Apple Announces New Mac Pros With Up to 12 Cores, SSD Options

[AidenShaw]

But they won't pre-release the info to them until the day LP is shipping on the Macs so all the useful docking stations won't ship for month after the first LP enabled Macs.

I like your cynicism

They won't do the charging thing on the cable. They like the idea of the mag-safe. And you don't really want your data being corrupted because a magnetic LP plug popped out.

The LED Cinema displays connect via non-magsafe cables (well, magsafe power plus two others). For a desktop dock connector, magsafe seems to be less important.

The dock could use a Y-cable (like the LCD), or the power component of the single plug could be magsafe.

Lets hope. See, now we've gotten you excited about the potential, eh?

I've been excited about LightPeak since I heard Intel non-disclosure presentations long before it was announced.

 

[xbjllb]

I just spent a good few hours going though this thread hoping for good information on the new Mac Pros, but found nothing but whinny belligerent posts. I swear the maturity of MR has gone down hill.

"I can build a Windows PC with the same power for less!" - Good, go do that and find a windows forum.

"I am SO glad I bought last years <Inset purchase here>" - I am happy for you, congratulations, but do we really need to read about it over and over? To me these posts are a sign of buyers remorse.

"No Blue Ray, USB 3, Firewire 1600 no sale!" - Ok, thanks. I was on edge waiting to hear what your buying decision was going to be, can now relax.

"hackintosh!" - If I wanted something unreliable Fry's has hundreds of cheap PC's I can buy.

Apple hardware carries a premium for a reason, if you don't understand why please do us all a favor and get a PC and head over to a Windows site.

We already know WHY Jobs doesn't listen to the majority of his customers. You.

As for your tired Ad Populum argument of Apple doing perfectly well because it's so successful selling iCrap to clueless iKiddies, BUBBLES pop.

 

[MorphingDragon]

We already know WHY Jobs doesn't listen to the majority of his customers. You.

As for your tired Ad Populum argument of Apple doing perfectly well because it's so successful selling iCrap to clueless iKiddies, BUBBLES pop.

No, Jobs does the exact opposite of what the trolls think he should do.

Thats how you earn the best money.

 

[Burger Thing]

As for your tired Ad Populum argument of Apple doing perfectly well because it's so successful selling iCrap to clueless iKiddies ...

Ok, let me get some things straight here. There are various methods to bring a message across. Insulting a wide user base who -most likely- in the majority happens to enjoy and make use of their *iCrap* is probably not the way.

You should take a few steps back and "listen" to yourself or better: take your anger issues somewhere else.

And yes, I liked my Amiga, too

 

[MagnusVonMagnum]

while the lack of eSATA ports is indeed puzzling to me, it's quite obvious why there are no Blu Ray players on Macs. For better or worse, Jobs wants people to buy iTMS downloads.

The only problem there is that there aren't very many iTunes HD movies to buy PERIOD. How can Jobs seriously expect ANYONE to use iTunes INSTEAD of Blu-Ray when Blu-Ray has many thousands of movies to pick from and iTunes has probably less than 100 movies total to buy and about only 20 of them are not "B" movies? It's LUDICROUS and that's not even counting the fact that they are all 720p movies at fairly low rates while BD are high bit-rate 1080p movies. Admittedly, the quality of that 720p looks pretty darn good considering the data rate, but it's still not a replacement for a higher grade format. Why aren't there more movies to pick from? Hollywood doesn't really care to cater to a future monopoly by Apple in yet ANOTHER medium like with music. After all, Apple doesn't much budge on their contracts unless absolutely forced to.

