With each new generation of graphic card, NVidia makes two version, a consumer one and a professional one. It is now true for the Fermi.
There will be three different models similarly to the three models of GeForce GTX4xx. These new cards have a few more features than the consumer ones, in particular support of EEC memory, and it doesn't limit double precision calculations, which are limited at 25% of their total capacity on the GeForce GTX.
Of Course, these graphic cards will come with specific drivers that alone justify that professionals buy them instead of the consumer GeForce.
We don't know if Apple will make those cards available for the Mac Pro, but if they don't provide them with the appropriate drivers, the cards will be just a little more powerful than a GeForce GTX, but not much, and certainly not enough to be worth 3 to 4 times the price of a GeForce.
While the "Antennagate" is barely making its way out of the headlines, Apple has to face other angry users. Some of them have decided to sue the company, considering that the iPad can overheat, even when used at regular weather temperature.
Until now, we've heard of only few overheating iPad problems, and in that case, the device was intensively used while in the Sun.
We still don't know how Apple will react. It is now clear that the company will have to face more and more claims, whether justified or not, that could tarnish their reputation. Some may even that that they had way less problems (and money) when they were concentrating on making the Mac and developing an excellent OS.
Panasonic introduced what could be the first consumer 3D video camera.
The new - quite big - HDC-SDT750 can shoot HD 1080p videos in AVCHD format. To shoot a 3D movie, a special lens has to be added to the camera.
With that lens, the video camera records two pictures with a 960x1080 resolution each. It will be possible to edit the recorded movies on Mac using Mac OS X. The video camera will be available in September for $500. Be aware that the necessary devices and softwares to edit 3D video is still pretty expensive, so the total cost could be much higher than $500.
Apple is now offering some interesting hard drive options for the 27" iMac. It is not only possible to choose a SSD, but also to select both a SSD and hard drive at the same time. To facilitate this, Apple has added a specific place for the SSD in the machine in a spot where there is a little free space.
Unfortunately, as OWC outlined in its blog, if you do not select the optional SSD from the factory, your machine will not come equipped with the bracket and cables necessary for this disk. This will make the subsequent installation of one of these drives very complex and perhaps impossible.
However, we have some excellent news for those of you who are worried about replacing a hard drive or who would like to put in a SSD in place of the original hard drive due to the specific temperature sensor for the original drive.
Simply put a jumper on the two pins on the motherboard to create a short circuit in order to deactivate the functionality. Without doing this, the machine will start up in alarm mode and run the fans at full speed to try to cool the hard drive. We expect that this procedure will also work with the 2009 machines. We will try to confirm this as soon as we can.
With SSDs now available for practically every Mac, all that's left is to wait for Mac OS X to support TRIM!
