Apple Announces Penryn Mac Pros and Xserve

[nikarlo]

Ohhh! I'm waiting it from a long of time! And I read this forum for some years...
I need a new performance machine for my picture editing (with large raw file and very large image stitching).
I think for a standard conf but I'm not be able choosing graphic card. I use only adobe sw for 2d imaging and ptgui for stitching, I'm not a gamer. 2600 could be sufficient for me? Now in my pm g5 2.0 with 5gb of ram I'm using a flashed 9800pro 128mb and i have some problems with very large image, but I dont kno if it is a problem of graphic or processor...
Thanks!

 

[MIDI_EVIL]

Apple are releasing a dedicated standalone Blu-Ray player, and a HDTV, at MacWorld 2008.

 

[Amigori]

The Bad: (not what IS but what IS NOT included)
No HDMI input/output (this is EXTREMELY bad for video professionals, professionals in general)
No Blu-Ray option (I really don't know where Apple's head is stuck but it must be a deep dark hole. Steve's ass?)
No eSATA support (give me a break Apple, pathetic. Yeah, Steve's ass)

Video Professionals are going to add a 3rd party card with the I/O they need, be it HDMI, 4:0:0, 4:2:2, 4:4:4, etc. On the other hand, Video "Professionals" who don't know what those formats are will demand that Apple hold their hand and make sure every possible video connection is on the back of the MacPro.

No Blu-ray, disappointing; afterall, Apple's on the Blu-ray board. But there are options, external and internal. Just take the drive faceplate off and the drive should fit fine inside. Besides, Apple would probably charge $999 for the damn thing when you can get internal BD-R drives for <$500. The Pioneer BDC-202 can be had for ~$250.

eSATA? meh, FW800/400/USB2.0 not fast enough for you? And how many external HDDs are there with ONLY eSATA? Now compare that to the vast selection of FW/USB drives. Or even NAS drives.

 

[vansouza]

I don't want to get killed, but

why can't blue ray be an external drive?

 

[onicon]

I guess the AMD Radeon HD 3870 was pulled due to its bad performance when compared to a Geforce 8800 GT (link).

 

[Frazzle]

Blu-ray...

OMG...People STOP asking for it!!!!As someone already nicely described, how the hell you could expect blue-ray. Its massive technology which will need a lot of space/cooling. Plus what about media? Do you think 30" display will do to watch it? What about output like HDMI. Where is it. You need wait longer for bluray to be put inside Mac Pros........a far longer.

You obviously know nothing about the technology behind it then. All you need for Blu-ray is a drive that can read the discs, software that will play the files and a gfx card with a DVI port that supports HDCP.

The base 2600XT card (and all the other BTO cards) support HDCP and the ATI cards are especially good at decoding HD formats. That said, the MP can easily decode HD without any GPU support whatsoever. Any DVI-HDMI dongle or cable would work to connect your HDTV.

So... all you need is the drive and the software. Need proof? Just install Windows XP on your MP, add an external LG GGC-HB20L drive and you can play any HD disc, including HD-DVD, with PowerDVD.

 

[winterspan]

blunder?

I'm dissappointed they didnt make all the 5400 series chips available from 2.0 on up. My hope was there would be 8 core macs from 2.0's up to the 3.2's

after all the 2.0 Quad (5405) runs $215.. Geez Apple what a blunder...

Or at least have a slot in that single quad for expansion... Apple misses the boat on this one....

Just because you are cheap doesn't make that a blunder. These are not Imacs, why would they start the chips at 2.0ghz? I've had a 2.0ghz laptop for 2 years!
After all, these are PRO machines...

 

[Pressure]

and it also CLEARY Says OPEN also


for gods sake READ THE WHOLE THING AND THINK BEFORE YOU POST!!!!!!!!!


where do you think the graphics card plugs in ?? .. probably to the OTHER slot.. you know the one thats NOT open....