So meanwhile, Mac users have ZERO real alternatives to getting HD movies on their computers except to download pirated stuff which is illegal and this is all due to Jobs having it stuck in his mind that iTunes should rule the Earth for media distribution instead of accepting reality that BD is here to stay for the foreseeable future. If iTunes distribution is going to replace physical media, it should do so on its own merits not because someone like Steve Jobs is trying to FORCE the issue. Given Macs <10% market share (let alone stand-alone players for home theaters), Steve can't force anything. Meanwhile, the Mac looks RIDICULOUS to not have any Blu-Ray support in 2010, making the entire platform look outdated and out of touch with both reality and modern technology. It's just another reason why all these aspects of computers should not be artificially tied or conglomerated into a spoon-fed format. The Mac should be a competing computer platform against Windows based machine and therefore it should not let modern technologies go unchallenged and therefore make that area laughable on their platform. The same has already largely happened with gaming. Apple does not bother to keep OpenGL or their video card drivers up-to-date or provide any underlying OS support for game makers over the years and then people wonder why the Mac has very few games traditionally and now that a few more are appearing, most cannot run them due to mobile and/or totally antiquated video hardware (such as all that Intel motherboard CRAP they shipped for several years with over half their lineup that couldn't run a game from 5 years ago at a decent frame rate, let alone today).

It's just a shame that an operating system that is so advanced and user friendly in most areas could be so deficient and outdated in other areas and this ONLY because Steve Jobs doesn't give a crap, not because there is some technical obstacle or money issue (Apple is FLUSH with CASH, passing up even Microsoft on and off lately) and therefore there is simply NO GOOD EXCUSE for the Mac platform to be so deficient in those areas. Apple has the money, resources and ability to hire more qualified people if necessary to keep the platform not only up-to-date, but AHEAD of the Windows platform. It's a darn shame they are choosing to let Windows steam full ahead once again while they play with tablets and phones constantly in a vain attempt to stay one step ahead of Google's Android platform.

And THAT is the real problem. Apple is battling two different corporations here for dominance. Google is pushing phones and Microsoft is pushing PC operating systems. Apple is trying to do both but with the programming resources of only ONE of those two companies and therefore fall short on one side or another every other year, which lets the other side catch up or even surpass them in the off year. Apple will eventually kill off one side or just let it rot (most likely the Mac given current events) when all they really have to do is hire more people to keep both sides moving. But Steve's ego won't allow him to let others head up the Mac division and he clearly doesn't have the time to keep track of both platforms without giving up some of that power.

 

[Ravich]

Question: why would the Mac Pro having blu-ray have any effect whatsoever on iTunes sales? This is the Mac Pro.

 

[Joe The Dragon]

@-hh


So, computers can become much simpler to manufacture. You just need one or two (relatively expensive) LP ports to replace every other i/o port on a computer. Plus convertor hubs. Hmmm.... that's where the money is going to be.... convertor hubs. I'll bet that Intel makes the standard open, so that they can get the entire industry on board, and then make a killing on providing the chips and circuits for the convertor hubs.

What about video cards? You do not want to be stuck with on board intel video? also putting the video chip behind a few hubs and convertors will slow stuff down as well.

Also there is cable card pci-e cards coming as well?

 

[snberk103]

What about video cards? You do not want to be stuck with on board intel video? also putting the video chip behind a few hubs and convertors will slow stuff down as well.

Also there is cable card pci-e cards coming as well?

OK, this is just for fun.... speculation just for the fun of it.

Quit thinking along the lines of how LP will make an existing "genus" of computer better. Start from scratch. Imagine you are designing a personal computing device for the first time, with some pre-conditions.

You have to allow for optical drives, and you still have to be able to talk to the legacy devices - though over LP now. Remember, LP can (and probably should be) used for internal connections too.

So... does the motherboard as we know even have to exist? I think yes, simply because computer makers are geared up to build computers around it. Except for Apple. We've seen how Apple will push form factors to the extreme, if it simplifies the system. Initially, perhaps they use customized video cards that have an internal LP connector where the normal display port would be, and the short LP cable is routed to connect to the internal LP controller. (Gamers would have a whole forum devoted to discussing how many displays you can connect to a single LP port before Call of Duty is noticeably degraded.)

