Support For New AMD Graphics Cards in OS X 10.7.3 Beta Hints at New Mac Pros

[Phillip Swanson]

Developers unearth more information within the OS X 10.7.3 Beta each day, and the latest discovery suggests Apple will release new Mac Pros soon.

Shortly after the Beta’s release Nektas found traces of new video drivers supporting AMD’s upcoming graphics cards. The codename “Tahiti” is referenced numerous times in the beta which also happens to be the codename for the upcoming Radeon HD 7xxx cards that will come in both XT(7970) and Pro(7950) flavors.

MacGadget.de recently pointed out, Apple must have put support for these graphics cards in the beta specifically for Mac Pro use as no other Mac computer uses desktop graphics cards, they all use the mobile variants to save space. While, none of this really proof that new Mac Pros are coming, if Apple sticks to their usual pattern of introducing new graphics card support with each revision, new Mac Pros are likely on the way.

However, rumors have surfaced recently that Apple has a new Mac Pro designed and ready, but the company is going back and forth on whether to release it. Apple hasn’t updated the Mac Pro in nearly an unusually long 15 months (July 2010). Apple’s Mac Pro, while nice, demand a premium over similarly priced desktop workstations. For the fiscally conscious and more technically adept a Hackintosh desktop might be the way to go, especially if Apple decides to abandon Mac Pros altogether.

Source: MacRumors

[BenderRodriguez]

First - THANK YOU so much for writing this article I was about to by a Mac this Month

Second - I was at the Apple store 2 days ago and they told me that the design was recently updated on the bottom for the battery area, so has it been updated or was that like an S upgrade/update?

Please correct me if I am wrong, is this for laptops or desktops or both?

[Phillip Swanson]

First - THANK YOU so much for writing this article I was about to by a Mac this Month

Second - I was at the Apple store 2 days ago and they told me that the design was recently updated on the bottom for the battery area, so has it been updated or was that like an S upgrade/update?

Are you talking about the MacBook Pros or the Mac Pro desktop computer?

[BenderRodriguez]

Are you talking about the MacBook Pros or the Mac Pro desktop computer?

I'm talking MacBook Pros sry I didn't make that clear, are they getting the update or is it the Desktop ones in the picture? I saw the thread title and just assumed when I read the article

So which is it?

[Phillip Swanson]

I'm talking MacBook Pros sry I didn't make that clear, are they getting the update or is it the Desktop ones in the picture? I saw the thread and just assumed when I read the article

The Desktop ones are getting the update...hopefully. As for the MacBook Pros they were just updated toward the end of October so in terms of the product life cycle its still fairly early on, so feel free to purchase a MB Pro with no buyers remorse. If it was late in the products life cycle I would say hold off, but they wont be updated till sometime in the middle of next year.

[JedixJarf]

I really hope the driver does get included, so I can buy the 79xx's next year and run OSX on my x79 board.

[BenderRodriguez]

The Desktop ones are getting the update...hopefully. As for the MacBook Pros they were just updated toward the end of October so in terms of the product life cycle its still fairly early on, so feel free to purchase a MB Pro with no buyers remorse. If it was late in the products life cycle I would say hold off, but they wont be updated till sometime in the middle of next year.

Okay thanks for the article to bad o well thanks for getting back to me

[fbiryujin]

The Desktop ones are getting the update...hopefully. .......

I really hope they don't discontinue the Mac Pro desktop. I plan on purchasing my first one (going from a Mac Mini) around tax return time next year. I've wanted one since I first started using Apple Products (iPhone 3G for those who are curious)

[dennder]

I do believe that there will be no MacPro till q2/2012, simply because Intel did postpone their new E5 xeon series due to the bug in the bridge chip and as such, overpriced mac pro with old generation intels won't be sold to anyone but absolutely stupid fanboys... Other possibility, that MP will be with the new xeons, but with the stripped down/disabled sas part in the bridge. This is lame as well and would absolutely hate to see MP without decent onboard chip capable of simple raid MP can provide.
I myself am going for newest MP. If not, then two-socket intel hackintosh...

[fbiryujin]

I do believe that there will be no MacPro till q2/2012, simply because Intel did postpone their new E5 xeon series due to the bug in the bridge chip and as such, overpriced mac pro with old generation intels won't be sold to anyone but absolutely stupid fanboys...Other possibility, that MP will be with the new xeons, but with the stripped down/disabled sas part in the bridge. This is lame as well and would absolutely hate to see MP without decent onboard chip capable of simple raid MP can provide.I myself am going for newest MP.If not, then two-socket intel hackintosh...

Hmmm I also noticed no Thunderbolt on the current MP (for obvious reasons) but I do hope that MP has that feature before I buy one. The configuration I want is around $4,500 after taxes, so I will be putting it off a little longer than I thought.

[spazturtle]

I do believe that there will be no MacPro till q2/2012, simply because Intel did postpone their new E5 xeon series due to the bug in the bridge chip and as such, overpriced mac pro with old generation intels won't be sold to anyone but absolutely stupid fanboys... Other possibility, that MP will be with the new xeons, but with the stripped down/disabled sas part in the bridge. This is lame as well and would absolutely hate to see MP without decent onboard chip capable of simple raid MP can provide.
I myself am going for newest MP. If not, then two-socket intel hackintosh...

Arn't the new MacPros ging to use sandybridge-E CPUs?

[dennder]

Arn't the new MacPros ging to use sandybridge-E CPUs?

Given the fact that MP is a dual CPU computer (hopefully it'll remain this way), it's gonna be "Sandy Bridge-EP Xeon E5", since E3 xeons are Uniprocessor setups, and the newest Sandy Bridge-E i7's lack many advanced features required by such pro machines, most notably ECC support, not to mention problems with virtualization technology...

[pahoran]

This is good new for the hackintosh community, means that we might get support for the cards fairly soon after they release them. I dont own a real Mac Pro due to the price, but I do own a fairly close set up. Quad core i5 2500K @ 4.2GHz 16GB 1600 ddr3 ram, MSI 6870 1g ddr5 all in a Custom PowerMac G5 case. ~$1000 give or take $100 more/less. Running 64bit 10.7.2 Lion / Win 7 Ultimate. If you do not absolutely necessarily need a Mac Pro you should really consider a hackintosh its now easier than ever! check out tonymacx86(.)com!

P0w

[BenderRodriguez]

Edit*

[Broomhead]

Isint illegal to talk about Hackintosh on ModMyI?

No

[Anthony Bouchard]

It's good to see a refresh for the Mac Pro. A maxed out 2011 27" iMac with a solid state drive has benchmarked higher than the Mac Pro. Hopefully we will see even more limitless power with the nest version should Apple release it.