News for Wednesday, 4 April 2007

Alongside with the introduction of the 8 Cores Xeon-based Mac Pro, Apple cuts the price of its Apple Cinema Displays, the new prices are as follows (VAT excluded):
501€ - 20" Cinema Display
752€ - 23" Cinema Display
1504€ - 30" Cinema Display
While this price decrease could be considered as a way to align Apple-branded LCD displays with competitors, to our point of view it mostly confirms the future introduction of new Cinema Display models during the NAB.

After weeks of expectations, rumors and some leaks from the Apple website, the long-awaited 8 Cores-based Xeon 5355 Mac Pro is finally officially available from the Apple Store.

Meet the latest addition to the Mac Pro family: The world’s first 3.0GHz, 8-core Intel Xeon-based Mac Pro. Consider the bar officially raised.

So the Mac Pro is a complete BTO product, the low-end model will be powered by a 2.0 GHz Dual Core Woodcrest Xeon, then you will have option to 2.66 and 3.0 GHz Woodcrest Xeon, then the high-end model will feature 3.0GHz Quad Core Clovertown Xeon.
Having Quad Core 3.0GHz Xeon instead of Dual Core 3.0GHz Xeon will cost you around US$700, not so expensive for doubling the number of physical cores.
The 8 Core Xeon Mac Pro is currently only available from the US Apple Store.
[update]: when looking back at Intel CPU roadmap, on can spot that the Quad Core Xeon 5355 is not officially available! Let's see how Intel will react.
In one of our previous 8 Core Xeon Mac Pro-dedicated article, we tested the Quad Core Xeon 5355 clocked at 2.66GHz, this CPU is not offer as a BTO by Apple. One reason could be that the price would then be very similar to the one of a previous high-end 3.0GHz Dual Core Xeon Mac Pro model.
[update]: Apple did not update its specification/comparison charts for the Mac Pro, so if you want to have an idea regarding the raw power provided by doubling the cores and how it can be used, have a look at our recent article: Evaluating Performance of a Xeon 5355-based Mac Pro

Google Desktop, the content indexing and desktop search application from Google, is now available for Mac Os X. d for Mac OS X.
We did not test it yet, but it is claimed to be faster than Spotlight while providing the same features and results.
Direct link to the official webpage: http://desktop.google.com/mac/

Transcend released an Express Card Format flash memory-based HD (SSD).

With a storage capacity ranging from 2GB to 16GB, it uses the USB2 interface located in the Express Card connector to exchange data with the computer; so data transfer speed should be identical to the one measured with a USB key.The main advantage of this SSD is to slide in the Express Card port without protruding out, as a USB key, while leaving all USB2 port free.
We would be interested in testing such product to evaluate performance in a MacBook Pro, and why not installing Mac OS X on it to minimize requests to the HD and extend battery lifespan. If the price remains unknown, this product should be available this month.

Our friend Geektechnique, after upgrading the flash memory unit of an iPod mini, decided to graft a NAND module to an iPod 4G.

If it successfully carried out the operation, he did not publish the procedure, being enable to find an adaptor he had to solder the 88 connectors of the 1.8" HD slot to the CF card.

In addition to the known HD video capabilities, the Blu-ray features a dedicated language, the BD Java.
As stated by its name, this language derived from Java, and brings a lot of interactive features in BD menus, but can also be used to create game such as with the legendary "Dragon's Lair" which should arrive soon in HD format, giving the ability to consumers to play thanks to the remote control on all standalone players... well not all...

There is indeed a problem as BD Java was only implemented by default in standalone players from October 31st, 2006.
So the first BD players purchased by the first consumers to adopt the BD format will probably not include BD Java, preventing the use of interactive menus and game capabilities which will be more and more included in BD format video contents.
Once more, the first victim of the current war between BD and HD-DVD are consumers, and especially those prone to adopt new technologies, as both competitors do not really care about back-compatibility in this race to be the first one to add an additional key feature...

The Video Electronics Standards Association (VESA) announced to have finalized the DisplayPort 1.1 format.
This new interface standard is presented as the successor of the DVI, and will directly compete with the HDMI.

When compared to HDMI, the DisplayPort 1.1 format was developed for computers and IT, while being able to handle DVI Dual Link and audio. In addition, it supports the HDCP version 1.3.