Apple: Hardware News and Discussion Thread
Team Owner
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From: Jersey
Anyone planning on picking up a new Macbook Pro this week?
I couldn't give a rats ass about Sandy Bridge but if they happen to ship with Light Peak that would be
. Full duplex 10Gb/s FTW.
I couldn't give a rats ass about Sandy Bridge but if they happen to ship with Light Peak that would be
. Full duplex 10Gb/s FTW.
Last edited by doopstr; Feb 21, 2011 at 10:42 AM.
Team Owner
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From: Jersey
Administrator Alumnus
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From: Northwest IN
Team Owner
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From: Jersey
My kids need a new computer. They have about abandoned the G4 mini because it's too slow and they keep requesting time on my iMac. After the next refresh I will need to figure out if I will hand down my 24" iMac to them or get them a 21" iMac or a new mini. If the new iMacs have some killer feature maybe I will get one, otherwise I'll just get a refurb of what is now the current generation.
Team Owner
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From: Jersey
Intel announcing Light Peak on Thursday too! 
This may be a pretty major mac refresh.
http://news.cnet.com/8301-13924_3-20034900-64.html
This may be a pretty major mac refresh.
http://news.cnet.com/8301-13924_3-20034900-64.html
Intel released a statement to the media today saying that on Thursday in San Francisco it will "host a...press briefing to discuss a new technology that is about to appear on the market."
Team Owner
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From: Jersey
From what I've read, Apple has been pushing Intel for this. The original Light Peak demo in 2009 was run on an OS X machine.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=khPx1dEIPnA
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=khPx1dEIPnA
Moderator
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From: Not Las Vegas (SF Bay Area)
MacGeneration (French) claims that a trusted source has leaked the specs of the new MacBook Pros. As summary of the new specs are provided:
- no more white MacBook (Apple goes back to two lines of 13" inchers)
- 16 GB SSD mSATA drives on all models to store the system
- Core i3 and third USB port on the 13" model
- Matte screen option on the higher-end 13"
- Option to replace the SuperDrive with a SSD on the 15 and 17" models
- HD screens on all models : 1440x900 on the 13", 1680x1050 on the 15"
- 200 to 300 grams lighter : 1.8 kg for the 13", 2.3 kg for the 15", 2.65 kg for the 17"
- Better battery life : 12 hours on the 13", 10 hours on the 15"
- 8 GB of RAM on the 17"
In addition to all these changes, MacGeneration cites another source who claims a "new technology" will make its way into the MacBook Pros. At this point, it seems likely that Light Peak will be introduced. Intel is reportedly holding an event on the same day (Thursday) to officially launch Light Peak.
- no more white MacBook (Apple goes back to two lines of 13" inchers)
- 16 GB SSD mSATA drives on all models to store the system
- Core i3 and third USB port on the 13" model
- Matte screen option on the higher-end 13"
- Option to replace the SuperDrive with a SSD on the 15 and 17" models
- HD screens on all models : 1440x900 on the 13", 1680x1050 on the 15"
- 200 to 300 grams lighter : 1.8 kg for the 13", 2.3 kg for the 15", 2.65 kg for the 17"
- Better battery life : 12 hours on the 13", 10 hours on the 15"
- 8 GB of RAM on the 17"
In addition to all these changes, MacGeneration cites another source who claims a "new technology" will make its way into the MacBook Pros. At this point, it seems likely that Light Peak will be introduced. Intel is reportedly holding an event on the same day (Thursday) to officially launch Light Peak.
ohh man if those rumors are true, i think i MIGHT pick up a 13" MBP!
Sanest Florida Man
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From: Florida
SB GPUs are great as far as integrated graphics go but they don't support OpenCL and therefore Apple can't go with just them. that would be a confusing message to developers, we want you to write your apps with OpenCL but our latest machines won't support it.....
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13-Inch MacBook Pro Specs, Photos, Light Peak Known As Thunderbolt? [Confirmed]
Wednesday February 23, 2011 07:24 AM
Fscklog posts a photo of what is believed to be from the box of the new 13" MacBook Pro that Apple is planning to release on Thursday. Amongst the features, the name of Apple's Light Peak implementation: Thunderbolt.
Translation of the specs by devilcm3:
Core i5 two cores at 2.3 GHz 3 MB cache
4 GB of DDR3 1333 MHz
Hard Drive 320 GB 5400 rpm
Screen 13.33 "glossy 1280x800
Intel Graphics GPU HD 3000 with 384MB of RAM shared with main memory
Camera HD FaceTime
Superdrive 8x
Thunderbolt yet compatible with the I / O devices and high speed MiniDisplayport
SDXC Card slot, Firewire 800 and two USB 2.0
Digital Audio Output
Integrated Ethernet
Backlit keyboard
Size and weight 32.5 x22, 7x2, 41 cm, 2.04 kg
Mac4Ever posts these photos that appear to be marketing materials for the new MacBook Pros, with a partial image of the notebook itself:
Finally, this image claiming to show a Thunderbolt port, which looks a lot like a DisplayPort. We're not sure of the original source of this image:
Update: We've confirmed that these images are legitimate. This is of the low-end 13" MacBook Pro, so it's possible that the higher-end model will have different features.
