This Week's Sponsor:

Kolide

Ensure that if a device isn’t secure it can’t access your apps.  It’s Device Trust for Okta.


Posts tagged with "mac pro"

Apple: “New” Mac Pro Is No Longer New

Apple: “New” Mac Pro Is No Longer New

As noticed by @setteBIT earlier today, Apple appears to have changed its mind in regards to putting a “New” label on its online Store next to the “new” Mac Pro that was silently updated yesterday. As shown in the screenshot above, only the MacBook Air and MacBook Pro lines are now indicated as “New” (recently updated) to customers; yesterday, as MacRumors points out and we noticed prior to writing about the update, Apple had decided to put a New tag next to Mac Pro in spite of its minimal hardware changes.

It’s not just about the wild rumors that had been circulating ahead of WWDC – the “new” Mac Pro really isn’t much of an upgrade after two years. As Marco Arment wrote:

After two years, the Mac Pro was “updated” today, sort of: now we can choose slightly faster two-year-old CPUs at the top end, and the other two-year-old CPU options are cheaper now. That’s about it.

No Xeon E5 CPUs, no USB 3, no Thunderbolt. They’re even shipping the same two-year-old graphics cards. Same motherboard, slightly different CPU options from 2010. That’s it.

Below, a comparison image we posted yesterday to compare the “new” Mac Pro to the “old” Mac Pro.

Official Mac Pro specs are available here.

Permalink

Apple Silently Updates The Mac Pro

While presenting new MacBook Pro models with Retina display as their main stage act, Apple silently upgraded their Mac Pro line, which waited for an update for two years now. The basic model now features a 3.2 GHz Quad-Core Xeon processor, 6GB of RAM, with the rest of the specs remaining the same, priced at $2499, just like the old model.

Apple discontinued the 8-Core model. The new 12-Core model features two 2.4GHz 6-Core Xeons, twice as much RAM (12GB), with the rest of the specs remaining the same as well. Due to the slightly less powerful processor, Apple managed to immensely drop the price from $4999 to just $3799 for this new high-end Mac Pro model.

The Mac Pro Server with OS X Lion Server also got a small update: for the same $2999 price it now features a 3.2 GHz Quad-Core Xeon instead of a 2.8GHz model.

Check out a comparison with the old Mac Pro below.


Updated MacBook Airs and Mac Pros to Launch Alongside Lion

If your little hearts just can’t handle the anticipation in waiting for this week’s presume launch of OS X Lion, just wait until you hear this next bit of news. If you’re a college student or professional video editor / graphic designer, you’ll have some additional goodies to look forward to. 9 to 5 Mac have a scoop with model numbers for the upcoming MacBook Airs featuring ultra-quick Sandy Bridge processors and Thunderbolt.

What wasn’t expected is rumored announcement for all new Mac Pros. It isn’t sure whether we’ll be seeing new guts or all new redesign, but the Mac Pros are rumored to include Thunderbolt as Apple updates their line, and there’s even a server model specifically designed for use in business environments.

The new Macs will ship with Lion (and Lion Server) preinstalled, and are expected to launch with the release of 10.7. 9 to 5 Mac says that the 14th is a possible launch date for all three of these items, so keep an eye on Thursday for an Apple launch-stravaganza.

[via 9 to 5 Mac]


More Details Surface Over A Possible Mac Pro Refresh

MIC Gadget has an interesting article today that has some details of what could be an imminent Mac Pro update. You may recall that a few weeks ago, Cnet’s Brian Tong tweeted that an updated Mac Pro and Mac Mini would come out in August. Most interestingly, MIC Gadget managed to take a screenshot of the Apple Store a few days ago when the Promise Thunderbolt RAID system went on sale. Curiously, in one of the promo images, it was shown beside a Mac Pro. This is despite the device being a Thunderbolt-only device, which the Mac Pro does not currently support.

The image was subsequently pulled and whilst it could just have been an error by the graphics department, it does fit in line with the suggestion that Thunderbolt capability is slowly being rolled out onto every Mac with every hardware refresh. The MacBook Pro refresh earlier this year started the trend, followed by the iMac refresh and recent rumors are suggesting that the MacBook Air refresh will similarly get Thunderbolt capability. The image also suggests that the current design of the Mac Pro will go unchanged from what it currently looks like.

In a similar vein, Intel’s Sandy Bridge hardware has also been making its way across the Mac refreshes and MIC Gadget believes this trend will continue with a Mac Pro refresh. They are claiming that the Mac Pro will feature an 8 core CPU that will be ‘exclusive’ to Apple for a few months before other PC manufacturers can have access to it in Q4 of this year. They note that this isn’t particularly new, with Intel previously working with Apple on the first MacBook Air which received similar treatment.

