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NVIDIA's Adobe-lovin' Quadro CX Pro GPU gets reviewed
NVIDIA's $2,000 Quadro CX Pro GPU actually does more than just improve one's Creative Suite 4 experience, but for whatever reason, the aforementioned firm has decided to market the card's mastery of Adobe over all else. The hardcore benchmarkers over at HotHardware decided to pop this in and give it a critical look, and while they definitely appreciated the speed gains in Premiere Pro and its performance overall, they never could quite swallow that admittedly huge MSRP. In fact, they reckoned that NVIDIA would've been better off offering this up with a slower clock speed and a smaller sticker, particularly when you consider that CS4 isn't really engineered to fully take advantage of all this horsepower. Reviewers did note that something like this may be entirely more beneficial once CS5 or CS6 emerges, but for now, the card's just a bit ahead of its time (and priced accordingly). Hit the read link for the full spill -- trust us, it's worth the read if you're teetering on dropping two large.
Apple Nehalem-based Mac Pro in-depth impressions
When Apple's ever-so-slightly refreshed Nehalem-based Mac Pro showed up on our doorstep, we were understandably taken aback by the enclosure. Sure, it looks exactly like the previous Mac Pro externally, and only slightly more beautiful internally, but it's hard to deny the gorgeousness of this metallic wonder. That said, the so-called cheese grater design is one that's mighty familiar to Mac fans by now, so we'll spare you the details there. What you're probably wondering is whether or not this rig is really worth the steep asking price. At $2,499 for a single quad-core 2.66GHz rig and $3,299 for a twin quad-core 2.26GHz machine (which is our test system, by the way), neither option is particularly "affordable." And outside of the refreshed Intel Xeon processor, there aren't too many new hardware components to really convince you that an upgrade is a dire necessity. Follow us past the break to get a real-world perspective on the value proposition, and moreover, to get a better understanding of who exactly benefits most from a workstation of this magnitude.
Video: Apple Nehalem-based Mac Pro unboxing and hands-on
Here she is, fresh off the Saturday Express. Apple's latest Mac Pro is said to be significantly more nimble and entirely easier to upgrade than its Penryn-based predecessor, and while it'll take us a few days yet to check out the former claim, we can already assure you that the second one is valid. Upon unboxing this beast (to be fair, it's not all that monstrous), we immediately dug within the cover to see what was up with Apple's new tray system. Rather than forcing users to squeeze their hands into unfathomably tight places just to pop in a new DIMM or add in a fresh 2TB hard drive, the engineers at Cupertino found a way to place all eight RAM slots on a removable tray, meaning that you can actually take that piece elsewhere and operate under better lighting. The tray was dead simple to remove and replace, and while it's a small inclusion, it's definitely an appreciated one. We'll be stressing this thing out and writing up a more thorough review soon, but for now, enjoy the snapshots / video below and after the break, respectively.
TUAW review: ViDock Gfx multi-monitor solution for MacBook Pro
I love screen space. At the same time, my primary machine is a 2nd Gen, 17" MacBook Pro, which offers only one external DVI port. In my greedy quest to add more external monitors to my home workstation, I've tried a smorgasbord of products. I quickly gave up on USB to DVI solutions due to poor refresh rates and unmanageable color, and the closest I'd been able to come to a workable solution was Matrox's TripleHead2Go. The biggest drawback to that solution (and it ended up being big enough that my TripleHead2Go is gathering dust in a corner) is that the 2 or 3 monitors you hook up to it end up being treated as one large monitor. This means that you have fewer options in positioning your displays, and -- at least with 2 monitors connected -- things like menubars, the application switcher and even newly created windows and dialogs all pop up in the split between monitors. It works, but not well enough. We'd heard tell of a product from Village Tronic called the ViDock Gfx, but after several disappointing experiences with other products in the same vein, I hadn't been ready to shell out for another try. Then, we got a review unit and it became clear that there was, in fact, a usable solution to the MacBook Pro's multi-monitor dilemma. Read on for my impressions after a week with this unique product. %Gallery-43601%
Maingear intros Remix workstation for the creative professional
We tell ya, Maingear doesn't get a lot of play amongst the big timers like Dell and HP, but it sure knows how to crank out machines that are just different enough to be worth examining. Enter the Remix workstation, a desktop designed for creative professionals who dabble in graphic design, video production and pro audio. As expected, there's plenty of horsepower under the hood including a Core i7 CPU, Quadro FX / CX GPU options, up to 12GB of DDR3 RAM, RAID 0 HDD configurations, gobs of ports and an advanced liquid cooling system to keep the fans from making too much racket. The "handbuilt in America" machine starts at $1,999, though you can easily push that figure above the four grand mark with just a few tweaks. Full release is after the break.
