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Are we going to see thunderbolt port in the Mac Pro this year?

D

drexl5

macrumors member
Original poster
Aug 10, 2010
37
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Right now I have 2010 13 Mbp and a 2.93 i7 iMac but I want a Mac pro for the ability to upgrade and expansion. So I'm considering selling them both for a Mac pro. Say I buy one one now am I going to be able add a thunderbolt port via pci slot. Or should I wait until apple does it
 
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What are the chances Of that happening since they just basically refreshed it? Look how long it took them last time...
 
im in the same position as you but I decided to just sell my mbp and buy a quad mp and then a few months down the road gonna do the upgrade to hex core .. i dont see a need for me for thunderbolt .. maybe when i decide to get my next mac pro i will worry about that
 
jetjaguar said:
im in the same position as you but I decided to just sell my mbp and buy a quad mp and then a few months down the road gonna do the upgrade to hex core .. i dont see a need for me for thunderbolt .. maybe when i decide to get my next mac pro i will worry about that
Click to expand...

I am guessing you did the right thing
 
drexl5 said:
What are the chances Of that happening since they just basically refreshed it? Look how long it took them last time...
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Are you saying Apple just refreshed the Mac Pro? They did not. The Mac Pro will be updated this year.

The biggest surprise would be if it DIDN'T have a thunderbolt port.
 
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Well compared to how long they waited to update it last time it feels like they just did. I just hope they don't wait for the sandy bridge xeon proccesors to give it TB. I read that in another post btw I don't know if there even making them.
 
stompy said:
The Mac Pro will be updated this year.
Click to expand...
The chips they can use are due to release in Q4 of this year, but actually having a system ready, very likely won't happen until next year as they need time to manufacture them.

stompy said:
The biggest surprise would be if it DIDN'T have a thunderbolt port.
Click to expand...
Intel wants TB implementations to carry both data and video signals in order to avoid confusion (at least that's the way I read information they've made public). From a technical POV, it's possible to do this in a desktop (either use an edge connector such as what's used for an SLI bridge, or include the TB chip on the graphcis card).

Whether this will happen or not, will depend primarily on costs (proprietary solutions tend to cost more than those based on open standards). It's possible, but would mean additional parts, when Apple tends to prefer to keep to the chipset and ICH (FireWire has been thier one exception, and they'll follow suite with TB, given thier software development work they've put in). But if the costs are too high in their opine, they may skip it this go around.

We'll have to wait and see to be sure.

drexl5 said:
....
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Why are you after a TB port?
 
drexl5 said:
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What are the chances Of that happening since they just basically refreshed it? Look how long it took them last time...
Click to expand...

Why are there so many drunk people in the Mac Pro forums?!!
 
paul.jpg




ok, it was more fun during last FIFA
 
If the MP refreshes this year then yes. I'm thinking they could write a Mac version of Lucidlogix virtu which would allow there being a TB port on the logic board and graphics to pipe through it.
 
I think conventional wisdom says there will be a MP update this year to give the entire line TB. (Toss up if the Mac Mini and MB will survive, but isn't that always the case). I know the SNB Xeons Apple will likely use for the next MP won't be out until later this year, but I have to wonder if Intel might give Apple early dibs b/c of it's partnership with Apple on TB. It would be pretty sweet if a TB MP was announced at WWDC along with a new TB monitor, FCS, and 10.7.
 
nanofrog said:
Whether [TB] will happen or not, will depend ... But if the costs are too high in their opine, they may skip it this go around.

We'll have to wait and see to be sure.
Click to expand...

And now we know: next Mac pro will have TB.
 
stompy said:
And now we know: next Mac pro will have TB.
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It's more complicated than costs, but that tends to be the final deciding factor for electronics manufacturing.

Now let me explain a bit further. For a desktop alone, TB doesn't offer any advantages. Where it does however, is with laptops and portable devices.

Now as it seems the MP is used by a lot of creative professionals, adding a TB port as a means of sharing peripherals with portable systems used by these particular professionals (i.e. laptop used for location work, such as video capture), then this particular user has a use for it.

So for that particular user group, it would make sense. But overall, this is a niche user within a niche. But IMO, it would have more of a "pay-off" as a marketing strategy to sell systems, even if most users can't actually make full use of it, if at all. So thinking along those lines, it will need to be cheap in order to prompt Apple into providing it on the next MP.
 
nanofrog said:
So for that particular user group, it would make sense. But overall, this is a niche user within a niche. But IMO, it would have more of a "pay-off" as a marketing strategy to sell systems, even if most users can't actually make full use of it, if at all. So thinking along those lines, it will need to be cheap in order to prompt Apple into providing it on the next MP.
Click to expand...

It's a niche market for now, and most users don't use it at all. But once peripherals start using TB, it will become more widespread. But peripheral manufacturers won't rush out products until there is a good install base of computers that support TB. For that to happen, Apple will need to support it throughout its product line. Whether that happens this year or by the beginning of 2012 depends on when the products get updated. All new Macs will have TB.

Of course, if it's limited to Macs it will still be a niche market. Unless it's adopted by the PC market, it could become the next FireWire (superior to USB in many respects, but not omnipresent like the latter). In addition to hard drives and monitors, I think we'll soon see TB connectors on scanners, cameras and more.
 
MacSince1985 said:
It's a niche market for now, and most users don't use it at all. But once peripherals start using TB, it will become more widespread. But peripheral manufacturers won't rush out products until there is a good install base of computers that support TB. For that to happen, Apple will need to support it throughout its product line. Whether that happens this year or by the beginning of 2012 depends on when the products get updated. All new Macs will have TB.

Of course, if it's limited to Macs it will still be a niche market. Unless it's adopted by the PC market, it could become the next FireWire (superior to USB in many respects, but not omnipresent like the latter). In addition to hard drives and monitors, I think we'll soon see TB connectors on scanners, cameras and more.
Click to expand...
In terms of bandwidth, the desktop can do better by using other cards in PCIe slots. On the laptops though, it offers more bandwidth than they've had access to previously (eSATA ExpressSlot cards aren't anywhere near as fast as TB is).

TB is convenient for laptops and devices as well, which is expected to help promote adoption for that market (i.e. see single disks on TB, and allow for others to be connected to a single port via Daisy Chaining). And Intel's aimed this at all computer users (even seen a phone advertised with TB), so it's not exclusive to Apple. So I do expect more devices to actually ship within a year or so as adoption increases (need more systems to release that are currently in development, as like you, I do see a bit of a "chicken and egg" situation).
 
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