Apple finally releases new Mac Pro, iMac and Mac mini.

bobtomay · Mar 3, 2009

MDavid said:
Nice ! might purchase a mac mini now.

You and me both.

The couple of locals on craigslist trying to get top dollar on their 1.83 Ghz, 2GB max RAM and that lousy Intel video that turned reasonable offers down over the last couple of weeks, just lost another $100 in value today.

Mama Luigi · Mar 3, 2009

dangerous365 said:
I have a G4 mac (need a refresh) was very tempted to go for an i7 pc to run my creative suite 4.

Do you think the new macbooks/pros or imacs rival this yet? (i know the specs on the pc destroy it - ati 4870 card, 6gb ram etc) but macs are macs and usually perform above their spec. I can get the PC for £900!!

Would you buy a new imac, macbook or get an i7 pc.

Macs don't perform "above their spec." They're just the same as any other computers except they have OS X. If you like OS X and are more productive with it, or if you have Mac software, then it's usually worth it. If you don't care about your OS and just want the most computational power per dollar, then get a Windows box.

As for the updates, they're okay. Mostly pretty good actually. They got some things wrong, though:

- Mac Mini still ships with 1 GB of RAM, not 2 GB. Luckily it's in a single-module configuration so you can just buy a second 1 GB SO-DIMM and install it for 2 GB. No need to trash your existing RAM.
- The $799 Mac Mini is a rip off. Only difference is RAM (~$20 if you install it yourself) and hard drive space (<$100 if you install it yourself, or just get an external for ~$100). There's no compelling reason to spring for the $799. I guess that's sort of a good thing - no need to also replace the optical drive with a DVD burner. The only people who will get the $799 model are gullible people who'd never be able to install RAM on their own anyway (especially not in a Mac Mini).
- Some of the iMacs got a graphical downgrade. Shared graphics in a $1499 computer is pretty bad. And the GT 130 in the high-end iMac is at best equal to the 8800GS it used to have, but maybe a little slower. The good thing is that the 4850 is now available, and that's quite the powerful GPU. In fact, I'd rather get a refurb 24" iMac with the HD2600 Pro for $1200 - cheaper and faster than the current $1500 one.
- Mac Pro pricing seems way too high. It used to be $2800 for an 8-core, with the option to drop to a quad for $2300. Now it's $2500 for a quad and $3200 for an 8-core. Yes, Nehalem is faster, but it's still a price hike on an already-expensive computer. The stock graphics (GT 120) are pretty weak, barely better than the HD2600 XT they replace. And the 4870, while it's an excellent GPU, is bottlenecked by having only 512 MB of VRAM. They really should have given it the 1 GB version.

kkoorndyk · Mar 3, 2009

Dangit! I just bought the lower 24" imac on Saturday. I'm debating returning it and getting one of the new ones.

dangerous365 · Mar 3, 2009

Mama Luigi said:
Macs don't perform "above their spec." They're just the same as any other computers except they have OS X. If you like OS X and are more productive with it, or if you have Mac software, then it's usually worth it. If you don't care about your OS and just want the most computational power per dollar, then get a Windows box.

As for the updates, they're okay. Mostly pretty good actually. They got some things wrong, though:

- Mac Mini still ships with 1 GB of RAM, not 2 GB. Luckily it's in a single-module configuration so you can just buy a second 1 GB SO-DIMM and install it for 2 GB. No need to trash your existing RAM.
- The $799 Mac Mini is a rip off. Only difference is RAM (~$20 if you install it yourself) and hard drive space (<$100 if you install it yourself, or just get an external for ~$100). There's no compelling reason to spring for the $799. I guess that's sort of a good thing - no need to also replace the optical drive with a DVD burner. The only people who will get the $799 model are gullible people who'd never be able to install RAM on their own anyway (especially not in a Mac Mini).
- Some of the iMacs got a graphical downgrade. Shared graphics in a $1499 computer is pretty bad. And the GT 130 in the high-end iMac is at best equal to the 8800GS it used to have, but maybe a little slower. The good thing is that the 4850 is now available, and that's quite the powerful GPU. In fact, I'd rather get a refurb 24" iMac with the HD2600 Pro for $1200 - cheaper and faster than the current $1500 one.
- Mac Pro pricing seems way too high. It used to be $2800 for an 8-core, with the option to drop to a quad for $2300. Now it's $2500 for a quad and $3200 for an 8-core. Yes, Nehalem is faster, but it's still a price hike on an already-expensive computer. The stock graphics (GT 120) are pretty weak, barely better than the HD2600 XT they replace. And the 4870, while it's an excellent GPU, is bottlenecked by having only 512 MB of VRAM. They really should have given it the 1 GB version.

wow, you think the old imacs are better?

is there anything better about the new ones? unless you go for the top spec one?

