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Mac Pro To Get Dual Optical Drive Slots?

4God said:
Maybe one of the drives will be Blu-Ray.
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Appleinsider is saying that it can be used for both at your choice, but you have to go buy it and put it in. Not a add on to ordering.

So excited... How come no FW800 infront? thats a little crazy no?

Just think if this was apple leaking out information when really its a completely different design. Since they're was that leaking lawsuit and all. Wouldn't it be great if the figured out the sources leaking internaly and made those sources give Appleinsider false information.

Come August 7th, It's completely different... (oh just woke up from my dream.)
 
gregarious119 said:
To charge $1800 for a system that only has 512MB is a real disappoitment. 1GB RAM oughta be standard, especially with Leopard being on the horizon.
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Agreed. I can make an argument for the consumer machines, where perhaps 512 MB is sufficient for basic users. Specifically, why force them to pay more for 1 GB if they don't need it. But when it comes to the Pro machines, as if anyone buying one of these beasts is not going to require at least 2 GB of RAM, let alone 1 GB. No one buys a quad Xeon Powermac to just surf the Internet and check their e-mail. :cool:
 
~Shard~ said:
I'd like something upgradeable, where I could replace/upgrade HDDs, optical drives, and most importantly the display - yet a PowerMac is overkill for my needs. It sure would be nice to see, but I doubt Apple will do it... :cool:
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I doubt they'll do it too. For some reason this idea has come up over and over again during the last few weeks, and I'll continue to say what I've been saying - I don't see why apple would do that. It's a very appealing idea for a lot of MR folks because a lot of us are knowledgable users but not really professionals. But beyond that group, which is prevalent at MR but fairly rare in the real world, I don't see the appeal.

Also, think about what apple would be doing with such a machine - selling you a low cost, low margin mac that you could nonetheless upgrade with 3rd party components for years. Meaning that apple doesn't make a lot off you up front and doesn't get you coming back again for 5-ish years. Great for you, not so great for them. Whereas if they sell you a mac pro, they make a killing up front, so it's ok if you keep it for years, and if they sell you anything else you'll be back a lot sooner.
 
Eraserhead said:
As usual though they come with 50% of the necessary RAM :rolleyes:, why Apple can't get this right I don't know.

Also I'm surprised the top model doesn't have Intel's fastest chip, surely Apple want to say they have the fastest possible computers?

Dual Optical drives is OK, good if you want to have a blu-ray drive as well I suppose...
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You would think they would come out with the fastest chip...

I mean what seperates them from a Dell or HP workstation that is top of the line? OS X (yes), but to the ones on the fence that doesn't justify paying more for less.
 
I hope this is just smoke and mirrors for a brand new enclosure that brings back some coolness,style, and great looks. There shouldnt be any reason a new pro Mac cant hold more then 1 optical drive? My 2 yr old Aurora can hold 4. The G5 Powermacs didnt use space very well if you ask me, Im sure Jobs will have a all new enclosure otherwise it will be a ho humm WWDC.
 
QCassidy352 said:
I doubt they'll do it too. For some reason this idea has come up over and over again during the last few weeks, and I'll continue to say what I've been saying - I don't see why apple would do that. It's a very appealing idea for a lot of MR folks because a lot of us are knowledgable users but not really professionals. But beyond that group, which is prevalent at MR but fairly rare in the real world, I don't see the appeal.

Also, think about what apple would be doing with such a machine - selling you a low cost, low margin mac that you could nonetheless upgrade with 3rd party components for years. Meaning that apple doesn't make a lot off you up front and doesn't get you coming back again for 5-ish years. Great for you, not so great for them. Whereas if they sell you a mac pro, they make a killing up front, so it's ok if you keep it for years, and if they sell you anything else you'll be back a lot sooner.
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Dont ruin it!!! :p
 
poppe said:
Appleinsider is saying that it can be used for both at your choice, but you have to go buy it and put it in. Not a add on to ordering.
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Odd, you think Apple would at least give you the option at the online Store, just as they do with 2 displays... But, perhaps one optival drive will indeed come standard, and the other will be available for whatever the person wants.

