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Regarding the new Mac Pro..

Hmac said:
I'm thinking I don't want an iSight camera in my next pair of ACD's. It would make more sense to bring back the iSight camera with a slick way of attaching it to the top of the ACD.
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Yes - that would do me fine as well - especially if using dual displays. I guess the technology needs an uplift as well. I'm in danger here of discussing stuff in the wrong forum but have you seen the new Samsung Back-Lit displays - encompass Adobe RGB, 24 inch and 30 inch - WOW!

Talking about dual displays - never tried it but have colleagues who say once you've tried it you'll never go back. Is there any call for dual 30" displays (photography - aperture, lightroom and CS3). Do folk think two 23's are better than one 30? and what's so good about dual displays anyway?
:confused:
 
HooHar said:
Yes - that would do me fine as well - especially if using dual displays. I guess the technology needs an uplift as well. I'm in danger here of discussing stuff in the wrong forum but have you seen the new Samsung Back-Lit displays - encompass Adobe RGB, 24 inch and 30 inch - WOW!

Talking about dual displays - never tried it but have colleagues who say once you've tried it you'll never go back. Is there any call for dual 30" displays (photography - aperture, lightroom and CS3). Do folk think two 23's are better than one 30? and what's so good about dual displays anyway?
:confused:
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I use two 30" ACD's. Very useful for the stuff I do that often requires a 2-4 of programs running while writing a PowerPoint talk - nice to have room for .pdf's (papers) as well as Photoshop, and maybe FCE. When editing images, I'll often have Nikon Capture open on one screen, along with Adobe Bridge, Photoshop, whatever on the other.

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Me: Any news on the mac pro?
Employee: Apple told us to wait it out until end of jan
 
Hmac said:
Nothing about Apple is aimed at the computing professional, including the Mac Pro. Yes, it's a fast computer. Yes, professionals use it. But look at Dell's web site and look at Apple's. Look at the difference between Latitude and Inspiron, then look at the differences between MacBook and MacBook Pro. Then look at the differences between Dell's workstations and the Mac Pro's. Don't look at the machine specs, look at and compare how those machine are marketed, sold, and supported. A computer professional can't afford to have his/her machine be out of service. Where is Applecare's "next day, on-site" service option? If my Dell Latitude laptop goes down within the 3 year on-site plan I bought for $240, they'll be out to my house here in rural Minnesota day after tomorrow to fix it. If my MacBook Pro goes down within the $340 Applecare time frame, I'll get "yeah, either mail it to us, or bring it on over to the Apple Store". Nice, except a trip to the Apple Store means 4 hours on the road for me and a day off work. THAT is not appropriate professional-level support.
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That's because, simply put, Dells and PCs in general are going to need more service more frequently than Mac Pros and Macs in general.

What do I care if I have to drive my Mac Pro a few hours away twice a year? It's better than calling in home service for my Dell twice a month.:)
 
Johnzon said:
What do I care if I have to drive my Mac Pro a few hours away twice a year?
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I've yet to need to take my Mac Pro purchased last December anywhere for anything.

I did have to take my MacBook Pro in one time over the past year and a half. Thankfully the Apple store is like two minutes away. I wouldn't want creepy computer repair people in my house anyway.

In my experience of living around the Chicago area half the year, and living in middle of nowhere Illinois 40 miles from nearest retailer that even has Apple stuff and 150 miles from nearest Apple store, I can confidently say that there are too few Macs to support in those areas for Apple to bother with an on-site service program. Apple simply doesn't market Macs to rural communities.
 
Okay, I'm all for being financially conservative and waiting. I'm one of those who was willing to wait a few months for Leopard before buying a Mac Book Pro, so I could avoid the $129 price of adding it later.

That's a solid reason. Maybe the the same way others would go, but you can't say it's a "bad" reason.

With that said, what are you guys waiting for on the Mac Pro? 16 cores (8 processors) and 32 GB of RAM?

It just seems to me that the Mac Pro is already robust enough to power NASA. What is it that you're hoping to see in a new release that you're not able to get now?
 
Hmac said:
Nothing about Apple is aimed at the computing professional, including the Mac Pro. Yes, it's a fast computer. Yes, professionals use it. But look at Dell's web site and look at Apple's. Look at the difference between Latitude and Inspiron, then look at the differences between MacBook and MacBook Pro. Then look at the differences between Dell's workstations and the Mac Pro's. Don't look at the machine specs, look at and compare how those machine are marketed, sold, and supported. A computer professional can't afford to have his/her machine be out of service. Where is Applecare's "next day, on-site" service option? If my Dell Latitude laptop goes down within the 3 year on-site plan I bought for $240, they'll be out to my house here in rural Minnesota day after tomorrow to fix it. If my MacBook Pro goes down within the $340 Applecare time frame, I'll get "yeah, either mail it to us, or bring it on over to the Apple Store". Nice, except a trip to the Apple Store means 4 hours on the road for me and a day off work. THAT is not appropriate professional-level support.
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I don't know about the US, but here in Canada, if you are within 80 Km (50 miles) of a dealer, you get on-site service the next day with Applecare on a Mac Pro.
 
