Jump to content

New Info on the Mac Pro!


59 posts in this topic

Recommended Posts

Very nice find, Caai! I'm really excited to see that Woodcrest will be under the hood of this new machine. I'm sold.

 

It's interesting to see how they are also prepping upgrades of their other Intel-Mac models. These things will knock the pants off of the models that came out during the winter!

 

One big grey are though: were they mentioning the Leopard would also be shown at the WWDC on a Mac Pro just for preview purposes, or were they implying that the Mac Pro will be using it as its main operating system from the get-go?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

It won't be too far of, I mean is going to be different enough so it can be easily differentiated form the G5, but similar enough to be recognized as a the descendant of the powermac

Link to comment
Share on other sites

as I said they could use Core 2 Extreme on the lower end MP.

 

But i don't know if it worth to design and build two different MacPro motherboards if iMacs are going to have Core 2 Duo

Link to comment
Share on other sites

The only thing the Mac Pro excites me about is the advent of new drivers for stuff like Radeon cards. I am about to get me a X1600Pro to have full support for OSX86 and I will get the AGP card that has small isues. I hope ATI puts new drivers out (they wil have to) that adds full support for multiple ATI cards. The PowerMacs are WAY overrpriced and the Mac Pro's will be to. You all know the base modle will be $1999. They may make a model that is like $1500 but that is still to high. I would buy a modem for $699 or $799 if it had low ram and GMA950 on it then add the video card you already have and add cheaper ram but not $1999 for a damn tower. Insult to use that build our own stuff.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

AppleInsider says it will have a very similar appearence, but there will be to optic bays and the power supply will be at the top of the tower.

It has a mock up desing and espected (read:especulated) configurations

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Enjoy

 

Contrary to published reports, Apple Computer does not plan to introduce new enclosures alongside its first Intel-based Mac Pro desktops and will instead employ only slightly modified Power Mac G5 casings, AppleInsider has learned.

 

macpro-case-mocksmall.jpg

 

Click Here For A Larger Image

 

The current Power Mac G5 enclosure -- first detailed by AppleInsider back in June of 2003 -- is believed to be well suited for Apple's first Intel-based professional desktops due to the similarities in size and shape between the new Mac Pro logic-board and the one presently shipping in the Power Mac G5.

 

People familiar with plans for the next-generation Apple desktops say there appear to be only a couple of cosmetic differences between the Mac Pro and Power Mac G5 casings, specifically the addition of a second optical disc drive slot on the face of the Mac Pro.

 

In a move that is somewhat reminiscent of recent Windows PC designs, Apple also appears to have relocated the computer's power supply from the base of the unit up towards the top, those same people say.

 

The additional optical disc drive slot and bay are likely to ship empty in the first Mac Pros, which will allow users to adopt emerging but pricey high-definition DVD drive standards, such as Blu-ray and HD-DVD, at their discretion.

 

macpro-rumored-specssmall.gif

 

Click Here For Larger Image

 

Sources previously reported that Apple has chosen Intel's relatively new dual-core Xeon 5100 (Woodcrest) series of processors to power the next-generation desktops, and that models will be available in both single and dual processor configurations.

 

Since AppleInsider's report on the subject, an unauthenticated Mac Pro product specifications sheet has been making the rounds, indicating that Apple may forgo inclusion of Intel's 3.0GHz Xeon 5160 chip in its three Mac Pro standard configurations.

 

The spec sheet, which was sent to several other Mac news sites, is being posted by AppleInsider purely for speculative purposes. Of interest, it suggests that Apple will return to using graphics chips from ATI Technologies within its professional Mac desktops, similar to a move the company made with the Intel-based iMac and MacBook Pro.

 

~Apple Insider

Link to comment
Share on other sites

You know, every single one of these rumours for the Mac Pro misses one aspect - why would apple ignore nVidia when historically the Powermacs have always had nVidia cards...it would be bad governance to go exclusively with ATI for iMac and Mac Pro's, surely?

 

What about all those high-end nVidia GeForce 6800 cards that people have upgraded their G5's with? The ones they need to drive their 30" displays? Can you really see Apple telling them that there is no crossgrade path and they have to buy an X1800 [*] ?

I think there has to be an nVidia option included in the new 10.4.8 kernel to help those poor s*ds in particular.

