Apple's new hardware

[Sanjin Jukic]

With the keynote just around the corner stay tuned for the hardware news that are coming up after Steve Jobs takes the stage at San Francisco’s Moscone Center on January 9th, 2007 at 9AM Pacific time.

 

[Jeff Kilgroe]

25 minutes to go...

I'm expecting:

new displays (it's about freakin' time).

Mac Pro spec bump - cheaper RAM and base price. Possibly an 8-core option since the Clovertown CPU is a drop-in replacement for Woodcrest. Those who can wait on 8-core would be best to do so until later this year when Intel ships the Stoakley chipset though. Hopefully some new graphics card options too.

iMac spec bump...

New Leopard OS 10.5 preview showing updated interface...

The new "iTV" product as a stand alone unit as well as it being integrated into new flat panel HDTVs from Apple (42" and 50" plasma).

Oh, and "one more thing..." Possibly a new iPod model - most likely the "iPod Fon" which is sure to underwhelm and fall way short of all the recent hype and hopefulness.

...I guess we'll see.

 

[Sanjin Jukic]

Related to the RED 4K/2K workflow I am waiting for 8 core Mac Pro and new display line specs and prices.

 

[Brook Willard]

The bummer is that we won't see too much pro line stuff until NAB. New Mac Pros wouldn't surprise me, but all the relevant goodies will stay under wraps until Vegas.

 

[Emmanuel Cambier]

New displays are bound to be released at the same time as Leopard because of resolution independance.
One can't go without the other, because resolution independance doesn't really make sense with the current line of displays (even the 30" i'm typing on) and new displays don't make sense with current resolutions.
And last, higher resolutions don't make sens without resolution independance.
Emmanuel

 

[Jeff Kilgroe]

New displays are bound to be released at the same time as Leopard because of resolution independance.
One can't go without the other, because resolution independance doesn't really make sense with the current line of displays (even the 30" i'm typing on) and new displays don't make sense with current resolutions.
And last, higher resolutions don't make sens without resolution independance.
Emmanuel

I'm betting Apple will still revamp their current line of displays, possibly with built-in iSight cameras. As for resolution independence, there's plenty of applications for it now with current displays. Think public terminals based on 30" LCD panels, applications for the vision-impaired, etc.. I'm not doing as much of it these days, but as an A/V installer doing everything from home theatre to public info kiosks, libraries, etc.. resolution independence is long-overdue! For those of us with good eyesight, we will have to wait for upcoming HD-TFT displays, possibly available by the end of this year, but they will shift the current LCD screen tech from ~100 dpi to 220 dpi and higher. I sit approximately 38" away from my dual 30" displays and still can see every pixel just fine. But those upcoming 32" panels from both Samsung and LG (both vendors Apple uses for their ACDs along with Dell and others), 4K displays with LED backlighting and single UDI connectors are less than a year away. ...I hope.

 

[Jeff Kilgroe]

The bummer is that we won't see too much pro line stuff until NAB. New Mac Pros wouldn't surprise me, but all the relevant goodies will stay under wraps until Vegas.

Final Cut Pro and the rest of the Pro apps won't get their big update until NAB. But at least it's not too far off. I don't really care, I'm going to limp along with what I have until my RED is about to ship. Then I will buy the biggest baddest system (or two) that I can round up. I'm hoping for 8-core Mac Pro using Tigertown (unified quad-core, not two Woodies on one die like Clovertown, faster FSB), 16GB RAM, SLI video... Hopefully we'll see that late '07 - which is when I'm expecting my RED One.

 

[Jarred Land]

8 cores will help our cause tremendously, as long as the aps can harness the power. I personally am a little dissapointed that the CPU guys have dropped getting higher MHZ and just switching to more cores, because many applications like photoshop wont be able to split the processing... it was nice back in the day when our CPU's doubled in speed every 2 years.

 

[Sanjin Jukic]

Apple TV

Apple TV

Apple debuts iTv as "Apple TV" which can receive movies wireless to display movies on TV. WiFi networking. HDMI connector. Component cable. Up to 720p HD Vide. 40GB drive to store video. Three networking standards: g + b + n. Intel-based processor. Works with video, music, photos. Autosync content from one computer. Stream content from up to five computers. It will automatically sync most recent movies and be stored on the hard drive. Streaming will not store on Apple TV hard drive. Features a very simple Apple Remote. Can wirelessly surf trailers wireless connected to internet. Front-like interface allows live streaming from Apple.com (show's 'The Good Shepard' trailer) and Zoolander movie and Heroes TV show and various songs.

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Apple TV suppose to be a good device to watch dailies, rushes or daily rushes shot with the RED ONE. Apple TV will be priced at $299. Will ship in February.