Or perhaps there will not be 2 optical drives to begin with. :eek: ;) :cool:
 
QCassidy352 said:
Also, think about what apple would be doing with such a machine - selling you a low cost, low margin mac that you could nonetheless upgrade with 3rd party components for years. Meaning that apple doesn't make a lot off you up front and doesn't get you coming back again for 5-ish years. Great for you, not so great for them. Whereas if they sell you a mac pro, they make a killing up front, so it's ok if you keep it for years, and if they sell you anything else you'll be back a lot sooner.
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Yep - and that's the reality of it. It isn't just about the consumer, it's about profit margins, product life cycles, sales, etc. Apple wants to please their customers of course, however at the end of the day, business is business. :cool:
 
If those specs are real then I'm glad I didn't hold out for the Mac Pro and bought a used G5 a few months ago. Dual optical drive slots are nice but for me not necessary.
 
These look really cool, but I hope Apple have at least 1GB of RAM on these as standard, even on the cheapest model as this is supposed to be their most powerful computer. Actually they should have 1GB RAM as standard on all of their computers.
 
Without a doubt. And in keeping with long tradition, the "less expensive" name-brand PC will mysteriously come with less (ports, software, even speed if Netburst lingers) than the Mac
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I'm talking about Core2 Duo machines - either Conroe or Woodcrest.

Ports? My G5 tower had no more ports than any other PC I've seen. My current CD iMac actually lacks any kind of high-speed port for external hard-drives or burners.

Software? OK, I know it's supposed to be a selling point, but there's not a damn thing outside of iTunes I use in iLife enough to justify hardware prices at any level. They're nice freebies, but I happily pay the Apple Tax to have an OS that works with me rather than against me. Unquestionably worth it, but I'm not going to pretend that I'm getting good value in the (theoretical) hardware.

I think I know what the apologists will say - no one else will offer Woodcrest in a low-end pro machine, they'll use Conroe. And yeah, that's probably true, but for a reason - there's no reason to put Woodcrest in the low-end tower offering, aside from a desire to perpetuate the artifical line distinctions. Which isn't going to cut it in the Intel world.
 
poppe said:
Kind of a week video card isn't it? I dont know much about Vcards... but feels week. Perhaps its real nice though
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What would you prefer, a day video card, or perhaps a month video card? :p :D

Gasu E. said:
Logically speaking, weak minds would also think "a like".
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Actually, it's technically "fools seldom differ", but I just like to ignore that part of the saying... ;) :cool:

If Apple is going to be including dual optical drives, you think it would only make sense for them to include more HDD drive bays as well, which to me would be just as (if not more) important and useful. But, perhaps they will not be able to with the added optical drive. Guess it comes down to how much they redesign the case.
 
vniow said:
Can anyone tell me the purpose of dual drive slots nowadays? I can see the use for them (and had computers with) when they were limited to one function, i.e. DVD-ROM for one and a CD-RW for the other but now that everything can happen in one drive with speed not being an issue, is it really nececcary to have two?
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Same purpose. DVD-ROM in one, bluray or HD-DVD in the other. Plus two are nice for duping.

milozauckerman said:
Too expensive on the low-end, if true. I suspect we'll see a lot of reviews and benchmarks giving a bad cost to value ratio for the Macs.
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You obviously haven't shopped around. Price out machines with these CPU's at Dell, you're looking at $2400/2600/3700. I think these prices are too *low* based on chip prices and current PC prices. I think that whole grid is bogus.

As for the 3G chip, it could be a BTO option. I assume other video cards would be BTO options as well.
 
Doctor Q said:
Why all the smilies? Having the ability to install other-format optical drives is what AppleInsider is talking about.
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I was directing the smilies more towards 4God, since he only mentioned Blu-Ray as if it would be a given that would be the only type of drive Apple would be including. ;)

There, see, you only get one smilie. :D Okay, two, including that one...
 
Could ThinkSecret's "radical design" posting have been geared toward the rumor of a compact motherboard which is now suspected to be more "normal" in dimensions?
 
Questionable specifications

It would be unlikely that Apple wouldn't utilize the highest clocked Xeons available. Also, quad configurations should be present in more than just the top-end unit as that is one of the main advantages of going with the Woodcrest versus Conroe, that and a higher default FSB.

The video card configurations are also previous generation. I don't know for certain, but it seems the PCIe configuration isn't consistent with the information available on the i5000X. The standard Intel design is 1 x16, 2 x4 (with x8 slots) for a total of 24 lanes, not 16 or 32 as might be interpreted from the "spec" sheet.

It might also be reasonable to expect an optional RAID configuration as a RAID controller is built-in to the southbridge.
 
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