Same thing for the internal drives - the HDs are connected by internal LP cables to the LP controllers. But - do the HDs even have to be internal? If Intel can bring the time it takes for data to travel through the controllers at either end to same speeds as currently seen, then the HDs can be 33 metres away will still be as fast as if they were internal. Same thing for video cards, other high-bandwidth peripherals that were formally limited to being close by.

The bits and bobs that make up a computer now (I'm thinking only of towers here) are shaped the way they are because they need to physically fit into holes (HDs), slots (expansion cards), etc etc

So - if I was designing the computer I would put the main LP controller, the CPU, maybe the RAM into a module more or less the size of a Mini, though maybe thinner. Top and bottom would be more-or-less flush LP connectors that would snap together with other modules, Lego style. You'd need a module for the video controller. And another one that acts as the hub - that has the external LP ports, plus whatever other ports you need for legacy support. Or you could have more than one hub stacked together to get the combination of legacy ports.

You'd also need a module for the HD (or drives).... but they could stack or they could be located somewhere else and connect into the computer through the external LP ports. They would still be seen as "local" though.

etc etc etc It might be possible that one day you could had "CPU" module if you needed more cores.... who knows....

Likely? Let you know on the 10th....

 

[Eidorian]

The only problem there is that there aren't very many iTunes HD movies to buy PERIOD. How can Jobs seriously expect ANYONE to use iTunes INSTEAD of Blu-Ray when Blu-Ray has many thousands of movies to pick from and iTunes has probably less than 100 movies total to buy and about only 20 of them are not "B" movies? It's LUDICROUS and that's not even counting the fact that they are all 720p movies at fairly low rates while BD are high bit-rate 1080p movies. Admittedly, the quality of that 720p looks pretty darn good considering the data rate, but it's still not a replacement for a higher grade format. Why aren't there more movies to pick from? Hollywood doesn't really care to cater to a future monopoly by Apple in yet ANOTHER medium like with music. After all, Apple doesn't much budge on their contracts unless absolutely forced to.

It appears the Paramount is dumping a good portion of the older Blu-ray catalog for $9.99 at Best Buy right now. Maybe it's the right time to get a couple Star Trek movies at that price. You know the good ones.

It's amazing to see what goes for $10-13 at Fry's as well on Blu-ray.

 

[DMann]

As for your tired Ad Populum argument of Apple doing perfectly well because it's so successful selling iCrap to clueless iKiddies, BUBBLES pop.

If anything, those clueless iKiddies have been reinforcing that bubble - no pop anytime soon:


56% of Companies Will Buy iPads

 

[polaris20]

Ok, let me get some things straight here. There are various methods to bring a message across. Insulting a wide user base who -most likely- in the majority happens to enjoy and make use of their *iCrap* is probably not the way.

You should take a few steps back and "listen" to yourself or better: take your anger issues somewhere else.

And yes, I liked my Amiga, too

Ignore the troll. Here's been making statements about the bubble for ages now, and he just does it for attention.

The only problem there is that there aren't very many iTunes HD movies to buy PERIOD. How can Jobs seriously expect ANYONE to use iTunes INSTEAD of Blu-Ray when Blu-Ray has many thousands of movies to pick from and iTunes has probably less than 100 movies total to buy and about only 20 of them are not "B" movies? It's LUDICROUS and that's not even counting the fact that they are all 720p movies at fairly low rates while BD are high bit-rate 1080p movies. Admittedly, the quality of that 720p looks pretty darn good considering the data rate, but it's still not a replacement for a higher grade format. Why aren't there more movies to pick from? Hollywood doesn't really care to cater to a future monopoly by Apple in yet ANOTHER medium like with music. After all, Apple doesn't much budge on their contracts unless absolutely forced to.

