Apple Releases New PowerMacs

[mj_1903]

Was looking forward to this update, but these machines are a disappointment. Time to await the next lot then.

 

[Diatribe]

Also, this on the apple australia site: http://www.apple.com.au/powermac/graphics.html

"For over-the-top graphics that saturate your senses, choose the optional ATI Radeon 9800 XT, an AGP Pro card and the fastest and most visually advanced 3D graphics accelerator on the planet."

That is a lie. Im sorry, but it is.

And a blunt audacious one too.

 

[Belly-laughs]

Probably the 2.5s are the first batch of the new chips and that's why the big jump from the other models.

I think you might be right. It is an odd range speed-wise.

 

[PRØBE]

Yep.

Now, bring on the G5iMacs, two button pro mouse, metallic finish bluetooth pro keyboard, 60 gig ipod, new screens at cheaper prices, and a few surprises at wwdc and i'll be happy

I they do all the above with a minimum 1.8 single G5 and a 128mb graphics card then they will receive my bundle of cash too.


Can't see it happening though.

 

[365]

Oh well ...

Let's look on the brightside, iPod sales are still strong and ... and ...

 

[the silver fox]

Reality Check

it's not that i really even blame apple for anything, but you have to admit, this year has pretty much sucked so far. i have high hopes for tiger, though.

Ummm... Have you not used FCP HD or DVD Studio Pro 3. Seen Motion lately? This year has sucked? Helllooooo?!?

 

[SiliconAddict]

damn! If they can do liquid cooling in a PowerMac its a good bet they can do it in a PowerBook the question is batt life. Some of the more traditional LC methods requires both a fan and a pump. Don't have Acrobat on my system yet so I can't load up the specific tech specs to see if they are using a pump or not but its a very good possibility that they might use this tech in the next powerbook lineup. So the only question that remains: What CPU could they ever hope to pair up with such a heat transfer system. I’ll have to think on that one.

 

[delete]

Hearing all the complaints about weak video cards I have to ask if the card matters that much if your just doing 2D work in Photoshop?

 

[ts1973]

Sure, it's a lame update, so he has got it out of the way before WWDC.

So with them and the Airport Express, what does that leave for Stevenote?

- iMac G5 1.4, with industrial cooling fan
- iTunes 4.6 and an update on the great first 2 weeks of Europe iTMS
- iChat AV, now it works properly

I couldn't have put it any better

Maybe the new displays will be better ???

 

[jaw04005]

why isnt ethernet standard?

It is 10/100/1000BASE-T Ethernet (RJ-45) according to Powermac G5 specs page. There is just a seperate build-to-order option for a PCI-X ethernet card.

 

[broken_keyboard]

Also, this on the apple australia site: http://www.apple.com.au/powermac/graphics.html

"For over-the-top graphics that saturate your senses, choose the optional ATI Radeon 9800 XT, an AGP Pro card and the fastest and most visually advanced 3D graphics accelerator on the planet."

That is a lie. Im sorry, but it is.

Yes you are right, that is outright false. I hope they take it down.

 

[proglife]

For pure 2D work (photoshop/final cut) how much do you really need from a graphics card. If it runs two monitors at high refresh rates at a high enough resolution, what's the problem?

i can understand gamers getting pee'd off but does it really make that much difference to pro's who don't do that much 3D (assuming software utilises GPU etc.)?

That's like saying...."who cares if Porsche doesn't put a hot motor in the Carrera. You're not going to drive it that fast anyways." No, your not, but your still paying a lot for the car, it should have it. Do you not feel a little screwed as a consumer?

 

[Ozi]

For pure 2D work (photoshop/final cut) how much do you really need from a graphics card. If it runs two monitors at high refresh rates at a high enough resolution, what's the problem?

i can understand gamers getting pee'd off but does it really make that much difference to pro's who don't do that much 3D (assuming software utilises GPU etc.)?

Whookam

well with powerfull CPUs (ie 2x2.5 G5s) that can pump out lots and lots of polygons per second, you need a GPU to be able to handle it. By putting an outdated GPU in the new G5s, it would look on paper like they will be inadequate. Also, people doing "pure 2D work" will buy just the 1.8 G5s or even just iMacs... The point is that a top end computer should have a top end GPU.The 9800XT is good, but it isnt the best. And I always expect the best from Apple.

~ozi

 

[BornAgainMac]

All I can think is that if these are the new COOLER 90nm chips and they require some bad a$$ liquid cooling to keep them from melting into a heap of molten slag.... it will be a VERY long time before they make it into a powerbook!

Perhaps the G4 will have to be the chip of choice for laptops going forward. It might be up to 1.7 mhz in a year. IBM probably has something in the labs to replace the G4 in 2005 or 2006 also.

 

[iriejedi]

Best Card Possible

I'mnot totally sure but I think for "the Mac" the radoen 9800XT is the best card possible.

It took like two years for the "Radeom Mac Edition" to make it from PC to Mac shelves... I can't confirm this but I do not believe the new high end cards are Mac Savvy - although I'd love to be wrong! Haveing just went throught the price/quality study for myu cheap PC... the radeon 9800 is a good deal but it is sub $200... not reall woth $100 in labor to install it... not to mention the $20 you could get for the stock card on eBay!

[EDIT
ATI
RADEON X800XT 256MB 8 AGP
MacMall Part #434568
Mfg. Part #100-435210 PC & Mac

Guess I was wrong!

It may have already been mentioned, but the new BTO Radeon 9800 XT video card has 256MB VRAM. I'm pretty sure it was 128MB before...

