Anyone using a mac ?

[SpeedoMike]

So any of the Mac users at MacWorld-SF???

I plan to take BART to The City and walk to Mosconi Center.

I've been an Apple-exclusive user since February 1978 :smile:

Latest model is a 1.25 Mac Mini now using OS 10.4.11 and I'm not sure I will update.

Need I really say anything more?

 

[B_Jennuine73]

I bought an imac a couple months ago and was terribly confused at first. I love it now though. When I have to use my HP I get so frustrated by it's brick like behaviour.

 

[BlackCock85]

It's a love story between my macbook pro and I, he's so good to me, couldn't ask for better :biggrin1:

 

[novice_btm]

I plan to take BART to The City and walk to Mosconi Center...

I'm heading over to get my badge after breakfast. :biggrin1:

 

[red7.5]

Been using Macs since the late 80's. Started with an SE. Have a MacBook now. Love it.

 

[fluoro]

I bought my first mac in 1986 and have been earning my living with them from that point forward.

 

[earllogjam]

I am a born again Mac user after using a PC for a long long time. I see little difference between the two operating systems myself and most of my Word, Excel and image files work in both enviroments. Both are fairly intuitive to use but the Mac OS does have a slight edge in terms of simplicity and clearer user interfaces. No virus or security problems with my Intel duo Mac so far.

The one program I hate is iPhoto on the Mac. I dislike dumping all my photos in one bucket and the having to sort them out instead of keeping them in separate folders.

 

[D_Harry_S_Taint]

+1 with several macs at home

 

[transformer_99]

The one program I hate is iPhoto on the Mac. I dislike dumping all my photos in one bucket and the having to sort them out instead of keeping them in separate folders.

Perhaps here is your solution ?

"http://www.fatcatsoftware.com/iplm/"

"http://www.applematters.com/index.php/section/comments/iphoto-library-manager-makes-multiple-iphoto-libraries-a-whiz/"

this excerpt from an objective POV ?

"iPhoto can create multiple photo libraries, but to say its handling of them is bad would be a compliment. It’s a lot worse than that."

 

[Dorian_Gray]

Is there any way that when you specify/configure what you want built on-line, that you get the latest and greatest ? I figure the off-the-shelf Macs would be that way, take what they grab in the stockroom and bring it out to you, as they would have FIFO inventory to unload the older .65 nm vs .45 nm systems ? That's another reason I build for myself, a lot of places you can specify what specific part numbers for core and so on or at least inquire what stepping and revision they have in stock. "www.newegg.com" does that. For example:

"http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819103242"

AMD Athlon 64 X2 5400+ 2.8GHz Socket AM2 65W Dual-Core Processor Model ADO5400IAA5DO - OEM



it's a pain to keep track of it (not to mention you have to know what the codes are for the part number, but in the end, you know what you got & have and it insures that nobody is simply moving hardware and product for the sake of giving you something that is indicated as a generically identified at a level that is obscure and uncertain. Not all silicon is made equal as you indicate. And when Steve Jobs himself tells you that as an Apple consumer that you don't care what's under the hood, well, he's sorely mistaken. Apple and others are infamous for changing specs in the middle of the night and they'll sell you the older stuff a day before without batting an eyelash or a price drop too.

Actually when you call apple to order a mac pro and not order one online, you get your own dedicated salesman. Like if you want to know specifics of the system down to the processor stepping (there was a controversy over the q6600 and the G0 stepping a while back for their overclocking ability) they will call you back with the right answers in like a day! It's an experience when you shop for an apple But I've been thinking about just upgrading the stock processors in mine to the Harpertown's but they require a new motherboard, because the new penryn has dual independent 64 bit 1600mhz FSB (1 1600mhz FSB for every four cores).

ps.. thats a low TDP for an amd! my mac pro's TDP/processor is 120watts.

 

[transformer_99]

Actually when you call apple to order a mac pro and not order one online, you get your own dedicated salesman. Like if you want to know specifics of the system down to the processor stepping (there was a controversy over the q6600 and the G0 stepping a while back for their overclocking ability) they will call you back with the right answers in like a day! It's an experience when you shop for an apple But I've been thinking about just upgrading the stock processors in mine to the Harpertown's but they require a new motherboard, because the new penryn has dual independent 64 bit 1600mhz FSB (1 1600mhz FSB for every four cores).

ps.. thats a low TDP for an amd! my mac pro's TDP/processor is 120watts.

Here's some good reading on the differences, btw, that AMD chip is really a dual core desktop, so of course it pales in power consumption to the new Xeon's, I used it as an example to demonstrate building and a little on line research can come away with buying specific parts.

"http://www.anandtech.com/IT/showdoc.aspx?i=3099&p=10"
"http://www.anandtech.com/cpuchipsets/intel/showdoc.aspx?i=3184&p=1"

I think both cpu's drop into existing sockets/motherboards for both Intel and AMD products though ?

 

[transformer_99]

Come to look @ the Harpertown's, those can't really take full advantage of that:

"because the new penryn has dual independent 64 bit 1600mhz FSB (1 1600mhz FSB for every four cores)."

as the cpu only has the 1333 Mhz fsb, the 1600 Mhz is for the memory and the cpu and memory run at differing fsb's (asynchronously as opposed to synchronously):

"http://www.serversdirect.com/product.asp?pf_id=CP1326"

The Harpertown part Apple puts a Mac Pro together with is a Xeon 5400 series processor, from 2.8 to 3.2 Ghz. From Apple's website:

"8-core: Two 2.8GHz, 3.0GHz, or 3.2GHz Quad-Core Intel Xeon 5400 series processors"

"http://www.apple.com/macpro/specs.html"

 

[Dorian_Gray]

Here's some good reading on the differences, btw, that AMD chip is really a dual core desktop, so of course it pales in power consumption to the new Xeon's, I used it as an example to demonstrate building and a little on line research can come away with buying specific parts.

