Apple Pro Machines -- Still Coming?

[iriejedi]

True Story - I swear

Is this a true story?

If it isn't, please don't mess with our minds like that. It's not cool.

Story 100% true (OK 99.9%)

Except for the twinkle in eye thing.... story totally true - but even I myself took the phrase "Be patient you will not have to wait long" to mean anytime between now and July (I'm runnign a B/W G3 with a 550 G4 card in it - I've got patients).... look at the delay for the XServe - I'm sure they planed to ship that 'soon' too.... so I feel this is no PROOF that we have days or weeks to wiat - but it is a TRUE STORY so I wanted to blab it everywhere since my only other contact with an Apple employee was the lady handing out sT-hirts at the SF Apple store grand opening!

Also - for you nay sayers who feel that if true this guy hurt apple sales by stopping people from buying now cause new ones are coming - common no one doubts new ones are coming so even without this story - if you had read any post prior to mine - and you did NOT have the spark of HOPE that new machines are coming 'soon' - you'd be buying by now. In fact unless Apple goes out of business there will always be new machines 'coming soon'!

Iriejedi



Even the movie Cannible the Musice is a real movie! Awesome!

 

[jsw]

My theory is that for SJ to make a bold statement like 3Ghz in a year means he must have known they would be ready long before then. So i think Apple will surprise us at NAB and then they'll "shock and awe" everybody at WWDC with the G5 Power Books, new displays, and the Imac G5. AT MWSF well see OS 10.4.

That would be great. I don't expect it, but it would be great. It's been a pretty dismal six months or so, and obviously we all need some good news. I still think we'll see mid-2GHz G5's months before we see a 3GHz one, but I'd love to be wrong. I'm guessing a high-end Xserver-type deal with new or enhanced software for NAB, but better displays and PM systems would be great. I'm just pessimistic about displays, because the $500 offer on the 23" goes for another few months.

 

[klaus]

I was at an Apple sponsored training event this week. The Apple presenter said to "go to the Apple home page for new product announcements on the Sunday of NAB (April 18). Although he obviously did not specify the products, I believe he was referring to the PM/display updates.

is this an april fools joke..?
or for real.. you are playing with our lives here

 

[AppleJustWorks]

Not likely

I was at an Apple sponsored training event this week. The Apple presenter said to "go to the Apple home page for new product announcements on the Sunday of NAB (April 18). Although he obviously did not specify the products, I believe he was referring to the PM/display updates.

Uhh. don't think this to likely....Why would apple release product updates on NAB? Ooh well, even though I donth think its very likely I sure would like to see it!

PowerMac G5 Rev. B Here I come!

 

[invaLPsion]

Uhh. don't think this to likely....Why would apple release product updates on NAB? Ooh well, even though I donth think its very likely I sure would like to see it!

PowerMac G5 Rev. B Here I come!

Why not? Powermac G5s are used by professionals everywhere to edit media. Plus, it is an Apple presentation. Updates at NAB make sense to me...

 

[Mr Maui]

Why not? Powermac G5s are used by professionals everywhere to edit media. Plus, it is an Apple presentation. Updates at NAB make sense to me...

I'd have to say that updates anywhere and any time, at this point would make sense. No updates is the only thing NOT making sense.

 

[Robin Hood]

Not an April Fool's Joke

No, my quote from the Apple presenter was not an April Fool's Day joke. Now I must say, he did not say what updates were coming, only that updates would be announced on Sunday at NAB. Granted, they could be software or other hardware updates, but my impression was that it was the PM updates.

 

[Downdivx]

A friend of mine who is an apple reseller to the film and video production industry has said that the Xgrid technology was going to be moved to Shake in Q2 2004. Its a pretty reliable source, so this could be the NAB announcement.

W

 

[alexf]

New display improvements?

Does anyone have any guesses about whether the new displays - whenever they are finally released - will have significant improvements over the current ones, or will do you think the differences will primarily be aesthetic?

Oh, and, by the way, does anyone else agree that the new aluminum theme is just plain ugly? As for the G5s: what can possibly be so appealing about a monstrously oversized boxy metal computer? From a purely aesthetic standpoint, the G4s were much miles better than the G5s...

I doubt, however, the most people buy these fast and powerful computers primarily on aesthetic grounds...