So meanwhile, Mac users have ZERO real alternatives to getting HD movies on their computers except to download pirated stuff which is illegal and this is all due to Jobs having it stuck in his mind that iTunes should rule the Earth for media distribution instead of accepting reality that BD is here to stay for the foreseeable future. If iTunes distribution is going to replace physical media, it should do so on its own merits not because someone like Steve Jobs is trying to FORCE the issue. Given Macs <10% market share (let alone stand-alone players for home theaters), Steve can't force anything. Meanwhile, the Mac looks RIDICULOUS to not have any Blu-Ray support in 2010, making the entire platform look outdated and out of touch with both reality and modern technology. It's just another reason why all these aspects of computers should not be artificially tied or conglomerated into a spoon-fed format. The Mac should be a competing computer platform against Windows based machine and therefore it should not let modern technologies go unchallenged and therefore make that area laughable on their platform. The same has already largely happened with gaming. Apple does not bother to keep OpenGL or their video card drivers up-to-date or provide any underlying OS support for game makers over the years and then people wonder why the Mac has very few games traditionally and now that a few more are appearing, most cannot run them due to mobile and/or totally antiquated video hardware (such as all that Intel motherboard CRAP they shipped for several years with over half their lineup that couldn't run a game from 5 years ago at a decent frame rate, let alone today).

It's just a shame that an operating system that is so advanced and user friendly in most areas could be so deficient and outdated in other areas and this ONLY because Steve Jobs doesn't give a crap, not because there is some technical obstacle or money issue (Apple is FLUSH with CASH, passing up even Microsoft on and off lately) and therefore there is simply NO GOOD EXCUSE for the Mac platform to be so deficient in those areas. Apple has the money, resources and ability to hire more qualified people if necessary to keep the platform not only up-to-date, but AHEAD of the Windows platform. It's a darn shame they are choosing to let Windows steam full ahead once again while they play with tablets and phones constantly in a vain attempt to stay one step ahead of Google's Android platform.

And THAT is the real problem. Apple is battling two different corporations here for dominance. Google is pushing phones and Microsoft is pushing PC operating systems. Apple is trying to do both but with the programming resources of only ONE of those two companies and therefore fall short on one side or another every other year, which lets the other side catch up or even surpass them in the off year. Apple will eventually kill off one side or just let it rot (most likely the Mac given current events) when all they really have to do is hire more people to keep both sides moving. But Steve's ego won't allow him to let others head up the Mac division and he clearly doesn't have the time to keep track of both platforms without giving up some of that power.

I understand those that wish to watch a lot of movies aren't happy with Macs for that solution.

That being said, I couldn't care less, since I either watch ripped DVD's on my iPad while traveling, or Blu Ray on a large LED HDTV at home. Sure, it should be an option, but realistically it's not going to change. Jobs hates physical media.

If I had a to use a computer for that, I would have gone Windows.

 

[milli]

oh ya, what a fantastic discovery by apples ...i will must try it

 

[-hh]

OK, this is just for fun.... speculation just for the fun of it.

Quit thinking along the lines of how LP will make an existing "genus" of computer better. Start from scratch. Imagine you are designing a personal computing device for the first time, with some pre-conditions.

You have to allow for optical drives, and you still have to be able to talk to the legacy devices - though over LP now. Remember, LP can (and probably should be) used for internal connections too.

So... does the motherboard as we know even have to exist? I think yes, simply because computer makers are geared up to build computers around it. Except for Apple. We've seen how Apple will push form factors to the extreme, if it simplifies the system. Initially, perhaps they use customized video cards that have an internal LP connector where the normal display port would be, and the short LP cable is routed to connect to the internal LP controller. (Gamers would have a whole forum devoted to discussing how many displays you can connect to a single LP port before Call of Duty is noticeably degraded.)

Same thing for the internal drives - the HDs are connected by internal LP cables to the LP controllers. But - do the HDs even have to be internal? If Intel can bring the time it takes for data to travel through the controllers at either end to same speeds as currently seen, then the HDs can be 33 metres away will still be as fast as if they were internal. Same thing for video cards, other high-bandwidth peripherals that were formally limited to being close by.

