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Anyone buying an 8 core workstation for personal use is a bit daft. I mean, what on earth are you going to use it for?

Presuming upgradability and a requirement for a Mac, a Mac Pro is the cheapest option. So long as you can upgrade the weakest pieces a Mac Pro can easily be a 5-year computer for personal use. An iMac would have to be replaced every 2 years or less to keep up. So you'd need three iMacs over the life span of a Mac Pro. That's more expensive and much more wasteful.

Of course, that's presuming upgradability, which includes the video card. If Apple really expects their customers to buy all new computers for every minor upgrade they should expect Greenpeace to be knocking on their door again.

It's also a good reason for a mid-range tower. 4 and 8 cores is overkill but 2 and 4 cores with upgradability would be just right for economically (and environmentally) minded consumers.
 
Why is it still so complicated for Mac Pro owners to upgrade their video cards? Really, its pathetic that you all are still scrambling for an 8800GT, when the 9600GT is out which wipes the floor with the 8800GT at a much lower price point, not to mention the many many newer better faster cheaper cards that have come out.

Seriously, if this is what Apple does for their Mac Pro owners, I might have to look towards a hackintosh instead when I look to a Mac desktop.


Couldn't agree more. But hasn't this always been the case? The MacPro never got the best of the best when it's first released.

wait a bit more u can probably get 9800 GX2 as a high-end option :D

My friend bought this card. One word: INSANE!!:D But, Nvidia needs to release some new drivers (in it's defense though, the card just came out this month).
 
Why must people resort to e-mail Steve (although mostly its just higher level customer service reps) when they stub their toe? I'm surprised they haven't just ignored all incoming e-mails on that address yet.
 
yeah, i'm pretty chaffed about this as well. my Pro came w/ 2 of the 7300's in it, but i only have 1 monitor (it was ordered for me). however, since the mac moboard doesn't allow for SLI of the graphics cards, i just have one sitting in there taking up space. finding out that my options were severely limited for upgrading the card was pretty depressing.

still waiting on a decent card. please don't disappoint...

I am in the exact same situation. I hope this plays out soon.
 
Why must people resort to e-mail Steve (although mostly its just higher level customer service reps) when they stub their toe? I'm surprised they haven't just ignored all incoming e-mails on that address yet.

Oh, I don't know… I think Steve likes to kick back on a slooow Sunday night… open a few beers and see what's popped into that special mailbox… :p
Sort of like he reads MacRumors…
 
They should make the Apple OS run on all Computers and everything would be ok. Microsoft would be knocked out in at leat 5 years! Now I sit here and wait for a ****** graphic card what could be the easiest **** to update my pro but hell NO......I have to wait for (I have no idea) WHAT?!
 
Oh, I don't know… I think Steve likes to kick back on a slooow Sunday night… open a few beers and see what's popped into that special mailbox… :p
Sort of like he reads MacRumors…

LOL, what's funny is some believe it's actually him!
 
About freakin' time. I haven't wanted to take my system down for the "average of 2-4 days" that my Apple peeps said would take them to turn it around. At least with the fans cranked, I can still get work done.

New card by WWDC?

2-4 Days to do what? Install the video Card?
 
nVidia didn't come through, so we're having to do it. Should be ready in about a month.

Steve

Well if that's true, I'd say SJ is not too happy with them.
 
Double standard?

No, this is B.S. and you know why? Because Microsoft is a FAR bigger company than Apple. I have the common sense to understand that new product releases take considerable amounts of time and effort, and I cut larger companies FAR less slack than I do smaller ones.

For example, I have several audio products from M-Audio. All of them are great little devices, but they've always had some "quirks" and bugs too. My Firewire 410, for example, JUST got "beta" drivers released about 2 weeks ago that allow it to work with OS X Leopard. These beta drivers don't even allow things like Dolby AC3 audio to function properly with the device, either. That's all "coming soon". That's irritating, yet not a "deal breaker" or anything I'd run around screaming about to everyone. That's because I know M-Audio is a small company serving a rather niche market. As often as their products remain "broken" after Windows or Mac OS updates, I'd consider it unacceptable if it came from a larger corporation like Logitech.

