Intel Launching Woodcrest, Conroe and Merom Early?

[Multimedia]

My Dual 2.5 G5 INCREASED In Value Over 8 Months

It's not just a theory. Somebody already got their hands on an early Merom and confirmed that it runs in the mini.

All computers depreciate extremely quickly, you should buy based on what it can let you get done, not what it will be worth in a few months. Best to just assume that once you buy a machine it's worth practically nothing.

I bought a new Dual 2.5 last June for $1999. I sold it in February for $2500. I bought the Quad with two 1GB sticks inside for $3000 including sales tax. I added four 1GB sticks for $300. My Dual 2.5 G5 was hardly "worth practically nothing" after 8 months of ownership, two entire line upgrades and 3 months after the Quad was shipping. In fact it was worth MORE than when I bought it.

With the imac and the mini, you CAN replace the chip. It's nice to be on the same ground as the PC for a change.

The switch to intel will make no difference in whether a two year old machine is good or not. That machine may be further from the latest release, but it will still run very well and do what you bought it for. At this point 2 year old G5's are being challenged in performance by intel macs that are much cheaper.

Not the Quad. Quads are not much more "expensive" than any MacIntel out there so far.

FW800? I'll bet we NEVER see it in an apple laptop again. What other laptops include it?

There are those of us who have external FW 800 enclosures with 300-500 GB HDs inside. The Expresscard/54 slot will give us two FW800 slots in an expansion card. But Apple could easily use the FW800 chip instead of the FW400 chip and provide a FW400 adapter for the FW800 port for only a few dollars or pennies more. So it is not out of the question.

The only real downside is that there are still apps that ignore the third and fourth processors, such as Logic.

Yes but the OS, and especially Leopard next year, will help distribute more across all 4 or 8 cores. And even if the app can only use two cores, that leaves two more for other work to get done. I guess I'm a multitasking whore.

 

[MovieCutter]

I bought a new Dual 2.5 last June for $1999. I sold it in February for $2500. I bought the Quad with two 1GB sticks inside for $3000 including sales tax. I added four 1GB sticks for $300. My Dual 2.5 G5 was hardly "worth practically nothing" after 8 months of ownership, two entire line upgrades and 3 months after the Quad was shipping. In fact it was worth MORE than when I bought it.

I had a similar situation, bought a loaded Dual 2.5Ghz (400GBHD, 6800, etc.) for around $2500...put a little extra RAM I picked up cheap, sold for $3800 almost a year later. Bought a Dual 2.7 with a 6800Ultra for $1900 to hold me over while i waited for my Quad, popped in some extra RAM I had lying around, sold for $3200. Bought my Quad with 500GBHD, 7800GT, 1GB RAM+extra 4GB I put in myself for around $3300, sold it for $5k. No drop in value on this end...Now I'm just waiting for the fabled Mac Pro tower...

 

[Dr.Gargoyle]

I get the feeling the initial batch of Intel Macs were interim - get them in the current Mac housings. Later, complete the designs for the new Intel's. This is similar to what they did with the PPC transitions, isn't it? The first PPC machines looked like the predecessors, and then Apple made the cosmetic changes not too far down the road.

I don't remember if Apple kept their original design through and after 68xxx->PPC. I doubt they will change the Mini Mac or the iMac design any time soon, since both designs are rather new. Apple tend to keep their designs fairly stable over many years. Just look at the iPod. The basic design hasn't changed in 5 generations. We see minor changes as in the case with PB -> MBP and iMac -> Frontrow iMac, but not a total remake.
Nevertheless, we might see some new designs soon. I just hope they don't botch the job. I must admit that I still prefer the "globe" iMac over the current "pizza carton" iMac, even though the latter is growing on me.

 

[alfismoney]

99.9% of computer users wouldn't be comfortable swapping out a chip...

yeah, but us 0.1% who would like to swap out the chip in their laptop are definitely jealous of the mac mini and imac owners who at least have the option of doing so. just cracking open the case on my tibook and finding the internal plastic frame broken in several places left little doubt in my mind that apple doesn't want customers who self service to buy their machines

 

[smooth operator]

Bought my Quad with 500GBHD, 7800GT, 1GB RAM+extra 4GB I put in myself for around $3300, sold it for $5k.