 

[IAN SUN]

Wohooo!

Wide screen ipod!
Wohoooo!

i buy i buy

Show my RED movies Wohooo!

 

[Brook Willard]

Widescreen iPod and mobile phone... well I'm happy.
[edit: wait, it's all one device. iPod, iPhone and "internet communicator"]

 

[IAN SUN]

wide screen iPod bundled with "smart phone" tech.
interesting.

 

[IAN SUN]

check it

 

[IAN SUN]

OMFG!

Runs OS X...

 

[Sanjin Jukic]

iPhone

iPhone

On the set with iPhone you can talk with your boss, with your workers, with your darling, with your mother, with your bank...etc...it is very smart and very easy to use. iPhone uses Mac OS X. Power management, networking, security, apps, Core Animation, audio/video. Built into iPhone. Allows creation of desktop-class applications...3.5-inch screen with 160 pixels per inch (ppi). Single 'home' button. Thinner than any other phone at 11.6mm volume controls. Two megapixel camera built-in on back. Headset jack (3.5mm) and Sleep/wake button on top. Speaker, microphone, iPod connector on bottom. Proxmity sensor to turn off screen and touch sensor when you put it close your head. Ambient light sensor to turn down/screen. And the acceleromter to determine landscape/portrait orientation. Includes coverflow technology...The 4GB model is $499. 8GB model for $599 --both with 2 year contract. Will ship in June in US. Europe in Q4. Asia next year (2008).

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Also could be useful device on the production set with the RED ONE. Maybe could be connected with the RED ONE camera to become external wireless LCD for director or producer or even a whole crew on the set!!??

COULD BE CONNECTED TO YOUR RED ONE CAMERA WIRELESS USING iPHONE AS A REMOTE CONTROL WITH 16:9 LCD DISPLAY MODE!!!???

 

[Brook Willard]

But can you run REDCINE on it?

 

[IAN SUN]

Sweeet!

 

[IAN SUN]

acceleromoter, device flips aspect ratio automatically as you rotate it.

 

[Jeff Kilgroe]

8 cores will help our cause tremendously, as long as the aps can harness the power. I personally am a little dissapointed that the CPU guys have dropped getting higher MHZ and just switching to more cores, because many applications like photoshop wont be able to split the processing... it was nice back in the day when our CPU's doubled in speed every 2 years.

As a long-time multiprocessor user, it's nice to finally see the CPU makers taking this route. It will force software developers to finally step up and make use of multiple processors. As for photoshop, the CS3 beta appears to be using 2 cores most of the time and some tasks seem to scale to 4, so Adobe has really re-written large portions of it. Hopefully we'll see all the plug-ins out there being adapted to multiple cores and 64bit computing environments soon.

The main reason for the shift from gaining more MHz to increasing the number of cores is that CPU makers have hit a wall. With current materials and manufacture processes, even with the upcoming 45nm die shrink, 3GHz is about the maximum speed attainable. IBM and Intel both figured (about 6 years ago) that CPU speeds could reach as high as 5 to 7 GHz, but that proved to be false. AMD thinks they can push CPU speeds as high as 10GHz by shifting over from silicon to a micro-laminant of gold on a carbon nano-structure surface. Preliminary lab tests on individual micro-circuits seem to confirm this, but it's still several years off. ...Somewhat akin to IBM's lab tests several years back where they were spelling IBM by arranging individual atoms of gold and tungsten on a carbon or silicon surface.

IMO, multiple CPU cores should hae been a natural part of CPU evolution years ago. But the rapid increase in MHz over the past 10 years forced CPU makers to only focus on that aspect of development. Many other advancements such as more efficient data pipes, multiple cores, layered interconnects, etc.. were all pushed to the back burner because throttling the MHz was the cheap and easy way to double performance every 8 months.

As the software community and compiler tools finally come around to support the new multi-core paradigm (properly, I should add), we will once again start to see large performance gains with every new CPU revision. Eventually the number of cores will hit a wall too (Intel is predicting about 80 to 100 cores, AMD says 40 to 60). At that point, manufacturers will have to look to newer technologies, materials and manufacture processes to continue advancing CPU tech. IMO, the next big evolutionary step will be quantum computing and atomic circuits. Instead of flipping and storing bits alectrical charges within transistor "cells", we will be changing the phase and or polarity of ionized tungsten atoms inside of a carbon lattice (patent pending ).

 

[Ace]

Apple iphone... Speechless... The stuff they have managed to pack in that thing. Phenomenal.

The thing has got me MOST excited is the multitouch display. I cant begin to imagine how this will change the way we interface with computers when adapted to larger screens. Think of Minority report.

2007 will be a good year.