"http://www.anandtech.com/IT/showdoc.aspx?i=3099&p=10"
"http://www.anandtech.com/cpuchipsets/intel/showdoc.aspx?i=3184&p=1"

I think both cpu's drop into existing sockets/motherboards for both Intel and AMD products though ?

They have the same socket (lga 771), but the Harpertown has a 1600mhz FSB and cannot be scaled back. The max the clovertowns board can handle is 1333mhz, thats why apple had to upgrade the MB in the new mac pros. If i'm not mistaken they're based on the new X38 chipset from intel. But I think the AMD is drop in compatable with most socket AM2 boards with a bios update of course.


lol.. i posted at almost the same time and just caught it.. my bad, maybe i can drop in a couple then

 

[deleted198828]

Mac Guy here. Love it.

 

[Rang3r69]

2 x 2.66 Ghz Dual-Core Intel Xeon MAC with a shit load of RAM.. to boot it came with a 30" HD Monitor (yes, I do have the video card needed to run dual 30"). I also have a couple of PCs... But they don't compare. My wife turned me on to macs.. never cared for them before then. Still, both have their advantages and disadvantages.

 

[Dorian_Gray]

Come to look @ the Harpertown's, those can't really take full advantage of that:

"because the new penryn has dual independent 64 bit 1600mhz FSB (1 1600mhz FSB for every four cores)."

as the cpu only has the 1333 Mhz fsb, the 1600 Mhz is for the memory and the cpu and memory run at differing fsb's (asynchronously as opposed to synchronously):

"http://www.serversdirect.com/product.asp?pf_id=CP1326"

The Harpertown part Apple puts a Mac Pro together with is a Xeon 5400 series processor, from 2.8 to 3.2 Ghz. From Apple's website:

"8-core: Two 2.8GHz, 3.0GHz, or 3.2GHz Quad-Core Intel Xeon 5400 series processors"

"http://www.apple.com/macpro/specs.html"

I just did a little research there, and it appears that only the 3.2ghz version will run at the same speed as the memory bus (1600mhz). the others will only run at 1333, so maybe i won't. i mean a couple of watts saved won't really matter that much, i mean mine's faster at the same bus speed, then again i think my memory bus is only like 800mhz. dammit apple needs to get their frequencies in line!!

 

[transformer_99]

I'm not sure who Apple gets their motherboards made by, but here's a couple from Supermicro that supports Clover and Harpertowns with the system bus fsb ranging from 1066, 1333 and 1600.

"http://www.supermicro.com/products/motherboard/Xeon1333/?chp=5400"
"http://www.supermicro.com/products/motherboard/Xeon1333/5400/X7DWN+.cfm"
"http://www.supermicro.com/products/motherboard/Xeon1333/5400/X7DWA-N.cfm"

In essence, that Mac Pro is really an upright 5u server box, the xserve their 1u rackmount version. Odd they chose to update and drop 3.2 Harpertowns in the Mac Pro, while the xserve still has the 3.0 Ghz dual cpu quad cores (per Apple's configurator) ? Doesn't make sense to upgrade the workstation and not the server to me ?

 

[transformer_99]

"http://techgage.com/news/fastest_harpertowns_to_be_apple-exclusive/"

Here's something that indicates the Intel cpu's Apple gets are exclusive fastest/hottest introductions, but like you indicate they do it with fsb, and like the article indicates, that simply a bios setting for a mild overclock that the 1333 cpu can do easily puts both cpu's on an equal footing for clock multiplier and fsb:

"According to rumors, when Intel's Penryn-based processors are released next month, Apple will again have the fastest offering exclusive to them, at 3.2GHz. By comparison, the PC side will have the QX9650 at 3.0GHz available at launch. The good thing in all of this is that the small clock bump doesn't mean much of anything, since a minor flick of a switch in the BIOS would match the same frequency of the 3.2GHz, without as much as a voltage bump."

But you'd definitely have to go out of your way to manually get the fsb on a PC, where as the Apple, they drop it in and it runs out of the box that way, fully recognized. I don't think Apple allows you the flexibility to change fsb's though the bios anyway (automatic product manufacturer settings recognition) ? But as for a PC, Who knows what the bios does when it recognizes the cpu's ? That is, how it displays at post ? That's highly dependent upon the motherboard manufacturer. And even how a program like cpu-z would display the information in Windows ?

 

[heavy-chevy]

I've got a Mac G5, and a PC, but I hardly ever use it anymore. Now, I do almost everything on my MAC with the exception of a few PC only programs.

 

[Dorian_Gray]

"http://techgage.com/news/fastest_harpertowns_to_be_apple-exclusive/"

Here's something that indicates the Intel cpu's Apple gets are exclusive fastest/hottest introductions, but like you indicate they do it with fsb, and like the article indicates, that simply a bios setting for a mild overclock that the 1333 cpu can do easily puts both cpu's on an equal footing for clock multiplier and fsb:

exactly, most of the time your processors with the mac pro are tied to the EFI and cannot be changed without voiding your warranty, or worse, I've heard from friends that they've tried to upgrade their mac pros and when they install the new quad cores the motherboard doesn't recognize them right and won't utilize all the 4 cores. (i would be super pissed if that happened!!)