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Updates: Mac Pro and iMac

jrdonnaruma

jrdonnaruma

Gawd
Joined
Oct 1, 2008
Messages
687
Apple announced the updates to the iMac and Mac Pro a couple days ago. The Mac Pro now can be configured with 2 hexacore intel xeons, as well as up to a pair of 1GB ATI HD 5870s, and 4 256GB ssds.

The iMac has been updated to be entirely of the Core ix series processors, the 21.5" can have a core i3 to core i5. The 27 can handle dual core i5 to a quad core i7. The graphics have been updated to all ati HD 4/5 series, and the highest end one if a 1GB 5750 cards.

The 27" can be equipped with a 256GB ssd as well as a 2TB hdd
 
In the desktops at least, which is a bit odd, considering the performance advantage of nvidia over ati right now.
 
I didn't see ANY nVidia parts in the line up, maybe I missed something. When these systems were being designed however AMD was way out in front so this actually makes sense to me.

Edit: Never mind, they still have nVidia in the MBP.
 
I wonder if we'll see new Macbooks and Macbook Pros with ATi GPUs. I'd like to see an MBP with an HD5830 or similar mobile chip. Even if it does come out, I probably won't upgrade though (I've had my MBP for 1-2 months).
 
jrdonnaruma said:
In the desktops at least, which is a bit odd, considering the performance advantage of nvidia over ati right now.
Click to expand...

No it's the heat. iMac's don't have the greatest ventilation or air movement at all. The last thing they need is having to dissipate extra heat.
 
I'd like to be the first to point out that the new iMac does not use the desktop 5750, but rather it uses the 5850 mobility GDDR5.
 
prne10 said:
I'd like to be the first to point out that the new iMac does not use the desktop 5750, but rather it uses the 5850 mobility GDDR5.
Click to expand...

It might use the 5750 mobile chip, but it definitely doesn't use the 5850. The tech specs page on the website details what they use. Says nothing about a 5850.

The Mac Pro uses the 5870 though, maybe you were confusing the two...
 
jrdonnaruma said:
It might use the 5750 mobile chip, but it definitely doesn't use the 5850. The tech specs page on the website details what they use. Says nothing about a 5850.

The Mac Pro uses the 5870 though, maybe you were confusing the two...
Click to expand...

No, it most certainly uses the HD 5850 mobility chip. I saw the GPU-Z Screencaps that someone posted on macrumors from their new iMac. Apple always uses the mobility chips on the iMac because of the low power requirements, and they always rename them.
 
Just saw that forum post. Interesting, and not surprising, since they are cooler. You were right then.
 
Not surprising. I have a 27" i7 iMac and the back of the casing gets HOT..like, too hot to keep your hand on it.
 
Hey guys just wondering... which of the announced Mac Pros would be a good setup for a photographer/videographer, and web designer. I went through only Macbook pros (was traveling) up until now. While iMaces are nice, the display is not good for photography, and I already have a good monitor. I want to get the best bang for my buck and not 12 cores lol.
 
You guys will be happy with ATI graphics especially those who are in Digital Design and can appreciate good stable graphics from their Mac.
 
ghostchild said:
Hey guys just wondering... which of the announced Mac Pros would be a good setup for a photographer/videographer, and web designer. I went through only Macbook pros (was traveling) up until now. While iMaces are nice, the display is not good for photography, and I already have a good monitor. I want to get the best bang for my buck and not 12 cores lol.
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Just curious as to why you think the current iMac displays aren't good for photography? They are high end ips displays with led backlighting. The iMac would be great bang for buck, and even if you don't like the display, just attach your good display to it and run dual screens, with the important color replication work on the display you prefer.
 
jrdonnaruma said:
Just curious as to why you think the current iMac displays aren't good for photography? They are high end ips displays with led backlighting. The iMac would be great bang for buck, and even if you don't like the display, just attach your good display to it and run dual screens, with the important color replication work on the display you prefer.
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They are good displays but they are no where near high end. Those kinds of displays cost many thousands of dollars. I'm not slamming Macs at all I'm simply saying that Mac stuff is just good CONSUMER grade, not high end hardware. Even in the Mac Pro you're just getting the 5870, the pro cards cost a hell of a lot more like the Fire VL and Quadro. One low end Quadro costs almost TWICE as much as my 3 480s.
 