The bits and bobs that make up a computer now (I'm thinking only of towers here) are shaped the way they are because they need to physically fit into holes (HDs), slots (expansion cards), etc etc

This conversation is reminiscient of something awhile (a few years?) back, where I suggested that a future personal computer design would be some modular boxes (incremental power) in a closet that one would network into...

So - if I was designing the computer I would put the main LP controller, the CPU, maybe the RAM into a module more or less the size of a Mini, though maybe thinner. Top and bottom would be more-or-less flush LP connectors that would snap together with other modules, Lego style. You'd need a module for the video controller. And another one that acts as the hub - that has the external LP ports, plus whatever other ports you need for legacy support. Or you could have more than one hub stacked together to get the combination of legacy ports.

You'd also need a module for the HD (or drives).... but they could stack or they could be located somewhere else and connect into the computer through the external LP ports. They would still be seen as "local" though.

etc etc etc It might be possible that one day you could had "CPU" module if you needed more cores.... who knows....

Likely? Let you know on the 10th....

...and retrospectively, I realize that this entire modularization conceptualiation was effectively driving towards what I'll figuratively call: Cloud-at-Home™.


From this basis, the question then becomes one of Business Models:

Q: why would Apple be interested in selling just the hardware, when they could instead gain a monthly revenue stream by providing effectively the same thing as a service?

Hence, Apple is building that huge server farm in North Carolina...


So perhaps another way to examine this question is:

"What is the vision for what the future form of a personal computer which is optimized for utilization of the Cloud?


For example, is there even the need even for a local hard disk if all your data storage is at Apple's facility?


YMMV, but I'd stick with Cloud-at-Home™, as my local bandwidth rates are a poor value, and I don't particularly relish monthly service fees that have no end.

-hh

 

[xbjllb]

Ok, let me get some things straight here. There are various methods to bring a message across. Insulting a wide user base who -most likely- in the majority happens to enjoy and make use of their *iCrap* is probably not the way.

You should take a few steps back and "listen" to yourself or better: take your anger issues somewhere else.

And yes, I liked my Amiga, too

Good. Meet me in a couple of years to talk about how cool Apple Macs WERE, back in the days when they were in business.

If you'd been arguing to put the best cutting edge technology in overpriced supposedly flagship computers for three years now and getting the same idiotic lamebrained resistance I have, you'd probably be angrier than I am now. Everyone starts out nice and I was no exception.

Question: why would the Mac Pro having blu-ray have any effect whatsoever on iTunes sales? This is the Mac Pro.

There's this guy who runs Apple, see, and he sees any advanced technology he doesn't completely own and control as a threat to him peddling inferior technology on idiots who don't know any better. To be specific, he will be Goddamned if he's going to help Sony and Blu-ray, which he will never own and never control, become more popular with content creators and as a delivery format, because he wants the great unwashed clueless morons to accept compressed crappy downloads of movies for the "convenience". And moronically thinks he can just "wait out" the decade to two decade continued popularity of optical media for movies, and use Apple's bankroll to pay the press (here and elsewhere) to warp the world to his money-grubbing vision.

Ignore the troll. Here's been making statements about the bubble for ages now, and he just does it for attention.

If I had a PENNY for everytime some jackass said the exact same thing on a real estate blog the past seven years, I'd own Apple AND Sony.

And there would be Blu-ray throughout the line, AND I'd beat Jobs sales figures by hundreds of millions of sales.

And I wouldn't need to pay shills to populate these forums with my worship, either; the superiority of the product would speak for itself, the way it did back in the old days WHEN IT WAS SUPERIOR.

