[X4U] July 27 Hardware Announcements!

[Zane H. Healy]

At 6:01 PM -0700 7/27/10, zapcat wrote:
>On Jul 27, 2010, at 5:16 PM, Zane H. Healy wrote:
>
>>It's been over 510 days, and honestly after that wait I'm feeling a 
>>little underwhelmed. :-(  I'll be getting a new Mac Pro (or a 
>>refurb), I can't wait any longer, but I had hoped for more, and I 
>>wasn't expecting a price jump on the 8-core model. :-(
>
>well..my guess is that they need to squeeze out as much profit from 
>"Nehalems" as they can before obsoleting them with some new chip.

I've had some time to do some more research, as near as I can tell 
here are the changes.

The CPU's (duh!)
The ability to use DDR3 1333Ghz SDRAM (it can also use the 1066Ghz 
RAM of the 2009 systems)
The Video Cards

The 2009 Mac Pro has the Turbo Boost CPU technology.

As near as I can tell everything else remains the same.  I have to 
wonder if the Motherboard has been updated.  Is this simply something 
thrown out the door at those of us complain loudly while they wait 
for Lightpeak?  Or a further sign they are giving up on those of us 
that feel the need for this class of system?

>If you decide to go with a refurb 2009, I am pretty sure you'll be 
>happy. IIRC, you do a lot of Photoshop work. I do, too, plus video 
>and 3D and I don't find myself wanting for speed, especially in apps 
>which are designed to harness multiple cores.

Yep, I'm in desperate need of power to process my photo's.  This will 
be even more true once I get a scanner that can give me good 
high-quality images from my film (35mm, 120, and 4x5).  I don't see 
me moving beyond 12MP digital for a couple more years though, but 
that could change if the right camera (or camera back) came along.

>Which is another hairball...Adobe likes to get its money for each 
>upgrade along the way. Not all companies do that, but Adobe does, 
>so..ok.

I don't remember this when I went from CS1 to CS3 (I typically skip 
an upgrade cycle.  At least it isn't as bad as FileMaker Pro, I'll 
flat out have to buy a new version.  Of course it will be my third 
upgrade since I first bought 2.1 in 1995! :-)  IIRC, I'm running 
FileMaker Pro 5.5 right now, and I bought that upgrade for my G4/450.

>Are all of adobe's apps multiple core savvy? Are they getting less buggy?
>
>ouchie-woo! I know that mega-software corpz don't like to talk much 
>about how buggy their warez are..

No, but one would think they'd talk about how multi-core aware they 
are, so if they're not, you can bet they aren't.

>At any rate, I will raise a frosty beverage in your direction when 
>the day arrives and you receive your new machine, Zane.

Thanks!  Though unlike I had planned, I'm not in the computer store 
as I had planned.  I'm trying to make an informed, and logical 
choice.  Well, that and I won't have time for a while to deal with a 
new system. :-(

Zane


-- 
| Zane H. Healy                    | UNIX Systems Administrator |
| healyzh at aracnet.com              | OpenVMS Enthusiast         |
|                                  | Photographer               |
+----------------------------------+----------------------------+
|                     My flickr Photostream                     |
|          http://www.flickr.com/photos/33848088@N03/           |