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I love the little push in drive bays. Much nicer internally than the G5s.

And the alligator case is a knockout!

So what's in between the mini and the $2500 Mac Pro, without an attached screen?

Now they definitely need to upgrade the high-end iMac.

Wow, it IS the same enclosure, just like it was predicted. I'm rather surprised. I guess they feel the second optical drive bay is enough of a different appearance to visually indicate Intel vs. G5.

Nice list. I'm shopping now.

BTW, where was Adobe?

Mac Pro. Mac Slow. Mac Homo. Mac Woe.

Who cares? No one buys this sh-t in the real world. You Mac tools got your rocks off again for a couple fo hours, now it's back to reality, no one cares about Mac crap.

Nice crash on Leop-turd, by the way.

Goonie bag.

no Apple remote and included Front Row?

WTF??!!!!

exceeds my expectations. terrific price too. nothing out there right now compares to this.

MacSuck = Vista troll. Suck it up brah...vista is still in the photocopier.

Dull machines just became a lot duller.

In terms of Leopard. I heard a lot about Intel chip support, but nothing about PPC. I also noticed, from reading Apple's website, that all these new features in Leopard will be leveraging the capabilities of the Core Duo chips. Does this mean no PPC support in Leopard? Thoughts?

This is pretty close to a "dream machine," but as other people have noted, and I totally agree with, I wouldn't buy one of these unless it was a Kensfield QUAD processor enabled machine with a Blu-Ray drive. Two Kensfield QUAD processors, for an eight-core machine (which will be here sooner then you think) is the only thing I'll open my check book for. Also, I agree with gthing..."no Apple remote and included Front Row? WTF??!!!!"
Little disappointed that nothing else was announced, the new Mac Pro was obvious, there were no surprises here, not even a new leather ipod case.

ummm.....so, ummmm, duhhhhh.... does this mean that macs are now faster than Wintel computers???

(but seriously, I did have a twinge of fear whereby if AMD ever gets back on top with it's proc speeds, we'll be playing that game again)

MW=corner - as in 'roundin' that corner again'

F'ing brilliant. Exceeds my expectations as well. Standard config is only $2299 with education discount!

Front Row would've been nice, but it is a real PRO machine now.

The only thing trolls eat is crow. Your bird is ready.

No Remote
No Frontrow

No Wifi and Bluetooth
Standard

Ouch Way to much
I want a tower under 2000
With all of that. I do not need a million processors. One will do.

Apple there are switchers that want towers for consumers!

Front Row/Photo Booth will be bundled with Leopard.

Nice to see that the Cinema Screens came down in price, but I'm surprised they don't have built in iSights.

Leopard looks great. I'm really curious about what they're keeping under wraps though. Is it anything as big as what they announced?

How hard could it have been to include;

airport, bluetooth and Frontrow with Apple remote in these new Machines?!!??!!

I mean for crying out loud ALL Mac's except for Mac Pro, include this shiat!!!

Technstuff,

Go to the Mac Pro build to order page... If you downgrade the processor to the 2.0 ghz chips and a 160 gb HD, the price is $2050. With an education discount it's $1850. Pretty smokin deal for a Quad-core Mac. Dell can't even come close to the Mac Pro pricing.

And BTW, Front Row will be bundled with Leopard.

The MDN reporting didn't mention Front Row, but it was mentioned that it'll be included in Leopard.

From Apple's Web site:

Leopard Requirements
Macintosh computer with a PowerPC G3, G4 or G5 processor
Built-in FireWire
DVD drive for installation
256MB of RAM
3GB of available hard disk space (4GB if you install the developer tools)


Should answer any questions about Leopard's availability for PPC machines. Not that the answer hasn't been obvious for over a year.

Allen, I heard you the first time, that Frontrow will be bundled with Leopard.....but without the built in IR and Apple remote..what good will FrontRow be if and when I upgrade my Tiger installed Mac Pro?

you are missing the point of certain hardware not included...the Mac Pro should be the end all machine...it's not even a BTO!

I'll wait til' MacWorld Expo.

Woops, I take that back.. When you downgrade the processor and HD, It's $2199 and $1999 with education pricing.. Still a SMOKIN deal IMHO!

Ooops! Wrong OS version. None posted on the preview site yet?

Just spec'ed a Dell similar to the standard Mac Pro and it came in around $3000. Har.

Gthing, I agree the remote would've been nice, but the Mac Pro may have the IR. If so, the remote is only $29.

Apple's reasoning is probably because the Mac Pro is basically geared towards Pro workstation users. I read sometime back about Apples reasoning for not including wifi and bluetooth as standard on their pro desktops and it was a logical explanation. I've somehow forgotten what that explanation is :(

At any rate, I'm not gonna gripe. The pricepoint and specs of this machine are gonna make a lot of people very happy.

This is a brilliant way of avoiding direct price comparisons to cheap POS Wintel towers.

If people want a cheap Mac, get an iMac when it gets Core 2 Duo in the next month.

If you REALLY want a tower for some reason, but you also want a cheap Mac (getting weird at that point), seriously just get a clue and buy an iMac. Or get a job, then buy a Mac Pro.

I like how these support up to 8 displays. Holy crap.

Wasn't there a backup program similar to Time Machine called Rewind in the pre-OS X days? I have vague memories of this app.

Yawn....

Next!

Hey "MacSuck" or Static Mesh or Sputnik or whatever name your spewing with today.

Feeling left out are you?
You poor dear, why don't you put in some extra hours at blockbuster so you can save up your pennies for a brand new Mac.

Come back here after and you can post under a name you can be proud of.

I promise we'll forgive you.
It's like your sick but want to get better.

