Wwdc

[Hrvoje Simic]

Mac Pro update, new GPU's...

Mac Book Pro update...

New displays...


What are your predictions and wishes ?

[Graeme Nattress]

Better food in the canteen? Doubt it though.

Graeme

[casey warren]

I am wishing for new displays and new Macpros......Im done with the G5's...bring on the G6's baby!

[casey warren]

http://www.everymac.com...could be used to help predict when Apple will release new stuff, based on what dates they usually release things....

[Jeff Kilgroe]

I'm not as optimistic...

WWDC doesn't typically see major updates or product releases. Intel hasn't released their updated mobile chipsets or faster mobile CPUs. Don't plan on any updates to the Macbook, it was just bumped a couple weeks ago. A CPU bump in the Mac Pro is possible since the 2.66GHz chip is shipping in small quantities now. But my feeling is that Apple will do a bigger spec bump within the next couple months (I'm thinking August, maybe) when we'll see the updated mobile chipset and new GPU options.

As for the Mac Pro, same thing there... Nothing new from Intel, what is Apple going to update to? Apple already had the 45 day exclusive on the 3GHz Core2 Quad chips that were launched just before NAB. New GPUs would definitely be nice and are desperately needed, but my guess is they'll wait. Right now Apple wants nothing to interfere with iPhone in any way, even unrelated products and they're putting everything they have into updates to Leopard and iPhone, more on the latter.

I bet we see updated displays and GPUs as well as updated specs for the Mac Pro in September. I'd bet on the Siggraph show...

Of course, Apple keeps secrets better than anyone, so I could be entirely wrong. Just like how they pulled the 3GHz quad-cores out of nowhere. They even managed to keep Intel quiet on that one -- how the @@@@ did they pull that off?

[Charles Perkins]

I'm not as optimistic...

WWDC doesn't typically see major updates or product releases.
yes it does, last year saw the introduction on the Mac pro, and the year before that they announced that they were transitioning to intel.


Intel hasn't released their updated mobile chipsets or faster mobile CPUs.
the santa rosa platform for laptops has been released, and it still isn't in the mac book pro. this is an expected update. some rumors think it will come as soon as Tuesday (5/6/07) while other think it will come at wwdc.

i hope they do something to the mac pro, i'm about to buy one and i can wait a few days to wwdc.

[dalemccready]

True Chas, Santa Rosa is out and not in macbookpros as of yet, and neither are LED displays which are out elsewhere. Also I believe there is a successor out/released for the CPUs in the Mac Pro?

[Jeff Kilgroe]

Not to pick too many nits, but "Santa Rosa" is/was the development name for the 4th gen Centrino spec -- "Centrino Duo II". This is just a minimum platform spec and marketing label that notebook makers can adhere to and if they qualify, they can license the Centrino marketing badge from Intel, which Apple isn't going to do (put a Centrino badge on the Macbook [Pro].

The key components that everyone was waiting on for "Santa Rosa" were the i965E mobile "Crestline" chipset and 802.11n. Obviously 802.11n has been available for several months now in final form. The i965E chipset only started shipping to integrators on the 9th along with the release of the platform spec. Intel has temporarily waived the requirements of the i965E chipset and of the NAND cache for Santa Rosa / Centrino Duo II labeling for the time being -- until production reaches quantity and the NAND cache options mature. Only a few obscure i965E offerings are starting to trickle in just now. It's possible Apple will have an offering in time for WWDC, but I wouldn't bank on it -- from the time of chipset to release to actual shipping of a new product, Apple and most other large vendors are usually 2 to 3 months out. So far the only Apple exception to this has been the 3GHz quad core Xeon chips that Apple got the temporary exclusive on. i965E isn't expected to reach quantity production volumes until mid to late June... So unless the production lull is due to Apple buying up initial runs, I doubt we'll see them shipping by WWDC. Possible that they could announce by then though. Anyway, not trying to be a big nay-sayer or anything, I want to see them updated soon.

It's obvious that a Macbook Pro update is coming soon though. The 2.66GHz C2D chips are available (although somewhat limited) and Apple didn't offer a spec bump on the Macbook Pro when they did the CPU bump on the Macbook a couple weeks ago.

As for the Mac Pro, I'd love to see it updated. But the Mac Pro isn't going to get an update at WWDC. Sorry. WWDC isn't a likely place for Apple to start revamping GPU options and I doubt they will until they have a new Mac Pro to put them into anyway. We're not expecting the new desktop/workstation chipsets from Intel until late July, so I would still look for the Mac Pro update this fall at Siggraph.

Oh, and Chas... The Mac Pro was not released at WWDC, it released a week prior to the conference. :P WWDC '05 is when Apple announced they had contracted with Intel (after Intel won the bid over AMD in Feb '05). WWDC '05 is also when they first showed OSX running on an x86 platform to the public. Apple announced they would be transitioning to the x86 architecture from PPC back at MacWorld '04.

