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Mac pro; buy now or wait a few months.
- Thread starter bigvb@hotmail.c
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Feature/spec adjustment likely ... not much else seems to be happening with mid-cycle refreshes.
my name is not Steve Jobs. I said wait... well go ahead and buy it. I'd wait. in fact i am going to wait. then drop $6g for a rendering machine.
Funny thing
When people talk about computer technology they always talk in superlatives that are given to us by marketing departments. The latest, greatest, fastest, best etc- yet in technology, they are short-lived. If you wait for the latest, you'll buy it and then soon after, it's superseded.
It is wise to future proof your decisions. I am waiting for Nahlem because I think with the core processing, BUS memory and SS4 together with Snow Leopard that there will be some real worthwhile optimization going on.
It won't be the latest for long, but it will still be technologically relevant for a number of years. It will be upgrade proof, even if it is not the best. It wil do the job and I won;t have panic attacks when it's 'old'.
My two bobs worth.
When people talk about computer technology they always talk in superlatives that are given to us by marketing departments. The latest, greatest, fastest, best etc- yet in technology, they are short-lived. If you wait for the latest, you'll buy it and then soon after, it's superseded.
It is wise to future proof your decisions. I am waiting for Nahlem because I think with the core processing, BUS memory and SS4 together with Snow Leopard that there will be some real worthwhile optimization going on.
It won't be the latest for long, but it will still be technologically relevant for a number of years. It will be upgrade proof, even if it is not the best. It wil do the job and I won;t have panic attacks when it's 'old'.
My two bobs worth.
Exactly. I'm picking up a Nehalem Mac Pro in January. I don't do rendering or Photoshop or any sort of professional computing. The appeal to me is the longevity, which is substantial. As proof, my G4, which is almost 8 years old, still does everything pretty well, except for things that require a strong graphics card. Really, if I'd taken the upgrade when I bought it, it'd still be in great shape.
So when it really comes down to it, new iMac every 3 years ($1500-$2000 each) or new Pro level Mac every 7-8 for $3K and change? No brainer.
But this time, I'll make sure to pick up a solid graphics option (With any luck they'll include a better ATI card when the new one is released instead of having to wait 6 months for the 4870 or whatever is next. Crossfire anyone?).
Also, nehalem delivers a jump that the current Core 2 penryn chips do not. They're faster than the Conroe and Kentsfield processors they replace, but not by the same huge margin that nehalem is promising, or the jump between the Dual Core Pentium chips to the original Core 2's in July 2006.
So when it really comes down to it, new iMac every 3 years ($1500-$2000 each) or new Pro level Mac every 7-8 for $3K and change? No brainer.
But this time, I'll make sure to pick up a solid graphics option (With any luck they'll include a better ATI card when the new one is released instead of having to wait 6 months for the 4870 or whatever is next. Crossfire anyone?).
Also, nehalem delivers a jump that the current Core 2 penryn chips do not. They're faster than the Conroe and Kentsfield processors they replace, but not by the same huge margin that nehalem is promising, or the jump between the Dual Core Pentium chips to the original Core 2's in July 2006.
January is the magical time huh? Nehalem. 8 core each chip. a 16 core machine is cumming.
Honestly i don't care about the Bluray at all. I don't need that for 3D modeling and rendering. All I care about is the process, ram, and video card. oh... i want RAID on vista 64-bit. I don't know if they are going to make that work. FX5600 has been around over a year. ATI's 2GB card isn't THAT impressive.
16 *threads, not cores.
Read up on hyper threading.
Essentially the processor can get more work done if it puts more instructions into unused cycles during each clock. For example, lets say that each clock has 4 "slots", in which different operations can be done. Whatever you told it to do uses 3 slots, and the other function that it will do next uses 2 slots, so you can't fit both into one cycle. The leftover slot is used to execute part of the second function, so the final slot isn't wasted.
Read up on hyper threading.
Essentially the processor can get more work done if it puts more instructions into unused cycles during each clock. For example, lets say that each clock has 4 "slots", in which different operations can be done. Whatever you told it to do uses 3 slots, and the other function that it will do next uses 2 slots, so you can't fit both into one cycle. The leftover slot is used to execute part of the second function, so the final slot isn't wasted.
The machine won't but lots of people will be doing that when Apple actually makes a 16 core MacPro!
No. It doesn't. 17% of people have an HDTV, and of that, 30% have heard of Blu-ray. That's a little less than five percent of the population.
With Apple being 10% of the computer market and the Mac Pro being the smallest portion of Apple's share, why should they expend money for the purpose of Blu-ray MOVIE compatibility (because Blu-ray disks already work in OS X. It's HDCP that everyone complains about.)?
Yep.
New MacPros January.
16 core, 12 RAM slots (DDR3), and loads more.
I would wait.
Look here
Where are you getting 16 cores?
From what's listed, the Gainestown seems the most likely CPU for the MacPro in '09.
And I plan on waiting for Jan '09. Add a RAID, and solve more of the bottle neck issues.
I'm waiting for Nehalem, but that is because I can wait. If I couldn't - or didn't - want to wait upwards of six months (or more), I'd buy an 8-way 2.8GHz unit now.
I was one of these people, and the waiting sucked. That said, I'm glad I waited, because the Early 08 model addressed all the shortcomings of the previous model (e.g. GPU, stock memory, and a couple others). The current machine has everything you want and nothing you don't. Buy it!
thats exactly what I figured out myself and bought a 2x2.8 MacPro on Saturday
I think that MacPros with new processors will be available on February or even March 2009...
thats exactly what I figured out myself and bought a 2x2.8 MacPro on Saturday
I think that MacPros with new processors will be available on February or even March 2009...
bad move!!! very bad idea.
i have an imac, i'm going for the mac pro soon i guess, so i'll say wait until Nehalem processors arrive because if you bought the mac pro now, your gonna regret the day you bought it when the Nehalem is available, even though if you dont need Nehalem processors, you can wait for the prices to drop for the old mac pro at least
and by the, dont forget the apple displays are gonna change soon maybe, so this way got two new fresh devices from apple [Mac pro (Nehalem) and the new apple displays]
good luck with your choice
and by the, dont forget the apple displays are gonna change soon maybe, so this way got two new fresh devices from apple [Mac pro (Nehalem) and the new apple displays]
good luck with your choice