Apple 4K

[N_Villers]

Wondering if the announced channel bonding on the thunderbolt2 will allow greater than 20gp connectivity via multiple cables.

 

[Detlev Eller]

That 2 liter pet bottle needs a screen or two....

Waiting to december to buy them was not what I hoped for.

... +1

 

[Blair S. Paulsen]

The new mac pro and the newly updated macbook pros are all hdmi 1.4, not 2.0. (snip)

Where did you see that spec for the new MacPro? I kind of figured that waiting for HDMI 2.0 was one of the delays in release. Have had conversations with vendors who are installing HDMI 2.0 compliant hardware in their devices (mostly aimed at CES 2014 roll out) but only supporting 1.4a on release, with firmware/software upgrades down the road. Hopefully that is what Apple is doing - if not, that's weak sauce.

Cheers - #19

 

[Eric Santiago]

hearing the presentation, it was stated HDMI at 4K.

is that hdmi 1.4?

whats 2.0...6K

 

[Eric Z]

I believe a good configuration for this new Mac Pro would be:

- Xeon E5 6-core 3.5GHz (Turbo to 3.9GHz). The other ones offer more cores and more cache, but at reduced clocks.
- 32GB RAM 1866MHz ECC (4x 8GB)
- 1TB PCIe SSD (960GB formatted)
- 2x AMD FirePro D700

I estimate the price would be ~$6000.
It's steep, yes...but compared to HP Z820:
- Cheaper with about same config.
- It's quieter and cooler, and consumes much less energy.
- Smaller and lighter.
- Runs OSX 10.9 with many useful apps already on-board (Up against Windows 8.1, it sure looks unbeatable...and this is coming from a lifetime Windows user).
Windows 7 SP1 is probably the best one Microsoft made. After that, it's all down-hill.
- Connectivity galore. 'Nuff said.

New Mac Pro - The bad:
- Configuration is limited to what Apple is offering.
- After-market parts will be few (if any) and rather expensive. I'm referring to parts that go inside the cylinder.
- You can't stack these things one on top of each other to save space (well, they would require at least 4" clearance in between).
- Would have been nice if they bumped the HDMI spec to v2.0 (HDMI v2.0 offers up to 18Gbps, which enables 4K@60fps).
- No NVIDIA GPUs offered here. In the future? Chances are slim.

But all in all - I like the innovation and ingenuity that Apple is offering here. Gotta give credit when credit is due.

 

[Christopher*Seguine]

Specs state "HDMI 1.4 Ultra HD" for new macpro.

Specs for Macbook Pro state "Support for 4096-by-2160 resolution at 24Hz" = HDMI 1.4

The GPUs do not support an upgrade to HDMI 2.0.
Even vendors who say they are "upgradable" to hdmi 2.0 are being kinda tricky.
Sony, for example, they are upgrading most of their their current 4k models to hdmi 2.0 via firmware update, but it is hdmi 2.0 "Level B" - which only supports 4k/60p at 8bit 4:2:0 .

To support full hdmi 2.0 "level A" requires a newer 18GB interface to support 4k/60p 10bit 422, etc.
I think the Panasonic 4k tv is the only one currently that can support HDMI 2.0 level A.

Where did you see that spec for the new MacPro? I kind of figured that waiting for HDMI 2.0 was one of the delays in release. Have had conversations with vendors who are installing HDMI 2.0 compliant hardware in their devices (mostly aimed at CES 2014 roll out) but only supporting 1.4a on release, with firmware/software upgrades down the road. Hopefully that is what Apple is doing - if not, that's weak sauce.

Cheers - #19

 

[Sam Mestman - WMM]

Any idea if a Thunderbolt 2 to HDMI adapter might give you HDMI 2.0 functionality? If so, none of this will matter much in terms of not having an HDMI 2.0 port.... also, anyone have any ideas on cable prices for TBolt 2?