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So does that mean two slots are fixed and you cannot remove the factory RAM? I would hope not. Hopefully 4 slots removable.

No, it means that they only use two of the slots for standard configurations. All are removable though. Happy upgrading :)
 
So does that mean two slots are fixed and you cannot remove the factory RAM? I would hope not. Hopefully 4 slots removable.

Think you will be able to remove the factory RAM and replace all 4 slots. Best compromise - Buy 16GB - that only takes up two slots and then buy a further 16GB.
 
I'm confused.

My nMac Pro w/ dual FirePro D700 cards can power 3x 4K displays, but not a 5K display due to: display port or Thunderbolt?

I know they didn't ship with the latest display port, but they are Thunderbolt 2.0 compatible, which was ahead of the market.

My questions:

1. Can a 5K Thunderbolt display work with the nMac Pro running in 4K res?

2. Why can't Thunderbolt 2.0 power a 5K display?

I thought the point of Thunderbolt was that it can "be" anything; can carry graphics, sound, data, etc bi-directionally. Does this mean it can't carry the latest Display Port?

I'd grab two 5K displays if my nMac Pro can push out 4K on them (then use 5K if/when I upgrade my Mac Pro), I'm assuming that should be possible, just not 5K. No?
 
I know it isnt the same as high resolution but have you tried the built in ZOOM feature, Just hold down the control key and scroll my wheel and the entire display zooms right in. I use it all the time for tiny text, checking graphics that I am producing for nasty corners and correct aliasing etc.. Anyway, you can find it in Accessibility->Zoom then tick the option that says "Use scroll gesture with modifier key to zoom".

Yes, I do that sometimes. But it's not the "ideal" solution that we'd have if the Retina fonts were just large enough to start with, looking very fine and crisp with all those pixels.

:)
 
I wonder how this graphics card will handle 4k video through FCP?.

My current early 2011 MBPRO even with 16 gigs of ram and a 1tb SSD struggles like a mofo.

I also do my photography business so this may be a winner. Only thing is where do I put it?? I have not used a computer that I had to sit at in nearly 6 years.
 
Though I admit the machine looks cool, there is no use case for me to need a 5K display on my desktop. My current refurb Mid-2012 Macbook Pro attached to a nice Dell 24" monitor is plenty for me. At desktop distances, it is hard to tell the retina from non-retina.
 
But to answer your question, whenever Apple introduces Retina, all the graphic elements are the same physical size as before, only sharper. So the optimized desktop will "look like 2560x1440”. The fact that things are sharper and more detailed may be enough so that you can read them.

I watched Lisa Gade's (Mobiletechreview's) review of a MacBook Pro w/Retina Display.

On that 15" display when it was set to "Optimize" for Retina Display, the fonts were larger as I wanted.

I'll try to catch an Apple store sometime soon and play with it.
 
Definitely getting this…next autumn! Intel's Skylake is going to be amazing in this machine. Any kinks in the manufacturing quality should also be worked out (hopefully there aren't any, but lately Apple has been inconsistent). My current machine does well enough for now, though I am in need of a new display. I'd also like to get a 1TB SSD for a more reasonable price, so another year should help with that. The fusion drive in my work 27" iMac is decent, but nowhere near as fast as the drive in my 15" rMBP. Does the 3TB fusion drive have more SSD in it? Too bad we can't use Bootcamp from an external Thunderbolt drive or 512GB would be fine for me using externals for media. This thing would also be my gaming PC, but running at 1080p for obvious reasons: Windows would probably die at 5K and games would stutter.

Windows would stutter on 5k gaming? Is there a point I am missing or you really dont know how the gpu+software draws the frames. Or are you talking about playing on 1920x1080 from bootcamp?

Go read on what kind of hardware it takes to play games in 4k, then come back and argue about what Windows can and cant do. Playing 4k games on a mac,... funniest post in the whole year :)
 
Would love one, but I purchased a top spec 'older model' a few months back. No too worried at the moment until more 4k content is readily available, it a nice to have.
 
I wonder if you can add a (non-retina) Cinema display to the RiMac...

While retina would be nice for me, I need 2 27" screens for my workflow (and even another 27" screen would be a nice plus).

Anyone know?
 
I wonder if you can add a (non-retina) Cinema display to the RiMac...

While retina would be nice for me, I need 2 27" screens for my workflow (and even another 27" screen would be a nice plus).