If you had bothered to read further I had retracted that statement when I got corrected by, at least, 5 other members. It's ok, I can take it but don't throw stones when you live in a glass house.

 

[Decrepit]

OMG...People STOP asking for it!!!!As someone already nicely described, how the hell you could expect blue-ray. Its massive technology which will need a lot of space/cooling. Plus what about media? Do you think 30" display will do to watch it? What about output like HDMI. Where is it.
You need wait longer for bluray to be put inside Mac Pros........a far longer.

Plextor makes an internal 5.25" Blu-Ray drive. It's a grand. But it's writes CDs, DVDs and BDs.

It isn't any bigger than a CDROM drive.

I am not surprised that Apple didn't introduce something that major when they released the MPs today. Now, that could be something they show off at MWSF. But we won't know for a few days.

 

[BenRoethig]

Perhaps the best news is the abandonment of the FB-DIMMM. Apple seems to have had little choice, but it's welcome all the same.

Perhaps the switch to the cheaper DDR2 memory will help offset the price increase a little.

It's still fully buffered DIMMs, you can't put standard DIMMs on riser cards

 

[uNext]

Sold my macbook pro
invested on apple stock bought @ 172.19 and sold today @ 182.46. Preparing myself for next week. To my surprise this silent update popped up so i sold and ordered what i been waiting for.

Will be buying more apple stock throughout the week and playing it like i did today...early hour trading apple was up 9 bucks off this silent update
imagine what macworld will bring.

I just love it i do it every year does not hurt my pockets when going after that high end stuff....

Here is what i ordered

Two 3.2GHz Quad-Core Intel Xeon (8-core)
2GB (2 x 1GB)
300GB 15,000-rpm SAS
NVIDIA GeForce 8800 GT 512MB (Two dual-link DVI)

i heart you

 

[Frazzle]

It might work. Drivers would be the main hold-up.

Will newer gfx work in older MP?

Mixed messages on this one. Apple Online Sales say "no", but they're not engineers.

From Wiki:

PCI-SIG announced the availability of the PCI Express Base 2.0 specification on 15 January 2007.[4] PCIe 2.0 doubles the bus standard's bandwidth from 2.5 Gbit/s to 5 Gbit/s, meaning a x32 connector can transfer data at up to 16 GB/s in each direction.
PCIe 2.0 is completely backwards compatible with PCIe v1.x. Graphic cards and motherboards designed for v2.0 will be able to work with v1.1 and v1.0, and vice versa.

So unless Apple botched the standard, they should work.

 

[Brianstorm91]

Erm, to be honest I'm not too sure why you put this paragraph in bold, (I'm not a MacPro person), but for anyone who doesn't study German, here's my best interpretation:

ATI Radeon HD 3870
Die leistungsstarke ATI Radeon HD 3870 mit 512 MB dediziertem GDDR4 Arbeitsspeicher ist die ideale Lösung für bewegte Grafiken, Animationen oder 3D-Design und -Visualisierung. Sie besitzt zwei Dual-Link-DVI-Anschlüsse, die den gleichzeitigen Anschluss von zwei 30" Apple Cinema HD Displays für einen unglaublich großen Breitformat-Arbeitsbereich unterstützen.

The high-performance ATI Radeon HD 3870 with 512MB of dedicated GDDR4 memory is the ideal solution for moving graphics, animation or 3D-design and visualisation. It has two dual-link DVI connectors, which support the simultaneous connection of 2 x 30" Apple Cinema HD Displays for an unbelievably large wide-format work area.

I'm only trying to help, no bashing my German, please.

 

[giles117]

Just because you are cheap doesn't make that a blunder. These are not Imacs, why would they start the chips at 2.0ghz? I've had a 2.0ghz laptop for 2 years!
After all, these are PRO machines...

Cheap and Frugal are 2 different things...

Because they didnt make it available, I am ordering the 8 Core 2.8...

Getting a better price point doesn't make one cheap... It makes him smarter than the guy who blows all his loot.