NVIDIA delivers 1.5GB QuadroFX 4800 workstation graphics card
NVIDIA's Quadro FX 4800 might not be nearly the beast that the 5800 is, but it'll only run you an arm and three-quarters of a leg versus every limb you've got. The GPU gurus over at HotHardware were able to grab hold of the 1.5GB monster, complete with a GT200 graphics processor and a sticker price around half of that shown on the aforesaid 5800 ($3,499). The board features a 602MHz GPU clock speed, 192 stream processors, an 800MHz GDDR3 clock speed, 384-bit memory controller and a PCI Express 2.0 x16 connector. So, how does the $1,999 workhorse stack up? Hit the read link for the full report, but the gist of it is this: it's a stellar piece, but ATI's FirePro V8700 was found to provide "similar performance (and in some cases, more) with a roughly 25% lower price." Choices, choices.
Dell lets loose Precision M6400 Covet mobile workstation
Hmmph. And we thought the Precision M6400 was hardcore. Check out the unapologetically named Precision M6400 Covet Mobile Workstation, a hotly colored beast that can't be procured direct from Dell for less than $3,859 (stackable coupons notwithstanding). Aside from the sweet orange paint job, this one also comes packing a 2.53GHz Core 2 Duo T9400, Vista Business, a dual-layer DVD writer, 2GB of DDR3 RAM, 160GB 7,200 RPM hard drive, NVIDIA's 1GB Quadro FX 3700M GPU, a 2-megapixel webcam, WiFi, 9-cell battery and a 17-inch WUXGA (1,920 x 1,200) LED-backlit display. Those who don't mind throwing in a few extra hundies can spring for an optional SSD, WWAN, a Core 2 Quad CPU and 16GB of RAM. You're due for a new lappie at work anyway, right?[Thanks, dualboot]
Lenovo intros the monstrous ThinkPad W700, and we get our hands all over it (updated with Wacom video demo)
Like your laptops to be over-achievers? Like, the really annoyingly stacked variety of over-achiever? Enter Lenovo's newest outrage -- the ThinkPad W700. Containing enough computational artillery to level a small village, this for-creatives-only behemoth is designed for sheer pixel pushing... and little else. The system packs in two features aimed at graphic artists and photographers which are fairly unique to a laptop: a built in Wacom digitizer just to the right of the trackpad, and an on-board color calibrator. But what's happening under the hood you ask? Well for starters the 17-incher sports the first ever Intel Quad Core Extreme CPU in a laptop (no word on speeds at this point) as well as the first showing of NVIDIA's Quadro FX 3700 graphics chipset (with a hefty 1GB of memory on-board). The workstation also serves up dual hard drive bays configurable as RAID 0 or 1 (SSD or traditional disk, naturally), up to 8GB of DDR3 RAM, and an optional Blu-ray burner. Of course, that's fully kitted out -- the W700 starts at $2,978 and moves skyward from there. Take a look at our hands-on below and see the beast for yourself.Update: The kids over at Notebooks dropped in some videos of the W700 including a brief look at the Wacom digitizer in action with Photoshop. Check it after the break.%Gallery-29451%
HP lets loose $599 xw4550 Opteron-based workstation
It looks like those wanting to add a workstation to their computing arsenal now have a relatively inexpensive option to consider from HP, which has just rolled out some new additions to its xw4550 series that start at a mere $599. That'll get you a 2.0GHz AMD Opteron 1212 processor, along with 2GB of RAM, a 160GB hard drive, a DVD burner, and NVIDIA Quadro FX 290 graphics with 256 MB of RAM. If you've got a bit more cash to throw around, you can max that out to a 2.8GHz Opteron 1220, 4GB of RAM, a 250GB hard drive, and NVIDIA Quadro FX 570 graphics for $1,349, with a couple of options available in between, all of which come with Vista Business as standard with XP Professional pre-installed.[Via Electronista]
EasyChair WorkStation solves that whole "get out of bed" dilemma
It's time to take a long, hard look at where we're headed as a society. No, really -- we've got office chairs coming to kill comradeship, specially designed lapboards made to keep you sedentary for as long as humanly possible, and now we're looking at the perfect device for keeping Earthlings in bed for days on end. The EasyChair WorkStation line of products essentially puts your laptop on wheels, and the adjustable boom arm ensures that you can reach the keys / trackpad regardless of which side you wake up on. We're hearing a bedpan attachment is in the works as well, but we're feeling entirely too lazy to actually check.[Via TechDigest]