 

[mscriv]

There's this guy who runs Apple, see, and he sees any advanced technology he doesn't completely own and control as a threat to him peddling inferior technology on idiots who don't know any better. To be specific, he will be Goddamned if he's going to help Sony and Blu-ray, which he will never own and never control, become more popular with content creators and as a delivery format, because he wants the great unwashed clueless morons to accept compressed crappy downloads of movies for the "convenience". And moronically thinks he can just "wait out" the decade to two decade continued popularity of optical media for movies, and use Apple's bankroll to pay the press (here and elsewhere) to warp the world to his money-grubbing vision.

If I had a PENNY for everytime some jackass said the exact same thing on a real estate blog the past seven years, I'd own Apple AND Sony.

Wow, dramatize much. Since you mentioned real estate let's use that as our point of analogy/reference. What you are griping about is simply a paradigm shift in the business model of tech/media. Remember when buying a house meant contacting a real estate agent, setting up an appointment, and then riding around in their car all day so they could show you houses. The internet has completely changed the way real estate works by making information directly available to the consumer. The old Multiple Listing Books used in the real estate industry are no longer necessary. The realtor that doesn't adjust to how the market has changed and how the consumer wants to shop will find himself/herself left behind.

Steve Jobs is not sitting somewhere fiendishly rubbing his hands together with an evil grin on his face plotting how he can ruin your entertainment experience by denying you Blu-ray. C'mon, it's not that complicated and it's definitely not personal. Apple's business strategy is to lessen depedence upon physical media. That's where they think the future is headed and therefore they are moving in that direction. I'm sorry that doesn't fit your needs, but that's what they have chosen and the majority of other tech out there seems to be headed down that road with them.

In the past physical media was necessary. Now, and in the future, it is optional. You know, just like using a real estate agent.

 

[polaris20]

If I had a PENNY for everytime some jackass said the exact same thing on a real estate blog the past seven years, I'd own Apple AND Sony.

And there would be Blu-ray throughout the line, AND I'd beat Jobs sales figures by hundreds of millions of sales.

And I wouldn't need to pay shills to populate these forums with my worship, either; the superiority of the product would speak for itself, the way it did back in the old days WHEN IT WAS SUPERIOR.

Except that once again the housing problems (which I could see coming since '93-'94) and Apple as a company are NOTHING alike. If you're so rich and intelligent, you'd realize that. Or maybe you do realize that, and just enjoy trolling for the attention. Well done, you win.

 

[MagnusVonMagnum]

Steve Jobs is not sitting somewhere fiendishly rubbing his hands together with an evil grin on his face plotting how he can ruin your entertainment experience by denying you Blu-ray.

The hell he isn't!

C'mon, it's not that complicated and it's definitely not personal. Apple's business strategy is to lessen depedence upon physical media. That's where they think the future is headed and therefore they are moving in that direction. I'm sorry that doesn't fit your needs, but that's what they have chosen and the majority of other tech out there seems to be headed down that road with them.

Sorry, but that's a load of crap. You make it sound like Steve is doing this because he BELIEVES in getting rid of physical media. Bullcrap. He's doing it because he has a vested interest in selling you CRAP (literally since there are hardly ANY HD movies to buy and just as few to rent unless you have an Apple TV) through the iTunes store. It's yet another area where Stevie is TYING two different markets together and FORCING the user to do what he wants instead of what they want. It's not right no matter how you slice it unless you think Steve should be thinking for you. It's a pittance at this point to include Blu-Ray support and drives and they have far more uses than just watching pre-made movies. Given it's probably the last physical disc in the line, the Mac SHOULD support it because it's going to be important for at least another half decade or more regardless of what some seem to think. Not everyone has high-speed internet and it takes REALLY high speed to do proper 1080p (probably another 10 years before that's realistic for even 1/5 the people on here). Heck, you cannot even buy uncompressed MUSIC online yet for goodness sake.

In the past physical media was necessary. Now, and in the future, it is optional. You know, just like using a real estate agent.

