware becomes available and represent the "status quo" of the desktop form factor. Gamers that replace their video cards or CPUs every 6 months-2 years expect this kind of flexibility, though honestly most other people don't upgrade anywhere near that often.

Apple argues that most people don't need to upgrade as often - you simply replace the whole machine when it becomes obsolete, which will only happen every 5 years or so. No need to worry about the innards with an all-in-one, which is a visually more elegant solution that makes a more efficient use of space.

There's something to be said for both arguments, and by the way I disagree that the mid tower is inherently more "bang-for the-buck" than the iMac, which offers a very competitive hardware and software package at a very competitive price.
 
PC vendors argue that mid towers offer the most content for the lowest cost. They are easy to reconfigure as new hardware becomes available and represent the "status quo" of the desktop form factor. Gamers that replace their video cards or CPUs every 6 months-2 years expect this kind of flexibility, though honestly most other people don't upgrade anywhere near that often.

Apple argues that most people don't need to upgrade as often - you simply replace the whole machine when it becomes obsolete, which will only happen every 5 years or so. No need to worry about the innards with an all-in-one, which is a visually more elegant solution that makes a more efficient use of space.

There's something to be said for both arguments, and by the way I disagree that the mid tower is more "bang-for the-buck" than the iMac, which offers a very competitive hardware and software package at a very competitive price.


I agree with what you say, except, I did not say that the mid tower was more "bang-for-the-buck" than the iMac. I was saying that the in the PC (Windows) world the mid-tower was more "bang-for-the-buck" than the other PC (NOT Mac) configurations: laptops, full-towers, vendor (NOT Apple) all-in-ones, etc.
 
I agree with what you say, except, I did not say that the mid tower was more "bang-for-the-buck" than the iMac. I was saying that the in the PC (Windows) world the mid-tower was more "bang-for-the-buck" than the other PC (NOT Mac) configurations: laptops, full-towers, vendor (NOT Apple) all-in-ones, etc.

True, though that situation exists due to economies of scale rather than the fact that the mid-tower is the most efficient use of materials (the all-in-one clearly wins that contest).

At any rate, the big stumbling block for the all-in-one form factor is that high-performance video cards are currently designed for an ATX-style enclosure. By going with an all-in-one form factor, you need to switch to midrange mobile GPUs for thermal reasons unless you either enlarge the enclosure for better cooling or design the all-in-one case so that a regular PCIe expansion slot can be used. Neither of these last two solutions would allow Apple to create the small iMac cases that best showcase the strengths of the all-in-one design.
 
Of course in the PC world the mid towers are the cheapest, best bang for the buck systems. I'm pretty sure this has a major impact on why they dominate the market so completely, not necessarily because the general public (non-gamers) prefers them. That may be the case, however, it cannot be inferred.

And a big reason that people want to see a midtower on the mac side is because it could be the best bang for the buck as well, both for consumers and for Apple. You're right, many people don't want a midtower because it's their favorite form factor, they want it because it's the best deal. But either way, it would give apple a model that would appeal to people, either because of form factor, or price.
 
And a big reason that people want to see a midtower on the mac side is because it could be the best bang for the buck as well, both for consumers and for Apple. You're right, many people don't want a midtower because it's their favorite form factor, they want it because it's the best deal. But either way, it would give apple a model that would appeal to people, either because of form factor, or price.


You think Apple would make a mid tower MAC that would have a competitive price to a PC. I think they would not make it unless they could maintain the higher margins Apple expects. (imho) they would probably be competing against themselves (iMac) with most purchases being people who want an Apple product and prefer the mid tower to the all-in-one. Apple really is in business to make money and increase share-holder value. High volumes of a low margin product really does not help the stock price.
 
You think Apple would make a mid tower MAC that would have a competitive price to a PC. I think they would not make it unless they could maintain the higher margins Apple expects. (imho) they would probably be competing against themselves (iMac) with most purchases being people who want an Apple product and prefer the mid tower to the all-in-one. Apple really is in business to make money and increase share-holder value. High volumes of a low margin product really does not help the stock price.

Actually, you assume wrong. I agree with you that it would cost more than a comparable PC. I think they would maintain their standard margin (they do on the mini, which isn't remotely competitive right now, right?). In which case, competing with the iMac isn't a problem since they're still making a decent profit either way.

While I'd love to see a midtower priced similarly to PC's in that range, I'd still buy a midtower even if it came with a typical apple markup. $800-1200 for a decent expandable machine is still way cheaper than $2200+ for a workstation that is overkill for most consumers.
 
Actually, you assume wrong. I agree with you that it would cost more than a comparable PC. I think they would maintain their standard margin (they do on the mini, which isn't remotely competitive right now, right?). In which case, competing with the iMac isn't a problem since they're still making a decent profit either way.

While I'd love to see a midtower priced similarly to PC's in that range, I'd still buy a midtower even if it came with a typical apple markup. $800-1200 for a decent expandable machine is still way cheaper than $2200+ for a workstation that is overkill for most consumers.

Deja vu, this has been hashed out hundreds (if not thousands) of times in these forums. I just do not see where Apple would want to invest the many millions of dollars in start-up cost for the production of these mid tower PCs which I think would only compete with their own products (iMac/Mac Pro). This is all just my opinion, as valid as any other.

I guess we will just have to agree that we disagree on the topic.

:)
 
Deja vu, this has been hashed out hundreds (if not thousands) of times in these forums. I just do not see where Apple would want to invest the many millions of dollars in start-up cost for the production of these mid tower PCs which I think would only compete with their own products (iMac/Mac Pro). This is all just my opinion, as valid as any other.

I guess we will just have to agree that we disagree on the topic.

:)

Because...

1) Startup costs would be relatively low, it's a simple machine to build so releasing one would be relatively low risk.
2) They wouldn't ONLY compete with iMac/mac pro. Sure, they'd probably take some of those sales, but they'd also attract new users. Better to lose an imac sale to another mac then a windows box.

The fact that this subject keeps coming up so often on pretty much every mac board shows that there is interest in the product.
 
Because...

1) Startup costs would be relatively low, it's a simple machine to build so releasing one would be relatively low risk.
2) They wouldn't ONLY compete with iMac/mac pro. Sure, they'd probably take some of those sales, but they'd also attract new users. Better to lose an imac sale to another mac then a windows box.

The fact that this subject keeps coming up so often on pretty much every mac board shows that there is interest in the product.


So, if "Startup costs would be relatively low" and all the conditions that you state exists, then why hasn't Apple already done this?

Are the marketing geniuses at Apple not as smart as I think they are.

Is it an evil plot to annoy mid-tower desiring Apple fans?

Maybe Apple (the company) just does not think (at this time) that the return is worth the investment and/or hit to it's other products.

Personally, I would like to see a nice mid range tower Mac. I 'might' purchase one instead of a Mac Pro. I just don't think Apple sees a mid range tower as something that would enhance the Apple image (unique, premium, quality, etc.).

just mho.
 
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