In English:
Wednesday February 23, 2011 07:24 AM
Fscklog posts a photo of what is believed to be from the box of the new 13" MacBook Pro that Apple is planning to release on Thursday. Amongst the features, the name of Apple's Light Peak implementation: Thunderbolt.
Translation of the specs by devilcm3:
Core i5 two cores at 2.3 GHz 3 MB cache
4 GB of DDR3 1333 MHz
Hard Drive 320 GB 5400 rpm
Screen 13.33 "glossy 1280x800
Intel Graphics GPU HD 3000 with 384MB of RAM shared with main memory
Camera HD FaceTime
Superdrive 8x
Thunderbolt yet compatible with the I / O devices and high speed MiniDisplayport
SDXC Card slot, Firewire 800 and two USB 2.0
Digital Audio Output
Integrated Ethernet
Backlit keyboard
Size and weight 32.5 x22, 7x2, 41 cm, 2.04 kg
Mac4Ever posts these photos that appear to be marketing materials for the new MacBook Pros, with a partial image of the notebook itself:
Finally, this image claiming to show a Thunderbolt port, which looks a lot like a DisplayPort. We're not sure of the original source of this image:
Update: We've confirmed that these images are legitimate. This is of the low-end 13" MacBook Pro, so it's possible that the higher-end model will have different features.
In English:
Team Owner
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From: Jersey
Steve is gone only a couple of weeks and now we get something called Thunderbolt, with an icon that looks like "danger", in a displayport form factor. We also now have Intel branding on the box. 
The Third Ball
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From: Los Angeles, Ca
Interesting if the mini-display becomes a dual port with thunderbolt.
Personally, I have never used my mini-display port.
I am curious how long it will take for thunderbolt enabled drives to hit the market and do so inexpensively.
Personally, I have never used my mini-display port.
I am curious how long it will take for thunderbolt enabled drives to hit the market and do so inexpensively.
Team Owner
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From: Jersey
I was kind of hoping that the internal drives on the Pro would be Intel Light Peak drives. Intel demoed Light Peak SSD drives two years ago. It wouldn't be too far fetched to think that they have product ready to ship. I agree it's silly to have an interface that you can't plug anything in to.
I'd be amazed if Intel comes out tomorrow and says "Hey, we have this great interface. Now could someone make some devices for it please?"
I'd be amazed if Intel comes out tomorrow and says "Hey, we have this great interface. Now could someone make some devices for it please?"
Team Owner
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From: Jersey
Here's a Light Peak 4 SSD external storage array by Lacie.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kidmWiqKzqY
and here is one from Western Digital.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SY5TjnR5Z-c
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kidmWiqKzqY
and here is one from Western Digital.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SY5TjnR5Z-c
Last edited by doopstr; Feb 23, 2011 at 04:02 PM.
Sanest Florida Man
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From: Florida
If those specs are real then it doesn't bode well for OpenCL. I'm sure the 15 and 17 will still have nvidia discrete GPUs as well and the iMac too. Apple is in a hard spot, in order to support OpenCL they'd have to stick with C2Ds since nvidia isn't making chipsets for Core iX processors only C2Ds. Now C2Ds are old school and we're on 2nd gen i's. So if you need the performance of OpenCL then go with the 15 or 17 but for a regular consumer oriented laptop get the 13.
I'm wonder if this will discourage developers from implementing OpenCL since the best selling mac laptop won't support it. Though Intel's next version of GPU should support OpenCL...
I'm wonder if this will discourage developers from implementing OpenCL since the best selling mac laptop won't support it. Though Intel's next version of GPU should support OpenCL...
Team Owner
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From: Jersey
The best I could find is this link that says the alpha version of the driver uses the CPU for OpenCL instead of the GPU.
http://software.intel.com/en-us/foru...ad.php?t=79766
Just found this link that says Intel supports it.
http://news.cnet.com/8301-13924_3-20016302-64.html
Currently, Sandy Bridge supports DirectX 10.1 and OpenCL 1.1--the latter used on Apple's Mac operating systems, according to Piazza.
Last edited by doopstr; Feb 23, 2011 at 07:26 PM.
Sanest Florida Man
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From: Florida
Anandtech says SB doesn't have OpenCL support
http://www.anandtech.com/Show/Index/...bridge-part-ii
http://www.anandtech.com/show/4084/i...le-landscape/8
I don't believe Apple will abandon NVIDIA as a result of Sandy Bridge's vastly improved graphics given SB's lack of OpenCL support.
Ultimately, Sandy Bridge’s IGP is far more capable than many would have expected. Sure, it doesn’t even try to support DX11 or OpenCL, but at least for gaming DX11 is typically too much for even midrange GPUs.
Team Owner
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From: Jersey
They're here! 
Looks like even the lowest model has i5 (but only dual cores)
http://www.apple.com/macbookpro/
http://www.apple.com/thunderbolt/
Now, where are the damn iMacs?
Looks like even the lowest model has i5 (but only dual cores)
http://www.apple.com/macbookpro/
http://www.apple.com/thunderbolt/
Now, where are the damn iMacs?
Last edited by doopstr; Feb 24, 2011 at 08:46 AM.