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heatlesssun said:
They are good displays but they are no where near high end. Those kinds of displays cost many thousands of dollars. I'm not slamming Macs at all I'm simply saying that Mac stuff is just good CONSUMER grade, not high end hardware. Even in the Mac Pro you're just getting the 5870, the pro cards cost a hell of a lot more like the Fire VL and Quadro. One low end Quadro costs almost TWICE as much as my 3 480s.
Click to expand...

true, but he wants "bang for his buck" and not "12 cores" so I think the $1000 workstation cards and $2K+ monitors are not something we are probably working with here.

If you already have a monitor, you could get a base mac pro or use it as an external of an imac.
 
ryken said:
true, but he wants "bang for his buck" and not "12 cores" so I think the $1000 workstation cards and $2K+ monitors are not something we are probably working with here.

If you already have a monitor, you could get a base mac pro or use it as an external of an imac.
Click to expand...

Fair enough. One thing I don't get in Mac Pros are the GPU offerings. A 5770 in a workstation class machine?:confused: That's what I have running in my backup PC and I never in a million years would've considered it anything that someone would want in a workstation, presumably to do high-end graphics work. I consider it a barely capable gaming GPU let alone something I'd want in a workstation that start at $2500. Why doesn't Apple offer the FirePro?
 
no imac display is better than my NEC calibrated display. while the imac is ips the glossy screen and over saturated color is its biggest downfall for most pro photographers. :( thats why im looking into a mac pro or a jam packed UMBP 15......
 
Well the cheapest Mac Pro starts at $2500 with a quad-core at 2.66 GHz and a 5770. Those are pretty marginal specs for a lot image processing. I'd imagine the you'd want at least a single hexacore or dual quads. For still image processing the GPU probably isn't going to be of big impact unless you have software that offloads processing to the GPU.
 
heatlesssun said:
Fair enough. One thing I don't get in Mac Pros are the GPU offerings. A 5770 in a workstation class machine?:confused: That's what I have running in my backup PC and I never in a million years would've considered it anything that someone would want in a workstation, presumably to do high-end graphics work. I consider it a barely capable gaming GPU let alone something I'd want in a workstation that start at $2500. Why doesn't Apple offer the FirePro?
Click to expand...

Well if you really want something... http://store.apple.com/us/product/T...fnode=MTY1NDA5OQ&mco=MTA4MzU2Nzg&s=topSellers
 
jrdonnaruma said:
Apple announced the updates to the iMac and Mac Pro a couple days ago. The Mac Pro now can be configured with 2 hexacore intel xeons, as well as up to a pair of 1GB ATI HD 5870s, and 4 256GB ssds.

The iMac has been updated to be entirely of the Core ix series processors, the 21.5" can have a core i3 to core i5. The 27 can handle dual core i5 to a quad core i7. The graphics have been updated to all ati HD 4/5 series, and the highest end one if a 1GB 5750 cards.

The 27" can be equipped with a 256GB ssd as well as a 2TB hdd
Click to expand...

Were did you see the updates for the Mac Pro? All they have in the Apple Store on the website is the Quad Core options. I don't see Hex Cores anywhere.
 
They announced the upgrade to it, it's coming in august. The 27" display is coming in sept.
 
ghostchild said:
no imac display is better than my NEC calibrated display. while the imac is ips the glossy screen and over saturated color is its biggest downfall for most pro photographers. :( thats why im looking into a mac pro or a jam packed UMBP 15......
Click to expand...

heatlesssun said:
Fair enough. One thing I don't get in Mac Pros are the GPU offerings. A 5770 in a workstation class machine?:confused: That's what I have running in my backup PC and I never in a million years would've considered it anything that someone would want in a workstation, presumably to do high-end graphics work. I consider it a barely capable gaming GPU let alone something I'd want in a workstation that start at $2500. Why doesn't Apple offer the FirePro?
Click to expand...

I didn't say it was better, I said it was a good high end display. It's far better than the MacBook pro displays, which still are not ips displays. And the iMac costs less. Ontop of that you can still calibrate the imac displays if you are not happy with the default profile.

As for the 5770, and 5870 in the Mac pro, the only benefit of getting a workstation class gpu is the driver support for OpenGL and larger memory space. Hardware spec wise, the cards are identical. But guess what, in OS X, every driver supports OpenGL. Because that's all OS X uses for graphics. Also, the only other benefit is the OpenCL support, but, that's built into the OS and every gpu in a Mac supports it, due to e drivers. So, using th gnu as a gpgpu in os x doesn't require a high end firegl or quadro, Where the only real difference is the memory buffer.

And the 5770 and 5780 are very capable gaming cards, one on one, they are fully comparable with their nvidia counter-parts. The only time they start getting beat badly is in sli/crossfire configurations, due to the better scaling of nvidia's sli
 
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