 

[aswitcher]

Does anyone have any guesses about whether the new displays - whenever they are finally released - will have significant improvements over the current ones, or will do you think the differences will primarily be aesthetic?

I suspect end of June for WWDC...given the current 23" promotion sale (as discussed at length in that forum list).

We expect a new form factor to match the G5 brushed metal look.

Hopefully screens will have higher resolutions, better refresh rates, narrow form factor, options for arm mounting as well as bezel. USB 2.0 might be a goer as well.

Oh, and, by the way, does anyone else agree that the new aluminum theme is just plain ugly? As for the G5s: what can possibly be so appealing about a monstrously oversized boxy metal computer? From a purely aesthetic standpoint, the G4s were much miles better than the G5s...

Well I can;t say I agree with you on that...

 

[AppleJustWorks]

Can't Say I agree Either!

Hmm...I think the G5's look is just "stunning". It looks much more powerful than the G4. The G4 resembles good looks, but the G5 resembles "brute strength"

 

[freddiecable]

yes - after having had the G5 for a while...it looks potent but stylish at the same time...especially from the side...the brushed metal looks very exclusive...

oh - well. back to the subject. I find it very strange for apple not having released any speed bumps since the release of the G5 if they release dual 2.4 on the top in the next couple of weeks i will certainly not expect dual 3 ghz by the end of summer...dual 2.6 Ghz would be more acceptable

Hmm...I think the G5's look is just "stunning". It looks much more powerful than the G4. The G4 resembles good looks, but the G5 resembles "brute force"

 

[Dont Hurt Me]

G5 is nice but not selling in qtys like they hoped. It still needs a little work. why such a big machine for only a 1.6? why not colors ?maybe white & black? why not let the customer build his own say a single 2.0 and 9800xt? why not have todays video cards instead of yesterdays? G5 still needs some polish and why we are at it why not a 64 bit OS. I wont even mention the G4s whats the point?

 

[Trab]

As far as your fist question regarding the G5 is concerned. I never implied that the Mac will die suddenly overnight. I think that the platform will dwindle away over the next four or five years. I believe that Apple is planning on shifting their focus to non-Mac areas of their business (eg. ITMS iPod). This transition will take some time. In the mean time they need to keep the Mac reasonabely viable in order to be able to survive during that transitional period.

Hi There,

I use UNIX everyday at work, and have tried Linux at home, since I enjoy the power and flexability of *NIX OS's. If you're going to choose Linux, make sure you get an NVIDIA video card, and stay away from the NForce 2 motherboards. The one issue with Linux that keeps me from moving to use it as my home desktop is that the nature of an Open Source OS such as this is that you're at the mercy of either the hardware vendor or motivated individuals to provide decent drivers for you. My gaming PC has an ATI video card and the afore-mentioned Nforce2 chipset, and I can't run anything beyond basic, command-line Linux for more than an hour or two without a hard lockup. Until that situation improves, I won't be using Linux at home.

Linux is gaining market share, but until they can get their act together (unified desktop, reduce the number of distros, better current hardware support), they will not make any significant inroads into the desktop market. The current fiasco with XFree86 will spell trouble for Linux as a desktop until that gets resolved, or a replacement for the X server comes along.

I for one will be curious to see how the Xserve G5's are received. If Apple can get a decent corporate IT support operation going, I think the Xserve's could become a significant source of revenue for Apple, and help boost G5 sales across the board.

My wife is a teacher, and we're looking at picking up G5 some time this spring or summer, since she uses Macs at school and is the on-site 'expert' for such things. I am looking forward to getting to know Macs again. I had a Mac classic, and an Apple IIe (and II+) before that. I took a long hiatus from Macs during the 90's but am getting very tired of watching my supposedly fast XP box get slower and slower with each new hotfix, service pack, etc.

My $.02

 

[nightcap965]

Aesthetics

I fear I must disagree with you. As the owner of the big 64 Color Box (with built-in sharpener!) of Crayola Crayons, I'm sure you'll agree I'm eminently qualified to be an arbiter of taste and aesthetics.

The original Compact Macs were quirky and friendly looking. "Come play with me! I'm cute and non-threatening!" This happy state of affairs continued into the LC pizza boxes, but by the time the PowerMacs hit, they were Just Another Boring Beige Box with neither heart nor soul.

