Before I buy???

Question

Before I buy???

I am in need of a new Mac tower and just wanted to see if there were any heads-ups on newer models or revamp models due to come out aside from the Quad-Core and 8-Core they offer now. These seem perfectly suitable, but I get a lot of miles out of these and could wait a little if an improvement was around the corner.

Also, they are actually 4 and 8 individual processors correct. Seems obvious but I've seen other brands get tricky with their model specs to make it look like multiple processors when they're really not.

Thanks!

PowerMac G5 (x2); PowerBook G4-12"; MacBook Pro-15"; iMac G5-20"; iPhone 3G-x2, Mac OS X (10.5.6)

Posted on May 20, 2009 10:47 PM

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Answer 1

cshapple

Level 1

59 points

May 20, 2009 10:57 PM in response to Christopher Montgomery2

The new models just came out recently, so I would not expect to see new ones for 6 months to a year.

Every computer you buy is obsolete before you buy it, so you are better off looking at the specs and determining if it will do the job.

Waiting until the next one is an eternal wait.

Get it and enjoy it.

Any Mac Pro, even the 2007 models, are very powerful and will run well for years.

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Answer 2

noice_T

Level 3

545 points

May 21, 2009 1:09 AM in response to Christopher Montgomery2

One thing you might want to consider are any apps or hardware that need to run on leopard. Once snow leopard drops (most likely next month), all the mac pros will only run snow leopard. You won't be able to run leopard.

So if you need to run leopard, grabbing a pro now would be prudent.

Article on cores vs. processors:

http://www.geek.com/articles/chips/dual-core-versus-dual-processor-2006077/

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Answer 3

Tremane

Level 1

14 points

May 25, 2009 9:40 PM in response to Christopher Montgomery2

one or two individual processors with either 4 physical cores (for 1) or 8 physical cores for two ... and Intel have re-introduced hyper-threading so each physical core can be two virtual cores ...

unlike the last generation which did not have the hyper-threading ...

there are other significant improvements, particularly with memory latency ... maybe 40% less ... not sure you should check it out on either the Intel site or the Mac 2009 architecture page:

http://www.apple.com/macpro/features/processor.html

http://www.everymac.com/systems/apple/mac_pro/faq/difference-between-mac-pro-ear ly-2009-nehalem-early-2008-harpertown-models.html

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Answer 4

May 27, 2009 11:06 PM in response to Christopher Montgomery2

Thanks for the helpful insight to all. Goop points made. I think most importantly,
I'm going to talk to my apple rep and see what they think about the newest Leopard to be released. If they will update it for me if released soon after purchase, I'll buy now. If I'm going to turn around and spend another 200 on a family upgrade pack, I'll wait until it's been applied to the current systems.

Also, I should have mentioned that I'm primarily using it to run Adobe design suite apps. I'm currently using CS (11) stuff and need to update. The latest Adobe stuff is Intel based only, so I couldn't run it on my current Power PC based machines anyway.... so I guess another cause for necessity. I will look into tand make sure the current Adobe CS4 will do fine on the "Snow" leopard too..... might make a difference.

Thanks again, Chris

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Answer 5

The hatter

Level 9

61,031 points

May 28, 2009 1:26 AM in response to Christopher Montgomery2

I would NEVER install a new version of an OS until it has been out 6-12 months. Especially with new hardware.

Give Adobe the 6-12 months to test, upgrade, get their software working, and for new driver testing.

10.5.7 is a good place to jump in with CS4 and other programs. Some of it doesn't work on PPC, but much of it does.

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