New Macs

[Keith Alan Morris]

Anyone have a guess on when the new Macs will be coming out?

Then I can get today's version with the price drop. :ninja:

[Mark L. Pederson]

I don't think you will see new towers until 2008.

[J. Bernard Vallon]

No macs for a while maybe, but what is interesting to me is the new Pro Raid controller card. lets you put a 4 drive raid 5 system internally in your tower for $1k. That changes my workflow.

[Jeff Kilgroe]

We won't see new Mac towers until Intel ships their new chipsets and CPUs. Early 2008 is a good bet.

The new Mac RAID card is nothing special... Several third-party options that do just that for less money have been available since, well, a long time ago.

[J. Bernard Vallon]

Jeff,
Do those third party options allow for an internal raid 5? All the raid 5 controller cards i've seen are for external multidrive enclosures, usually esata or FC.

[Andrew Benz]

Anyone have a guess on when the new Macs will be coming out?

Then I can get today's version with the price drop. :ninja:

Next Tuesday, it's always next tuesday!:biggrin: (macrumors.com joke)

[Jeff Kilgroe]

Jeff,
Do those third party options allow for an internal raid 5? All the raid 5 controller cards i've seen are for external multidrive enclosures, usually esata or FC.

Good question... I was under the impression that some do, but looking at a few of them, it seems that they don't. Adaptec has PCI-X RAID controllers for PowerMac G5 systems that support RAID-5, 6 and various configurations. But none of their PCI-Express cards support the Mac Pro or the PCI-E G5 systems. MAXupgrades has a Mac Pro RAID system, but it just does RAID-0. I thought the Sonnet TEMPO E4i (internal 4-port SATA II RAID PCI-E, MacPro, PCI-E G5) did RAID-5, but it doesn't... Only RAID 0, 1, and 1+0. Hmmm...

[Jeff Kilgroe]

Next Tuesday, it's always next tuesday!:biggrin: (macrumors.com joke)

Powerbook G5! :whistling:

[PenGun]

No macs for a while maybe, but what is interesting to me is the new Pro Raid controller card. lets you put a 4 drive raid 5 system internally in your tower for $1k. That changes my workflow.

This intrigues me. Any particular reason you would not just slap in say a HighPoint RAID controller, 'bout $300 right now. I have trouble understanding a $1000 RAID controller, a 4 port yet.

[Jeff Kilgroe]

Arrgh... I forgot about the HighPoint card even though I recommended it in another thread the other day. LOL. It does RAID-5 and various other configurations. I know of one other too, but I can't get it to pop off the top of my head at the moment.

[Poi Boy]

I'm not giving up hope yet on a new tower before Christmas...maybe with the new OS release. Jingle bell baby !
Aloha
-A

[J. Bernard Vallon]

http://www.highpoint-tech.com/USA/series_3000.htm

interesting. it doesnt say anything about an internal raid 5 in a mac pro. Would that be possible, or would you need the apple one? I'm interested in being able to have a few less cables and a few less towers.

[Jeff Kilgroe]

Says RAID 5 or 6 right on the page you linked. ;)

Since you can install up to 6 drives in a Mac Pro and still keep one optical bay, I think I would use one or two drives (two in a RAID-0) for a boot/application drive. And then the remaining 4 or 5 drives in a RAID 5 or 6 array.

My one thought on this for the Mac Pro is cooling... The Mac Pro runs notoriously hot and Apple has even had to create custom heat spreaders for their FB-DIMMs -- most third-party RAM struggles in the Mac Pro due to heat unless they also use Apple-approved heat spreaders or cooling systems.

Poi Boy, it could happen. But I would say the ball is in Intel's court rather than Apple's. You can bet Apple is currently evaluating different designs that use the upcoming chipsets and CPUs and as soon as the new hardware begins to roll off the line, Apple will offer new systems.

[C.H.Haskell]

I usually keep my eye on macrumors (http://buyersguide.macrumors.com/#Mac_Pro) website buyers guide and perhaps most of you know of this site but so far I found it generally accurate on predicting release dates for all mac hardware and even suggest to hold off when something is about to be updated.

Hope this helps...

[C.H.Haskell]

Sorry, click Here for macrumors. (http://buyersguide.macrumors.com/#Mac_Pro)

[Keith Alan Morris]

moderators, is there a way to get links underlined so we know when people are linking on this forum? see haskells post, two above...

[Poi Boy]

Jeff, I'm thinking there are tweaks they can make without going to a new chipset and maybe throw in blue ray and new OS and you have something new to sell for Christmas. Wishfull thinking here, You are probably right.
Aloha
-A