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Still Waiting for Mac Pro Updates, Suitable Intel Processors Due in Q4
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??. . . I'd like, for once, to make use of the OS X file structure and use the documents/pictures/movies folders in my user folder instead of having everything spread across drives.
Very easy to set /documents to a different drive - or set anything to a different drive.
My setup uses a small SSD, while /user/me/* are in different RAIDS. The great thing about keeping user files off the boot drive, is that I have all my files available regardless OS. Lion or Snow Leopard - does not matter. Since both OS's read the same /user/library, I keep all bookmarks and user application settings in SNL as Lion.
The only problem I have run into is setting up an alias for garage band files. otherwise, a soft link or alias works fine. Simply move the folder, create an alias, move alias back to original position, and rename the alias back to the folder name. Or a unix command (ln -s something somwhere) works fine.
That's a good laugh. Apple rather sells 1,000,000 consumer devices than 5,000 "Pro" devices. The "professional" market is a tiny niche market and no longer important for Apple. Remember? Apple is building "computers for the rest of us". And that rest are certainly not the professionals, who, by definition, do not use stuff "for the rest of us" to get their job done.
Wake up, guys. Apple is like Douglas, Nike, BMW, Prada or whatever else in that league: A fashion company that builds expensive lifestyle products and status symbols for a mass market. If you need professional tools, you don't go to a perfume store, you go to a real hardware shop.
And before some idiot jumps in: That assessment has got nothing to do with me not liking Apple's products. But unlike some around here, I perform a reality check once in a while and even to a blind guy it should be obvious where Apple is headed and who has become their target audience. On the other hand, I also know that I buy a Mac for a bunch of reasons that do not always have something to do with technology or the simple need for a tool to get a job done. Buying a Mac is buying a beautifully designed fetish piece of techno-lust. And to quote Michael Romkey: "I admit these things without a sense of guilt."
Why just not go for some second hand MAc Pros? It would save you 50% off the new machines and on top of that it would run circles around your G5.I'm very disappointed in this. I need a new desk top NOW as my G5 simply won't suffice any longer and I was really looking forward to getting a new Mac Pro. However, I can't see buying the current Mac Pro either given how much faster the upgrade will be and what I can build a PC for. I hate to say it but I'm going to be forced to build a Windows box and simply deal with not having OS-X then buy a Mac Pro in a couple of years when the PC has more or less paid for itself.
John
Nowadays with all the economic troubles ppl ought to think economically, as well.
should seriously consider buying AMD. At a current market cap of only $4.5 Billion for AMD it wouldn't even be a blip on the radar for Apple.
It would be like giving the middle finger to Intel. It would force all those Windoze boxes and laptops from Sony, Samsung and Dell to use more expensive Intel chips at Intel's release rate. All those companies that are suing Apple will instantly lose a major supplier. Meanwhile, Apple would gain full control over price, features and release dates on their chips.
If Intel can't meet the low power requirements that Apple wants, I'm sure the AMD purchase would be more appealing.
Why would Apple buy AMD and then stop the money they gain from other PC manufacturers? Im not even sure if its legal to stop contracts which have been arranged when you buy another company?
Holy Crap! you still using that baby
J/k we have a few G5s doing print and scan duties at work.
can seem the get rid of them.
The MP 12cores look down on em a few times but heck we still use em
One thing I find bothersome about the Intel roadmap is that Ivy Bridge "Premium Performance" processors will be coming out a couple of months after the Sandy Bridge E processors.
I see new Mac Pros coming out in somewhere in the Nov. 2011 to Jan. 2012 timeframe. Then in Jan. or Feb. 2012 Ivy Bridge is released for PCs that perform better than the two or three month old Mac Pros.
Of course technology marches on but it's discouraging that an expensive Mac Pro won't be 'king of the hill' for more than a few weeks.
Apple can't help this. It's Intel's fault for delaying Xeon's based on new architectures. Just a bummer we have to live with I guess
I see new Mac Pros coming out in somewhere in the Nov. 2011 to Jan. 2012 timeframe. Then in Jan. or Feb. 2012 Ivy Bridge is released for PCs that perform better than the two or three month old Mac Pros.
Of course technology marches on but it's discouraging that an expensive Mac Pro won't be 'king of the hill' for more than a few weeks.
Apple can't help this. It's Intel's fault for delaying Xeon's based on new architectures. Just a bummer we have to live with I guess
It's the aqua blue boxes that represent Sandy Bridge-E. It's on the roadmap.
