New Mac Pros and Mac Minis Launching in August

[MattInOz]

It should be noted that the LGA 2011 processors that the Mac Pros will use aren't scheduled for release until Q4, so Apple getting them 2 months early seems unlikely.

But there is the LGA 1356 Xeons due 4th quarter which is the 1-2 Package socket for the same series.

Interesting thing with both these new sockets the PCIe controller moves into the main CPU package. With 32x PCIe coming out of each chip direct if Apple needed to change the design of MacPro anyway.

The current design with processor(s) on a separate board that linked into the main board which had the PCIe controller on it. It would seem like this would need to change some what to use the new processors.

 

[Esrhan]

Darn rumors. I really wouldn't want to wait for a month and instantly jump into Lion. But I also really wouldn't want to pay over 700 euros for the current out-dated Mac Mini, even if it does have SL and everything else I've grown accustomed to.

 

[wonderspark]

Wirelessly posted (Mozilla/5.0 (iPhone; U; CPU iPhone OS 4_3_3 like Mac OS X; en-us) AppleWebKit/533.17.9 (KHTML, like Gecko) Version/5.0.2 Mobile/8J2 Safari/6533.18.5)

Ahhh pathetic people. A huge part of the world is in poverty and you guys are on here arguing over petty requests and demands for the next machines. I was hoping to hop on here and see intelligent discussions over potential models, instead it's a blue ray battle.

Apple will NEVER bring out a machine with blue ray. Disc technology is dying out and drives/solid state is moving too fast and faster speeds! What we need is Thunderbolt accessories such as fast HDD and card readers. We need to eliminate progress bars. Half of my life is spent waiting for copies or rendering.

As for photographers who 'need' blue ray to back up your shots you are clearly shooting too much junk, and not enough good shots. I shot for four months on a shoot and video around Asia and lucky to get around 600Gb. All this fitted on a $100 HDD and in my experience it's the client who supplies you with one. No client I know has a blue ray drive anyway to read the data IF I had one. Let optical die out gracefully.

Cc.

I thought you'd say you spent half your life growing food for the needy, based on your odd opening line.

The only people I deal with that don't have a Blu-ray player are my parents. Heh.

 

[MacAddict1978]

Well, I think it about 35mm film quality, or 70mm for movies: 4K should do nicely on large screens. 720p is fine for iPad (even when they get retina displays): the actual pixels are small enough you won't likely notice.
But for home theater use, were we seem to be closing in on everything being 1080p 120Hz or better, you need BR to avoid compression artifacting (and you can still get some depending on lots of variables during compression and source material: HDV has lots of issues; the new canon 50Mb/sec mpeg2 fewer - to mention two camera types available to movie makers who are not hollywood studios).

But as oleds start to roll out, we may see even larger formats for home usage appearing often: 120" or large. For those, 1080p has visible little squares, even on DILA projectors; I've seen the Meridian 4K on a large screen: it is smooth even very close up. When viewed specially prepared 4K source material (done with Red), WOW. But even upsampled BRD is very good.

BTW: DVD upscaling on Mac is, how you say, terrible. Jaggies all over the place, even on progressive source (I have a 30" Cinima display); compared to DVD upscaling by Faroudja on a 1080P projector or even by my Sony Playstation to a 55" LED TV, the Mac is AWFUL - essentially unwatchable.

Eddie O

The question to this was at what point isn't this visible to the human eye. 55" screens and smaller, 1080P really doesn't make much of a difference especially once you go below a 50". The Hz stat makes you feel like you're getting this great new tech, but the human eye can't see any difference above 60Hz. Some people will argue that faster Hz reduces artifact noise and ghosting, but there are 120 Hz sets that have more noise than cheaper sets. Every manufacturer has proprietary tech in their sets that can make or break the viewing experience, right down to the software that drives the hardware. If the hardware isn't being driven effectively (Hello Sony) then it doesn't matter what the output is. BR can output beyond the specs of what TV's currently can do, but again, the human eye cannot see those differences. One of the reasons the videophiles refer to these tests with blobs, blurs, lines, etc. is in the name of the geek factor, but since their eyes can't see the differences, they use these tests. There are sets that have issues with artifacting that cheaper sets don't have. After a certain point, these specs needed to be taken with a grain of salt, and you need to decided what looks best to you.