AMD's new quad-core Opteron processors for one-socket workstations and gaming gods
Okay gamers, power-modders, and IT dudes (and dudettes), pay attention: AMD has set sail to three new quad-core Opteron processors for one-socket servers and workstations. The new 1352, 1354, and 1356 clock in at 2.1GHz, 2.2GHz, and 2.3GHz, respectively, and meet the same socket and thermal requirements as previous AMD Opteron 1000 Series processors. They also utilize AMD's Enhanced PowerNow! tech and Rapid Virtualization Indexing. Pricing is currently set at $209, $255, and $377.
HP bumps xw8600 and xw9400 workstations to the latest Intel and AMD chips
We're smack dab in the middle of NAB week, which means a steady progression of high-end product launches for things that we can't really afford but sure wouldn't mind cluttering up the HQ gadget stash. Like these here workstations from HP, the xw8600 and the xw9400. The former sports up to two Quad-Core Intel Xeon X5482 processors, while the latter runs on Quad-Core AMD Opteron 2300 procs. No word on price for either of these insanely fast configurations, but with the other niceties HP is tossing in, you're looking at a starting price above four grand.
AMD brings DisplayPort to pros with ATI FireGL V7700
Hot on the heels of AMD's Radeon HD 3000 graphics card receiving its oh-so-coveted DisplayPort certification badge comes the firm's first DisplayPort-equipped card for the professionals in attendance. Hailed as the "first commercially available 3D workstation graphics card with DisplayPort support," the ATI FireGL V7700 sports a PCI Express 2.0 interface, 10-bit display engine, 512MB of onboard memory, dual-link DVI connector and a promise to handle CAD / DCC projects with ease. 'Course, we don't see you picking this one up just for kicks at $1,099, but those actually in need can place a gaping hole in their wallet in exchange for one next month.
Dell releases Precision T5400 and T7400 powerhouse workstations
When a regular consumer desktop just won't serve your demanding computing needs, it's time to go workstation, and Dell's got a pair of new quad-core-packin' models that are spec'ed to be some of the fastest on the planet. Both the Precision T7400 and T5400 are available with either one or two of Intel's newest 45-nanometer Xeon Processors (up to a 3.20GHz X5482 on the 7400), as many as two 1.5GB nVIDIA Quadro FX5600 graphics cards (capable of driving four 30-inch monitors), up to 4GB of RAM (with a whopping 128GB promised using a memory riser card chassis when 8GB DIMMs become available) and either three (5400) or five (7400) hard drives for up to 3TB of storage -- all topped off with a little Blu-ray action. Available immediately, the new rigs start at just $1,600 and $1,850, but for a configuration that meets your ridiculous specifications, expect to shell out well north of ten grand.
HP stuffing Penryn chips into xw8600 / xw6600 workstations
Although HP's beastly xw8600 / xw6600 machines don't yet have a definitive ship date, it's looking like the duo will indeed be sporting a couple of Intel's forthcoming Penryn chips. Judging by the specifications list on HP's website, each workstation can be equipped with two of many Xeon 5200 (dual-core) or Xeon 5400 (quad-core) processors ranging from 1.86GHz to 3.33GHz. Additionally, the xw6600 features up to 32GB of DDR2 RAM, an internal DVD burner, a number of PCI / PCIe slots, seven USB 2.0 ports, FireWire, audio in / out, gigabit Ethernet, your choice of NVIDIA Quadro / ATI FireGL graphics cards and a 650-watt power supply to boot. As for the xw8600, it steps things up by supporting as much as 128GB of DDR2 RAM, making room for a few more 3.5- / 5.25-inch drives and PCI cards, and throwing in a more robust PSU. Not surprisingly, there are no pricing details available at the moment, but if we were bent over a barrel and forced to guess when we'd know more, we'd shoot for November 12th.[Via Electronista]Read - HP's xw6600Read - HP's xw8600
Diamond planning HD 2900 XT-based 2GB VFX 2000 pro GPU?