Microsoft, in particular, has done quite a few things that were clearly attempts to screw over their customer-base. Look at the class action lawsuit right now over their labeling of new PCs as "Vista capable". (Turns out many of those PCs could only handle the "base" version of Vista - yet internal emails leaked out prove MS knew about this the whole time and opted not to clarify things for customers.)

This 8800GT video card situation is really one where Apple never did anything other than deliver exactly what they said they'd deliver -- but users demanded some backwards compatibility that Apple was never obligated, in writing, to give people. (I'm all for an 8800GT that works with older EFI32 based Mac Pros - but the fact it's still a project "in progress" doesn't really phase me. If you needed the faster video THAT badly, do exactly what I did and buy a NEW version of the Mac Pro. You can get it for that one today.)




Funny how people are saying excellent to this delay because is apple.
If it would have been microsoft the following comments would have been posted.

Leave it to microsoft to **** their user base over by delaying a simple card upgrade.
microsoft is the only company in the world that would do this to its customers. i MEAN THE UPDATE WAS 2 MONTHS AGO whats is stopping them from releasing a simple video card updgrade.
same old repetetive ****.

completely disregarding the FACT that its the 3rd partys fault. but for some reason always point the finger to microsoft.. vista im looking at you.

the double standard views and bias towards anything apple on this board is sickening.
 
Forget Blu-Ray playback!

my sincere hope is that Apple has an 8800 card which is HDCP compliant .

possibly using HDMI or the like ... to allow for HD ppv's onto a real tv from your macpro. just like an apple tv.

also to allow for Blu-Ray movie disc playback.

that's my hope. lets see if it comes true. If true, that could explain a bit of the delay to make it compatible.

I'm sorry for you... but even if the card had HDCP... it would be absolutely unuseful on the mac side! Since Mac OS X doesn't (hopefully) care's about HDCP compliance from MPAA... so, again, unless you boot on the Windows VISTA side, you won't be able to play blu-ray!

Repeat after me : YOU... WON'T... BE ABLE TO... PLAY... BLU-RAY... :rolleyes:

Sadly! :cool:
 
MacMini & 30" display not compatible?

hmm at work we use the newer MacMinis w/ 30" displays no issues what soever, even the older previous gen model worked with them.
No, they aren't. The Mini can only drive 1900x1200. The 30" ACD's resolution is 2560x1600. You need dual-link DVI to drive it, which only the Mac Pro and Macbook Pro have. I'd love for the Mini to have that, but it's never going to happen.
 
Anyone buying an 8 core workstation for personal use is a bit daft. I mean, what on earth are you going to use it for?

My desktop is a workstation and server. It is kinda nice that I can sit down and relax on the Mac Pro with WoW and not even make a dent in the streaming it is also doing to the Apple TV in the next room that someone else is using.

It is also real nice when ripping TV shows, actually. With a Clovertown 8-way 2.66Ghz system, it takes something like 3 hours to rip 26 TV episodes in H.264.
 
Microsoft, in particular, has done quite a few things that were clearly attempts to screw over their customer-base. Look at the class action lawsuit right now over their labeling of new PCs as "Vista capable". (Turns out many of those PCs could only handle the "base" version of Vista - yet internal emails leaked out prove MS knew about this the whole time and opted not to clarify things for customers.)

You can thank Intel for that (or at least that is what MS is saying).


I am surprised that Apple is blaming Nvidia over it. Whos cards are Apple using? Nvidia doesn't make their own cards (well with the exception of eng samples) so that would leave the fault with the HV which seems like it would be Apple (I assume the cards are Apple branded).
 
No, this is B.S. and you know why? Because Microsoft is a FAR bigger company than Apple. I have the common sense to understand that new product releases take considerable amounts of time and effort, and I cut larger companies FAR less slack than I do smaller ones.

For example, I have several audio products from M-Audio. All of them are great little devices, but they've always had some "quirks" and bugs too. My Firewire 410, for example, JUST got "beta" drivers released about 2 weeks ago that allow it to work with OS X Leopard. These beta drivers don't even allow things like Dolby AC3 audio to function properly with the device, either. That's all "coming soon". That's irritating, yet not a "deal breaker" or anything I'd run around screaming about to everyone. That's because I know M-Audio is a small company serving a rather niche market. As often as their products remain "broken" after Windows or Mac OS updates, I'd consider it unacceptable if it came from a larger corporation like Logitech.