How the heck do you buy a quad with those specs at that price...AND THEN sell it for 5k??? Ebay?

 

[ImAlwaysRight]

Yeah...the Quad changed my life...then the MBP changed my life more...so I sold the Quad...as an atheist, I don't subscribe to Jesus . When I discovered that iPhoto, Safari, iWeb and a bunch of other apps actually were faster and snappier...and Final Cut Studio apps ran ALMOST as fast as on my Quad (with the exception of iPod video encoding which I don't much of anyway) I decided having a $5000 machine sitting under my desk to play video games was a waste...so out it went. I don't miss it actually, the only thing I DO miss about it is having a "home base" of stuff, but with my 8x500GB external drives, my MBP makes a nice temporary desktop replacement. BRING ON THE MAC PRO!!!

That's great to know. I guess you don't miss looking at a pair of 1920 x 1200 monitors. I am doing iPod mp4 encoding every few hours so my needs are completely different than yours. And I didn't pay $5k for this Quad either. I would way rather split up chores among 4 cores than 2 no matter what small speed advantage there might be running Safari & iLife apps - which I don't use much at all. I use Firefox a lot of the time anyway.

For long term insurance, I would rather wait for Merom inside a 17" mobile MacIntel. My pokey 15" PB G4 is ok for the time being. Glad to hear you're successfully booking on the 15" MBP. Not enough screen space for me in the first place.

Way to go on the resale. That 30" must rock. That's still not wide enough for me. I'm looking at 3520 wide by 1200 high. Like I said b4, need 4 cores. But congrats. I'm really happy for you. You are our Alpha site for Quad to MBP FCS migration.

One more question: How can you run that all in only 2 GB of RAM? I have 6 and think it might not be enough.

Oh yeah, well ... uh ... well ... my daddy can piss farther than your daddy!

 

[Dr.Gargoyle]

I had a similar situation, bought a loaded Dual 2.5Ghz (400GBHD, 6800, etc.) for around $2500...put a little extra RAM I picked up cheap, sold for $3800 almost a year later. Bought a Dual 2.7 with a 6800Ultra for $1900 to hold me over while i waited for my Quad, popped in some extra RAM I had lying around, sold for $3200. Bought my Quad with 500GBHD, 7800GT, 1GB RAM+extra 4GB I put in myself for around $3300, sold it for $5k. No drop in value on this end...Now I'm just waiting for the fabled Mac Pro tower...

Ok, I am lost. Why would anyone buy a used computer for the same money you can get a spanking new one??? Especially since most of these high-end computers (hopefully) are use by professionals, meaning you either have someone to pay it for you or you have some kind of business. Either way, you need a receipt to report to superior or deduct business expenses when you do your taxes.
I can't possibly understand someone paying the same money for a used computer. Especially if you use it professionally and need reliability/support since your pay check is proportional to how well the computer performs.
Have I missed something?

 

[shen]

99.9% of computer users wouldn't be comfortable swapping out a chip even if it was "easy", most people just buy a new computer if their old one is slow.

half of the windows users buy a new computer when they have spyware, because it is easier to buy new than clean the software out or even reinstall. trust me, i see it all the time.

everyone talks about how you can just buy a new mother board and chip and have a new computer. "oh look how much easier it is to upgrade a windows machine than a Mac!"

the ppl i know who actually do tis are about 5% of the ppl i know who own computers, and they both run linux.

 

[itguy06]

Moving up the release is a good thing because it will get 64-bit dual-core laptops and low-power desktops here sooner. It's a good thing (for Intel) because it will give them an advantage over AMD. (I wonder what Sun's next marketing campaign will be, once Intel chips are faster and lower power than AMD. Ooops!)

Tha's ASSuming Intel will use power and have higher performance in the shipping silicon. And ASSuming AMD stays right where they are today.

Your'e forgetting that Intel has not had anything really competitive since the Athlon came out - P4 is a joke, Itanic is a flop, and the Core really offers little gains compared to AMD.

AMD has been increasing market and mindshare lots in recent years while puttingout superior products. It's refresing seeing the best starting to win in the market.

Now if Apple would just follow suit (and go AMD), all will be great!

