PowerMac Says Goodbye

[Jeff Sayre]

I'm reading macrumors.com live webcast of Steve Jobs WWDC keynote and he has just announced that the PowerMac is a thing of the past. Here are the stats being initially reported on the new Intel-based MacPro workstations:

- two optical drives
- all dual core based on core 2 duo woodcrest processors (basically the Xeon chip)
- 64 bit, 128 bit vector engine, large 4 MB shared L2 cache, up to 3 Ghz
- every Mac Pro gets 2 of them
- 1.6 to 2.1x faster than the G5 quad
- less cooling in box room for 4 hard drives
- up to 2 TB of internal storage
- design of case stays the same; inside, entirely new
- All the new MacPro workstations start shipping today.

This is just the basics. It appears that pricing will be very competitive.

Engadget is also covering the keynote and has more information and pictures:

http://www.engadget.com/2006/08/07/l...-jobs-keynote/

[Evan C. King]

The 256mb better be for the graphics card!

ok it is, thank god!

[Jeff Sayre]

Good question, Evan. You are right in that assumption.

Look at this link and it should clarify your concern:

http://www.blogsmithmedia.com/www.en...8/dsc_0433.jpg

The basic config comes with 1GB of 667 MHz FB-DIMM. Overall, the basic config is a good deal for the price.

[Jeff Sayre]

Apple's stores are back online afer Job's keynote. Here is the direct link to the new MacPros: http://www.apple.com/macpro/

[Michael Struthers]

There's really only one reason for this machine.

Editing of HD video. FCP needs to step it up now...

[Tim Brown]

Hey Michael,

With all due respect, I don't know what you mean. FCP has had support for HD since version 4.

[Steven Davis]

Can they squish that down into a laptop? :}

[Greg Boston]

There's a sneek-peek feature tour now available on Apple's main website. Some really nifty stuff. One of my favorites has to be the support for RSS feeds inside the Mail application. Headlines to your inbox the moment they become available. Nice!

-gb-

[Jeff Sayre]

I agree, Greg. The mail client seems like it has been greatly improved. I also like the DashCode application that will allow users to create Dashboard Widgets with a lot less coding.

There are a slew of nice new features in Leopard. I was hoping that the release date would be yet this year, but it looks like Apple is keeping to their spring 2007 promise.

[Greg Boston]

Originally Posted by Jeff Sayre

I was hoping that the release date would be yet this year, but it looks like Apple is keeping to their spring 2007 promise.

Well, judging from the better than expected timeline of Intel transition, Jobs could very well show up to Macworld Expo in January and tell us that Leopard is available. You know he'll have something up his sleeve to announce. That's all I want to say before we get into Area 51 territory.

-gb-

[Jeff Sayre]

That's true. I also see the UFOs circling overhead so we should leave any further speculations to the rumor sites. :)

So, is anyone thinking about purchasing a new MacPro any time soon? Have you already placed your order? There has been significant lag time in loading Apple's web store pages. I thought that was interesting.

[Zack Birlew]

I don't know much about the WWDC event, is this the only announcement Apple will be doing? If so, that's pretty weak. I'd like to see the other Mac models get upgraded to Xeons too, or at least the faster Core 2 Duo's.

[Wes Vasher]

Originally Posted by Jack Felis

I'd like to see the other Mac models get upgraded to Xeons too.

What other models? iMacs? Minis? Are you joking?

The iMac and MacBook Pro will probably get Conroe shortly, within the next couple of months.

[Heath McKnight]

I am glad I bought my Power Mac G5 Quad, just in case there are any issues with the Intel beast. Of course, I buy a new Mac every 2-3 years, so the next one will be the next-next-gen Mac Pro!

heath

[Heath McKnight]

ps-But did you notice that the lowest-end is STILL a 2.0 ghz chip(s)? Apple hasn't moved past 2.0 ghz with the Power Mac/Mac Pro line since 2003!

heath