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Mac Pro To Get Dual Optical Drive Slots?
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Yes--whatever the name, whatever the case size, a low-to-midrange tower is needed to fill a gap in the lineup.~Shard~ said:
It could even just be a lower-spec'd Mac Pro than the ones posted in this article. Just something that allows a choice of display--and GPU--for non high-end buyers.
I think it's only a matter of time before this gap (and the "small MacBook Pro" gap) are filled. After all, Apple did fill the bottom-end headless gap (Mac Mini) which once seemed impossible!
Why? What are the advantages/disadvantages to having it higher or lower in the case? Does the weight distribution matter?NickCharles said:
:dools: whoa, that'd be lovely. would they both also accept normal DVDs and CDs?~Shard~ said:... and the other one HD-DVD!
I kinda wish Apple used regular ATX cases & power supplies, or at least have the external drive bays be ATX style. While I like Apple style, I'd also like to add multiple CD/DVD drives to my system without having to get external drives to clutter my desk. I am trying to write a program like iTunes that lets me rip multiple CDs (or tracks if only 1 cd) at once. Also, some external 3.5" bays would be nice so I could add a memory card reader or a Soundblaster X-Fi Fatal1ty if there were Mac drivers for it. More internal drive bays would be nice for those who want to have a RAID setup.
Blah
I have to say that the enclosure news was expected. However, I would really hope that Apple can pull off better specs than that...
I have to say that the enclosure news was expected. However, I would really hope that Apple can pull off better specs than that...
Some of this makes sense, some of it not.
I think AppleInsider is right about the case. With the exception of the MacBook, whose design has been rumoured for years and clearly was something Apple would have done even had this been the "iBook G5", Apple has made it a point with all of their Intelizations to use the same case as the predecessor, as if to say "It's business as usual, all we've changed is the processor." So from that point of view, the PowerMac G5 case being, more or less, the Mac Pro case, makes a lot of sense.
Two optical drives? No, sorry, not seeing the reasoning. The reasons given so far don't add up:
- copying DVDs - you can't legally copy 99% of DVDs anyway, if there was no need for twin CD drives, why would there suddenly be for DVDs?
- burning two at once - few people need this, and it's a great sales opportunity for a Firewire external burner anyway. Hell, why stop at TWO?
- Blu-ray - not unless they're really screwed up BR and drives with BR will be incompatible with existing media or something.
Against this, you have the confusion generated by a Mac with two optical drives. I have a Mac with two optical drives (an in-built combo drive, and a FW DVD burner), and it's not terribly elegant. It's fine when reading disks (obviously), but writing them generates some confusion. How sure am I that I'm burning to the right drive? I'm not saying you can't do it, I'm just saying this would be unbelievably un-Mac like. It'd be like the next version of iTunes coming with a menu at the top of its window.
It's also kind of easy to see where this rumour might have originated, in some garbled communication where the rumourmonger says "Two optical drive formats", or "Two bays", or "Multiple media readers" (hey, why not put an SD/CF/MS reader on the front? Pretty much everyone uses them these days, especially the prosumer-market Apple is after. Bet there are more people who'd use an SD card reader than a Firewire port.)
I've been wrong before, but I'm going to go for a traditional PowerMac G5 enclosure, and a single optical drive which may, or may not, support Blu-ray in some shape or form.
I think AppleInsider is right about the case. With the exception of the MacBook, whose design has been rumoured for years and clearly was something Apple would have done even had this been the "iBook G5", Apple has made it a point with all of their Intelizations to use the same case as the predecessor, as if to say "It's business as usual, all we've changed is the processor." So from that point of view, the PowerMac G5 case being, more or less, the Mac Pro case, makes a lot of sense.
Two optical drives? No, sorry, not seeing the reasoning. The reasons given so far don't add up:
- copying DVDs - you can't legally copy 99% of DVDs anyway, if there was no need for twin CD drives, why would there suddenly be for DVDs?
- burning two at once - few people need this, and it's a great sales opportunity for a Firewire external burner anyway. Hell, why stop at TWO?
- Blu-ray - not unless they're really screwed up BR and drives with BR will be incompatible with existing media or something.
Against this, you have the confusion generated by a Mac with two optical drives. I have a Mac with two optical drives (an in-built combo drive, and a FW DVD burner), and it's not terribly elegant. It's fine when reading disks (obviously), but writing them generates some confusion. How sure am I that I'm burning to the right drive? I'm not saying you can't do it, I'm just saying this would be unbelievably un-Mac like. It'd be like the next version of iTunes coming with a menu at the top of its window.
It's also kind of easy to see where this rumour might have originated, in some garbled communication where the rumourmonger says "Two optical drive formats", or "Two bays", or "Multiple media readers" (hey, why not put an SD/CF/MS reader on the front? Pretty much everyone uses them these days, especially the prosumer-market Apple is after. Bet there are more people who'd use an SD card reader than a Firewire port.)
I've been wrong before, but I'm going to go for a traditional PowerMac G5 enclosure, and a single optical drive which may, or may not, support Blu-ray in some shape or form.