Heavy Doody said:
It just seems to me that the Mac Pro is already robust enough to power NASA. What is it that you're hoping to see in a new release that you're not able to get now?
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Assuming that's true, then there would be no need or desire on Apple's part to update their systems, nor for Intel to try to improve chip performance. Is progress purely a profit motive? Have we already hit the performance ceiling for high-end computing?

For me personally, I am on a G5--meets many needs for me, makes money for me. As I more and more am using it for 3D and video rendering, the Intel platform will be a nice jump, but it's not an urgent need yet. With new systems around the corner, waiting a little is not an issue at all. And after many years of this, I know enough not to buy right before a MacWorld.
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I think there are a lot of G5 users who didn't upgrade when the Intels came out, and are now ready for the next cycle. I think Apple will be making some large sales when those become available.
 
TripleCore said:
Assuming that's true, then there would be no need or desire on Apple's part to update their systems, nor for Intel to try to improve chip performance. Is progress purely a profit motive? Have we already hit the performance ceiling for high-end computing?
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I'm not saying that. I'm not saying we've already reached the top, or that Apple will/should stop developing their high-end machine, or that we should stop buying them.

I'm simply asking what's not available in the current Mac Pro, that all the "waiters" are hoping to see in a new one. I'm not saying there isn't anything, simply that I don't know what it is.
 
Heavy Doody said:
I'm simply asking what's not available in the current Mac Pro, that all the "waiters" are hoping to see in a new one. I'm not saying there isn't anything, simply that I don't know what it is.
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I'm one of the "waiters" with a very old PowerMac G4 D/A. I don't want to plop down $2500+ for 1.5 year old technology when I can shortly (I hope) pay the same or less for current technology. It's all about perceived value for me.

Would you pay say $2000 for last year's model 1080i LCD flat screen TV when shortly you can pay $1500 for a 1080p flat screen? Yes the 1080i will look just fine. But the 1080p is state of the current art.

Make sense?
 
Heavy: I'm a waiter who doesn't even own a Mac yet. This Mac Pro will be my first Apple computer.

The current Mac Pro has lots of power for the (around $2300-2500) price I would pay.

However, what I'm waiting (at this point around 3 more weeks) for is a an 8 core machine for around the same price. I also read on here that they may also jump the RAM from 1 to 2 gigs, which is also something good to wait for.

So that's pretty much the reason: You can buy last year's technology (Mac Pro came out in '06) for $2500, or wait 3 weeks and buy the latest thing for about the same price. I'm willing to wait for that.

-Bryan
 
I have a dual-processor PowerMac G5 that I purchased in 2005 as I didn't think that Apple would complete it's conversion to Intel until the latter part of 2007.

I have a dual-processor Tyan-based AMD system that I use for Windows and Linux applications that I bought in 2002. It's overdue for replacement.

The PowerMac G5 is still serviceable albeit noticeably slower since upgrading to Leopard. I would like to replace the PowerMac G5 and need to replace the Tyan system. It would be nice to replace both with an Intel-based Apple system with current technology that would provide reasonable performance over the next 5 years.

I guess I can delay Christmas for another month.
 
It's not coming.

This MWSF will all be about the ultra portable and possible tablet stuff. We would have seen some sort of rumours with ACTUAL basis. Not the constant crap and drivel we sudden;y seem to be getting from every single newbie.

It seems that every newbie has info on the mac pro, Apple should be worrying about all these "moles", christ, at this rate the whole of Apples work force knows a rumours or release date of the next mac pro and is teling the qwhole world about it.

I'm one person who is desperate to buy a Mac Pro, no i'm not an excessive user, but I buy my towers to last. The last one is 7 years old and about to die. I'm not prepared to buy a machine that has already used 1.5 years of it useful life with me.
 
Regarding what I'd like to see in a next generation MacPro in January compared to an old generation MacPro now, at about the same price:

1.) Perhaps a 10% performance jump. More in some tasks (oh, wouldn't a big jump in video encoding speed be nice?).

2.) Cooler running, lower-power requiring chip, ideally.

3.) A modern fairly high-end video card, whether ATI or iNvidia.

4.) A 1,000 gig hard disc option. Even if you'll buy one or two more from 3'rd parties, it'd be nice to get the first one the right size & performance to begin with.

I don't know whether those things will come, but that's the sort of advance I'd like to see.

Richard.

P.S.: It seems to me that if Apple didn't plan to upgrade the MacPro line soon, they'd at least be offering 1,000 gig hard drives already. They offer them in their iMacs, for crying out loud. I've heard the argument that video card updates would require some driver writing (which sounds like a lame excuse, but at least it's an excuse), but why wouldn't they already be offering the larger hard drives? Especially considering the power users & enthusiasts who buy MacPros?
 
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