1887 replies to this topic

[Frost]

I wouldn't consider high end stuff overkill, but I really, really would like to be able to run stuff at 2560x1440 at a smooth framerate, and can keep things at 1920 or above for at least a couple years without bothering with upgrades. I'm willing to take a little more expense up front for that.

jackdawsson, on 16 February 2013 - 04:26 PM, said:

www.wccftech.com/haswell-times-faster-ivy-bridge/

Holy S. Haswell is looking more impressive every day.

[jackdawsson]

Frost, on 16 February 2013 - 04:32 PM, said:

Holy S. Haswell is looking more impressive every day.

I'm certainly impressed!  The only snag for me is the likely waiting time.  By the by, Apple's Mini update cycles have averaged out at 381 days over the past few years.  We're only 116 days into the current Mini's lifespan.

[Frost]

Nonetheless, I'm sure a 2013 mini will be forthcoming by Q3 or Q4 based on their revision dates from the last four years, so not too much of a wait. IIRC Haswell's supposed to start being delivered June 2, around the same time the Ivy Bridge EX Xeons should be out, so Apple might pair their 2013 Mac Pro refresh with the yearly Mac mini refresh this year.

[Tesseract]

Frost, on 12 February 2013 - 06:02 PM, said:

Yes.

Might upgrade to a 2013 Mac Pro depending on what they do with the refresh, or alternately go with a gaming PC microtower. Not sure which yet. Mac Pro would be great, but OTOH a microtower would be really nice for moving it around and taking it places. The PowerMac still more than adequately covers professional stuff I need to run, and the MBP has me covered on the Intel-only Mac software front, so a Mac Pro's not quite a necessity yet. So... dunno yet.

Probably a big factor will be if it looks like nVidia's 7xx series cards will be in the Mac Pros. If not, then definitely going the micro tower route.

Last night I dreamt that Apple had announced the Mac medium, which (as discussed here previously) was like a Mac Pro with a smaller case and using an i7 CPU rather than a Xeon.

I checked the web site after I woke up, just in case.

[jackdawsson]

Tesseract, on 17 February 2013 - 12:22 AM, said:

Last night I dreamt that Apple had announced the Mac medium, which (as discussed here previously) was like a Mac Pro with a smaller case and using an i7 CPU rather than a Xeon.

I checked the web site after I woke up, just in case.

Good dream!  One no doubt shared by many.  Such a Mac would probably sell well.  For Apple though, as we know, bottom line is profit margins on their established range.  Such a Mac is very likely to cannibalize highly profitable iMac sales &, to a degree, Mac Pros & Minis.  So a dream it'll stay.

FWIW, I had a nightmare a few days ago, not wholly unrelated to your dream.  Apple had further reduced the size of the next Minis, made RAM non-upgradable, etc. (because we all REALLY want even smaller, thinner desktops... not!).  Whilst improving GPU's slightly across their Mac range, they stalled it on the Minis for another generation to improve iMac sales. - Thankfully it was just a nightmare, so it could never happen in real life... could it?

[Frost]

Man, it's been some years now since my geek level was high enough to dream about unreleased Apple products. You guys have my respect.

[Tesseract]

Heh. It's pretty unusual for me, so maybe it's due to a combination of having been ready to buy a new Mac Pro since late 2011, and a couple of days of travel messing with my sleep patterns.

[Frost]

If you haven't signed into PSN in a bit, now might be a good time. Sony is apparently handing out $10 PS Store credit vouchers like candy via PSN message. I signed on and I have one too; just redeemed it. They expire on 3/5 though.