 

[sfwalter]

No Displays = No PowerMac

Too bad they haven't released the displays yet. I need a new PowerMac but I guess I will have to wait for WWDC so they will release the displays.

 

[dieselg4]

Sorry....not everyone is rich. It's the principal. For 2500 bucks (or 2000 even) you should be getting something better, not getting ripped off.

Well, you might not be getting ripped off too badly - a dual Xeon 3.2 Dell workstation with a dullsville 64MB Nvida Card, 160 GB SATA, 8x DVD-R, 512MB DDR, etc, comes in at around $4000 on their small business website.

 

[SiliconAddict]

Intel did (and still does) as well. I was surprised they made that promise last year; ramping 1.0GHz in a year is VERY aggressive.

--Cless

Not really. They are now pumping out Pentium M mobile CPU's at 90nm now.

 

[Village Idiot]

I've been holding off for 6 months to get a G5, as I have been burned on my last 2 mac purchases. Bought a 15" iMac and 2 weeks later the 17" came out. Then a 15" powerbook one month later a 17 incher comes out.
So finally I think I'm playing my cards right and for once I wouldn't have been any worse off than if I bought the dual 2Ghz a year ago!

This revision is totally sh*te. Not because of the speeds, but the lack of other features. Why only one FW 800 port? Same Hard Drive space, Last years graphics cards. What about a dual layer DVD burner option? I want this for HD video editing and I bet if I fork out for this now, the new 3Ghz with slick graphics card for the 30" screen will be out in September. I can't win. Think I may as well hold off until a real upgrade.

Any other editors feel the same?

 

[Rincewind42]

ADC is not an issue

I'm still pleased with an update finally. True the graphics cards are disappointing but if ADC goes away with the new monitors then there should be an upcoming wealth of upgrade options.

Why do people think that ADC is holding us back on video cards anyway? Apple makes the video cards that use nVidia chips (because nVidia doesn't make video cards themselves) and ATi even sells ADC equipped Mac edition cards.

But the reality is that in order to make a video card for the Mac, you have to make it talk to Open Firmware. This means that an engineer (someone who makes say $70K a year) has to write code that talks to the Mac's ROM. This takes time and effort, and while it's a one-time cost for any single video card, it's one that the card maker has to put up front and hope they make enough money on the card to recoup the cost.

An ADC connector and all the incumbent circuitry for it probably costs a grand total of $5 per card over a DVI or VGA connector. There are setup costs for the manufacturing too, but that is the case for any new circuit board design. But since the ADC style card design is something that Apple's been producing for some 5 years now, all of those costs have long since been recouped. And the extra fabrication cost can be passed on to the customer on a 1:1 basis.

So the REAL issue holding back new video cards is the fact that Macs don't use a PC BIOS, not that the cards have an ADC connector. Do you want to scream at Apple that they don't use the "standard" PC BIOS but chose Open Firmware instead? No? Didn't think so.

 

[jaw04005]

An new iMac that will be incapable of playing games based on the video cards Apple is putting in the PM's. You know they won't put a better video card in the iMac. And great displays. But still no computer to attach them to. I'm not paying $3000 for a computer. I would have bought the 1.8 dual if it was the same machine as the one yesterday but for $1999. Instead they cripple it.

Come on Apple, if you want us to only buy the high end, why even sell another model? Here's a hint: STOP CRIPPLING YOUR LOW-END POWERMACS! Make the differences in the cpu and maybe standard size hard drive. But don't put an entirely different motherboard in there. Thats just stupid and a waste of your resources.

Yup same here. I was ready to purchase a new Dual 1.8Ghz, but I think I can wait till the NEXT revision... maybe next year, heh?

 

[Funkatation]

Sorry. Don't follow. If I'm spending $2000 - $3000 on a computer, I shouldn't have to upgrade the hardware in it unless its for specific needs. The video cards in these machines belong in $400 PC's not $2000 - $3000 high end machines.

$400 OEM PC's have integrated gfx.. you'd have to move up to 600-1000 pc's to get a Geforce 4MX/5200

 

[MrSugar]

I am excited, mainly just to finaly be getting a powermac!

New pmac is on its way, Dual 1.8, 9600XT, 1.25 gig memory (crucial of course), BT and AE, 280g HD (160 and 120 SATA)

... guess I decided 2ghz, PCI-X, and 4g of ram slots wasn't worth the extra $550 or so.

 

[hmg]

notice they said "visually"....

Also, this on the apple australia site: http://www.apple.com.au/powermac/graphics.html

"For over-the-top graphics that saturate your senses, choose the optional ATI Radeon 9800 XT, an AGP Pro card and the fastest and most visually advanced 3D graphics accelerator on the planet."

That is a lie. Im sorry, but it is.

and NOT technologically advanced.... it seems that the ATIs still give better quality output than the rest....
I guess that's still not right though, but can you buy the X800 yet? yes? I haven't really looked for it I must admit...

 

[caveman_uk]

Surely not? Can't we already get duals in the same box from Apple?
Can't we already get dual Athlons and Xeons in build-yourself boxes?
What would be the difference, do they draw sooo much extra power, or do they interfere on some frequency that other CPUs don't?

Curely this could not be some export or import or (God-forbid) some security agency approval?

Oh well....

The difference is it is a finished machine not a build-yourself box. You see all those logo's on the bottom of ibooks and on the backs of powermacs. They're the regulatory agency approval logos. Most nations have them. It's mostly to ensure a model is safe and doesn't interfere with radio/TV reception.