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News & Reviews
News & Reviews
New Mac Pro: Much Faster Memory Bandwidth
Hardmac's Lionel
reports:
"The main problem with the
previous Mac Pro models and in fact with the first Xeon 5xxx
platform was the low performance due to the bottleneck of the memory
bandwidth.
"It seems that the new Mac
Pro do not suffer from this early adoption defect anymore, as
illustrated by a benchmark assay run by Primate Labs to compare a new
Mac Pro 8 cores 2.8 GHz with the previous Mac Pro 8 cores 3.0 GHz."
Link: New Mac Pro: Much Faster
Memory Bandwidth
Mac Pro 3.2 GHz 'Harpertown' vs. 3.0 GHz
'Clovertown'
Bare Feats' rob-ART
Morgan says:
"We just received our new 8-core Mac Pro 3.2 GHz 'Harpertown'
yesterday. In this first article, we compare it to the previous 'best'
8-core Mac Pro 3.0 GHz 'Clovertown.'...
"This initial CPU crunch test pits the 'Apr 2007' 8-core 3 GHz
'Clovertown' Mac Pro against the 'Jan 2008' 8-core 3.2 GHz 'Harpertown'
Mac Pro. Though the core frequency gain of the 'Harpertown' is only
6.7%, the speed advantage in the tests ranged from 12% to 24%. That
shows what a faster frontside bus and faster memory bus brings to the
party."
Link: CPU Crunch: Mac Pro 3.2 GHz
'Harpertown' versus 3.0 GHz 'Clovertown'
Mac Pro Xeon 8-Core Benchmarked
Primate Labs Blog reports:
"Earlier this week Apple released updated Mac Pros that use Intel's
new Penryn processors. Also new is the fact that the standard Mac Pro
configuration now comes with eight (instead of four) cores.
"Of course, what I've been wondering (as I sit here and think about
getting a new Mac Pro) is how does the new standard eight-core Mac Pro
perform compare to the old high-end Mac Pro? I've gathered Geekbench 2
results for both Mac Pros to find out."
Link:
Mac Pro Xeon 8-Core Performance Benchmarked
Is Apple Killing Linux on the Desktop?
Jeremy's Blog's Jeremy says:
"It looks like some think that OS X may be 'killing' Linux on the
desktop. I'm not sure that's the case, but it's an interesting point to
explore. It's true that Apple has a much higher percentage of desktop
users than Linux does....
"In most cases though, I don't think you can definitively say that
if a user didn't go with OS X that they would have gone with Linux.
Apple does a lot of things really good. Marketing is certainly one of
them, but they do create slick machines that are very appealing. The
fact that most traditional UNIX tools work with OS X is huge....
"In the end, however, I'd still contend that more OS X sales are
good for Linux . . . not bad. It gets people used to not
using Windows. It introduces them to a UNIX-based OS. It opens doors
that would be hard for Linux to open. Once the Windows monopoly is
broken, it will be easy for all other operating systems to get a fair
look. I welcome that day."
Link:
Is Apple Killing Linux on the Desktop?
NewerTech Announces New USB 2.0 Universal Drive
Adapter
PR: Newer Technology, Inc. (NewerTech), has announced its new
USB 2.0 Universal Drive Adapter. The NewerTech USB 2.0 Universal Drive
Adapter now features connection status LEDs for easy confirmation when
connecting to a USB 1.1/2.0 equipped computer and an IDE/ATA or SATA
drive.
A Macworld Expo 2007 bestseller, the
NewerTech USB 2.0 Universal Drive Adapter is a complete solution that
allows any 2.5", 3.5", or 5.25" hard drive or optical drive (standard
IDE/ATA/ATAPI 40 pin or Serial-ATA) to be connected via USB to any
computer for file transfer after the upgrade of an internal hard drive;
for backing-up and storing file archives; and for data access from
stored backup drives with Plug & Play ease.
With digital audio and photo files growing in size and becoming a
part of daily life, consumers need larger hard drives to store these
files. After they upgrade to a larger drive, the NewerTech USB 2.0
Universal Drive Adapter enables consumers to transfer data between
drives and gives the old drive a second life as an external storage
solution.
Truly universal, the USB 2.0 Universal Drive Adapter has been tested
to work with all hard drive brands, including Maxtor, Seagate, IBM,
Hitachi, Samsung, Western Digital, and Fujitsu; optical drive brands,
including LG, Lite-On, Panasonic, Pioneer, Plextor, Sony, Teac, and
Toshiba; and removable media drives, such as Iomega Zip. The adapter
provides a USB 2.0 transfer speed of up to 480 Mbps and is also
backwards compatible with USB 1.1.
"A Can't Live Without Accessory"
Called "the Swiss army knife of disk connectivity," the NewerTech
USB 2.0 Universal Drive Adapter has been praised as "A can't live
without accessory" by Mobile Technology News, and "An ultimate
technology key" by Creative Mac News. The Chicago Sun-Times calls the
NewerTech USB 2.0 Universal Drive Adapter "Simple to use
. . . Drag and drop files at will."
Priced at $29.95, the NewerTech USB 2.0 Universal Drive Adapter
comes with everything needed for immediate operation: USB 2.0 to IDE
adapter cable, 2.5Ëÿ to 3.5Ëÿ adapter, power
adapter, LED connection indicators, USB 1.1 backward compatibility, and
a full one year NewerTech warranty. It is compatible with Mac OS 9.2 or
higher including Mac OS X, Linux 2.4.X, and Microsoft Windows 2000/XP
(no driver required).
Link: NewerTech USB 2.0
Universal Drive Adapter
VictorSystems Hardens Apple Mac mini
PR:
VictorSystems hardens Apple Mac mini computer system to withstand
harshest environments and use.
VictorSystems, has released its second system based upon the Apple
Mac mini Computer. The company is focusing on providing ruggedized
commercial and industrial products for demanding Mil/Aero
applications.
This system further refines the ruggedized Mac mini developed in the
companies' first system. It is available for viewing at Macworld 2008,
in kiosk W-4454.
VictorSystems provides manufacturing and engineering services for
the Mil/Aero industry, with emphasis upon ruggedizing commercial and
industrial electronic systems.
Link: VictorSystems
Mac Pro Developer Note Posted
Apple has posted the developer note for the new eight-core Xeon Mac
Pro desktops.
This Developer Note describes the Mac Pro computer introduced in
January 2008. It includes information about distinguishing features of
the computer, including components on the main logic board: the
microprocessors, the North Bridge memory controller, the South Bridge
I/O controller, and the buses that connect them to each other and to
the I/O interfaces.
The computer comes with Mac OS X version 10.5.1 or later
installed.
The quad-core Mac Pro consists of one Quad-Core Intel Xeon
"Harpertown" 5400 Series processor. The 8-core Mac Pro consists of two
Quad-Core Intel Xeon "Harpertown" 5400 Series processors.
The value of the computer model machine identifier string is
MacPro3,1.
Link:
Mac Pro Developer Note
Desktop Mac
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