First Intel-based Macs released today

[Kazrog]

A friend of mine who has a studio here has weird FW problems with his REV A G5. While the front port works just fine, the rear port has intermittent data flow issues (this is only the FW 400 port..the FW 800 port is ok)

Weird. I guess I've been pretty lucky. I use two REV A G5s on a daily basis. I've also had the REV A iBook 2001, PowerBook G4 aluminum, G4 tower (AGP graphics), etc. with no issues.

The smoking Firewire port issue - that's crazy... I've seen a Firewire port on a G4 die before though.

 

[NK]

Weird. I guess I've been pretty lucky. I use two REV A G5s on a daily basis. I've also had the REV A iBook 2001, PowerBook G4 aluminum, G4 tower (AGP graphics), etc. with no issues.

The smoking Firewire port issue - that's crazy... I've seen a Firewire port on a G4 die before though.

I've had lots of REV A Macs over the years. PowerMac 7100AV, Powerbook 170, G4 500 (AGP). They were all great.

There's a studio here in Chicago that had a bad FW port on a G4..someone had jammed a cable in there too hard, so the socket was stretched open too far, allowing for a cable to fit in either way easily. I plugged my HD in there, heard a faint click, and it was fried. With the pins reversed, it sent the power to the wrong place..and yes the studio did take responsibility for it

Lucky I had a backup as well..that could have been a problem.

 

[Lopes]

Perhaps you should talk to my friends then. Obviously, it depends on what software you're using. Most specifically, they have issues in Sonar.

Strange, I've run two different versions of Sonar with four different AMD chips and have not had a single problem.

 

[Brett - K A L I S I A]

And so what about the Quad PowerPC G5 ? Will those be changed soon, and should we wait before purchasing any ?

 

[SPLASTiK]

And so what about the Quad PowerPC G5 ? Will those be changed soon, and should we wait before purchasing any ?

They aren't upgrading the PowerMacs to Intels until at least June I believe (I think they said they hoped the transition would be done by then? and PowerMacs were last on the list) if not the fall.

So if you need a new computer right now and want it, go for it. If you can wait it out though I'd say wait for the Intels.

I also heard some rumours Apple was planning on releasing more products this month but held off because of shortages for certain parts. So some are speculating they might release a mac mini in the next two months and maybe a new gadget like a palm pilot type thing.

For those interested... Pictures of a taken apart Intel iMac
http://mactree.sannet.ne.jp/~kodawarisan/imac_intel/imac_intel01.html

 

[Brett - K A L I S I A]

Mmmm, I'd rather wait a few monthes (can't buy it at the moment anyway) than eat my balls because I didn't if the increase in performances is big...

 

[SPLASTiK]

Mmmm, I'd rather wait a few monthes (can't buy it at the moment anyway) than eat my balls because I didn't if the increase in performances is big...

Yeah, I'm thinking about buying the second revision of the Intel PowerMacs, especially if they're going to be able to dual boot Windows and/or a good version of Linux which people are waiting to try out and see if they can get it going.

I think if they'll be able to dual boot into Windows it would be a huge selling point for Apple as well, and would probably get a lot more people buying them as well as hooking them into OSX which can only lead to good things.

I'm probably going to buy a cheap PC in the mean time though because I need something to use at home for basic stuff.

 

[TheStoryteller]

Strange, I've run two different versions of Sonar with four different AMD chips and have not had a single problem.

I've never heard of any problems either. Actually, over at the official cakewalk forum, AMD's are recommended over Intels on a daily basis. Come to think of it, there have been NO reports of AMD related problems over there.

 

[NK]

And so what about the Quad PowerPC G5 ? Will those be changed soon, and should we wait before purchasing any ?

I got one of those babys for Christmas. It's PCI-Express so it won't work with the PT hardware I have. It's stupidly fast.

 

[Brett - K A L I S I A]

I've seen Digidesign will release a PCI-Express version of their PT hardware very soon (if that's not already the case), but I'm pretty sure buying them again is not a solution . So if you have regular PCI gear, like a UAD-1 card, it won't work with the new G5 then ?

 

[NK]

There's a "cross-grade" offered by Digi for the PCI systems over to the PCI-E version. Sadly, it's in the order of $6000 for me, so I'll probably live with mine for a while longer before shelling out unnecessary cash. To be perfectly honest, my system is running extremely well on my Dual G4 PCI, so I might not even bother. It's not suffering at all. If I feel a need for more speed in the interim I can always swap it over to my dual 2.5 G5.

 

[Brett - K A L I S I A]

Yeah, that's the whole idea of the Accel cards, your CPU doesn't have much to do so old G4 are still enough for most people.

 

[Kazrog]

DigiDesign is in the software business to sell hardware. I think their proprietary hardware is making less sense as Mac CPUs get faster. Why bother buying a fast computer if you're going to slow it down with Accel cards? Seems like RTAS is the way to go... yet they don't let you onto the HD platform with the pro features and more tracks unless you buy their silly cards, even if you don't plan to use them.

I hate DigiDesign...

 

[Jeebo]

I'd just get a pc laptop with the intel core duo chips b/c the future versions of mac os (as well as osx86 and other emus which for the most part run flawlessly already on PCs) will be compatible due to the parallel cpu. It goes the same for the "macintels" where it will be possible to install windows vista, but I'd much rather pay less $ for a laptop that will most likely be faster and will soon run the mac os as well. I must admit though...for a Powerbook w/a low voltage dual core processor, 2gb ddr2 ram, ati radeon x1600, and a bounty of other powerful peripherals, the macs are now well worth the $

 

[NK]

An Accel or HD process card isn't going to slow down a computer. They do the TDM plugin processing. If you have a fast host computer (G5 say) the RTAS processing is done by the host. So it ends up being the best of both worlds. The more TDM processing that the Accels can do only gives the CPU that much more headroom. When used in conjunction with a PCI-E host, the new PCI-E digi hardware will make even more sense, simply because the bandwidth afforded by the new cards/new hardware combo is up to 4x what the normal PCI Macs can do today.

So, that being said, I'd say the way to go in the future, if you plan on using lots of TDM plugins etc. which need the most processing muscle (Revibe, for example, can't even run on the older HD hardware - it needs an Accel card to operate) will almost certainly be an Intel PCI-E Mac with the new Digi HD PCI-E hardware. I'd be willing to bet that that combo would seriously kick arse.