Then Steve returned, bringing with him Jonathan Ive and the iMac. "Come play with me!" laughed the iMac cheerily. "I'm cute and colorful and humorous and non-threatening!" The PowerMac G4s were less cute - slighly menacing, in fact, but still colorful.

Then came the LCD Imacs. Snow-white dome, white keyboard, chrome monitor support, clear lucite monitor surround. "Don't touch me! Keep your grubby hands away! You'll leave fingerprints!" The only thing good I've heard about them from others is "The monitor seems suspended in space." A nice decoration, but not a working machine.

Now comes the PowerMac G5. It's big. It's metal. It looks like it has to be big and metal in order to contain the screaming forces inside. It says, "Power. Raw, brute, merciless Power!" It's not pretty, but it looks solid.

I have to confess that I hate the white keyboard and the white mouse. Both are still in the box. I've got a nice black Kensington keyboard and a six-button Logitech mouse, and I'm happy. The 23" Cinema display doesn't really fit, either, but then, anything that big creates its own statement. The Hancock Tower doesn't match anything around it - it's up to the lesser buildings to fit in with the Hancock Tower.

Personally, the best thing Steve ever created was the NeXT cube: black magnesium, black 17" Megapixel display, black keyboard, black mouse, big black laser printer... light bends in that corner of the room.

The one theme I hope Apple will lose quickly is the damned "THX-1138" white. It's not a good color for daily use. My iBook is only a couple months old and already looking dingy.

In the words of the Rolling Stones, "Paint it Black!"

Oh, and, by the way, does anyone else agree that the new aluminum theme is just plain ugly? As for the G5s: what can possibly be so appealing about a monstrously oversized boxy metal computer? From a purely aesthetic standpoint, the G4s were much miles better than the G5s...

I doubt, however, the most people buy these fast and powerful computers primarily on aesthetic grounds...

 

[alexf]

Much too big and "masculine" looking...

Now comes the PowerMac G5. It's big. It's metal. It looks like it has to be big and metal in order to contain the screaming forces inside. It says, "Power. Raw, brute, merciless Power!" It's not pretty, but it looks solid.

Yes, I agree that it looks solid and gives an impression of raw, brute power.
Yet this very masculine, corporate look has never been something that I associated with Apple (I have, incidentally, been using a Mac since 1985), especially since the advent of the iMac.

In any case, I think everyone would agree that the things are simply much too big. Aren't computers supposed to get smaller as the years go by, not (considerably) larger?

 

[Evan_11]

A self sacrifice if you will...

Well I just grudged myself to order a refurb dual 2.0 from the Apple store.

Now that I have made this sacrifice I can guarantee you that there will be updates within 2 weeks

I just couldn't wait any longer. I was tempted by a new dual 1.8 for around the same cost but a recent test over on barefeets showed the 2.0 being 18% faster in Final Cut. I'll take any incremental increase in speed I can get. I also plan on putting 4GB of ram in there since that seems to be the sweet spot.

The $1500 Cinema display is a nice deal but I think I'll go with a Samsung 21" LCD.

Now my biggest concern is that because I'm buying a refurb do I worry about receiving a faulty product or worse a lemon Anyone with experience here?

 

[nightcap965]

Size Matters

Too Big? I receive at least a dozen email messages per day that tell me there's no such thing as too big! My G5 is muy macho!

Maybe it's because I'm a switcher (no, no, not that kind of switcher), but I think of it as kind of small. The G5 PM is at least a foot shorter than my Linux server.

As long as it fits comfortably under a desk, I'm all in favor of Big. More space inside the box means cooler temperatures. Apple has always gotten into thermal trouble when it tries to make things too small (witness the Cube).

Yes, I agree that it looks solid and gives an impression of raw, brute power.
Yet this very masculine, corporate look has never been something that I associated with Apple (I have, incidentally, been using a Mac since 1985), especially since the advent of the iMac.

In any case, I think everyone would agree that the things are simply much too big. Aren't computers supposed to get smaller as the years go by, not (considerably) larger?

 

[nightcap965]

O Pioneers!

Hi Evan,

Greetings, fellow pioneer! The Rev. B. won't be available for another week - it has to be over ten days from the time I purchased mine. I hope the people on this website appreciate the sacrifice we've made for them.

