The Apple thread

Cloudane · Post by **Cloudane** » Thu Jan 10, 2008 4:28 pm 0

Soon find out I guess...

If it's as powerful as an iMac (graphics and everything) then I will cry

I'm sure it won't be though, more just a convenience option.

amanset · Post by **amanset** » Thu Jan 10, 2008 4:34 pm 0

Cloudane wrote:Soon find out I guess...

If it's as powerful as an iMac (graphics and everything) then I will cry I'm sure it won't be though, more just a convenience option.

For a start most MBPs have a 5400 rpm drive.

I'd be worried about heat though. If the battery is bypassed (and hence not even charged) then it may help reduce it but even then it would still get hot, especially considering the extra insulation that putting a laptop (with its own case) inside a dock as the picture seems to imply.

Surfr · Post by **Surfr** » Fri Jan 11, 2008 4:09 pm 0

I can't see that dock idea happening at all. It would be very thick for starters. My 20" Cinema display is already an inch thick. So if they need that much space just to hold a screen, you will be looking at something over 2 inches thick. They would do better to just drop the price of the cinema displays slightly, as that is basically a dock anyway given the Firewire and USB functionality that it has.

Anyway, on to the Mac Pros. I'd just gotten 3 quotes for a new desktop machine for work. I was looking at the dual 2.66 Quad core machine, but obviously now my options are all changed about.

I don't need much in the way of graphics power, so I presume that new entry level ATI card will suffice?

Also, can anyone give me their experiences of the new bluetooth keyboard? I'm worried that the cursor keys are too small, and will annoy me in vim.

xav · Post by **xav** » Fri Jan 11, 2008 4:29 pm 0

I also don't see the dock idea happening with a laptop... but my money says that the patent application is actually part of their work on tablet Macs. I don't necessarily think we'll see a tablet Mac any time soon (though I'd love Steve to prove me wrong) - but if you consider the "docking station" as an empty frame, rather than as a complete monitor, you can easily imagine a tablet device being inserted into such a frame to turn it into a desktop machine, with the screen being that of the tablet itself.

Mind you, I don't think it's a viable option as presented - even as a dock for a tablet device - so I suspect that it was just the result of some engineers playing "what if", and trying to stake their patent claims before some other company plays the same game.

Kemper_Boyd · Post by **Kemper_Boyd** » Fri Jan 11, 2008 6:35 pm 0

New video cards only work on the new Mac Pro?
http://episteme.arstechnica.com/eve/for ... 569831/p/1

Post by **RiK** » Fri Jan 11, 2008 7:20 pm 0

Looks like 8-core 3Ghz with the 8800GT for me then.

I'm waiting until Tuesday just in case anything surprising happens, but once I've watched the keynote I'll be one click ordering away like a loony.

Dave · Post by **Dave** » Fri Jan 11, 2008 8:20 pm 0

RiK wrote:Looks like 8-core 3Ghz with the 8800GT for me then.

I hate you.

Post by **RiK** » Fri Jan 11, 2008 8:49 pm 0

I've been debating whether it was worth goin the extra for the 3.2 but then I figured the extra ram / drives I could spend that on was actually more useful.

radio · Post by **radio** » Fri Jan 11, 2008 9:23 pm 0

Surfr wrote:Also, can anyone give me their experiences of the new bluetooth keyboard? I'm worried that the cursor keys are too small, and will annoy me in vim.

Cursor keys? in Vim?

golly.

(if only I knew more about vi to allow me to be on that high horse. h/j/k/l and esc are about the only keys I know how to use:( )

Surfr · Post by **Surfr** » Fri Jan 11, 2008 10:21 pm 0

radio wrote: (if only I knew more about vi to allow me to be on that high horse. h/j/k/l and esc are about the only keys I know how to use:( )

Yeh I could try retraining, But it's not just vim. I like to use them to scroll terminal windows too with fn+up/down.

Deckard · Post by **Deckard** » Fri Jan 11, 2008 10:50 pm 0

So is Wimax the new big thing then ? (picture from the Macworld site as of today)

http://valleywag.com/344015/can-apple-save-wimax

Cloudane · Post by **Cloudane** » Fri Jan 11, 2008 11:28 pm 0

The obligatory:

- lol steve jobs farted

- maybe it's bill gates chucking his pc out of the window

- maybe they've finally invented the flying cars we were promised for 2000.

Rod_S · Post by **Rod_S** » Sat Jan 12, 2008 1:40 am 0

New font on that banner - this is definitely going to be big.

I'll be disappointed if Steve doesn't arrive onstage on a hover board.

jrc313 · Post by **jrc313** » Sat Jan 12, 2008 1:45 am 0

skab · Post by **skab** » Sat Jan 12, 2008 2:14 am 0

Rod_S wrote:New font on that banner - this is definitely going to be big.

That's the first I noticed, too, esp. since I love light fonts.