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Mac OS X 10.7.3 to support AMD "Tahiti" graphics cards

Ed

By Ed

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The latest beta of Mac OS X 10.7.3 is reported to feature support for the next generation of AMD's graphics cards, named "Tahiti" and forming part of the new wave of 28nm GPU chips codenamed "Southern Island".

 

Scheduled to arrive in time for Intel's Sandy Bridge Xeon, which is expected to arrive in the first quarter of 2012, AMD's high-end Tahiti graphics cards use 28nm chips and replace the existing HD 6970 and HD 6950.

 

The cards are expected to be used in a forthcoming update to Apple's professional-level Mac Pro, which hasn't seen a proper product update for over year. Indeed, the mid-2010 Mac Pro 5,1 still ships with the ATI Radeon HD 5770, so an update is long overdue.

 

It has, however, been rumoured for a while that the Mac Pro may be due to be axed as Apple's bottomline continues to be buoyed by strong notebook, tablet and iPhone sales, and becomes less of a desktop computer manufacturer and more of a mobile Internet device company. With the advent of thunderbolt, which provides as much data bandwidth as PCI cards, it would seem logical that the Mac Pro eventually gets phased out, especially with iMacs being adopted by professionals instead of costly Mac Pro's.

 

Of course, if you're still desperate for a powerful and cutting-edge Mac you could always hack your custom built PC ;o)

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Squires101

What are the implications for the Hackintosh community if Mac Pros are axed? Can we wave bye bye to support for most new graphics cards? Anyone else worried?

Apple has been moving towards a universal OS (iOS) and focus on mobile devices such as laptop, iPhones etc.

So I believe its a question of when are the Mac Pros are gonna be axed - although for the foreseeable future I think they are still gonna make 'em just support and updated h/w is gonna get less and less as the years role by.

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attilao

Apple is on it's way and doing the right things on the right time. OS X based Mac-Pro-Desktop-Server line is ready for giant leap towards with the forthcoming nano technology which is around the corner. Thunderbolt will be the another industry milestone that apple-intel provided. We will continue to benefit and enjoy from a powerful and stable systems more than ever.

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TH3L4UGH1NGM4N

Axing the Pro would limit their ability on using certain desktop line CPUs and GPUs as well. My question is if Apple is ready to do that.. Axing the Pro is not the problem it's the fact that they can't shove the same parts into their current iMac line without obvious modifications.

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