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5K Monitor direction spells redundancy for my 8 month old Mac Pro

C

crhendo

macrumors member
Original poster
Oct 28, 2009
48
20
Here I was, like many others I suspect, waiting for a brand new Thunderbolt Monitor for my new Mac Pro to be announced and out comes a 5K monitor product direction that leaves us all in the dust.

If the TCOM chip in the new 5K iMac is so good, why not daisy chain it to a Thunderbolt 2 port on the back of my second mortgage (aka 8 month old Mac Pro) so that I won't feel that I have been totally left behind.

How hard could it be?
 
crhendo said:
Here I was, like many others I suspect, waiting for a brand new Thunderbolt Monitor for my new Mac Pro to be announced and out comes a 5K monitor product direction that leaves us all in the dust.

If the TCOM chip in the new 5K iMac is so good, why not daisy chain it to a Thunderbolt 2 port on the back of my second mortgage (aka 8 month old Mac Pro) so that I won't feel that I have been totally left behind.

How hard could it be?
Click to expand...

Because Thunderbolt 2 cannot drive a single 5K panel at full resolution and 24 bit. It's a mathematical impossibility.
 
The research I have done tells me that it couldn't run a Display Port at that speed NOT that it could not run a PCIe extension attached to a PCOM chip at that speed. But I am happy to be proven wrong.;)
 
I wonder if they could just stick a light GPU in and then run that off thunderbolt's PCIe bus.
 
This shouldn't be much of a surprise.

Apple made a non-upgradeable, disposable computer.

If you buy it you need to be ready to dispose of it and buy new one when technology moves forward.
 
Hopefully some 3rd parties will come up with something. I can't imagine in the next 12 - 18 months that Apple will be the only game in town for 5k display technology strapped to an OK computer.
 
crhendo said:
The research I have done tells me that it couldn't run a Display Port at that speed NOT that it could not run a PCIe extension attached to a PCOM chip at that speed. But I am happy to be proven wrong.;)
Click to expand...

Wherever the timing chip is, you still need to send the raw frames out over the wire, which a single Thunderbolt 2 connection cannot do.

MULTIPLE connections could however. So I don't think the nMP is out of the 5k game yet. At least not with third party displays.

GPI upgrades can't really change the problem of the Thunderbolt controller not really supporting this, but an external GPU would be able to do DP 1.3 probably pretty well.
 
MacVidCards said:
This shouldn't be much of a surprise.

Apple made a non-upgradeable, disposable computer.

If you buy it you need to be ready to dispose of it and buy new one when technology moves forward.
Click to expand...

Are you seriously saying Apple is expecting us to just "dispose of" and upgrade our $3000 - near $10,000 Macs every time there's a new one? I don't think they are at all. Even for businesses this is unreasonable. I think we haven't seen a new TBD yet because Apple is trying to figure out a way to get a 5k display running with the current MP with an elegant solution.
 
I wonder if these higher res displays with thunderbolt will at some point include some kind of graphics cards. It could open a whole world as far as hardware calibration goes.
 
MacVidCards said:
This shouldn't be much of a surprise.

Apple made a non-upgradeable, disposable computer.

If you buy it you need to be ready to dispose of it and buy new one when technology moves forward.
Click to expand...
bitter much?
The flash drive ram and CPU are upgradeable.
Only one type of part is not, the proprietary GPU.

But to be fair, I am cheesed that there still has been no update to the old, thick, glare-riffic TB display.
5k is just a bragging point, not a need. But going there has kind of cut off the NMP buyers.
I wish they would make an Apple version of LG's 34".
 
B1ueB1aze said:
Are you seriously saying Apple is expecting us to just "dispose of" and upgrade our $3000 - near $10,000 Macs every time there's a new one? I don't think they are at all. Even for businesses this is unreasonable. I think we haven't seen a new TBD yet because Apple is trying to figure out a way to get a 5k display running with the current MP with an elegant solution.
Click to expand...

Well, take a look at the entire line up.

They are all appliances now.
 
How about use the 5k iMac as the target display? Will this give the nMP ability to display 5k 60Hz? It's not expensive anyway if compare it to other high quality 4k display.
 
B1ueB1aze said:
Are you seriously saying Apple is expecting us to just "dispose of" and upgrade our $3000 - near $10,000 Macs every time there's a new one? I don't think they are at all. Even for businesses this is unreasonable. I think we haven't seen a new TBD yet because Apple is trying to figure out a way to get a 5k display running with the current MP with an elegant solution.
Click to expand...

