5 ms·
>This offers almost no advantage over a late model iMac with a Thunderbolt-to-PCIe breakout module (which is what many power users have been doing in the years
by bjustin 13y ago
>This offers almost no advantage over a late model iMac with a Thunderbolt-to-PCIe breakout module (which is what many power users have been doing in the years since the last update).
A few big advantages over the iMac: Xeons processors, so more cores & more cache; ECC RAM; and (two) workstation graphics cards. Six thunderbolt ports means up to 36 (!) PCIe peripherals by daisy chaining, which means a lot more expandability than the iMac or even the 2010 Mac Pro.
- mturmon 13y agoAnother interesting engineering innovation relative to the iMac is PCIe mass storage (as opposed to SATA).
- rbanffy 13y agoPCIe will probably be in the next generation of iMacs.
- gilgoomesh 13y agoIt's in the current generation through Thunderbolt.
- mrpippy 13y agoThe Haswell MBAs released today use PCIe flash
- mturmon 13y agoAnother interesting engineering innovation relative to the iMac is PCIe mass storage (as opposed to SATA).
- mturmon 13y agoAnother interesting engineering innovation relative to the iMac is PCIe mass storage (as opposed to SATA).
- mturmon 13y agoAnother interesting engineering innovation relative to the iMac is PCIe mass storage (as opposed to SATA).
- mturmon 13y agoAnother interesting engineering innovation relative to the iMac is PCIe mass storage (as opposed to SATA).
- mturmon 13y agoAnother interesting engineering innovation relative to the iMac is PCIe mass storage (as opposed to SATA).
- mturmon 13y agoAnother interesting engineering innovation relative to the iMac is PCIe mass storage (as opposed to SATA).
- sliverstorm 13y agoA few big advantages over the iMac The features you list are hardly innovation, just market segmentation.
- jfb 13y agoAnd?
- sliverstorm 13y agoThe most basic forms of segmentation aren't especially relevant to the discussion of the finer points of where Apple is targeting this machine. It would be like bringing up the high-power engine in a sports car, when the discussion is about where within the sports car market the maker is aiming. That it has a high-power engine is generally a given.
- makomk 13y agoI suspect that a lot of people bought the Mac Pro despite the fact that it has Xeon processors, rather than because of it. They're a lot more expensive without a huge performance benefit for desktop or workstation applications. The main advantages of Xeon were dual-socket support and support for oodles of RAM slots, and the new Mac Pro supports neither of these things.
- Samuel_Michon 13y agoI think you’re omitting the Xeon’s increased stability versus consumer grade architectures. Many Mac Pros are used to run non-stop, they need to be more dependable than other computers.
- jarek 13y agoDoes this really matter in 2013? Serious question. I could see ECC having been useful in 2000 in the midst of the megahertz race, but I'm not too convinced about today...
- seanp2k2 13y agoCheck out http://linux.die.net/man/1/edac-util http://linux.die.net/man/1/edac-util + http://buttersideup.com/edacwiki/Main_Page http://buttersideup.com/edacwiki/Main_Page and look on some servers to see if they're seeing many correctable ECC errors. I've def. seen it happen on some Dell PERCs.
- rainforest 13y agoThe probability of a bit error on normal RAM is quite high [1]. The more RAM you add the more likely you are to see corruption. Not that ECC fixes everything - I still see uncorrected ECC errors on the older HPC nodes on our grid. [1] : http://lambda-diode.com/opinion/ecc-memory http://lambda-diode.com/opinion/ecc-memory
- bangkoknights 13y agoWhat about powering all those Thunderbolt devices which have been daisy chained? The extra cables and power supplies are going to be an absolute mess compared to the old Mac Pro.