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Mac Pro To Get Dual Optical Drive Slots?

Apple's forthcoming Mac Pro will sport dual Optical Drive slots, if a recent report from AppleInsider pans out. In addition, the power supply is rumored to be moved from the bottom of the enclosure to the top. Otherwise, the enclosure (mockup) would remain largely unchanged from today's PowerMac G5 design.

This is contrary to what ThinkSecret currently believes -- that the Mac Pro enclosure change will be a more radical departure from the present design to signify the processor change.

Also mentioned in the AppleInsider article is an unconfirmed report of possible specifications for the new machines with the "Best" configuration topping out at two 2.66 Ghz Xeon processors. This anonymous source sent possible specs for the Mac Pro to both MacRumors and Appleinsider, and while the validity of the specs are uncertain, the anonymous specs also independently claimed the new Mac Pro would have two optical drives.

Good: Dual-Core 2GHz Intel Xeon, 512MB DDR 667, ATI Radeon X1600 Pro, 250GB Hard Drive,$1799
Better: Dual-Core 2.33GHz Intel Xeon, 1GB DDR2 667, ATI Radeon X1800 Pro, 320GB Hard Drive, $2499
Best: Two Dual-Core 2.66 Intel Xeon, 1GB DDR2 667, ATI Radeon X1800 Pro, 320GB Hard Drive, $3299

Other specs/ports similar to current PowerMacs with the exception of the two Optical drives as described above.

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73 months ago
This is good news for me.. it will make it easy to resist buying one this year. No 3ghz xeon, no bluray, no new case design.
Rating: 0 Positives / 0 Negatives
73 months ago
Dual optical drive slots are a must. I love my Mirrored Drive Door at work for this fact.
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73 months ago
2003: "In 12 months, we'll be at 3GHz".
Mid 2006: "I want to talk about 2.66GHz" although 4 cores running at 2.66GHz (Yum! :D ).
Rating: 0 Positives / 0 Negatives
73 months ago
ahhh, why didn't they have dual optical slots in the current G5's..
too much heat from the PPC's and all those fans?

well i am really looking forward to the new look.
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73 months ago
Can anyone tell me the purpose of dual drive slots nowadays? I can see the use for them (and had computers with) when they were limited to one function, i.e. DVD-ROM for one and a CD-RW for the other but now that everything can happen in one drive with speed not being an issue, is it really nececcary to have two?
Rating: 0 Positives / 0 Negatives
73 months ago

Can anyone tell me the purpose of dual drive slots nowadays? I can see the use for them (and had computers with) when they were limited to one function, i.e. DVD-ROM for one and a CD-RW for the other but now that everything can happen in one drive with speed not being an issue, is it really nececcary to have two?

Burn two DVD's at once and DVD copying.
Rating: 0 Positives / 0 Negatives
73 months ago

Can anyone tell me the purpose of dual drive slots nowadays? I can see the use for them (and had computers with) when they were limited to one function, i.e. DVD-ROM for one and a CD-RW for the other but now that everything can happen in one drive with speed not being an issue, is it really nececcary to have two?


There used to be some software to directly copy from CD to CDR, and this was very common in the days before people had MP3 players... but I can't imagine many people doing this anymore, and I don't know of any software to do this with DVDs.

It would be nice if you play a game that requires a CD in and won't permit you to use a disc image on the hard drive.
Rating: 0 Positives / 0 Negatives
73 months ago

2003: "In 12 months, we'll be at 3GHz".
Mid 2006: "I want to talk about 2.66GHz" although 4 cores running at 2.66GHz (Yum! :D ).


Now, that is FUNNY!

However, based on availability, Apple could get up to 3GHz if they
really wanted to:

Dual Core Intel® Xeon™ Processors 5160 (4MB L2 Cache, 3 GHz 1333MHz FSB)

Perhaps "one more thing......"
Rating: 0 Positives / 0 Negatives
73 months ago
I got excited for a second - hey a $1799 low end quad, I'm sold! Oh, wait, just one processor, never mind.

Too expensive on the low-end, if true. I suspect we'll see a lot of reviews and benchmarks giving a bad cost to value ratio for the Macs.
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73 months ago
Power supply at the top? Blah! :mad: I hate the power supply on the top, not that
it would keep me from purchasing a new MacPro though. ;)
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