And it SHOULD be optional on a Mac too. I mean even the Apple store has a few options available and a BD drive should be one of them. That would put the fee on the user and make it their choice. It would cost Apple nothing and it would go a long way towards restoring the Mac's reputation for technology because it's sadly going down the toilet between crap GPUs, outdated OpenGL and no Blu-Ray support almost a half decade after it was introduced.

 

[cmaier]

And it SHOULD be optional on a Mac too. I mean even the Apple store has a few options available and a BD drive should be one of them. That would put the fee on the user and make it their choice. It would cost Apple nothing and it would go a long way towards restoring the Mac's reputation for technology because it's sadly going down the toilet between crap GPUs, outdated OpenGL and no Blu-Ray support almost a half decade after it was introduced.

So what's stopping you from buying one of a dozen bd drives from macsales and using makem4v to watch your blurays?

 

[snberk103]

This conversation is reminiscient of something awhile (a few years?) back, where I suggested that a future personal computer design would be some modular boxes (incremental power) in a closet that one would network into...




...and retrospectively, I realize that this entire modularization conceptualiation was effectively driving towards what I'll figuratively call: Cloud-at-Home™.


From this basis, the question then becomes one of Business Models:

Q: why would Apple be interested in selling just the hardware, when they could instead gain a monthly revenue stream by providing effectively the same thing as a service?

Hence, Apple is building that huge server farm in North Carolina...


So perhaps another way to examine this question is:

"What is the vision for what the future form of a personal computer which is optimized for utilization of the Cloud?


For example, is there even the need even for a local hard disk if all your data storage is at Apple's facility?


YMMV, but I'd stick with Cloud-at-Home™, as my local bandwidth rates are a poor value, and I don't particularly relish monthly service fees that have no end.

-hh

I like your "Cloud at Home" concept, and I think that is where we are going. I don't see the server farm replacing local storage because it just takes too long to move files back and forth, especially up-loading. My ISP has good speeds for downloading, but the uploading is about 1/3 of the down. I think this is pretty common. I have Mobile.me and Dropbox, and I get tired of waiting and watching large files go up.

But the "in the closet" thing is exactly where I think Tech is going.

@xbjllb Apple didn't control USB, but they adopted it big time because it fit where they thought computers should go. They didn't control CD tech, but they adopted CDs and dropped floppies. So, I'm afraid to say, your logic is flawed.

They won't adopt Blueray because it is only an incremental improvement and isn't where computers are going in the long run. They must have guessed correctly because people are still buying Macs as fast as they can make them (in other words, spending the $millions and $millions (even if it cost Apple just $1 to include a BD in every Mac it would be $millions and $millions) would not make them much more money.) So why do it? Yes it would make you happy, but you may have noticed they don't make systems just for you.

Cheers

 

[DMann]

So what's stopping you from buying one of a dozen bd drives from macsales and using makem4v to watch your blurays?

Absolutely nothing, but griping about it is so much more gratifying.

 

[cmaier]

Absolutely nothing, but griping about it is so much more gratifying.

Personally I prefer no built-in support. Screw hdcp and the horse it rode in on. It's not like anyone is using these things for home theater pc's. When I want to watch a blu ray on my mac, makem4v ftw.

 

[DMann]

Personally I prefer no built-in support. Screw hdcp and the horse it rode in on. It's not like anyone is using these things for home theater pc's. When I want to watch a blu ray on my mac, makem4v ftw.

Couldn't agree more.

For a true BD experience, nothing beats a 60+in HDTV, with a decent sound system.

If one needs/wants to watch BD on a Mac, MakeMKV rocks.

 

[mscriv]

Sorry, but that's a load of crap. You make it sound like Steve is doing this because he BELIEVES in getting rid of physical media.