Right, but I didn't say dual processors, I said dual cores.jwsmiths said:
I see no reason why ALL Pro machines need quad cores, when today's dual core G5s are FAR slower than that and still blaze through a lot of useful work! An all-quad pro lineup would be "cool" (and I seek a quad anyway, personally) but would simply add cost without justification, for many people.
In addition, if the new chips are supply-constrained at all having both Conroe and Woodcrest in the pro towers could help. (And the iMac does fine with Yonah for a while if need be--which seems likely to happen to me.)
There's a few points
Weight is one - ever try picking up something that's top heavy? It's rather awkward to carry/pickup and makes it much more likely to tip. Another reason being the cord would likely be hanging down from said spot - while this seems ok it's really not good for the wires inside - ideally it would only have sweeping curves in the line as opposed to what happens with havinga plug so high. I'm conflicted about the heat issue as there are pro's and con's to both configs so I'll stick with awkward weight distribution as the key limiting factor.
Doctor Q said:
Weight is one - ever try picking up something that's top heavy? It's rather awkward to carry/pickup and makes it much more likely to tip. Another reason being the cord would likely be hanging down from said spot - while this seems ok it's really not good for the wires inside - ideally it would only have sweeping curves in the line as opposed to what happens with havinga plug so high. I'm conflicted about the heat issue as there are pro's and con's to both configs so I'll stick with awkward weight distribution as the key limiting factor.
Note entirely true...
As per ownership rights listed by the US copyright office you're allowed to make backup copies of all personally owned material. Now DVD makers would like to make that impossible as it supports the subsequent illegal activity however, strictly legal speaking there is absolutely nothing illegal about making a copy of your DVD's (selling/distributing is where you cross the legal/illegal line)
peharri said:
As per ownership rights listed by the US copyright office you're allowed to make backup copies of all personally owned material. Now DVD makers would like to make that impossible as it supports the subsequent illegal activity however, strictly legal speaking there is absolutely nothing illegal about making a copy of your DVD's (selling/distributing is where you cross the legal/illegal line)
Why all the b!tching???
A new Mac Pro for $1799? Not bad people!!!! In essence Apple is cutting the price of the current Dual Core 2 GHz G5 PowerMac by $200..... The same price as it is on the EDU store.
If you want something cheaper, buy an iMac for Christ's sake! That's why Apple has made them as powerful as they are now. They are meant as a bridge between the "Con-sumer" and the "Pro-sumer". PowerMacs have been and always will be for PROFESSIONALS!!!! Not the weekend warrior who "dabbles" in Photoshop. That's what the iMac is for people!!!
In my opinion and thoughts there will be no difference between these and the current G5 PowerMacs in performance.
As for Dual Optical Drives? AMEN! It is a hassle and waste of HD space when you need to copy a disc, especially Application Discs that you might want to keep in a safe place but have a copy always handy. I'm contemplating buying an external DVD Burner to hook up to my Dual Core G5 PM for these very reasons. I might wait though for a Blu Ray Disc Burner first though.
The thing that perplexes me is the relocation of the Power Supply to the top. This is either bogus info or they know something they aren't letting on about all the Liquid Cooling problems that have been arising lately in the repair world.
Plus would this not put a strain on the power cord since the cord would have its own weight hanging down on it instead of how it currently comes out of the back of the tower and immediately lays on the floor or desk surface? Something's fishy about this.
A new Mac Pro for $1799? Not bad people!!!! In essence Apple is cutting the price of the current Dual Core 2 GHz G5 PowerMac by $200..... The same price as it is on the EDU store.
If you want something cheaper, buy an iMac for Christ's sake! That's why Apple has made them as powerful as they are now. They are meant as a bridge between the "Con-sumer" and the "Pro-sumer". PowerMacs have been and always will be for PROFESSIONALS!!!! Not the weekend warrior who "dabbles" in Photoshop. That's what the iMac is for people!!!
In my opinion and thoughts there will be no difference between these and the current G5 PowerMacs in performance.
As for Dual Optical Drives? AMEN! It is a hassle and waste of HD space when you need to copy a disc, especially Application Discs that you might want to keep in a safe place but have a copy always handy. I'm contemplating buying an external DVD Burner to hook up to my Dual Core G5 PM for these very reasons. I might wait though for a Blu Ray Disc Burner first though.
The thing that perplexes me is the relocation of the Power Supply to the top. This is either bogus info or they know something they aren't letting on about all the Liquid Cooling problems that have been arising lately in the repair world.
Plus would this not put a strain on the power cord since the cord would have its own weight hanging down on it instead of how it currently comes out of the back of the tower and immediately lays on the floor or desk surface? Something's fishy about this.
jwsmiths said:
So why use woodcrest WITHOUT dual processor configuration? Makes no sense, any single proc models should be conroe.
peharri said:
Macs have ALREADY had two optical bays (including twin CD drives). And none of these configs include two drives, you'd only have a second one if you wanted it.
