dual optical G5's by summer time?
- Thread starter octane
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octane said:
Seem people (me) dislike stacks of external drives (and the costs associated with external drives). My PC tower is stuffed with drives, two optical drives (CD-burner and DVD-Rom), Zip drive, floppy (yes I still use it once in a while) and two hard drives (with room for two more 3.5 and two 5"). I never liked how my old Mac desktops had no expansion room, basically an expensive disposable computer. Though things had changed with the G4s but then they went back to one drive bay.
Go3iverson
Registered
Lets start with something a little simpler first...
How about our first speed bump in about, lets say, 8 months?
Personally, I refuse to buy a new G5 until the new one's are released. Being promised 3GHz in 3-4 months, that's too big of a CPU jump for me to purchase now, instead of getting another 1GHz for my money later.
I know my company feels the same way. We need about 20-30 G5's...unfortunately our budgeted money keeps moving into other avenues, so Apple may have to wait another year for our business.
How about our first speed bump in about, lets say, 8 months?
Personally, I refuse to buy a new G5 until the new one's are released. Being promised 3GHz in 3-4 months, that's too big of a CPU jump for me to purchase now, instead of getting another 1GHz for my money later.
I know my company feels the same way. We need about 20-30 G5's...unfortunately our budgeted money keeps moving into other avenues, so Apple may have to wait another year for our business.
octane
I have issues, OK!
I upgrade about 1 every 3 to 4 years. I've got a Quicksilver G4 and it's still going strong. Ditto for my original dual USB iBook.
The G5 is -- architecturally -- quite a step up for Apple and gives the flexibility to roll in new features quite cost-effectively.
So the chip isn't the _big_ component it used to be.
So I suppose what I'm saying is, Apple could drop in updates to the CPU bus or with a move over to the updated HyperTransport model and get even more performance from the same G5 chip they're using now...
The G5 is -- architecturally -- quite a step up for Apple and gives the flexibility to roll in new features quite cost-effectively.
So the chip isn't the _big_ component it used to be.
So I suppose what I'm saying is, Apple could drop in updates to the CPU bus or with a move over to the updated HyperTransport model and get even more performance from the same G5 chip they're using now...
Gnomo
Registered
It isn't so much about what would I do with two drives as it is flexability and being able to upgrade or replace parts.octane said:
When I purchase computers, I expect to get several years out of the machine before I buy a new one.
So what do you do when (after Applecare has expired) and your CD-RW stops working or they release drastically faster drives? If I have two drives (1 burner, 1 DVD-ROM) I can replace the drive quickly and cheaply.
octane
I have issues, OK!
Gnomo said:
I'm pretty sure that the marketing guys 'n' gals at Apple didn't think to stick two in just in case one dies! Come on! How the hell do you sell that little number to the great unwashed?
For you, that line of reasoning works. As a USP for Apple, I'd bet my big toe [right one, if anyone's curious] that's not what Apple are thinking about...
octane
I have issues, OK!
My gut feeling is that this rumor is already sagging in the middle.
Optical drives aren't that cheap that you'd want two of them, or that Apple would offer two of them.
And the idea of cannibalizing one to keep the other alive holds about as much water as a ten-foot tea strainer.
No, I don't buy it...
Optical drives aren't that cheap that you'd want two of them, or that Apple would offer two of them.
And the idea of cannibalizing one to keep the other alive holds about as much water as a ten-foot tea strainer.
No, I don't buy it...
Personally, I would like to see a REAL case from Apple. I'm sure they can still make a good looking case like the G5s that actually have some expansion room. External drives, while convenient, create clutter, wire messes, etc. Apple should be able to design a case with MORE than two internal drive bays and MORE than two internal HDD bays.
While I'm dreaming, how about Apple standardizing and sticking with a motherboard design for more than a year so that you could upgrade a system in the future without having to buy an entire NEW system. The best thing that PCs have going for them is that when a new CPU comes out you can just pop in a new board and CPU (maybe memory) for < $400 for near top-of-the-line. This is particulary welcoming to people that want a nice system, but can't affored $3000 at the time and don't want to take out a stupid 20% loan to buy one. Then, at least their investment could be improved down the road. (I still think it's silly that the three current G5s all have different FSB speeds.)
While I'm dreaming, how about Apple standardizing and sticking with a motherboard design for more than a year so that you could upgrade a system in the future without having to buy an entire NEW system. The best thing that PCs have going for them is that when a new CPU comes out you can just pop in a new board and CPU (maybe memory) for < $400 for near top-of-the-line. This is particulary welcoming to people that want a nice system, but can't affored $3000 at the time and don't want to take out a stupid 20% loan to buy one. Then, at least their investment could be improved down the road. (I still think it's silly that the three current G5s all have different FSB speeds.)
Dual optical drives may not be for everyone, and if it doesn't suit you then why worry about it?
I personally would rather have a computer that had dual optical drives, than have a firewire drive attached externally. This is my preference and may not agree with yours.