Please get well soon.

$12,228 for a maxed-out Mac Pro
this is just all hardware upgraded, no additional software, no monitors, and no AppleCare

gthing, the Mac Pro will NOT be sitting in a convenient location ... like, under your monitor/camera.

Leopard will be released in the Spring and will include the software you and others have been moaning about. Don't you think by then they will 'bump' their monitors? Maybe iSight will be part of that 'bump'?

Anyone know what sort of cooling mechanism these new machines have? From Apple's pics there's no visible fans and I'm hoping they got rid of them fluid-cooled rads.

Pardon me, $12,990... the price hadn't completely updated before.

No Front Row Remote --- Because its for work not play. I don't want my employees watching videos on my work systems.

No Bluetooth or WiFi --- Don't use wifi for my workstation, too slow to move and share the big files we work on. Don't use bluetooth either. And If I want one with Bluetooth ( for wireless keyboard action in the confrence room). I'll add it to that one.

I am just happy to have a machine with a reasonable base price that I can customize to my needs. I am happy to to have to uneccessary items bundled adding to the base model cost.

Mac Pros are for business. If you buy one for home use, than you are going to have to coin up for the extra stuff that YOU need.

gthing

it's impractical to put an IR port and cam on the Mac Pro... it'll probably be sitting on the floor, or in a cabinet...

FrontRow is still completely usable without the remote. I use it all the time without the remote on my MacBook. Just press command+Esc and you're there. No need to wait for Leopard.

Apple doesn't include wi-fi/ bluetooth as standard on pro desktops for good reason. Most clients using a workhorse like the Mac Pro don't use wifi, they are generally hardwired to a highspeed network. If they need wifi, they can get it as a reasonably priced add-on. This is not a consumer machine folks. Apple isn't being stubborn, they are being logical.

The IR sensor wil probably be included in updated dispays, so you can use the Apple remote with them.
FrontRow, as mentioned before will be included in Loepard.

This is a Pro machine. For professionals. People use this to earn a living. Are you going to make a living using this machine specifically? No? Then this is not for you.

Only the base config is available for shipping now. Three to five weeks if you upgrade components like the graphics to an ATI X1900XT. It is going to be a long three or more weeks until my Quad 3 ghz machine arrives!

Love the new Mac Pro, but the memory options absolutely suck. I understand the 1GB option having 2 512MB chips, but look at the 2GB option. Only one way to get it. And thats with 4 512MB chips. Stupid, Apple. I bet a lot of people will be buying their systems with only 1GB and then buying third party memory to bump it up.

Looks like those 'shopped pictures with the power supply up top were pretty realistic...

The case has evolved nicely. I like it. But I rather expected more than 2x boost over previous Quad. BTW, not impactical for the IR port. With 4 drive bays, why can't I use my MacPro for something other than "work"? I'd love Front Row on this. An IR port probably adds a buck to the price. Or, if an Apple monitor can receive IR and relay the singal, that would work for me.

And, if your employees are using this for work editing videos, then they are watching movies at work. Please... hire responsible folks if you are so worried. And both of us shouldn't be on this site.

Front Row could be useful for client presentations of video.

I couldn't figure out how cooling is managed, could any of you?

I'm struck by the staying power of the G5 when considering that, according to Apple, the new 2.66Ghz Mac Pro is only "up to 40% faster" than the Mac G5 Quad 2.5Ghz. In real world situations, the new Mac Pro will probably be only a bit faster than the old Quad G5.

Those G5s were pretty awesome while they lasted. I like that Macs switched away almost instantly once Intel overtook the G5. Apple has excellent strategy sometimes.

Now we just have to wait for Core 2 Duo MacBook Pros next month.

I expect that Apple will soon upgrade their cinema displays to include both an IR port and iSight camera. Should come with an Apple remote. That would make more sense than having the IR port in the tower.

"Too Hot!":

The Core 2 Duo runs FAR cooler than the G5. It won't need an elaborate cooling system, some some well-placed fans and reasonably-sized heatsinks.

Notice that the Mac Pro only weighs 42lbs, while the G5 Quad weighed 45lbs.

.... But I am actually off today... ( took a vacation day as I was approached BURNOUT )

I get why some people, especially home business users, would want their Mac to do Front Row after hours and on weekends. Hopefully as youe predicted Apple will add a separate dongle or add them to the displays. Either that or some smart 3rd party (like Griffin Technologies) will add an ir dongle fo the MacPro to their product line.

For me, FrontRow had always seemed to belong in the living room and is the perfect match for either the mac min ( for home use) or on a Mac laptop (for on the road entertainment).

Anywhoo, I still stand by my original statemnet that as business (or Pro) machines that the omission of bluetooth, WIfi, and an ir port for Front Row makes logical sense.

I beleive we will continue to see pple distance the Pro lines from the home lines when it comes to their products. And with the popularity of the iMac. MacMini, and MacBook I think they have it right.

I expect that Apple will soon upgrade their cinema displays to include both an IR port and iSight camera. Should come with an Apple remote. That would make more sense than having the IR port in the tower.

--------------

I personally don't think this will happen. Most pro users have multiple displays... That means if they buy 2 or more Cinema displays, they will also be getting two or more iSight cams. That'd be dumb... I think the external iSight cam is going to stick around for pro users.

I would have still liked to have a tower that I could configure and play with different upgrades without robbing a bank. Obviously, it would not be as powerful as the Mac Pro, but it would target a segment of the market that is not targetted by Apple at the moment. You can buy a relatively non-tweekable and decent iMac, or a trully powerful and fully configurable Mac Pro, but nothing in between