Copying DVD's, nowadays people are backing up their own materials. Most dvd copying would be making backups of your own discs. Burning multiple discs would be a great option as well. And bluray drives will be INCREDIBLY expensive when these machines ship, not to mention who knows how well they will burn cd's and dvd's (assuming that all bluray drives will be burners, none of them readers only). Many people will want to wait and add a bluray or hd-dvd later, especially since nobody knows which will be the winning format.
Woodcrest across the board = Ops versus Marketing Decision
If they use single woodcrest CPU's instead of Conroe in the lower end, it isn't because marketing is driving the decision, it would likely be manufacturing and operations, probably a volume/pricing decision. If the most popular Powermacs are low and high end, which I believe is true, then there is benefit to making all Woodcrest. If Apple only populated the scantily sold highest end model with Woodcrest chips they would likely have to sell them for too much.
If they use single woodcrest CPU's instead of Conroe in the lower end, it isn't because marketing is driving the decision, it would likely be manufacturing and operations, probably a volume/pricing decision. If the most popular Powermacs are low and high end, which I believe is true, then there is benefit to making all Woodcrest. If Apple only populated the scantily sold highest end model with Woodcrest chips they would likely have to sell them for too much.
milozauckerman said:
Eidorian said:
I have Mirror Door. How can I burn DVD (top) and CD (bottom) at once via Toast? I have tried and nothing worked, Toast only focus 1 thing at a time. Or am I wrong?
A 2.66 Ghz Woodcrest will probably be faster than a 2.93Ghz Conroe. A 1.83Ghz Yonah is faster than a 3.2Ghz Pentium, right?poppe said:
Doctor Q said:
My PC (in a full tower case) has the PSU at the bottom. Having had a case with the PSU at the top before, it seems more stable with all that weight in the base of the case. It also makes it easier to reach around the back for cables, as I don't need to stretch as far.
I would hope that Apple change the case design a bit more than this. I'm not a huge fan of the cheese grater design. However, it wouldn't prevent me putting in an order for the 2.67Ghz model (exactly when is another matter). It would be nice to have a couple more drive bays and USB ports as well.
The X1800 graphics card appears (from a brief look at the review sites) to be a mid-range card. Hopefully Apple will offer a high-range card (GF7900, X1900) as an option.
KindredMAC said:
LOL! It hadn't come out yet and people are still complainin'? That cracked me up
I think most of your proposed reasons aren't really as practical or useful as people think in practice (that is, most people would never do it, or otherwise gain an advantage); however:
This one I can believe. Room for a future HD optical disk format reader. Makes sense. I was envisaging the Mac Pro coming with two drives, but it makes sense it would come with one and have a slot for a new one for a later date. I suspect a standalone BR or HDDVD drive would cost less than one that also has to replace the functionality of a Superdrive.
If this is Apple's reasoning, it also suggests they're being more pragmatic than analysts keep suggesting on the whole DVDng war. Which makes sense. I have a gut feeling that HDDVD and Bluray are to DVD what SACD and DVD-Audio are to CDs.
milo said:
This one I can believe. Room for a future HD optical disk format reader. Makes sense. I was envisaging the Mac Pro coming with two drives, but it makes sense it would come with one and have a slot for a new one for a later date. I suspect a standalone BR or HDDVD drive would cost less than one that also has to replace the functionality of a Superdrive.
If this is Apple's reasoning, it also suggests they're being more pragmatic than analysts keep suggesting on the whole DVDng war. Which makes sense. I have a gut feeling that HDDVD and Bluray are to DVD what SACD and DVD-Audio are to CDs.
Eraserhead said:As usual though they come with 50% of the necessary RAM
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...
1) This is all rumour and speculation...
2) At the price that OEMs charge for memory, less RAM is better. We can fill it with whatever we pick.
supremedesigner said:I have Mirror Door. How can I burn DVD (top) and CD (bottom) at once via Toast? I have tried and nothing worked, Toast only focus 1 thing at a time. Or am I wrong?
Make a copy of Toast and use one copy for one drive and the other copy for the other drive.
Quad Video support?
What about SLI video card support? They should try and appeal to high end gamers by having a configuration comparable to Alienware or Dell's XPS. If Apple's hardware can now run Windows, Apple should really take a stab at this market. It will be hard to justify $3000 for a computer that doesn't have the latest cutting edge hardware. Dual 512MB nVidia GeForce 7900 GTX would be a nice start. Otherwise, the accusation of overpriced computers will be appropriate. Why would someone running Windows consider this purchase, if they can get better components for less money elsewhere. Is Apple really serious about taking market share away from PC companies? Or are they going to play it safe and target only the market that they already have?
What about SLI video card support? They should try and appeal to high end gamers by having a configuration comparable to Alienware or Dell's XPS. If Apple's hardware can now run Windows, Apple should really take a stab at this market. It will be hard to justify $3000 for a computer that doesn't have the latest cutting edge hardware. Dual 512MB nVidia GeForce 7900 GTX would be a nice start. Otherwise, the accusation of overpriced computers will be appropriate. Why would someone running Windows consider this purchase, if they can get better components for less money elsewhere. Is Apple really serious about taking market share away from PC companies? Or are they going to play it safe and target only the market that they already have?