Umm.... yeah! Of course Steve believes in getting rid of physical media. It's exactly what you said. Apple wants to grow their profit margins and their market share. They believe the best way to do this is to focus on the established tech of CD/DVD and the future tech of cloud based media management and home networking. I understand your argument about Blu-ray having value as a storage medium, but for the average user that is cost preventative when you look at how hard drive prices continue to steadily fall.

TDK 2x Blu-ray Disc (BD-R), Recordable 50GB, Dual Layer, 50-pack spindle - $703.99

Western Digital 2TB SATA Green Power eco-friendly Hard Drive - $139.00

I understand Apple not supporting Blu-ray is an annoyance to you, but that's the business decision they've made. It really isn't personal and there are workarounds as some in this thread have mentioned.

What I think is silly is that people get so upset about this and act like Apple is turning it's back on their customers because they don't add some specific component or feature. Take a minute now and really think about this. How is it any different than every other business out there that limits it's product in some way. I mean, Ferrari doesn't make a pick up truck. McDonalds doesn't sell spaghetti or tacos, and Nike doesn't make contact lenses. That's just how it is folks. I promise it's not the end of the world.

 

[G4er?]

What I think is silly is that people get so upset about this and act like Apple is turning it's back on their customers because they don't add some specific component or feature. Take a minute now and really think about this. How is it any different than every other business out there that limits it's product in some way. I mean, Ferrari doesn't make a pick up truck. McDonalds doesn't sell spaghetti or tacos, and Nike doesn't make contact lenses. That's just how it is folks. I promise it's not the end of the world.

But Lamborghini did make tractors! And Porsche now has a four door. And you can get a rice ball at McDonald's in Japan.

 

[MagnusVonMagnum]

I understand Apple not supporting Blu-ray is an annoyance to you, but that's the business decision they've made. It really isn't personal and there are workarounds as some in this thread have mentioned.

What I think is silly is that people get so upset about this and act like Apple is turning it's back on their customers because they don't add some specific component or feature. Take a minute now and really think about this. How is it any different than every other business out there that limits it's product in some way. I mean, Ferrari doesn't make a pick up truck. McDonalds doesn't sell spaghetti or tacos, and Nike doesn't make contact lenses. That's just how it is folks. I promise it's not the end of the world.

The only reason it's annoying to me (seeing as I don't own BD movies and I don't care to expect possibly to extract to play on my ATV setup) is that it's letting Windows smoke right on past "the most advanced operating system in the world". I guess if I have a Windows machine to play games on I shouldn't be annoyed that OSX is two major revisions behind in OpenGL and has outdated crap video drivers that give nearly 1/2 the frame rates in some cases as the same exact hardware under Windows (even on the SAME Mac running Windows). This "logic" that says that's the same thing as McDonalds not selling tacos is LUDICROUS. OSX isn't iOS. It's a general purpose publicly available operating system that CLAIMS to be the "most advanced operating system in the world" and that's just plain a JOKE when it's 5 years behind in the video department (BD is about that old as well) and it comes with completely totally OUTDATED "Super Drives" that aren't "super" at all.

Now maybe you don't care if OSX is going to hell in a hand basket, but some of us do. The writing is pretty much on the wall with all this iOS stuff (like face time not even working with iChat) while the hardware refreshes and OS support for modern equipment, video standards, drivers and other OS features lag behind everyone out there. We didn't even have a way to accelerate Flash 6 months ago! It's downright embarrassing for Apple and those that aren't just drinking Apple flavored drinks tend to notice the decline. But it's OK. McDonald's doesn't sell tacos so all is good in the world.

I'd be more concerned along the lines of watching the local high-end Mexican Restaurant TURN INTO a Taco Bell as their food quality sinks lower and lower and lower and lower into the bowels of mediocrity. Of course it doesn't matter to someone who does not game that gaming sucks on the Mac, but it should concern them that their operating system of choice is falling behind Windows and Linux in many areas and it's almost entirely due to neglect or shady business practices. But Apple is making more money as a Taco Bell than a high-end restaurant so everything is great in the world.