As I’ve been watching the announcements for the new Intel Core 2 Duo chips, I can’t help but get excited for Apple’s imminent announcement about their PowerMac G5 replacement, the Mac Pro. As someone who happily uses an Intel Core Duo-based Mac Mini every day, my expectations for the performance of this system are very high. But beyond that, I’d imagine that Apple has something more exciting up their sleeves than just a raft of Intel Core 2 Extreme chips mounted on the Mac Pro motherboard.
Could it be 10-Gbps Ethernet? It would certainly be sweet and Apple has always pushed the network fabric envelope. Built-in HD video capture? The standards have finally shaken out and given that everyone who buys a G5 now has to pony up cash for a capture card, this might make sense. eSATA ports? SATA2 drives make Firewire 800 drives seem like old TRS-80 cassette decks at 3.0Gb/sec. I’d put money on SATA 2 drive technology running the drives inside the case and a couple of eSATA ports open in the back.
Another guaranteed “feature” is the Mac Pro’s size: huge. The Powermac G5 is so big it won’t even fit in the overhead compartment, but don’t expect an iMac-style slim-case. While the Core Duo 2 runs cooler than the dual-core G5 chips, airflow requirements will certainly dictate a roomy case. Plus, given the exteme pricing of Apple’s pro-level boxes, they’d better be expandable…really expandable. I’m sure the Mac Pro will roll with PCI-E, including a couple 16X slots. Dedicated acceleration ASICs for Final Cut Pro effects and rendering might be a nice touch, too.
Well, we have a few weeks until Steve Jobs’ Monday, August 7th Apple’s Worldwide Developers Conference Keynote Speech to speculate, but I must say I haven’t been this excited about a new Apple product for a while…except for the widescreen, touch-panel display, “real” video iPod. Bring it on, Steve!
Late Update: It appears that there is some speculation on whether Apple might release the Mac Pro prior to the WWDC. What do you think?
Late, Late Update: While the Core 2 Extreme is a wicked chip, it appear from the blog scuttlebutt that Apple may be planning to use the dual-core Xeon 5100 chip as it has the multiprocessor capability. Thanks to Apple Insider