I'm sure the author just had a brain fart. Pretty much like every time sites like Mac Rumors and AppleInsider claimed the Mac Pro was getting a Sandy Bridge or an Ivy Bridge.
It would be like giving the middle finger to Intel. It would force all those Windoze boxes and laptops from Sony, Samsung and Dell to use more expensive Intel chips at Intel's release rate. All those companies that are suing Apple will instantly lose a major supplier. Meanwhile, Apple would gain full control over price, features and release dates on their chips.
If Intel can't meet the low power requirements that Apple wants, I'm sure the AMD purchase would be more appealing.
AMD does this thing called research that apple doesn't really do much of. newer and faster CPU's don't just magically design themselves. and Intel's CPU's beat AMD in performance and power comsumption
making a CPU is not like OS X or iOS where you take some open source code, modify it for yourself and then ship a product
Ivy Bridge is much further down the food chain than Sandy Bridge-E. There is nothing to suggest it will exceed the performance of Sandy Bridge-E. It is described as 'premium performance' because it is a consumer/mainstream focused range. It's marketing. Until you see the benchmarks, there's no point in crying over it.
Do the mainstream Sandy Bridge processors outperform the Gulftown processors? No they don't. That's more or less what you're saying when you compare Ivy Bridge to Sandy Bridge-E.
Intel does not seem to be able to help themselves in screwing up their product line.
They announce the E3 and E7 series processors. Huge leaps over the previous models...then its a year away. Actually the E3's just came out, I have an E3 IBM Server arriving today but those are single processor only.
First they overcomplicate the line, try buying an a current 5xxx series based server, I think there are 16 chips to chose from all within 800mhz of one another.
Now to make things more confusing it looks like the Quad Core e3's will actually outperform some of the 5xxx servers on the market at way less cost.
There is no point in upgrading the Mac Pro's, there is nothing to upgrade them to until the E7's come out.
They announce the E3 and E7 series processors. Huge leaps over the previous models...then its a year away. Actually the E3's just came out, I have an E3 IBM Server arriving today but those are single processor only.
First they overcomplicate the line, try buying an a current 5xxx series based server, I think there are 16 chips to chose from all within 800mhz of one another.
Now to make things more confusing it looks like the Quad Core e3's will actually outperform some of the 5xxx servers on the market at way less cost.
There is no point in upgrading the Mac Pro's, there is nothing to upgrade them to until the E7's come out.
I believe the E3's will outperform the current 5xxx series quad cores in straight performance in single CPU situations.
How they perform for VT I'm not sure.
Hardly. Apple lowered the price of Final Cut dramatically with the new one, making it more assesible than ever. Pros need to consider the level of compatibility with their current hardware but sooner or later the software updates will add features missing today. Pro editors starting to learn on it will fare better than old hands with old habits. Pros need to unlearn the old and learn the new.
One thing I find bothersome about the Intel roadmap is that Ivy Bridge "Premium Performance" processors will be coming out a couple of months after the Sandy Bridge E processors.
I see new Mac Pros coming out in somewhere in the Nov. 2011 to Jan. 2012 timeframe. Then in Jan. or Feb. 2012 Ivy Bridge is released for PCs that perform better than the two or three month old Mac Pros.
Of course technology marches on but it's discouraging that an expensive Mac Pro won't be 'king of the hill' for more than a few weeks.
Apple can't help this. It's Intel's fault for delaying Xeon's based on new architectures. Just a bummer we have to live with I guess
It'll probably only be the top Ivy Bridge CPU - a single Core i7 desktop model - out performing the bottom Sandy Bridge-E model. I wouldn't expect more than 15% CPU performance, more likely less than 10% difference. All the other LGA 2011 CPU options will be more powerful and of course there is more memory capacity and bandwidth available as well as PCI-Express lanes and more SATA connections.
I would call the Mac Pro very expensive (due to their Xeon hardware and beautiful custom mobo/interior design) and they hold their value VERY well. If you want to upgrade to the latest model or just end up hating it for any reason, you'll get great resell out of it.
That's been my experience with most macs, but it's especially true for the Pro desktop line.
One might really begin to think Apple doesn't care about anything "Pro" any more.
I'm hoping its an Intel issue, though after building a top of the line Hackentosh with a core i7 2600k and an amd radeon 6870 for only $900 I'll never pay the $5000 for a comparable Mac Pro system
I'm hoping its an Intel issue, though after building a top of the line Hackentosh with a core i7 2600k and an amd radeon 6870 for only $900 I'll never pay the $5000 for a comparable Mac Pro system
But why 16:9?