 

[twoodcc]

Conroe cannot run in a dual-socket configuration, so a Conroe-based system is limited to two cores. Not really a replacement path for the quad PMG5.

Woodcrest will do dual-socket (4 cores total), but Intel has always priced their Xeon-class CPUs and chipsets at a premium.

Aiden's prediction is:

• Conroe - new dual-core small mini-tower form factor ("PowerMac"), more RAM capacity (8 GiB), PCIe x16 graphics card (user-upgradeable), 3.5" SATA disk (up to 500 GB), room for second HD or second optical. Fills huge product gap between the MiniMacIntel and the PowerMac G5 maxi-tower.
• Woodcrest - maxi-tower replacement for the PMG5 ("PowerMac Pro"). Dual-socket (4 cores), 16-32 GiB RAM, more disks than PMG5, $500 price increase from PMG5

i sure hope that your predictions become a reality i'd buy the mini-tower. i can't afford the quad now as it is

 

[MovieCutter]

Ok, I am lost. Why would anyone buy a used computer for the same money you can get a spanking new one??? Especially since most of these high-end computers (hopefully) are use by professionals, meaning you either have someone to pay it for you or you have some kind of business. Either way, you need a receipt to report to superior or deduct business expenses when you do your taxes.
I can't possibly understand someone paying the same money for a used computer. Especially if you use it professionally and need reliability/support since your pay check is proportional to how well the computer performs.
Have I missed something?

The eBay factor. People often overpay on eBay.

How the heck do you buy a quad with those specs at that price...AND THEN sell it for 5k??? Ebay?

I have friends in high places...

Oh yeah, well ... uh ... well ... my daddy can piss farther than your daddy!

I can never turn down a friendly pissing contest...

 

[YoNeX]

I'm still holding out on the notebook. I can wait till September, but by then I will have to get a notebook. Lugging around a desktop just sucks. Hopefully the 2nd generation MBP and 2nd generation core duos have been released so most of the problems have been fixed. Now how much I'm going to spend is questionable.

On another side note, I will soon be working on stuff at the kernel level and in assembly language, having problems with the hardware is going to be annoying and frustrating. Hopefully, there won't be the whole fiasco with the Intel chips error again.

To those whining about the upgrades, its inevitable. Technology moving forward, of course the last purchase you made will generally be not as fast when compared to the new ones. Its common sense. If you can't stand it, simply have a lot of money and have the guts to keep upgrading at each step. Otherwise, just be happy with what you got. Don't be so spoiled that you MUST have the bleeding edge technology whenever it comes out.

And for the record, changing out the processor is generally not that hard. If I had the choice between changing the processor myself on a Mac Mini or having someone do it for $40, I probably would have them do, simply because it is annoying to get in there. I'm fully capable of doing it, but if we're talking about need to be supercareful and get in there, I'm not that fully comfortable yet.

 

[Multimedia]

We Resell Them Loaded And We Are Damn Lucky

Ok, I am lost. Why would anyone buy a used computer for the same money you can get a spanking new one??? Especially since most of these high-end computers (hopefully) are use by professionals, meaning you either have someone to pay it for you or you have some kind of business. Either way, you need a receipt to report to superior or deduct business expenses when you do your taxes.
I can't possibly understand someone paying the same money for a used computer. Especially if you use it professionally and need reliability/support since your pay check is proportional to how well the computer performs.
Have I missed something?

What you missed is that we resell them loaded with more RAM and HDs than stock. What you missed is that some buyers are only looking for used instead of checking what new ones sell for. What you missed is that if you are an aggressive reseller, you can usually find someone to give you more than or equal to what you paid for it to begin with. The other thing you missed is that MovieCutter and I are damn lucky.

And no someone else didn't pay for it and my business is not profitable. I am just an eXtreme Mac Fanatic - owner of two and more since February 1984 - with high power needs to deal with HD broadcast television recordings and archiving management - sort of like TIVO on steroids only legal.

 

[Dr.Gargoyle]

The eBay factor. People often overpay on eBay.

So you are telling me that professionals lurk around eBay paying premium dollars for used computers???
Well, I guess there is one born every second...

 

[iris_failsafe]

POwer macs replacement shoould come with Woodcrest, anything else would be a downgrade from the G5

 

[Multimedia]

Dual 2.5 and 2.7 Are In A Unique Postion To Be Worth More Now

So you are telling me that professionals lurk around eBay paying premium dollars for used computers???
Well, I guess there is one born every second...