 

[nikiski]

I don't know if anybody noticed, but the Mac Pro RAID card's price seems to have dropped. At least in Hong Kong Store.

 

[BenRoethig]

I ordered my 3.0GHz 8-core MP the day they were announced 4/4/07. I've been in 8-core bliss ever since. This machine is AWESOME! I know a lot of people ridicule the cheese grater look but it allows massive amounts of air to flow silently from the front to the back. In with the good air, out with the bad. These machines are very powerful and do put out a LOT of heat yet the case allows it to flow silently. The case design is an engineering marvel (I'm an engineer) and I hope it never gets changed just for the sake of change.

For the last 9 months I've owned the fastest PC on the planet and now with the new MP release I've only been bumped into second position.

One last thought: Anyone who complains or whines about the Mac Pro has most likely never used one, and probably never will.

8-Core Mac Pro
2 x 3.0GHz Quad-Core Intel Xeon
8 GB DDR2 FB-DIMM @ 667 MHz
ATI Radeon X1900 XT
4 x 500GB Drives
2 x DL OPTIARC DVD RW AD-7170A
Bluetooth & Airport
23-inch Apple Cinema HD Display

.

It's an amazing machine...if you can afford it.

 

[aafuss1]

I would have expected new Cinema displays or a price drop alongside the Mac Pro update.

 

[Frazzle]

Blu-ray is here, and not too expensive

Plextor makes an internal 5.25" Blu-Ray drive. It's a grand. But it's writes CDs, DVDs and BDs. It isn't any bigger than a CDROM drive. I am not surprised that Apple didn't introduce something that major when they released the MPs today. Now, that could be something they show off at MWSF. But we won't know for a few days.

I don't know why Apple people seem to think that Blu-ray is only just arriving on the market or is still very expensive. I've had a Pioneer BDC-202 for months now in my PC. Works like a charm. Some info:

Pioneer BDC-202: burns DVDs (including DVD-RAM) and CDs, reads everything it burns plus BD's and BD-R's, around 200 Euros (19% VAT incl.) There is a version of the Pioneer that can also write BD-R, it is around 400 Euros.

LG GGC-H20LRB: burns DVDs and CDs, reads what it burns plus BD's, BD-R's and HD-DVD, around 220 Euros (19% VAT incl.) It doesn't take sides in the format war. There will be a version of this one that can write as well, street price about the same as the Pioneer.

All drives are standard 5,25 inch. They will all fit in a MP when you take off the front bezel of the drive. One small issue: these drives are all SATA. But then there's these two SATA ports tucked away on the older MP's mainboard... It should be possible.

 

[iW00t]

Seems logical... Announce this now to go along with the launch of the Penyrn Chip at CES.... next week, they will announce BluRay support at MW and then this will have BluRay.... I'm sure they announced this now to help Intel show of the Penyrn chip at CES as a favor to them... also, it leaves more time at MW for more announcements that more people will care about like the iPhone update, the ultra portable, BlueRay, movies rentals, etc... etc... My goodness... it does not get any better than this!

Which means it is not gonna happen.

 

[BenRoethig]

Now that the apple store is back up, we see that the cheapest mac pro is the quad core at $2299. That's the exact same price as the previous cheapest, is it not?

$2150 old. $2299 new.

Sure, the "base" model went up, but for that price you now get eight cores instead of four. The cost of an octo went down what, $700? That's a big boost, and I think it's something to get excited about.

It might be a better deal, but there comes a time when affordability comes into play. People do not have unlimited budgets, many cannot afford to pay up to $1000 more than they did for their PowerMac. You also have to pick between two widely different choices.