Our sources indicate Apple is making headway with access to this technology, and they are investing heavily into the Mac Pro. Sandy Bridge will be integrated with the new Mac Pro CPU as well, but issues remain with the heat being produced by such powerful CPUs.

[Via MIC Gadget]


Mac mini and Mac Pro Refresh In August?

According to Cnet’s Brian Tong, sources have confirmed that updated models of the Mac mini and Mac Pro will come out in August. With a series of tweets on his profile Tong says the “all new” Mac minis and Mac Pros with Sandy Bridge processors and Thunderbolt technology will be released towards the end of July or first week of August. A report from two weeks ago claimed that Apple was looking to refresh the Mac mini and Mac Pro server line-up in July, though Tong seems to believe both the consumer and server lines will receive the much anticipated CPU and Thunderbolt upgrade to follow changes in the MacBook Pros and iMacs.

Tong correctly pinpointed the changes in the 2011 iMac refresh months ago and was the first one to claim back in February that the MacBook Air family was on track for a June update. Several rumors from different publications in the past months have indicated Apple was working on new MacBook Airs with faster processors and Thunderbolt, and the most recent theories suggest the update will come out either in late June or July.

Another report from last week also claimed Apple won’t release new Macs until OS X Lion comes out, and considering Lion’s scheduled July release, it would make sense for Apple to put new Airs for sale (the MacBook Air is now Apple’s most popular notebook) with the new OS preinstalled. In other tweets, Tong also confirms Lion will come pre-installed on new Macs this summer.


New Intel Sandy Bridge CPUs To Start Shipping February 20th

The most probable next generation processor for MacBooks will start shipping on February 20th. The new Intel core i5 and i7 processors, based on the Sandy Bridge architecture shown off at CES, comes in flavors ranging from 1.4 GHz to 2.7 GHz, drawing 17 watts to 35 watts respectively under load. The new processors could be used to update Apple’s MacBook, 13” MacBook Pro, and 15” MacBook Pro line, while quad-core Sandy Bridge CPUs would populate Apple’s higher end MacBooks and desktops. Apple’s MacBook and 13” MacBook Pro continue to utilize Core 2 Duo processors, and may receive a Sandy Bridge update later this year.

Why is Sandy Bridge so impressive? Our friends over at The Next Web explain.

[via Macworld]


AMD Fusion Coming To iMacs and Mac Pros?

Hardware Upgrade reports that AMD showed a couple of slides yesterday during the 2010 Financial Analyst Day which suggest that Apple might be included as a partner for future AMD Fusion releases. In the slides (which you can see below, or jump to the full presentation here) iMacs and Mac Pros are the Apple computers AMD’s slides are referring to.

As Hardware Upgrade also notes, rumors about deeper Apple / AMD collaborations have been floating around for months. Apple, of course, hasn’t confirmed any of them.


Xserve Is Dead…Now What?

Xserve Is Dead…Now What?

The Mac Pro is a great box, but it is not designed to be a server. That matters. The Mac Pro, in trying to equal the Xserve takes up 12 times the space, uses more power, and ends up costing you twice as much if you don’t want a single component able to turn your server setup into a brick. If you’re collocating your servers, the cost to colo a Mac Pro or two is going to be a lot higher than for an Xserve, because you’re going to pay more for power and a lot more for the rack space.

IT folks clearly aren’t happy about Apple’s decision. As far as the iOS environment is concerned, Apple needs to do a lot more there, too.

Permalink

Apple Discontinues Xserve, Mac Pro Server Goes Live

As MacGeneration notes, with a note on its website Apple announced Xserve will be discontinued and will only be available until January 31st. The note links to a PDF available here called “Xserve Transition Guide”.

Apple will not be developing a future version of Xserve. Xserve will be available for order through January 31, 2011. Apple will honor and support all Xserve system warranties and extended support programs. Apple intends to offer the current ship- ping 160GB, 1TB, and 2TB Apple Drive Modules for Xserve through the end of 2011 or while supplies last. Apple will continue to support Xserve customers with service parts for warranty and out-of-warranty service.

The Xserve was first introduced in 2002. Entire racks of Xserve systems are still used by many companies and universities in their networks. As Xserve gets discontinued, the Mac Pro Server goes live in the Apple Store. It can get configured up to 12 cores and ships in 2-4 weeks.