Of course what I just said is blasphemy to die hards. I don't claim some of the tech in video right now isn't incredible stuff, just that you're not seeing how incredible it. Because you can't.

 

[SeaFox]

Failing? Like I said, iTunes store is making great revenue, on top of driving hardware sales. iMac together with OSX is responsible of Apple not being bankrupt right now.

Fixed that for you.

 

[ARobinson]

Not sure what kinda debate is raging...so many pages. I have my own personal concerns tho, actually frustration that the Mac Pro has been marketed as the fastest mac ever, but now it will become obsolete. Obviously still a very useful machine, but the towers are built for and marketed to professionals.

Apple: Please customize a beautiful new 12-Core (starting at $5000) and it will last you a few months. Next, we'll unveil a new peripheral that can't be added to your obsolete $7000 machine. No, it requires a stupid chip on the motherboard. Oh, yeah... you need that throughput? Let me introduce you to the newer mac pro. Its even newer than your new one.

I know hardware will take a while to catch on and probably start out ridiculously expensive. I don't want to buy into it really for a couple years, but id like the Mac Pro to last longer than that. I know, I expect a solution in the future. These things just really piss me off tho. I am a young graduating film student. Other than my education, the investment in my entire suite is by far the most $$$ I have ever spent. And lately I just feel like I got screwed.

 

[chedda]

concur

Yeah i just bought a 12 core about 3 months ago. I was also the man who bought into PPC just as it ended ! It's a pain that the existing mac pro cannot be expanded with thunderbolt particulary as i promised the wife i'm good now for 7 years ! I am still holding out for the very slim possibility that thunderbolt can be added with a PCI solution. Otherwise i'll stick with firewire 800.
I'm into 3d rendering with maxwell and thunderbolt i think would have really helped me build a render farm i think ? I was hoping the new mini would be an ideal node especially if it had an i7. Grand central dispatch will be implemented over thunderbolt ?

 

[bpaluzzi]

Yeah, in passing. I've still not met anyone who's ditched his/her PC for any of those devices.

Thus, no Post-PC era, since PC are aplenty and quite dominant. The iOS devices and Android/WindowsMobile are quite capable complements to the PCs - no doubt. But one would have to be quite out there to claim in all seriousness that there is now a Post-PC era.

I don't know anyone who have ditched their mainframes for minicomputers. Thus, no minicomputer era, since mainframes are aplenty and quite dominant.
...
I don't know anyone who has ditched their minicomputers for microcomputers. Thus, no microcomputer era, since minicomputers are aplenty and quite dominant.
...
I don't know anyone who has ditched their microcomputers for a PC. Thus, no PC era, since microcomputers are aplenty and quite dominant.

You're wrong, but don't feel bad. There are literally thousands of people that made the same mistake before.

 

[ARobinson]

Yeah i just bought a 12 core about 3 months ago. I was also the man who bought into PPC just as it ended ! It's a pain that the existing mac pro cannot be expanded with thunderbolt particulary as i promised the wife i'm good now for 7 years ! I am still holding out for the very slim possibility that thunderbolt can be added with a PCI solution. Otherwise i'll stick with firewire 800.
I'm into 3d rendering with maxwell and thunderbolt i think would have really helped me build a render farm i think ? I was hoping the new mini would be an ideal node especially if it had an i7. Grand central dispatch will be implemented over thunderbolt ?

I feel your pain. Let me say though, there are other solutions out there, that exceed far and beyond firewire. eSATA is probably the most common and a port included on many HDs now, most (if not all) recommended for video. Port multipliers and eSATA raids are cheap. Invest in them and you'll see possibly 4x the throughput of Firewire-800.

 

[BlindMellon]

Apple's only supposed to care about "iToys" and nothing else. They don't care about Macs anymore.