Microsoft, in particular, has done quite a few things that were clearly attempts to screw over their customer-base. Look at the class action lawsuit right now over their labeling of new PCs as "Vista capable". (Turns out many of those PCs could only handle the "base" version of Vista - yet internal emails leaked out prove MS knew about this the whole time and opted not to clarify things for customers.)

This 8800GT video card situation is really one where Apple never did anything other than deliver exactly what they said they'd deliver -- but users demanded some backwards compatibility that Apple was never obligated, in writing, to give people. (I'm all for an 8800GT that works with older EFI32 based Mac Pros - but the fact it's still a project "in progress" doesn't really phase me. If you needed the faster video THAT badly, do exactly what I did and buy a NEW version of the Mac Pro. You can get it for that one today.)

:eek:

lol
 
I wrote the NVIDIA PR VP several weeks ago (below). And what was the answer? The answer is IGNORED! That's the PR I got.:eek:

T

Date: Sun, 16 Mar 2008 16:49:23 -0700
To: <dperez@nvidia.com>
Conversation: NVIDIA GeForce 8800 GT solution for all Intel-based Mac Pros
Subject: NVIDIA GeForce 8800 GT solution for all Intel-based Mac Pros

Hello,

Could you tell me if the following (see red text) is correct or just an Internet rumor since a few weeks have become a few months. This posting supposedly based on what you said is all over the Internet.

Thank you,

 
I'm sorry for you... but even if the card had HDCP... it would be absolutely unuseful on the mac side! Since Mac OS X doesn't (hopefully) care's about HDCP compliance from MPAA... so, again, unless you boot on the Windows VISTA side, you won't be able to play blu-ray!

Repeat after me : YOU... WON'T... BE ABLE TO... PLAY... BLU-RAY... :rolleyes:

Sadly! :cool:

The ATI x1900 XT supports HDCP under Vista using DVI. :)

The HDCP support is baked into the hardware and drivers, not the firmware... so as long as the 8800 has support for HDCP as part of the chipset, you CAN use it for HDCP via DVI under Windows.
 
Why is it still so complicated for Mac Pro owners to upgrade their video cards? Really, its pathetic that you all are still scrambling for an 8800GT, when the 9600GT is out which wipes the floor with the 8800GT at a much lower price point, not to mention the many many newer better faster cheaper cards that have come out.

Seriously, if this is what Apple does for their Mac Pro owners, I might have to look towards a hackintosh instead when I look to a Mac desktop.

you are right. even hackintosh seem to have a better support now with their 8800gt and ati 3870 cards. i am so lured towards this hack project.
 
I guess i am lucky, my NVIDIA GeForce 8800 GT came two weeks ago and i added it to my Mac Pro with the ATI Radeon HD 2600 XT already in there. I moved the 23" Cinema display onto the ATI and added a new 30" Cinema Display to the NVIDIA. Everything works perfectly.
 
OF COURSE. This is what happens when a hardware vendor insists on keeping users in the dark. :mad:

I just broke down and bought a new x1900 because the one I BTO'd in my 2006 Mac Pro was getting worse by the day. I got 25% off via EPP, but still, I might have been able to wait another month, had i known they were really going to make a compatible card.
 
I can't help but think this is Apple as usual not wanting us to have more options in order to force us to upgrade to their latest hardware. Other than the Mac Pro, Apple has been careful to design products with no upgrade path built into them. Pathetic way of doing business if you ask me.

Bingo. Profitable, but not consumer friendly, restricting upgrade paths with the goal of forcing new cpu purchases.
 
Anyone buying an 8 core workstation for personal use is a bit daft. I mean, what on earth are you going to use it for?

Isn't that like asking a Bongo player why he needs more than one drum?

Now I haven't gone over board with PC hardware as of yet but let me tell you I just got a new Mac Book Pro with Penryn and can say I'm very pleased with it. This the low end model too. A lot of that is due to the units responsiveness which the dual core processor has a lot to do with. I could imagine though personal usages where dual core simply wouldn't be enough to quick solve personal use cases.

So simply put if one can afford it go with as many cores as the pocket book will allow for. If nothing else the platform will just remain viable for a bit longer than if it was a single core.

Dave
 
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