I would say that the refurbs would be more reliable than the originals, since they've had their burn-in test and had the rough edges polished. My own box went back to the Apple Store yesterday because the optical drive wasn't properly installed and wouldn't open. (Minor glitch, could have fixed it myself, but I wanted to see how the Apple Genius handled it. The machine was restored to perfect working order in five minutes.)

Enjoy!

Well I just grudged myself to order a refurb dual 2.0 from the Apple store.

Now that I have made this sacrifice I can guarantee you that there will be updates within 2 weeks

I just couldn't wait any longer. I was tempted by a new dual 1.8 for around the same cost but a recent test over on barefeets showed the 2.0 being 18% faster in Final Cut. I'll take any incremental increase in speed I can get. I also plan on putting 4GB of ram in there since that seems to be the sweet spot.

The $1500 Cinema display is a nice deal but I think I'll go with a Samsung 21" LCD.

Now my biggest concern is that because I'm buying a refurb do I worry about receiving a faulty product or worse a lemon Anyone with experience here?

 

[neonart]

You should be cool.

Well I just grudged myself to order a refurb dual 2.0 from the Apple store...

Now my biggest concern is that because I'm buying a refurb do I worry about receiving a faulty product or worse a lemon Anyone with experience here?

I've purchased several Apple refurb items including the G4 I'm this on. I've never had any issues with any of them. My iPod is a refurb as well and it's solid as a rock.
It may just be a bad RAM chip or HD that caused it to come back and they simply replace it and send it to be sold as a refurb. You get the same warranty- and as a rule of thumb if a Mac lasts the first year without issues- it's good for many years!

 

[arobasefr]

New Power Mac G5

Her they are !


M9042LL/A
Dual 2.2 Ghz
512MB PC 3200 DDR
Pioneer DVR-A07 superdrive
ATI Radeon 9600 Pro
160GB Serial ATA
3 64Bit PCI-X slots, 1 133Mhz, 2@ 100Mhz

M9490LL/A
Dual 2.4 Ghz
1GB PC 3200 DDR
Pioneer DVR-A07 superdrive
ATI Radeon 9800XT
250GB Serial ATA
3 267Mhz PCI-X slots backward compatible with PCI-X 1.0

M9496LL/A
Dual 2.6 Ghz
1GB PC 3200 DDR
Pioneer DVR-A07 superdrive
ATI RAdeon 9800XT
250 GB Serial ATA
3 267MHz PCI-X slots backward compatible with PCI-X 1.0

 

[iAtom]

Her they are !


M9042LL/A
Dual 2.2 Ghz
512MB PC 3200 DDR
Pioneer DVR-A07 superdrive
ATI Radeon 9600 Pro
160GB Serial ATA
3 64Bit PCI-X slots, 1 133Mhz, 2@ 100Mhz

M9490LL/A
Dual 2.4 Ghz
1GB PC 3200 DDR
Pioneer DVR-A07 superdrive
ATI Radeon 9800XT
250GB Serial ATA
3 267Mhz PCI-X slots backward compatible with PCI-X 1.0

M9496LL/A
Dual 2.6 Ghz
1GB PC 3200 DDR
Pioneer DVR-A07 superdrive
ATI RAdeon 9800XT
250 GB Serial ATA
3 267MHz PCI-X slots backward compatible with PCI-X 1.0

Where did you see these?

 

[klaus]

croquer.free.fr

but he changed it slightly, the first model comes with regular PCI, instead of PCI-x.
at least, according to that rumor site (yes, it IS a rumor, not yet confirmed)

 

[iAtom]

croquer.free.fr

but he changed it slightly, the first model comes with regular PCI, instead of PCI-x.
at least, according to that rumor site (yes, it IS a rumor, not yet confirmed)

Is that site usually accurate? I hope so, because that low-end would be perfect for me.

 

[JamesDPS]

Yeah the mid-range would be perfect for me, assuming a price of around US$2500... anyway I somehow don't give those specs more than "speculation" credence, but you never know...

So what's the consensus now, anyway? I sort of lost track --- NAB, or WWDC for PM revisions? By b-day is June 30, so I'm going with WWDC but I wouldn't complain if there were something impressive earlier than that... only real concern of mine is the shipping time after announcement... cuz it'll really tick me off if and when they DO announce revisions are ready and then they're like "shipping in 3 months".