MacVidCards practices in hyperbole, he works in a legacy business that is dying
 
crhendo said:
Here I was, like many others I suspect, waiting for a brand new Thunderbolt Monitor for my new Mac Pro to be announced and out comes a 5K monitor product direction that leaves us all in the dust.

If the TCOM chip in the new 5K iMac is so good, why not daisy chain it to a Thunderbolt 2 port on the back of my second mortgage (aka 8 month old Mac Pro) so that I won't feel that I have been totally left behind.

How hard could it be?
Click to expand...

I think it's interesting how Apples announcement of a 5K iMac display that won't work with the nMP makes a few people (including me) feel "totally left behind". It's either a testament to Apples marketing that they can stir this kind of emotion, or the sad state of peoples insatiable need to always have the latest technology to be happy.

Before the new iMac came along, the nMP was unique in its ability to drive three 4K displays. And not surprisingly, still is. Can the iMac do that? No. It's rather limited to a single display (no one in their right mind would have any other display within eyeshot). Get a couple of 24" 4K displays running retina HiDPI and you'll have nearly the same pixel density but 8K pixels across instead of 5K. Alternatively get a pair of 31" 4K displays and run native for the ultimate in desktop realestate.

The only thing about the new iMac that makes me envious is the price point. If there's one message that comes out of that iMac announcement loud and clear is that we are paying a dear premium for these Mac Pros.
 
hollyhillbilly said:
MacVidCards practices in hyperbole, he works in a legacy business that is dying
Click to expand...

Actually, I think it'll be on the up. I'm planning on keeping my MacPro5,1 as long as I can, because after that it'll be a Hackintosh for my main desktop.

Many places I know of (and I'm talking professional studios, particularly the smaller ones with less bureaucracy) are doing the same. Why drop £5k on the trashcan when you can nip over to TonyMac and spec a better system for less, which you can upgrade and will last longer? Who cares what they look like; they often end up in server rooms anyway. The real Mac route only makes sense now where the form factor matters - because to be fair, the industrial design is still top notch. They may be leaving an ever-increasing gap when it comes to professional systems, but what they do produce is still impressive in its own way.

Yes, I'm ignoring the EULA dubiousness of it all in my comment, but then so many others are already doing so in their purchasing choices.
 
I personally would be OK with a 4K display. With Apple introducing 5K to its iMac lineup I personally don't see now a 4K Apple Cinema Display on the horizon...

The reason I feel left behind with my NEW MAC PRO is that they told the world how great this machine is to work with 4K Displays one year ago. And it was pretty much all about the sick 4K performance. Since Apple is famous for their very own ECO System we'd expect a Cinema Display sooner or later with our NEW MAC PRO. I thought that I bought the future with this Mac Pro.

The NEW MAC PRO is supposed to power next generation displays. I don't want Sharp for 3k USD neither do I want DELL. So Apple, for gods sake: BRING IT ON !!!!:mad:
 
MacVidCards said:
This shouldn't be much of a surprise.

Apple made a non-upgradeable, disposable computer.

If you buy it you need to be ready to dispose of it and buy new one when technology moves forward.
Click to expand...

I think it's time for you to start exploring other revenue streams. ;)

----------
roobarb! said:
actually, i think it'll be on the up.
Click to expand...

Posts like this always cheer me up on a Monday morning.
 
At first I thought us nMP users were gonna be left behind when the next 5k ACD comes out. But I read that Dell is introducing their 5k Monitor and they are going to allow two thunderbolt ports to drive it. Since the nMP has 3 separate thunderbolt buses, this is totally feasible.
 
While there is obviously history that I don't know about being that many posters called out MacVidCards for something that seems kinda obvious I can't figure out where he's wrong. We're probably big Maxwell away from 5K especially with Apple right now and Dell before the new year with 5K displays.The cMP I keep at work and the D600 sitting on my desk at home will likely be able to drive 5K but the nMP might not.
 
lowendlinux said:
While there is obviously history that I don't know about being that many posters called out MacVidCards for something that seems kinda obvious I can't figure out where he's wrong. We're probably big Maxwell away from 5K especially with Apple right now and Dell before the new year with 5K displays.The cMP I keep at work and the D600 sitting on my desk at home will likely be able to drive 5K but the nMP might not.
Click to expand...

When one posts the same thing everyday it gets a bit tiresome.
 
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