2.4ghz dual core iMac
4GB MAX RAM, 2 DIMM slots
single virtually non-upgradable 8x notebook optical drive
single virtually non-upgradable hard drive
256mb Radeon HD2600Pro and no upgrade options
No PCI-E slots for expansion
3 USB 2.0 ports, 1 firewire 400, 1 firewire 800

2.8ghz quad core Mac Pro
32GB max RAM, 8 DIMM slots
2 easily upgradable 16x (and higher) desktop optical drives
4 easily upgradable hard drive bays
256mb Radeon HD2600XT with BTO and future upgrade options
4 PCI-E slots for expansion
5 USB 2.0 Ports, 2 firewire 400, 2 firewire 800

 

[BenRoethig]

Last I checked, a gallon of gas is more expensive than when the G5 was released. So is a gallon of milk. So is a loaf of bread.

What's your point?

And electronics have gotten much cheaper. You can't expect to retain users when you prices are higher they were ten years ago.

Can't afford a shiny new Mac Pro? Get an old one from the refurb store. Or from eBay. Or get an iMac. Or get that cheap G5.

I did. I've nwver been so disappointed in a machine, every fear I had about the little all in one came true.

No one is forcing you to buy a new mac...

That's exactly the arrogant elitist attitude that ruins the Mac platform.

 

[milo]

And electronics have gotten much cheaper. You can't expect to retain users when you prices are higher they were ten years ago.

Overall, they aren't. And apple isn't just retaining users, they are building their market share higher than ever.

Sure, some individual models may be more expensive. But apple also offers other models that are cheaper alternatives. The MP is apple's absolute high end of their product line.

I paid over $3000 for a beige G3 back in 1998. I replaced it last year with a mini for $799. While electronics gets cheaper, newer technologies appear in those higher price points.

As far as I'm concerned, the problem isn't that the cheapest MP went up in price, it's that they don't offer a midrange headless box. A cheap high end machine is an oxymoron, it's like being the tallest short guy.

 

[Umbongo]

Sold my macbook pro
invested on apple stock bought @ 172.19 and sold today @ 182.46. Preparing myself for next week. To my surprise this silent update popped up so i sold and ordered what i been waiting for.

Will be buying more apple stock throughout the week and playing it like i did today...early hour trading apple was up 9 bucks off this silent update
imagine what macworld will bring.

I just love it i do it every year does not hurt my pockets when going after that high end stuff....

Here is what i ordered

Two 3.2GHz Quad-Core Intel Xeon (8-core)
2GB (2 x 1GB)
300GB 15,000-rpm SAS
NVIDIA GeForce 8800 GT 512MB (Two dual-link DVI)

i heart you

It appears you need the RAID card for SAS to work. Might want to look in to that.

 

[sas76]

$2150 old. $2299 new.



It might be a better deal, but there comes a time when affordability comes into play. People do not have unlimited budgets, many cannot afford to pay up to $1000 more than they did for their PowerMac. You also have to pick between two widely different choices.

2.4ghz dual core iMac
4GB MAX RAM, 2 DIMM slots
single virtually non-upgradable 8x notebook optical drive
single virtually non-upgradable hard drive
256mb Radeon HD2600Pro and no upgrade options
No PCI-E slots for expansion
3 USB 2.0 ports, 1 firewire 400, 1 firewire 800

2.8ghz quad core Mac Pro
32GB max RAM, 8 DIMM slots
2 easily upgradable 16x (and higher) desktop optical drives
4 easily upgradable hard drive bays
256mb Radeon HD2600XT with BTO and future upgrade options
4 PCI-E slots for expansion
5 USB 2.0 Ports, 2 firewire 400, 2 firewire 800

I was thinking the same, add the price of a monitor and you have a Mac Pro for only a few hundred more. (AUS)
I think there will be alot of upset people who have recentley purchased a 2.8 exteme iMac. Then again maybe not, maybe people do buy things for there looks and styling.

ss

 

[Bastich]

Why should Apple support a HD format when there are two options yet? Makes sense to wait. Also, did it ever cross your mind they may be waiting till the keynote to say which format they will support? Kind of a big announcement after all.

Why should Apple choose one format over another? Has it occurred to anyone that since a lot of content is created on Macs, they need to support both formats?