AVID & MAC RUMORS: RELATED?

[Corey Culp]

Apple won't announce anything until it's actually available and almost ready to ship. That's how they are with their computers.

I also wouldn't expect Apple to interfere with it's "All Eyes On Us, World" iPad announcement. In my opinion, the iPad is only second to the iPhone on Apple's priority list.

 

[Jeff Kilgroe]

Just heard a juicy rumor from a source I trust pretty well. New Mac Pro coming April: Intel C606 chipset dual Xeon-E5. 6 PCIe 3.0 slots (4 @ X16, 2 @ X4), 16 DIMM sockets, dual Thunderbolt ports. Rack-mountable, redesigned tower. Onboard SAS/SATA connectivity with hardware RAID 0,1,5. Open GPU support via nVidia only to start (buy any nVidia GPU card off the shelf). No USB 3.0.

I can't confirm or deny this one, but my source has been 99% accurate on specs for the last two Macbook Pro and Air releases...

 

[Ido Karilla]

Just heard a juicy rumor from a source I trust pretty well. New Mac Pro coming April: Intel C606 chipset dual Xeon-E5. 6 PCIe 3.0 slots (4 @ X16, 2 @ X4), 16 DIMM sockets, dual Thunderbolt ports. Rack-mountable, redesigned tower. Onboard SAS/SATA connectivity with hardware RAID 0,1,5. Open GPU support via nVidia only to start (buy any nVidia GPU card off the shelf). No USB 3.0.

I can't confirm or deny this one, but my source has been 99% accurate on specs for the last two Macbook Pro and Air releases...

Bless you and bless your source!

 

[Scott Crawley]

Just heard a juicy rumor from a source I trust pretty well. New Mac Pro coming April: Intel C606 chipset dual Xeon-E5. 6 PCIe 3.0 slots (4 @ X16, 2 @ X4), 16 DIMM sockets, dual Thunderbolt ports. Rack-mountable, redesigned tower. Onboard SAS/SATA connectivity with hardware RAID 0,1,5. Open GPU support via nVidia only to start (buy any nVidia GPU card off the shelf). No USB 3.0.

I can't confirm or deny this one, but my source has been 99% accurate on specs for the last two Macbook Pro and Air releases...

Nice! Completely plausible, and just when you would expect it; April. Thanks for sharing.

 

[Oliver Peters]

As nice as a machine like that sounds, it would be a complete 180 from the direction Apple has been going. I highly doubt it. In addition, a machine like that would also be quite a bit more expensive than previous Mac Pros. Basically, it would appeal to an even smaller niche than Mac Pros already do.

- Oliver

 

[Mike Halper]

Agreed. Sounds too good to be true, especially considering what's the norm for Apple.

 

[Blair S. Paulsen]

My gut says Jeff's source has it right.

I have been saying for 2 years that laptops have become so powerful that there is really no reason to make a desktop unless its a bomber - especially now that we are seeing I/O taps like Thunderbolt and USB3 on laptops & All In One's.

I agree that Apple has not shown much interest in the pro market the last 3 years. That said, one thing Apple has managed very well over the last decade is to pick strategic times to move the game. Perhaps I am giving them too much credit, but it seems like the stars are aligning with the new procs, new OS in beta and pent up demand in the pro space.

Cheers - #19

 

[Paul E. McCarthy]

Just heard a juicy rumor from a source I trust pretty well. New Mac Pro coming April: Intel C606 chipset dual Xeon-E5. 6 PCIe 3.0 slots (4 @ X16, 2 @ X4), 16 DIMM sockets, dual Thunderbolt ports. Rack-mountable, redesigned tower. Onboard SAS/SATA connectivity with hardware RAID 0,1,5. Open GPU support via nVidia only to start (buy any nVidia GPU card off the shelf). No USB 3.0.

I can't confirm or deny this one, but my source has been 99% accurate on specs for the last two Macbook Pro and Air releases...

So are saying that my Nvidia 6000 card for PC will work in the new Mac Pro???

 

[Tom Birmingham]

It might have to do with an overall future direction of UI development and return on investment. Do companies invest their development team resources in having their team code to proprietary platforms, HTML5, Android, Mac, Windows, etc? In other words, like with Microsoft Windows Metro App development for Windows 8, MS wants you to code once, and it will run on any device, screen size, tablets, etc. Same concept with HTML5. But with Metro, it is the MS way and for Windows platforms. HTML5 is general, yet runs in a browser. I have downloaded the Windows 8 Consumer preview and the GUI is quite different, yet another learning curve on how to navigate around the desktop. Windows 8 has an HTML5 feel. Also; smartphone companies are starting to announce phones running quad-core, soon why even have a laptop, just connect a usb keyboard/mouse, needed peripherals, and hdmi port to monitor.

 

[Jarek Zabczynski]

Just heard a juicy rumor from a source I trust pretty well. New Mac Pro coming April: Intel C606 chipset dual Xeon-E5. 6 PCIe 3.0 slots (4 @ X16, 2 @ X4), 16 DIMM sockets, dual Thunderbolt ports. Rack-mountable, redesigned tower. Onboard SAS/SATA connectivity with hardware RAID 0,1,5. Open GPU support via nVidia only to start (buy any nVidia GPU card off the shelf). No USB 3.0.

I can't confirm or deny this one, but my source has been 99% accurate on specs for the last two Macbook Pro and Air releases...

What about drive bays?

 

[Bob Gundu]

Well if this might be apples last tower, they might as well go out with a bang. But the logic doesn't make sense if they took the time to redesign the tower. If they did indeed redesign the tower, I doubt we have seen the last of them.

 

[Jarek Zabczynski]

Well if this might be apples last tower, they might as well go out with a bang. But the logic doesn't make sense if they took the time to redesign the tower. If they did indeed redesign the tower, I doubt we have seen the last of them.

Agreed. If they redesign the MacPro at this stage, it's a sure bet it'll be around for a few more years at least. Then again, I'm fine with the current design.

 

[Blair S. Paulsen]

Several sources have seen prototypes of a rack mountable design so that's highly likely - makes sense for the pro market anyway.

The case form factor, whatever it is, will likely be with us for several years and with some clever design work I am optimistic it will be easy to upgrade most of the internals.

Cheers - #19

 

[Vico Martin]

Just heard a juicy rumor from a source I trust pretty well. New Mac Pro coming April: Intel C606 chipset dual Xeon-E5. 6 PCIe 3.0 slots (4 @ X16, 2 @ X4), 16 DIMM sockets, dual Thunderbolt ports. Rack-mountable, redesigned tower. Onboard SAS/SATA connectivity with hardware RAID 0,1,5. Open GPU support via nVidia only to start (buy any nVidia GPU card off the shelf). No USB 3.0.

I can't confirm or deny this one, but my source has been 99% accurate on specs for the last two Macbook Pro and Air releases...

You make my day Jeff, amazing news for everybody.
With a couple 590 this is an aeroplane!!