Once again, sorry to pick nits. I know I'm not very optimistic, but this point of view is usually more accurate. :(

[Júlio Taubkin]

Yeah, what about the new displays job talked about in the "greener apple" letter? It could be the time for those... Or maybe in the latter end of the year, when the new macpros arrive... Should we expect 4K displays? I hope so!

[Jeff Kilgroe]

Yeah, what about the new displays job talked about in the "greener apple" letter? It could be the time for those... Or maybe in the latter end of the year, when the new macpros arrive... Should we expect 4K displays? I hope so!

I'm sure we'll get new displays this year. 4K would definitely be nice -- they have to have something in the works. After all, that's what a lot of the resolution independent features of Leopard are all about. Samsung and LG are the primary display panel providers to Apple (for now) and they both have LED backlight models ready for mass production that range from smaller notebook sizes up to 36". LG has an LED backlight 34" 3840x2400 QWUXGA display that is supposedly available. Not quite 4K, but that sounds pretty darn nice to me.

[Júlio Taubkin]

LG has an LED backlight 34" 3840x2400 QWUXGA display that is supposedly available. Not quite 4K, but that sounds pretty darn nice to me.


We're getting close... :D

[Chris Forbes]

I'd settle for a display that can be color calibrated "blue only" button on computer monitor anyone. 107% of NTSC, HDMI ports, oh I'd be in heaven.

[Jeff Kilgroe]

LOL. Apple pulls another rabbit out of it's hat. More exclusive deals with Intel and new MBP's shipping. Unfreakinbelieveable. But cool as hell. :D

Doesn't surprise me, but I didn't see this one coming this soon. And before WWDC.

[Hrvoje Simic]

watching macroumorslive.com ?

[Hrvoje Simic]

Apple store : "We'll be back soon"

[Jeff Kilgroe]

Interesting that the store is down...

I'm guessing we're going to see Mac Pro price adjustment and maybe some new HD options. I don't want to be too optimistic. Oh, and those new iMac's with the new i965E chipset and support for 4GB+ are due any day now.

[Hrvoje Simic]

New looks online...

Leopard, Iphone and Safari on Windows...no hardware news yet.

[Jeff Kilgroe]

Doesn't look like there will be for now. Too bad. They desperately need to update the Mac Mini and iMac. Not that I'll be buying either of those. I keep hoping for a small spec bump or price adjustment on the Mac Pro, but I don't expect any major updates for a couple more months - when Intel ships it's new chipsets.

[Hrvoje Simic]

Ati 2900s with 1GB coming this week...announced at Computex...who knows...

[Cory Schulthies]

There is no way that they would have announced a 4k display with the current line up of video cards available. sure they have a nearly two thousand dollar option that might do it(quadro fx 4500 don't know too much about this card so cant say for sure). They need to bite the bullet and support Nvidia 8800 gtx, or better. Those of us who don't do a lot of 3d animation or modeling don't really need an expensive quadro fx. I was surprised that they didn't announce better video cards. I mean, they announced that ea will be making more games available for mac osx.

So basically if you see apple announce that they are going to start selling competent video cards, you will know that a 4k may be around the bend.

Some thing tells me though that dell or samsung will come out with one first.

[Júlio Taubkin]

They won't release new cars until the next mac pro bumps. It could be a complete remodel, with new cases and hopefully new displays. Since leopard will be ready by october, and with this new return to mac games, we should expect some overhauls by then...

My .02

[Cory Schulthies]

acho que a paulista esta certo. (I think the guy from sao paulo is right). There is alot of time before. leopard is released, we may see some hardware changes by then. how strange mac and games, I never think mac and games. this is one of the reasons why I use a PC. another is that adobe software doesnt work all that well on a mac. premiere crashes a lot.

[Gavin Greenwalt]

Yay now PC users can feel the pain of Safari for themselves!

Why on earth hasn't Apple just given up on Safari and put all their money into Firefox development...

[Jonathan L. Bowen]

Hmm, I don't know, maybe because Safari is more than twice as fast as FireFox? And maybe because it's a lot better? I don't know, could have something to do with that ;)

Sorry but I have no idea what you're talking about. The only pain PC users ever felt is the pain of using the world's worst of pretty much everything -- worst operating system ever made, Winblows, worst browser ever made, IE, and basically the worst possible user experience of everything.

And yes, 13 years of using PCs, 2 years of using Macs, I'm very bitter about my PC experiences. I use REAL computers now, i.e ones without viruses that don't crash constantly and that don't have constant problems doing very simple tasks. From a company that actually innovates, doesn't just copy everything already done before by its rival (Windows was a cheap knockoff of Mac's graphical user interface, then Vista is a really bad knockoff of OS X, only it's still not even close to as good as Tiger, let alone Leopard, so it's really a joke for everyone involved how a multi, multi-billion dollar company arrives at such a terrible operating system).