Mama Luigi · Mar 3, 2009

Compared to refurbished models, the new ones still have a few things going for them:

- More hard drive/RAM standard
- Option for a Radeon 4850 on the two higher models
- Availability is guaranteed

But yeah, right now there's a refurb iMac with a 2.8 GHz processor, 24" LCD, and HD2600 Pro, for $1200. Cheaper than the new $1500 model, and faster too.

milea · Mar 3, 2009

Low end graphic card (nVidia 130) on a 2200$ mac, no thanks.

dtravis7 · Mar 3, 2009

I did a double take on the Mini as I figured the top end model would also have the faster CPU like it's predecessor did. Otherwise I am happy with the upgrades.

Zeeth · Mar 3, 2009

Also, the 15 inch Macbook pro got a bump in processor speed (now it's the same as the 17 inch) and both the Macbook and Macbook pros have 256gb solid state option.

the8thark · Mar 3, 2009

Well look at the price:

I got my imac (I'm Australian) for $1650 roughly. And it was not the lowest spec at the time. The 2nd lowest. I got it new about month for the alu imacs came in. It is a white matte imac. Last of it's kind.

And now the lowest spec imac is $2000. That's a big jump. I know Apples are well worth the price tag. But they are slowly becoming out of reach for some people. I'd love to replace my imac with one of these. But at those prices I don't think I'll be able to for a while.

And the higher level mac mini now? That's about the same price as the lowest model imac when I bought my imac. So for the same money in the past I got an imac and now only a mac mini.

********************

And the lowest imac:

US price - $1200
Australian price - $2000

Makes me think about getting one from the US and importing it and paying their prices when the exchange rate improves. Seems like a better idea. Crazy when China is closer to Australia than the US.

***********************

Apart from the price point, I really like these macs. It's a nice tweak to them. Great machines really. I'm impressed.

gixxersean · Mar 3, 2009

kkoorndyk said:
Dangit! I just bought the lower 24" imac on Saturday. I'm debating returning it and getting one of the new ones.

DO IT!

the8thark · Mar 3, 2009

G100 = 9400 GT
GT120 = 9500 GT
GT130 = 9600 GSO = 8800 GS

Just some clever rebranding/renaming by NVDIA

Mama Luigi · Mar 3, 2009

the8thark said:
G100 = 9400 GT
GT120 = 9500 GT
GT130 = 9600 GSO = 8800 GS

Just some clever rebranding/renaming by NVDIA

Also,

GT120 = 9500GT = 8600GT

livinitup1 · Mar 3, 2009

Am I the only one who is shocked that the iMac didn't get an LED backlit screen?? All they have to do is change the screen. They can still keep the same design.

Santino · Mar 3, 2009

livinitup1 said:
Am I the only one who is shocked that the iMac didn't get an LED backlit screen?? All they have to do is change the screen. They can still keep the same design.

The screens on the 24" iMac used to be top notch. I'm not familiar with LED displays, but i rather keep the ones they've been using than rather some crappier LED one.

OPBJJ · Mar 3, 2009

Agh, I just got a MacPro last week. Having the Nehalem processors and 1066 RAM over the Harpertown and 800 would have been ace.

Andy348 · Mar 3, 2009

OPBJJ said:
Agh, I just got a MacPro last week. Having the Nehalem processors and 1066 RAM over the Harpertown and 800 would have been ace.

You can return it, can't you?

As for the upgrades, I'm neutral. Nothing there that would excite someone in my position, looking for something in between a Mini and a Pro.

Oh well. I'm sure this benefited a lot of people

iWhat · Mar 3, 2009

Just a warning to potential buyers, the default keyboard is set to "Apple Keyboard (English)" not "Apple Keyboard with Numeric Keyboard (English)". There is no additional cost between the two wired keyboards no matter what option you choose. Very odd Apple doesn't make that clearer.

I'd be upset not getting a numeric pad, when I purposely expected getting one.

JayRob · Mar 4, 2009

^^^ very true since thats the standard

aj-uk · Mar 4, 2009

Personally the best thing I heard in this announcement was the new graphics cards for the Mac Pro.

The ATI Radeon 4870 seems like it's a bit faster than the GeForce 8800 that's currently the best we can get in the "early 08" Mac Pro.

On the other hand they don't seem to offer any comparative benchmarks against the 8800. Perhaps Barefeats will be doing that soon...

I'll be ordering one of these upgrade parts for my Mac Pro as soon as they become available in the hopes of seeing performance increases in games.

WolfsBane · Mar 4, 2009

I am surprised as well to see Apple include so many low end graphic cards with their updated lines.
And $1499 for a computer with an integrated graphics chip which has to use shared memory???... ugh.

Where is the beef????