Intel transition completed
Hardware With its new Mac Pro computer and the new Xserve server, Apple is addressing the needs of Pro users.
Hardware With its new Mac Pro computer and the new Xserve server, Apple is addressing the needs of Pro users.
With the launch of the Mac Pro and the new Xserve at this year's Apple developer conference WWDC, the hardware and software manufacturer has completed the switch from the Power PC G4/G5 to Intel processors in just over 200 days. This has put an end to the waiting time for Pro users, who have had to watch as Apple's consumer and entry-level iMac and Mac Mini computers have almost outstripped the machines previously known as Power Macs in terms of speed.Tidied up and upgradedAlthough the new Mac Pros come in the same housing as the previous Power Mac G5, according to Apple product manager Rolf Lehmann, hardly a stone has been left unturned: "The new Mac Pros each use two 64-bit dual-core Intel Xeon processors (see box). These chips, which are specially designed for workstations and server systems and run at up to 3 GHz, are based on the Intel Core microarchitecture, which enables high performance with comparably modest energy consumption. Furthermore, eight slots for up to 16 GB of RAM meet the requirements of Pro users. In addition, up to four wirelessly connectable hard disks of up to 500 GB each can now be installed." The latter, adds Lehmann, can also be striped, i.e. connected sequentially one behind the other, or connected to mirror the data and thus increase data security. The "interior designers" at Apple have redesigned the inside of the computers to make room for the bays for the four removable hard disks or for the optional CD/DVD drive (Superdrive), for example. This was made possible, among other things, because air cooling is sufficient for the chips, also known as Woodcrest, and the space-consuming liquid cooling previously required for the Power Mac G5 can be dispensed with.
Even if the basic model, which is already sufficiently equipped for many applications at just under 3600 francs, is available at similar conditions to the previous Power Macs, workstations costing up to over 20000 francs can now be put together. In addition to the choice of RAM and hard disks, the graphics cards are the main factor here. Professional users can now choose between three PCI Express graphics cards (NVIDIA Quadro FX 4500, ATI Radeon X1900 XT or NVIDIA GeForce 7300 GT) for different requirements - or even combine them. In maximum configuration, up to eight displays can then be controlled.
Generous upgrade of the XserveThe Xserve servers, which were also presented at WWDC and will be available from October according to Apple, are more than just an update. Their key data: up to 32 GB RAM and up to 2.25 TB memory. Xserve will also be equipped with Xeon processors and the new system architecture and will be delivered with the Tiger Server operating system optimized for Intel processors for an unlimited number of clients.
Apple lets another cat out of the bag in 2007In addition to hardware, Apple presented the new version of the Mac OS X operating system at WWDC, which is scheduled for spring 2007. Highlights of the system, which will be fully ported to 64-bit technology, are the new Time Machine and Spaces technologies. Spaces allows work environments to be combined, as is also known from Unix interfaces, which can then be changed using a key combination. Time Machine can be used to bring deleted data back to life. To do this, Time Machine starts from an original and only saves changes. Thanks to this technology, the backup takes up less space; it should also be possible to bring previous operating system states from the hereafter back to the present if required.
It is an unconfirmed rumor that users can travel back in time with the Time Machine itself - but not that Apple has yet another unreleased arrow in its quiver for the Leopard.
With the launch of the Mac Pro and the new Xserve at this year's Apple developer conference WWDC, the hardware and software manufacturer has completed the switch from the Power PC G4/G5 to Intel processors in just over 200 days. This has put an end to the waiting time for Pro users, who have had to watch as Apple's consumer and entry-level iMac and Mac Mini computers have almost outstripped the machines previously known as Power Macs in terms of speed.Tidied up and upgradedAlthough the new Mac Pros come in the same housing as the previous Power Mac G5, according to Apple product manager Rolf Lehmann, hardly a stone has been left unturned: "The new Mac Pros each use two 64-bit dual-core Intel Xeon processors (see box). These chips, which are specially designed for workstations and server systems and run at up to 3 GHz, are based on the Intel Core microarchitecture, which enables high performance with comparably modest energy consumption. Furthermore, eight slots for up to 16 GB of RAM meet the requirements of Pro users. In addition, up to four wirelessly connectable hard disks of up to 500 GB each can now be installed." The latter, adds Lehmann, can also be striped, i.e. connected sequentially one behind the other, or connected to mirror the data and thus increase data security. The "interior designers" at Apple have redesigned the inside of the computers to make room for the bays for the four removable hard disks or for the optional CD/DVD drive (Superdrive), for example. This was made possible, among other things, because air cooling is sufficient for the chips, also known as Woodcrest, and the space-consuming liquid cooling previously required for the Power Mac G5 can be dispensed with.
Even if the basic model, which is already sufficiently equipped for many applications at just under 3600 francs, is available at similar conditions to the previous Power Macs, workstations costing up to over 20000 francs can now be put together. In addition to the choice of RAM and hard disks, the graphics cards are the main factor here. Professional users can now choose between three PCI Express graphics cards (NVIDIA Quadro FX 4500, ATI Radeon X1900 XT or NVIDIA GeForce 7300 GT) for different requirements - or even combine them. In maximum configuration, up to eight displays can then be controlled.
Generous upgrade of the XserveThe Xserve servers, which were also presented at WWDC and will be available from October according to Apple, are more than just an update. Their key data: up to 32 GB RAM and up to 2.25 TB memory. Xserve will also be equipped with Xeon processors and the new system architecture and will be delivered with the Tiger Server operating system optimized for Intel processors for an unlimited number of clients.
Apple lets another cat out of the bag in 2007In addition to hardware, Apple presented the new version of the Mac OS X operating system at WWDC, which is scheduled for spring 2007. Highlights of the system, which will be fully ported to 64-bit technology, are the new Time Machine and Spaces technologies. Spaces allows work environments to be combined, as is also known from Unix interfaces, which can then be changed using a key combination. Time Machine can be used to bring deleted data back to life. To do this, Time Machine starts from an original and only saves changes. Thanks to this technology, the backup takes up less space; it should also be possible to bring previous operating system states from the hereafter back to the present if required.
It is an unconfirmed rumor that users can travel back in time with the Time Machine itself - but not that Apple has yet another unreleased arrow in its quiver for the Leopard.
Jürgen Franck
Dual Core XenonApple's new 64-bit computer and server generation
has two dual-core Intel Xeon processors with a clock speed of up to 3 GHz. Intel uses the term Xeon for its server and workstation processors; Dual Core indicates that the chip has two processor cores. In addition to the 4 GB shared L2 cache (accelerates access to memory content), a 1.33 GHz frontside bus (connection between system components), the 667 MHz DDR 2 memory modules and the 256-bit wide memory architecture ensure an increase in performance for both devices. In standard benchmarks
Apple's new computers and servers should be around twice (Mac Pro compared to Power Mac Quad G5) or five times (comparison of old vs. new Xserve; however, the Xserve G5 was never offered as a dual core) as fast as their predecessors. (jf)More on the topic in
Interview with Apple Product Manager Rolf Lehmann
.
