Will OS X start having fine grained, multithreaded Applications with Leopard soon?

Discussion in 'Mac Apps and Mac App Store' started by kresh, Nov 7, 2007.

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  1. kresh, Nov 7, 2007

    kresh macrumors 6502a

    kresh

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    #1
    Now that Leopard is out I am curious if we will start to see fine grained, multithreaded applications coming to market that will take advantage of 8 or more cores?

    I can only assume that CPUs are going to keep gaining more cores and I'm exited about the future, but I'm in a quandry. I started a thread about 2 weeks ago questioning which computer to buy. I've reached a settlement with my employer's workers comp insurance carrier and I can finally afford a mac pro.

    All I'm really interested in that requires CPU power is video encoding. My current Mac mini (G4) takes 6 hours to encode 1.5 hours of video to h.264. I was advised to just get another mini beacuse because in 3 years the new mini's will out perform todays Mac Pros. Kinda makes sense as my mini is almost better than a 2001 Power Mac.

    That all changes though if over the next year applications start to really take advantage of a 3 GHz, 8 core Mac Pro. A future 2 or 4 core mini surely will not out perform today's 8 core Mac Pro if applications get better threading, right?

    I'm sorry as I have rambled on and on, please forgive me. I know MacRumors has a vibrant, technically skilled member base and I hope someone will help me.

    Should I spend the money for an 8 core Mac Pro (or whatever MacWorld '08 brings) and bank on multithreaded apps (like VisualHub) or should I just get a Mac mini and replace it every 2 or 3 years with another low-end Mac?

    Thanks :)
     
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  2. Cromulent, Nov 7, 2007

    Cromulent macrumors 603

    Cromulent

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    #2
    Well buying a Mini now seems like a bad idea. It is slow NOW when compared to the Mac Pros. When the new Mac Pros are released I would expect it to get trashed in the speed stakes. If you are looking for fast video encoding the Mac Pro really is a great (expensive) option.

    Saying that, the Mini is probably the sensible choice, but who wants to be sensible all the time? :)
     
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  3. Jeremy1026, Nov 7, 2007

    Jeremy1026 macrumors 68020

    Jeremy1026

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    #3
    if you get a MP I'd wait until after macworld. With Apple switching to intel so rapidly the PPC will be extinct soon. I wouldn't be surprised to to see a intel mac pro in the nearer future (within a year or so)
     
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  4. gauchogolfer, Nov 7, 2007

    gauchogolfer macrumors 603

    gauchogolfer

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    #4
    Umm, all the Mac Pros are based on Intel Xeon processors...
     
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  5. apfhex, Nov 7, 2007

    apfhex macrumors 68030

    apfhex

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    #5
    This post might have made sense two years ago. ;) All Macs have been Intel for a while now.
     
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  6. gojaromeiginla, Nov 7, 2007

    gojaromeiginla macrumors member

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    #6
    Yeah, I was a little confused for a second. I'd still wait for Macworld, just in case they do release a new Mac Pro. I mean, all the features of the current Mac Pro are insane, but you might be able to get better features if you wait. As for me, I can just dream. Sigh.
     
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  7. Jeremy1026, Nov 7, 2007

    Jeremy1026 macrumors 68020

    Jeremy1026

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    #7
    Sorry, I was rushing around at work today and my head wasn't on straight :D
     
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  8. kresh, Nov 7, 2007

    kresh thread starter macrumors 6502a

    kresh

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    #8
    Thanks for the replys, I was kinda hoping someone had some ideas about how long until more multithreading apps will be on the way to really take advantage of 8 cores.

    I know that VisualHub is already multithreaded, what about HandBrake?
     
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  9. Cromulent, Nov 7, 2007

    Cromulent macrumors 603

    Cromulent

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    #9
    Most applications that would benefit from being multithreaded already are.
     
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  10. kresh, Nov 7, 2007

    kresh thread starter macrumors 6502a

    kresh

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    #10
    Thanks bunches :)
     
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  11. thejadedmonkey, Nov 7, 2007

    thejadedmonkey macrumors 604

    thejadedmonkey

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    #11
    Unless you're going into pro video editing, I'd just get an iMac. It's much cheeper, and will probably do everything you want/need it to do without a big speed hit.
     
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  12. robbieduncan, Nov 7, 2007

    robbieduncan Moderator emeritus

    robbieduncan

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    #12
    Apple have added an API to Cocoa in Leopard that makes multi-threading much easier, and it will automatically use more core if possible. A lot of current multi-threaded apps make assumptions about the number of cores and do things like create 2 threads even on an 8-core machine. I imagine that we may see a lot more apps using a lot more threads due to the availability of [urlhttp://developer.apple.com/documentation/Cocoa/Conceptual/Multithreading/articles/Operations.html]NSOperation[/url] and the ease this brings.
     
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