[Lucas Wilson]

Hmm, I don't know, maybe because Safari is more than twice as fast as FireFox? And maybe because it's a lot better? I don't know, could have something to do with that ;)

Sorry but I have no idea what you're talking about. The only pain PC users ever felt is the pain of using the world's worst of pretty much everything -- worst operating system ever made, Winblows, worst browser ever made, IE, and basically the worst possible user experience of everything.

And yes, 13 years of using PCs, 2 years of using Macs, I'm very bitter about my PC experiences. I use REAL computers now, i.e ones without viruses that don't crash constantly and that don't have constant problems doing very simple tasks. From a company that actually innovates, doesn't just copy everything already done before by its rival (Windows was a cheap knockoff of Mac's graphical user interface, then Vista is a really bad knockoff of OS X, only it's still not even close to as good as Tiger, let alone Leopard, so it's really a joke for everyone involved how a multi, multi-billion dollar company arrives at such a terrible operating system).

Another platform war? Geez...

There's good and bad with every platform. I have both Mac and PC at home and work professionally with both Mac and PC. Rolling back a graphics driver is my perfect example of how both OSs have a long way to go.

Windows: A whole bunch of clicking around and multiple windows in multiple places with at least a reboot or two. Several places where things can go wrong, requiring more windows and more reboots.

OSX: You can't. Drivers are built into the core. Only way to do it is to also roll back the OS and lose all the benefits that the new OS spin brought.

Also... the Mac GUI was also a "knockoff" of the work done at Xerox PARC. The Xerox 8010 (1981) was the first commercial computer with a GUI. A lot of the early PARC engineers actually went to work for Apple and helped develop the GUI for the first Mac (1984.) Innovation is rarely done in a vacuum...

Lucas
-----
ASSIMILATE, Inc.
LA, CA, USA

[Júlio Taubkin]

I kinda like safari, but honestly, I'd rather use it on my mac...

mac at work, pc at home, and pretty satisfied with both.

[Jeff Kilgroe]

I agree with Lucas -- I use both platforms and both have their good and bad. As for Apple, they're not as innovative as they get credit for. Most of their run-away successes, including the iPod, were just their entry into an existing market. Apple does innovate on occasion, but what they do better than anyone else is taking an existing concept and polishing it up for the masses.

[Cory Schulthies]

I wouldn't mind safari so much if it just responded to my forward and back buttons on my Microsoft wireless intellimouse explorer. Its strange to actually have to click back. honestly Id buy a mac, because i'd have more software options (being able to run final cut on osx and adobe software on vista (and not have it crash every 5 seconds)). also I like the way they look nice and sleek. The problem is that their hardware is sooo over priced. i could build my own system , and always have upgrade options for about half the price with better components.

[Nick Shaw]

I wouldn't mind safari so much if it just responded to my forward and back buttons on my Microsoft wireless intellimouse explorer.

The forward and back buttons on my wired Intellimouse certainly work fine in Safari. Have you got the Microsoft mouse driver installed?

[Jeff Kilgroe]

The problem is that their hardware is sooo over priced. i could build my own system , and always have upgrade options for about half the price with better components.

With Apple's latest offerings, their prices aren't bad at all. Especially considering the quality level of their hardware. It's very difficult to build a PC with this level of components for much less than what Apple charges. And you get their OS, support, etc... You're not out the time of building a system.

I still build all my own PCs, have for years -- even used to run a computer shop that did custom workstations and gaming systems. These days I don't do it for cost savings, I do it to get the exact components and config that I want since most PC vendors don't have the same idea I do about what I want. A Mac is far more reasonably priced than buying something from a PC company like BOXX. I've found that the time I save by not pricing out all the best part deals and then screwing around with building a system is far more valuable than the small bit of money saved on the parts.

Just don't buy your RAM and hard drives from Apple and you'll be OK -- except in the case of the Macbook [Pro]. They have them priced so it makes little sense to do otherwise, especially given the surgery that must be performed to swap a hard drive on the MBP.

Anyway, long winded reply there, but I have to roll my eyes at the "Apple is overpriced" argument. My computers make me money. And lately I make a larger return on my Mac systems. Not bad for a system that has a total cost no more than 10% higher than a PC built of top of the line hardware and is up and running in less time.

I still wouldn't consider Mac hardware for render nodes and I think their XServe line, especially the outdated RAID systems, are grossly overpriced, but that's a bit different market. XServe systems are still priced cheaper than competing systems from IBM and Sun and IMO, the Apple 1U XServe is built a lot nicer.

[Jeff Kilgroe]

The forward and back buttons on my wired Intellimouse certainly work fine in Safari. Have you got the Microsoft mouse driver installed?

Yeah, probably a driver or config issue. I've got a Logitech S530 keyboard and mouse on my G5 quad and really like it. One of the displays and the KB/mouse are connected to a PC, but the numerical pad and special buttons don't work on the PC. :ranting2: Logitech just needs to release the driver already, which was supposed to be out 2 months ago.