Mac Pros May See Bus Speed Increase With Penryn

Well, these are the next update in Intel's product lineup that the Mac Pro is part of. So this is an obvious one.

That's the fun of moving to Intel. We know for certain, months in advance, what is coming down the pipeline. The only thing we don't know is when Apple will release it. (The G5 was close, but we didn't knowwith even 75% certainty that Apple was going to even use it until they announced it. With this, we can be about 99% certain that, unless Apple decides to switch to AMD or something, Penryn will be the next Mac Pro.)

And, again, because Apple likes having the top-of-the-line, even unannounced top-of-the-line, parts, it can be pretty certain that Apple will be using the 1600 MHz bus parts exclusively.

With the Xeon Penryns moving to a 1600 MHz bus, while the desktop chips will be staying on the 1333 MHz bus, I hope this gives Apple enough of a differentiation factor to release a desktop based on the desktop Core 2 chips. While Santa Rosa is a nice upgrade, I'd much rather have seen a P35-and-Conroe-with-optional-Kentsfield based iMac. (i.e. using the just-released desktop chipset, with desktop Core 2 Duos standard, and a built-to-order option of Core 2 Quad.)

I honestly don't care if they do it in the iMac, or in a new headless mini-tower, I just want desktop-level components in a Mac desktop. (Not laptop, not workstation.)

I honestly don't care if they do it in the iMac, or in a new headless mini-tower, I just want desktop-level components in a Mac desktop. (Not laptop, not workstation.)

I'd go for a mini-tower to fill the gap between the current Mac Pro workstations (too big, too expensive for many) and the iMac (no way to swap the video card or hard drive.)

well I hope apple uses them, and starts as soon as they're released, if not sooner

Looking forward to seeing Penryn & the Seaburg chipset in the Mac Pro, I might be tempted enough to buy one then. :) :apple:

I really don't care what goes in it I just want to see a change to the design of the from factor at this point. The G5 look is really out dated now and looking über unsexy when compared to everything else.

The iPhone, iPod, AppleTV rumors are interesting, but the Mac Pro info is what is engaging for me. The enclosure hasn't seen a major update in years, the internals haven't been updated on over a year and it isn't price competitive now. The day the updated Mac Pro is released in Oct or Nov, I'm putting down my credit card and buying one of these bad boys; 8-core, great video card, RAID 0 HDDs, ports galore, Leopard, iLife '08 all in a silent beast ready and waiting for it's appropriate seductive 30" 160dpi LCD companion. :D

The G5 look is really out dated now and looking über unsexy when compared to everything else.

Compared to what? The other "..Pro" product also has the aluminum look, and the iMac has just joined it. And I haven't seen anything in the PC world that looks "sexier".

Compared to what? The other "..Pro" product also has the aluminum look, and the iMac has just joined it. And I haven't seen anything in the PC world that looks "sexier".

You're kidding right?
I've never been impressed with the cheese grater.

I've always hated the fact that if you had a light source in front of the G5, you can see the fans spinning inside.

It's about time to get back to something that isn't so industrialized.

You're kidding right?
I've never been impressed with the cheese grater.

I've always hated the fact that if you had a light source in front of the G5, you can see the fans spinning inside.

It's about time to get back to something that isn't so industrialized.

Why? With the Mac Pro continuing to be positioned as an out-of-reach-to-the-consumer, "workstation" machine, an 'industrial' look is more appropriate now than ever (whereas in the G4 and early G5 days, there were still some lower priced, lower spec'd machines). You still haven't identified what's "out of date" about it either.. what do you imagine it's competing with?

Why? With the Mac Pro continuing to be positioned as an out-of-reach-to-the-consumer, "workstation" machine, an 'industrial' look is more appropriate now than ever (whereas in the G4 and early G5 days, there were still some lower priced, lower spec'd machines). You still haven't identified what's "out of date" about it either.. what do you imagine it's competing with?

I would say it looks state of the art compared to a Dell or HP workstation... :D