I found my buyer on a newsgroup list of Macintosh Final Cut Studio users, not eBay. And yes, they are born every minute or so.

JK. Note that the dual 2.5 and later the dual 2.7 were replaced by dual 2 and dual 2.3 PMs. So we did NOT get more than they are worth. However, I think anyone who buys less than a Quad at this point is really not in touch with reality and will live to regret it shortly thereafter. No kidding - except MovieCutter of course.

 

[O and A]

Isn't it MEMRON?

Isn't it MEMRON? not MERMON?

 

[Dr.Gargoyle]

What you missed is that we resell them loaded with more RAM and HDs than stock.

Things you can get cheap at e.g. crucial

What you missed is that if you are an aggressive reseller, you can usually find someone to give you more than or equal to what you paid for it to begin with.

I don't doubt that there are many ill-informed idiots out there. What surprises me is that you can sell it on eBay to (hopefully) professionals at premium prices considering the need for receipts from my previous post. Moreover, most professionals should know, or at least have some vague idea, how much their worktool cost. If the buyer is happy nerd...$5k without checking how much it is new???? Ok, stupidity has no limits, but really...?

The other thing you missed is that MovieCutter and I are damn lucky.

Fair enough... However, I fail to see how that relates to my question.

And no someone else didn't pay for it and my business is not profitable. I am just an extreme Mac Fanatic with high power needs to deal with HD broadcast television recordings and archiving management - sort of like TIVO on steroids only legal.

Even though your business isn't profitable, you must make some money (i.e. have some sort of income) right?? If that is the case, you will be able to deduct the cost for the computer when you do your taxes.

Sorry to say it, but I am still flabbergasted.

 

[milo]

Not the Quad. Quads are not much more "expensive" than any MacIntel out there so far.

How could a two year old mac be a quad? The quads were just released last year.

I do agree that the quad is the only G5 worth buying today.

And there are stupid people who overpay for used G5's. You think switching to intel will suddenly make those people less stupid and likely to overpay?

 

[anaknipedro]

You're all crazy

Why does everyone think the new Power Macs will be called Mac Pros? Judging by the current trend of Apple nomenclature, it's obvious to me that they will call it the macMac!

 

[Bengt77]

Isn't it MEMRON? not MERMON?

Huh? Is that a joke? It's Merom. You've got the Merom coming (quite an upgrade on the Yonah), the Conroe (which is the desktop version of the Merom) and then the Woodcrest (the workstation/server chip based on the new Core technology).

PS: Wasn't it Enron?!...

 

[®îçhå®?]

If this is so, would it then be possible to substitute a core duo to Merom just by desoldering all of the pins in the MacBook Pro and then resoldering them??

 

[Multimedia]

Best RAM Comes From Omni Via Ramseeker.com

Things you can get cheap at e.g. crucial

No. The Best and Cheapest RAM comes from Omni Technologies via Ramseeker.com. Crucial ram is way overpriced.

I don't doubt that there are many ill-informed idiots out there. What surprises me is that you can sell it on eBay to (hopefully) professionals at premium prices considering the need for receipts from my previous post. Moreover, most professionals should know, or at least have some vague idea, how much their worktool cost. If the buyer is happy nerd...$5k without checking how much it is new???? Ok, stupidity has no limits, but really...?

None whatsoever.

Fair enough... However, I fail to see how that relates to my question.

Luck relates to all questions.

Even though your business isn't profitable, you must make some money (i.e. have some sort of income) right?? If that is the case, you will be able to deduct the cost for the computer when you do your taxes.

Not really, but you're getting into an area that is way too personal and none of your business.

Sorry to say it, but I am still flabbergasted.

That's understandable. When I counted the $2500 cash I was equally flabergasted.

Needless to say, none of them hang out here.

 

[ChinComSlot]

MacBook Pros....

so will the MacBook Pro go quad later in the year? or 64-bit?? what other potential new features may it have??

 

[®îçhå®?]

If this is so, would it then be possible to substitute a core duo to Merom just by desoldering all of the pins in the MacBook Pro and then resoldering them??