Latest Rumors on Apple product line-up and release

[Craig Seeman]

It really depends on one’s needs of course. For editing itself i7 may be enough. The GPU is taking over more functions.

Many of us who edit have to be concerned about speed of delivery though. In many cases Xeons, especially dual CPUs can have a significant impact on compression. Given that anyone who is an editor might be fast with incredibly short turnaround, there’s potential benefit. Again, that’s not a scenario everyone faces but with many editors, compression speed is a constant concern and the demands for HEVC may increase the need.

[Chris Kenny]

[Frank Gothmann] “I wonder why people are riding the Xeon and Xeon chipset train. Given what most people think the new box might be (if there is any) there is very little a xeon will provide that is of any advantage compared to an i7. Performance wise, there is very little difference. Xeons can even be used in certain desktop motherboards for the i7 1155 socket.”

I don’t see Apple dropping all the way down to quad core, which means socket 1155 isn’t an option. Where i7 might come in is that maybe they could drop dual sockets for a single 2011 socket. They could then hypothetically offer the six core i7 3930 (which is socket 2011) as the base level option, with an eight core Xeon E5 as a BTO upgrade option.

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Digital Workflow/Colorist, Nice Dissolve.

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[Eric Santiago]

IMHO I look forward to any Apple offering that can use any of the following options:

All NVIDIA GPU options
All ATTO options
All high-end Thunderbolt options

If the iMac could take advantage of a Magma 3T with a single GPU, Id be happy with that 🙂

[Chris Kenny]

[Chris Kenny] “I don’t see Apple dropping all the way down to quad core, which means socket 1155 isn’t an option. Where i7 might come in is that maybe they could drop dual sockets for a single 2011 socket. They could then hypothetically offer the six core i7 3930 (which is socket 2011) as the base level option, with an eight core Xeon E5 as a BTO upgrade option.”

Just taking a look at some Intel roadmaps. Ivy Bridge E Xeons (which should be socket 2011) are supposed to be available in Q3 or Q4 with up to ten cores per processor. I think Apple would be pretty comfortable ditching dual socket if it only lost them two cores vs. the highest end previous generation model. They could just offer good-better-best models with 6, 8, and 10 cores. Or perhaps 4, 6, 8 cores, with 10-core as a BTO option on the 8-core model.

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Digital Workflow/Colorist, Nice Dissolve.

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[Robert Sala]

The sensible move on Macpro would be to cede the line to outside suppliers. Eg. Supermicro 7047 has 4 double 16x pci3 slots + 3 single slots, 8 disk bays, 3 5.25 bays, 1600W power supply, extra cooling etc etc. Just let this machine run OSX and everybody would be happy.

[Craig Seeman]

[Robert Sala] “The sensible move on Macpro would be to cede the line to outside suppliers”
Apple sells computers. It would be senseless for them.

[Robert Sala] “everybody would be happy.”
Apple would lose money supporting the OS and FCPX. Apple is happy when they make a profit.

They’re not inclined to be self destructive of revenue streams.