As far as optical drives being too expensive??? A quick search on CD-R/RW burners showed a lite-on 52/32/52 drive for $35.00. There are a couple of sites that are already selling the pioneer 107 dvd-r/rw +r/rw drive for 155.00 to 165.00. I wouldn't call that dirt cheap, but I wouldn't call that expensive either. These are retail prices, and not what a company like Apple would pay for them outright, although they do mark them up when sold as an installed item.
When I ordered my MDD dual 1 GHz model, I did so with the superdrive in the top bay and the second bay empty, and bought a lite-on 48x cd-r/rw drive for around 60 or so at the time. Works good for me, as I can be burning cd's while using my dvd drive for other things.
Whether or not apple with include a second drive option on the summer/fall release of the G5 is a guess on anybodies part, short of apple's. But there are some people out there who would like that as an option. If it happens great, if it doesn't...not the end of the world either. If it does happen and you don't want to take advantage of a second drive, then order your mac without it. Chances are you will either save money if two drives are standard and you opt to remove the second drive. Or you won't be out any money at all if a second drive is offered as an option.
I personally would rather have a computer that had dual optical drives, than have a firewire drive attached externally. This is my preference and may not agree with yours.
As far as optical drives being too expensive??? A quick search on CD-R/RW burners showed a lite-on 52/32/52 drive for $35.00. There are a couple of sites that are already selling the pioneer 107 dvd-r/rw +r/rw drive for 155.00 to 165.00. I wouldn't call that dirt cheap, but I wouldn't call that expensive either. These are retail prices, and not what a company like Apple would pay for them outright, although they do mark them up when sold as an installed item.
When I ordered my MDD dual 1 GHz model, I did so with the superdrive in the top bay and the second bay empty, and bought a lite-on 48x cd-r/rw drive for around 60 or so at the time. Works good for me, as I can be burning cd's while using my dvd drive for other things.
Whether or not apple with include a second drive option on the summer/fall release of the G5 is a guess on anybodies part, short of apple's. But there are some people out there who would like that as an option. If it happens great, if it doesn't...not the end of the world either. If it does happen and you don't want to take advantage of a second drive, then order your mac without it. Chances are you will either save money if two drives are standard and you opt to remove the second drive. Or you won't be out any money at all if a second drive is offered as an option.
Pengu
Digital Music Pimp
Ok, so you want to run a brand new, really fast CPU on a motherboard designed for one of its predecessors, with brand new memory running at the same speed of the original memory? Thats like putting a brand new Jaguar V12 into a volkswagen beetle. Also. as for more drives. Do you really need more than half a terabyte in your computer? And while i can see the advantage of two optical drives, i dont see the need for more than two. if you want to duplicate lots of CDs or DVDs, buy a duplicator.
Pengu said:
I said new board, new CPU, new memory (though, that depends on how fast your old memory is). And how about this senario: right now I'm running a P4 designed for a 400Mhz bus on a board that supports an 800Mhz FSB speed... this was intentional, I had no need for the faster (really expensive) CPU at the time, but the motherboard was the same price as one that didn't have any room to grow. And I feel good knowing that in a couple years, I can always improve.
The point being, I like to upgrade my hardware regularly, it's what I'm interested in. And I never said that you would need more than two optical drives... but there are a lot of devices that willl fit in a 5" drive bay. Even standard cheap-o PC cases have more expansion room than an Apple case. Having room for 4 hard drives is not uncommon and with hardware RAID becomming more standard on nice PC motherboards it makes good sense to use multiple smaller hard drives than to rely on two very large drives (especially if one were to fail with all your data on it which is not uncommon either).
I've always been a fan of Apple's OSs... and while their hardware is usually very cool looking I still feel like I'm buying something that will need to be thrown away in a few years if I like to be up-to-date.
This last summer I bought that new CPU and motherboard and memory, less than $400 total. Used my two old hard drives, optical drives, etc. Essentially a brand new 2.4Ghz PC. Had my old parts left... got a $50 case that has more expansion room than a $3000 G5 case and crammed it full of all my spare parts, 3 HDDs, DVD-Rom, etc and now I have a server with a 1.6Ghz... nothing really to brag about, but for the money I spent, it didn't brake the bank.
Then I go and buy a $2800 Apple PowerBook.... most expensive computer I've ever bought since my old Gateway back when PIIs were new and very expensive ($3000). The insides of the Gateway may not be able to do much anymore (350 PII) though my dad is using them for basic use, but the case has so much expansion room and will hold any new ATX motherboard that it's been worth the purchase. OS X is awesome, I have no desire to even use Windows unless I have too (and I don't have the patience for Linux), but I'd like to know I get my money's worth out of the hardware to go with it. And in the past, this has not been the case with Apple at all. Even the systems that were upgradable with daughter cards and CPU upgrades, a lot of times I see that Apple's software won't even support 3rd party upgrades.
If having room for extra internal hardware doesn't do anything for you, no problem, but being able to upgrade and expand is never a bad thing.