My 3 30" displays are all 16:10 ratio with 2560x1600 resolution. The 1600 bit resolution is about 5% too small for me. I was hoping for a possible bigger display with at least a 2000 vertical pixel resolution. But Apple went the other way. They cut the num ber of vertical pixels by 10%. This means while the display may look nice the lack of vertical space easily eliminates it from any purchase plans. My son is a professional photographer & says the same thing. He needs more vertical space. Even more than I do. A easily rotating display would do some things, but just a larger work area is needed.
When Apple first started using leds for backlighting I was hopeful. But then the rumors started, the 27" iMac came out which means all was lost even before Apple came out with their semi-pro 27" display.
My 3 30" displays are all 16:10 ratio with 2560x1600 resolution. The 1600 bit resolution is about 5% too small for me. I was hoping for a possible bigger display with at least a 2000 vertical pixel resolution. But Apple went the other way. They cut the num ber of vertical pixels by 10%. This means while the display may look nice the lack of vertical space easily eliminates it from any purchase plans. My son is a professional photographer & says the same thing. He needs more vertical space. Even more than I do. A easily rotating display would do some things, but just a larger work area is needed.
When Apple first started using leds for backlighting I was hopeful. But then the rumors started, the 27" iMac came out which means all was lost even before Apple came out with their semi-pro 27" display.
Granted, the G5 PM did come OEM with only two dive bays, but there were also 3rd party solutions. For example, the Sonnet G5 Jive is a bracket that allows installation of 3 additional HDDs, allowing a G5 PM to have up to five (5) 3.5" HDDs + one (1) optical onboard.
In any case, while the mini can take two HDDs, they're 2.5" HDDs which are both slower & smaller capacity.
The problem with a NAS is that it limits bandwidth to Gigabit Ethernet, whereas a plug-in can run at Firewire800 (or eSATA with a PCI card).
A desktop (particularly home) system can quickly become quite a clutter of little vampires ... right offhand: the ISP's converter box, a WiFi router, an ethernet switch, USB hub, printer, scanner, computer, monitor...already right there are eight items which is more than the 5-6 plugs that one typically finds on the generic cheap power strip.
And that's before considering:
a) those brick-style transformer plugs will block adjacent outlets;
b) one may also have duplicates...USB hubs, printers, monitors, etc;
c) external storage hasn't even been mentioned yet (HDDs or a NAS)
Plus there's probably other power demands for the room (lighting, etc) to also plan for, and adding a UPS doesn't really change things too much.
All in all, this illustrates how easily a desktop system can become an ungainly mess and while a laptop still has many of the same items (eg, router, printer), they're now more apt to be "out of sight = out of mind", which can make a laptop more perceptually appealing.
-hh
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Apple will likely get broken up pretty soon and their increasingly stifling ecosystem will get some fresh air again, which is the only hope the Pro market will have.
Some recent LGA 2011 info.
http://www.bit-tech.net/news/hardware/2011/07/21/evga-previews-lga2011-motherboard/1
http://news.softpedia.com/news/Inte...2011-Romley-Platform-Is-On-Track-212763.shtml
http://www.nordichardware.com/news/...-launch-lga2011-in-2011-features-missing.html
This is from a few months back:
http://www.anandtech.com/show/4291/additional-details-on-sandy-bridgee-processors-x79-and-lga2011
http://www.bit-tech.net/news/hardware/2011/07/21/evga-previews-lga2011-motherboard/1
http://news.softpedia.com/news/Inte...2011-Romley-Platform-Is-On-Track-212763.shtml
http://www.nordichardware.com/news/...-launch-lga2011-in-2011-features-missing.html
This is from a few months back:
http://www.anandtech.com/show/4291/additional-details-on-sandy-bridgee-processors-x79-and-lga2011
I simply cut them off with a power tool. The thing wouldn't fit in the enclosure that it HAD to fit into so off they came! Uh, which I'm sure decreased its resale value a tad.
EDIT: Which is another reason I want the new Pros to come out so badly. It appears that they are changing the form factor and making them smaller.
The E3's have been shipping since April, have they not? The difference in performance is marginal, with AES being the only significant beat and it's obvious why that is.
The E3's are not Mac Pro-class processors. They're just a cheap way to get Sandy Bridge mainstream tech under the Xeon branding and get Enterprise buying while they make us wait for the E5's. It's the E5's that will be making their way into the next gen Mac Pro.
The Mac Pro is the only option for someone who wants a better display than the iMac, who wants drive bays and a powerful graphics card and who wants to connect a really good monitor.
You mean it only cares about the uncreative professionals?
Yes, who else could stand to look at Lion iCal?