You say this and it's going to be nearly a year and a half to get a measly warmed over iPhone 4?

 

[chedda]

display port

i just read on the intel site that thunderbolt is compatible with existing display port devices the 5870 i have has this mini display port. They are the same right ?

 

[Reason077]

i just read on the intel site that thunderbolt is compatible with existing display port devices the 5870 i have has this mini display port. They are the same right ?

Yes. The connectors are physically the same, so you can plug a display port device into a thunderbolt port.

 

[chedda]

one-way

But i cannot attach a mac mini with thunderbolt (as a render node) to my display port mac pro ? I think it only works one way right ? Is it a definite that the current mac pros will never support thunderbolt ? Isn't it possible to have a pcie bridge ?

 

[PlipPlop]

Mac Minis are a rip off for what you get. They should drop the price a lot.

 

[lars666]

Darn rumors. I really wouldn't want to wait for a month and instantly jump into Lion. But I also really wouldn't want to pay over 700 euros for the current out-dated Mac Mini, even if it does have SL and everything else I've grown accustomed to.

Best to wait for the refresh then (with Lion) and buy Snow Leopard separately for 29 dollars (or even less "used" on eBay). The few dollars should be well worth the better hardware (in comparison to the alternative: buy now the old Mini just to be sure with the OS).

 

[RoelJuun]

I haven't seen a single blu-ray drive being used in a computer, *ever*. The average is not you and your friends, it's the rest of the world out there. Even DVD drives are nearly useless for most people, I've used one maybe two or three times in the last couple years. Optical media is on it's way out, BR won't ever reach the level of adoption DVDs had - downloading and streaming will take over before that - and in fact, if you read the news, it already has. There are more people watching NetFlix than renting/buying any kind of media today.

Yes, optical media is essential to those working in the movie/photo industry, but this is a ridiculously small slice of the market, they can't please everyone. I'd very much like a Smart Card reader on my MBP, as I bet a lot of people would too, but that doesn't make it any likely or reasonable to do.

Now you're talking about the USA I guess? Not everyone lives there. I've never met anyone that has streamed a movie via the web. And even if I was able to do so... more money, less quality and you can't keep it stored on your drive. The shop that sells me cd's/dvd's/blurays etc sells me amazing movies voor 5 euro.
Ow and I can download movies via spotnet "legal" with 7 MB/s. No data caps, and internet is really cheap here. (and yes I know that this isn't the normal way, but it still is nice)

 

[ericmooreart]

About time! Was beginning to think unless it started with an "i" It didn't matter.

 

[jonnysods]

Finally. Show the MP some love!

Hope they have an amazing case redesign.

 

[Thunderhawks]

Darn rumors. I really wouldn't want to wait for a month and instantly jump into Lion. But I also really wouldn't want to pay over 700 euros for the current out-dated Mac Mini, even if it does have SL and everything else I've grown accustomed to.

Every time I look into a Mac Mini and add up the $$$ I get to close to an iMac.
Something doesn't work with that set up (at least for me)

 

[MartiNZ]

Finally. Show the MP some love!

Hope they have an amazing case redesign.

Well if the MacBook Air design style is supposed to be the future of laptops, perhaps they'll fit the MP into a Mini case . More realistically, Cube the Second? Or Cube squared....

 

[TMay]

1. BD isn't for aliens.

2. additional RAM slots isn't a small issue either. some professional uses demand 64+GB. Much cheaper with more slots.

3. SATA III

4. USB 3.0 (not really an issue with PCIe)

5. More hard drive bays. For a real workstation its quite easy to max out the internal drives, especially if you are striping or mirroring drives.


Also, I'm not terribly familiar with servers, but I really don't understand how the Mac Pro could be a suitable server for any substantial market? As I understand it, expandability via PCI isn't really necessary (except maybe for adding external storage via eSATA), you don't need a graphics card, and you don't really need the processing power

1) BD isn't happening on macs; the best you can do is add a burner, but AFAIK, you can't find an OS X compatible player that works with HDCP requirements of studio BD releases.