Anyone know?

Yes. You should be able to connect a second monitory just fine, just like with previous models.

"Simultaneously supports full native resolution on the built‑in display and up to a 30-inch display (2560 by 1600 pixels) on an external display
Support for extended desktop and video mirroring modes"
 
Huge bummer that a 5K Cinema Display was not announced, but makes sense as if that was the case it would probably have stolen some of the thunder of the 5K iMac.

Looks like the screen is high quality based on the initial reports, but will wait for a more detailed examination of the color accuracy before making any decisions
 
Can anyone take an educated guess on my question?

Unlikely for the foreseeable future.

----------

Huge bummer that a 5K Cinema Display was not announced, but makes sense as if that was the case it would probably have stolen some of the thunder of the 5K iMac.

No, it makes sense because it is not technically feasible.

----------

Just for future reference people:

Waiting for an external Apple 5K display for Mac Pros or other Macs?

If I had to guess, you’ll have a long wait, and they won’t work with any Mac sold to date.

Panel yields may be tight for a while, and external displays are a low priority for Apple. The original 27” iMac’s groundbreaking LCD panel wasn’t available in an external display from Apple for almost a year after its release. But that’s not the biggest problem.

Pushing this many pixels requires more bandwidth than DisplayPort 1.2 offers, which is what Thunderbolt 2 ports use for outputting video signals. (I wrote about this a few times.) Doing it right will require waiting until DisplayPort 1.3 in Thunderbolt 3 on Broadwell’s successor, Skylake, which isn’t supposed to come out for at least another year — and Intel is even worse at estimating ship dates than I am, so it’s likely to be longer.

It may be possible to use two Thunderbolt 2 cables to power a 5K display, but only if the GPU could treat each port as its own full-bandwidth DisplayPort 1.2 channel, the sum of which represented one logical display, and had the panel using something like MST to combine the two at the other end.1 But the only Mac with more than one Thunderbolt bus (not port) is the current Mac Pro, and I can’t see today’s Apple shipping an external display that none of their laptops can use.

I’d estimate — granted, I’m wrong a lot — that Apple won’t ship a standalone 5K display until at least 2016, and it won’t work with any of today’s Macs, including the 2013 Mac Pro.

Waiting for the Dell 5K monitor?

Dell’s shipping a 5K monitor soon using two DisplayPort 1.2 cables. It’s slated to cost $2500 — the same as the iMac’s starting price.

We don’t know whether it will work with the current Mac Pro yet. Just like the theoretical Apple external 5K monitor, it will rely on tricks like MST to be treated as one big monitor, which may be unsupported or buggy on the Mac Pro.

It’s also a Dell. Dell monitors used to be great, but their quality has been inconsistent and declining in recent years, and they’re certainly not known for their visual appeal or classy materials.​
- Marco Arment
 
Ah, I didn't realise that, thanks. I doubt they would lock in the 27" flagship model, it's their most powerful model in the range, it should allow user upgrades as it is a longer term investment over the cheaper models. But, you never know with Apple. I',m guessing the Macbook air is ram locked? whereas the Macbook Pro is not, following my line of thinking?

Well, retina Macbook Pro is the flagship notebook from Apple and it does not have replaceable RAM or storage or even battery. You stick till the end with what you got out of Apple Store. Completely disposable machine just like iPad and I'm afraid iMac will end the same way, maybe 2 3 years from now.
 
The more I see this, the more I'm stunned that this machine is only $2,499 when standalone IPS 4K displays sell for AT LEAST this much. Very impressive by Apple to hit that price point.

As soon as the price comes down to $1,999 and it's sitting in a case design that's different than what I currently own, my wallet...I mean ApplePay button...will be ready to go.:):apple:
 
Windows would stutter on 5k gaming? Is there a point I am missing or you really dont know how the gpu+software draws the frames. Or are you talking about playing on 1920x1080 from bootcamp?

Go read on what kind of hardware it takes to play games in 4k, then come back and argue about what Windows can and cant do. Playing 4k games on a mac,... funniest post in the whole year :)

What I'm saying is that from what I've read Windows doesn't handle super high resolutions very well. Everything is tiny. But the point is that I said that I would play all the games at 1080p on Windows in Bootcamp because trying to play a modern game at 5K is going to kill the iMac. I said gaming PC, NOT gaming Mac. Bootcamp obviously. I don't need to game at 5K.
 
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