 

//R

 

[*] Privately, I can - Apple have historically disregarded upgrade paths, but thats just the cynic in me....

Link to comment
Share on other sites

What about all those high-end nVidia GeForce 6800 cards that people have upgraded their G5's with? The ones they need to drive their 30" displays? Can you really see Apple telling them that there is no crossgrade

 

Apple will continue to make nVidia drivers for all of it's PowerPC computers, but you won't be seeing anything except ATi cards in all their newest machines. If people have to use homebrew drivers to run nVidia cards in their Intel Macs, I guess current drivers don't work on the x86 side of things. That may or may not change. Either way, those with older machines will still have full nVidia graphics support.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

My guesses:

  • 10.4.8. No way in hell 10.5 is out this soon.
  • Pretty much the same case, with tweaks. It'll handle a couple optical drives now and have more space inside).
  • ATi 1900XT as a high end option, perhaps crossfire too, but I doubt it. :) (love to be wrong)
  • ATI 1600 Pro as the entry one? (or x1300 :|)
  • 975x variant due to ICH7 having PATA support (optical drives), unless they get some new 965 rev that has it as well. (At least on the low-end, non-Woodcrest model)
  • Standard DL Superdrive
  • FW800 possibly eSATA

Overall, I say it's more evolutionary is all. I'd love to be proven wrong, however. As for Woodcrest, I at least imagine they do the top model on it. But some motherboards that handle it now are bloody huge! (look up S2692), so I hope Apple has a more elegantly-designed one. At least on 975x you can still handle 8GB, but obviously more on the Woodcrest motherboards.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

OR, we could see AMD chips with the SSE2 and SSE3 extensions in the Macs. I don't think AMD will take ATI from Apple, they don't want to destroy business apportunities, they want to compete with Intel. This way they could compete in the Windows and OSX market. Brilliant. Nvidia and Apple won't happen I think, I could be wrong though.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I don't really see Apple ever using AMD chips. I guess they might switch to nVidia cards if AMD gives them a hard time. Intel and Apple made a direct agreement which has been too hyped up. There's never been any direct declaration to commitment to using ATi graphics, so that can likely change.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I don't really see Apple ever using AMD chips. I guess they might switch to nVidia cards if AMD gives them a hard time. Intel and Apple made a direct agreement which has been too hyped up. There's never been any direct declaration to commitment to using ATi graphics, so that can likely change.

 

Same here.

 

But, Intel and ATI still have a license together, which probably includes Apple intel boards with ATI chips.

 

But, if Apple switches to Nvidia because AMD buying ATI, won't work out as well as the Ati cards because the Ati cards can handle more shaders than the Nvidia cards, which is what graphics are mainly depdant on. It takes Nvidia 4 SLI video cards just to match how many shaders 2 crossfire Radeon X1900 XT models can do! As well, Nvidia needs to slap 2 GPUs on one board just to be able to handle as much shaders the X1900s can do.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

In light of some new things that have leaked as the WWDC draws near, I've made some changes to the Mac Pro hardware and software specification preview:

  1. As confirmed by some leaked pictures of the WWDC banners, the PowerMac will sport a case that is almost identical to the current G5 cases
  2. The Mac Pro will come preinstalled with OS X Tiger. Leopard seems too far off in development to be used in the first wave of machines.
  3. The ATi x1800 may not be in the hardware spec. There's a good chance it's another ATi card or possibly nVidia due to the merger with AMD.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

*sigh* I don't see Nvidia taking the ATI spot. Why? They are to busy being the top card for all PC gaming. ATI, which will be called AMD if you read the merger on ATI.com, will still be in Macs because that is what they run and what QE is designed around. I mean if they did that change, then what about the iMacs and MBPs that people bought with ATI in them? After a while no replacements for broken cards? No. Think guys. ATI -> AMD is here to stay in Macs.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I'm sure apple could just as easily adapt QE for nVidia (they've future proofed for harder transitions ;) ) but that probably won't happen until the next round of chipsets are designed by intel for apple (assuming apple don't turn to AMD for a few chipsets in future...)

Link to comment
Share on other sites

The Mac Pro is officially available in store. The main post in this thread has been updated with the new specs. I can't believe how cheap the mode with the dual 2.6Ghz woodcrest is. Affordable high-end Macs? The world is gonna end. o_o

Link to comment
Share on other sites

 Share

×
×
  • Create New...