2) Meh, tradeoff between cost and space requirements of added memory module sockets and cost of higher density memory modules that might be useful for a small fraction of buyers. Best would be that Apple supports 32GB and 64GB modules to future proof the next Mac Pro.

3) SATA III almost certainly to be in the upcoming spin of Mac Pro.

4) USB 3.0 be in Ivy Bridge, sometime probably in fall of 2012 for the Mac Pro as Apple won't use a third party chip, but it is certainly available as a PCI-e expansion card today.

5) 3TB drives, thunderbolt and SSD's pretty much eliminate need for more internal bays for all but server use. Even then, there are plenty of external storage solutions available.

All in all, only BD seems to be a major sticking point.

 

[wiz329]

Not sure what kinda debate is raging...so many pages. I have my own personal concerns tho, actually frustration that the Mac Pro has been marketed as the fastest mac ever, but now it will become obsolete. Obviously still a very useful machine, but the towers are built for and marketed to professionals.

Apple: Please customize a beautiful new 12-Core (starting at $5000) and it will last you a few months. Next, we'll unveil a new peripheral that can't be added to your obsolete $7000 machine. No, it requires a stupid chip on the motherboard. Oh, yeah... you need that throughput? Let me introduce you to the newer mac pro. Its even newer than your new one.

I know hardware will take a while to catch on and probably start out ridiculously expensive. I don't want to buy into it really for a couple years, but id like the Mac Pro to last longer than that. I know, I expect a solution in the future. These things just really piss me off tho. I am a young graduating film student. Other than my education, the investment in my entire suite is by far the most $$$ I have ever spent. And lately I just feel like I got screwed.

To be honest, you really won't be missing THAT much with TB. Its basically just an externalization of PCI. If you're looking to use it for external drives primarily, just hook up the latest-gen eSATA via PCI-e (currently 6 Gb/s). It will take 3 SSDs in RAID-0 to saturate that kind of bandwidth.

 

[realmike15]

If Apple made an i7 varient of the Mac Pro and priced it accordingly, I'd buy one. But as has been the case for years, since I can build a Xenon PC to the exact specs of the entry level Mac Pro for cheaper... I just can't justify the price. The iMacs although barely expandable, are at least priced appropriately.

 

[wiz329]

1) BD isn't happening on macs; the best you can do is add a burner, but AFAIK, you can't find an OS X compatible player that works with HDCP requirements of studio BD releases.

2) Meh, tradeoff between cost and space requirements of added memory module sockets and cost of higher density memory modules that might be useful for a small fraction of buyers. Best would be that Apple supports 32GB and 64GB modules to future proof the next Mac Pro.

3) SATA III almost certainly to be in the upcoming spin of Mac Pro.

4) USB 3.0 be in Ivy Bridge, sometime probably in fall of 2012 for the Mac Pro as Apple won't use a third party chip, but it is certainly available as a PCI-e expansion card today.

5) 3TB drives, thunderbolt and SSD's pretty much eliminate need for more internal bays for all but server use. Even then, there are plenty of external storage solutions available.

All in all, only BD seems to be a major sticking point.

BD. You're right of course. I love apple products, but I've just resigned myself ... they're just being boneheaded about this one.

And you're right about USB 3.0 and SATA III. If you want USB just use PCI. And if you really need SATA III bandwidth, you can connect via eSATA with a PCI card.

I don't agree with your 5th point though. First, TB drives are going to be pretty darn expensive. Second, I'm pretty sure the capacity really doesn't affect anything one way or another. The highest capacity the drives get, the more space digital media will consume.

There are plenty of external storage solutions (via eSATA at least). But if you're using a couple of mirrored drives for a time machine backup, a couple of striped SSDs as a boot drive, and another couple mirrored and/or striped drives for DATA ... I'd assume put as much of that inside as possible, rather than having it clutter everything up on the outside.

 

[maflynn]

Mac Minis are a rip off for what you get. They should drop the price a lot.

I think the vast majority of people buying them will beg to differ. They are a very popular product.