Diamond is no stranger to packin' an awful lot of RAM onto graphics cards, and apparently, the forthcoming VFX 2000 Series Professional Workstation GPU will keep the legacy alive. According to Hot Hardware, Diamond is readying a 2GB (of GDDR4 memory, no less) professional card based on the R600 (now known as the HD 2900 XT), and reportedly, "the card's PCB has been modified from the standard HD 2900 XT reference design to support the workstation-class features inherent to the FireGL line of professional graphics cards." Still, there's no word yet on what frequencies the GPU and RAM will hum along at, but word on the street has this beast launching "in the coming weeks." Click on for another glimpse.
Sony intros VAIO RM1N HD editing workstation
Sony looks to have heeded the calls of those bemoaning the single Core 2 Duo processor powering its otherwise top-end VAIO RM HD editing workstation, as its now taken things all the way up to a Core 2 Quad Q6600 processor in its latest RM1N model. As before, this one boasts a dual-box design, with the main PC components housed in one box, and the optical drives (including a Blu-ray one), hard drives, and memory card reader stuffed in the other. In addition to that new quad-core processor, the RM1N also gets a new NVIDIA GeForce 8600 GTS graphics card, along with the same 2GB of DDR2 memory and dual 500GB 7200rpm SATA hard drives as before. Also getting a boost is the price, with it now running just shy of $5,000.[Via Reg Hardware]
Rig of the Year (So Far)
Digg today brings us our first TUAW rig of the day/week/month/year. Owned by flickr user washington_dc_photographer, this workstation sports three 30 inch Apple Cinema displays, 1 G5 Quad, 1 G5 Dual, 1 15 inch PowerBook, 6TB of external storage, 6 CF card readers, and a 15 inch Sony wireless TV. I can only imagine the kind of money that he must have spent on this setup, but I certainly see why this would be needed for a full time professional photographer shooting large RAW files and running Aperture. In any case, this setup certainly sets a high bar for future 2007 rigs, so don't forget to submit yours to the TUAW flickr pool.
AMD shows off their "Barcelona" quad-core chip designs
If you're not super excited by technical chip jargon like "advanced branch prediction" and "sideband stack optimizer," you might want to skip this one over, but for you chipheads out there, AMD has just unveiled the nitty gritty specs behind their forthcoming Barcelona quad-core processors. Built on a 65nm SOI process, the new chips will take the place of AMD's Opteron line, and will power workstations and servers sometime mid-2007 before the technology trickles down to consumer versions of the chips. AMD couldn't help but take a little pot-shot at Intel for their quad-core systems, which they claim are just two dual-core CPUs packed together, but we're pretty sure most consumers are going to be more concerned with performance, price and performance per watt than semantics. AMD hasn't provided any benchmarks yet, but we'll all be watching closely, since they're currently playing catchup to Intel on most of those fronts.[Via Slashdot]
HP Japan outs Core 2 Duo xw4400/CT Workstation
We've seen enough Core 2 Duo desktops by now to have the genre fairly well represented, but another workstation can't hurt anybody, right? This new model from HP Japan, the xw4400/CT, is available today for a reasonable 137,550 Yen ($1199 US) and will be on sale for a mere 99,750 Yen ($870 US) between August 21st and September 27th. The base model is pretty bare, and comes with a 1.86GHz Core 2 Duo E6300 CPU, Intel 975X Express integrated graphics, 512MB of RAM, an 80GB HDD, CD-ROM drive (youch!) and gigabit Ethernet. Luckily, things are pretty extendable from there, with dual PCI Express slots (one of them 16x), three PCI slots, and plenty of drive bays (5), USB 2.0 ports (8), and Firewire jacks (3) to keep you busy. You can also pump the specs with a build-to-order box if that's your style, with options for a Quadro FX or NVIDIA 4500 card.[Via Impress]
