Bitmap Frogs said:
Firewire 800 is way, way faster than USB. If you have a FW800 port (pc or mac, doesn't matter) and you are buying an external HDD, get one with FW800. It's still slower than esata but unless you have a mac pro/macbook pro you won't have the option.
About the updates... honestly they are meh-worthy:
a) crippled 4-core mac-pro; unlike previous iterations they are skimping hardcore on this one - the motherboard/processor combo it uses can't accomodate a second processor down the line so you are stuck quadcore, forever. Maximum amount of RAM has been crippled compared to the octocore. In a nutshell? the quad-core macpro is really cheap to make this year but zero savings have been passed down to the consumer. The nehalem inside the 4-core mac-pro is just your garden variety nehalem (ok, supports EEC ram whatever) and it's really cheap compared to the server grade "true" xeons used on the octocore.
b) imacs: no LED displays, no quadcore core 2 duo/nehalem (god forbids someone buys an imac instead of a macpro...). Basically last year machine, just a few more megahertz, ram. Ah, the vidcard is a rebadged nvidia, performance improvements compared to last gen are slim in the graphical area, unless you splurge and order one with the 4850. Which by the way, they dont let you do neither on the entry-lev
el 20 incher nor the cheapest 24 incher. How sweet of you, Apple. Also, unless you bother to tick the proper checkbox, imacs come with a gimped keyboard missing the numeric keypad (and extra function keys) on the right.
c) mac mini: stuck with a 2.0ghz core 2 duo (god forbids someone buys a mini instead of an imac...). Ah, the RAM is painful to upgrade (requires full disassembly) and they charge you an arm and a leg for the extra gb of ram on the 2gb mini. But hey, good news here: dual display support out of the box and FW800 instead of FW400.
Ah, if you live anywhere but in the USA, boo-yaa! price spikes for everyone. Enjoy.
The only good thing that came from this update is the mini and the option for sort-of-nice ATI cards if you are willing to spend the extra money.
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Way to be a pessimist
a) I'll take your word on the Pro's, I only bother learning about components in my price range. Although when you say you are stuck with a quad core, I believe you are mistaken. The Mac pro's clearly support 2 quad cores. I also believe (I may be wrong that the prices of RAM upgrades were lowered, and are ok prices as long as you don't choose the 8x 4gb option
http://store.apple.com/au/browse/home/shop_mac/family/mac_pro?mco=MTE2NjQ
b) The smaller keyboard is a good idea. I would willingly sacrifice the numeric keys for an extra bit of free desk space. And I'm not sure which function keys are removed because I'm using the older style keyboard. But it's always nice to have options. As for RAM and processor, the Imac line was updated fairly recently, so even though they aren't huge upgrades they're still good. I believe the harddrives were also boosted a bit. LED displays would have been nice, but that will have to wait for the next update. Graphics cards seem pretty decent to me, it would be good if they gave you the 4850 option in all of them, because options are always good. But perhaps putting one in the entry level Imac could be considered overkill. Also the extra USB slot is good and FW800
c) This was a very nice update for the mini, admit it. I believe RAM was doubled, the graphics greatly improved, 200 MHz processor increase and harddrive increase. Extra ports including USB and display ports. I believe there was also a disc drive upgrade for the cheaper model. I'll agree that $200 to double RAM to 2gc and get a 320gb harddrive is a bit much, but the entry level Mac mini is very good value for a compy of that form factor
