
New Mac Pro teardown reveals replaceable Xeon CPU - shawndumas
http://arstechnica.com/apple/2013/12/new-mac-pro-teardown-reveals-replaceable-xeon-cpu/
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btgeekboy
Seems I'm pretty spoiled by iFixIt - I really like their super high image
sizes that let you really see every little bit of the board. These look like
they were taken with an old mobile phone, smuggled out of some factory.

Seriously, OWC, nobody on your staff has a tripod, DSLR, and a desk lamp or
clip light?

~~~
lispython
Your saying is unfair.

They already did the teardown work well from their article, why criticize them
like you care about the appearance but not the idea.

~~~
MnOWED1O
Because the "appearance" is a huge quality point. Nicely framed, well-lit high
resolution pictures are important in a photographic teardown.

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rbanffy
I felt old when I see this socket. I learned my way around personal computers
on machines with 40-pin CPUs. Everything I do these days would be science
fiction back when I started.

Not very plausible sci-fi at that...

~~~
nknighthb
The back of my brain sees hundreds of tiny little pins just waiting to get
bent.

Fortunately I gather at some point they actually switched to slight
protrusions on the socket that contact nearly-flat points on the CPU.

~~~
astrodust
This is the Land Grid Array (LGA) socket type
([http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Land_grid_array](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Land_grid_array))
where the pins are on the socket and the pads are on the chip. This supplants
the Zero Insertion Force (ZIF) sockets
([http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ZIF_socket](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ZIF_socket)),
those being a reworking of the Pin Grid Array (PGA) packaging
([http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pin_Grid_Array](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pin_Grid_Array))
which was a higher density version of the Dual Inline Package (DIP) standard
([http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dual_in-
line_package](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dual_in-line_package)) used for the
80286 and prior chips.

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Sanddancer
I don't think that as arstechnica states that it's really accurate to compare
the D-series FirePros to the Wx000 series of firepros; they seem more like
desktop radeons with a memory bump. AMD's press release (
[http://www.amd.com/us/press-releases/Pages/new-amd-
firepro-2...](http://www.amd.com/us/press-releases/Pages/new-amd-
firepro-2013dec23.aspx) ) regarding the D series doesn't mention ECC memory,
which is what tends to make the FirePros so expensive and is mentioned in the
specs of every other FirePro AMD sells. Maybe there will be later
clarification, but so far, I've seen nothing to suggest that these are much
more than souped up radeon 7900s.

~~~
ericd
ECC server memory isn't that much more expensive than normal memory (it
includes one more chip). Any reason it would would bump the price of the pro
radeons? My thought was that it'd be The low volumes and additional
design/R&D/enterprise margins. Apple buys in sufficient quantities that most
of those things should be substantially decreased.

~~~
hornetblack
Better silicon. For example the main difference between the 290 and 290x is
silicon. Better silicon will have more units enabled and could handle higher
clock speeds. (Others are likely to be dead or dodgy). Although at 450 Watts I
doubt there will be much in the way of high clock speed.

When it comes to workstation graphics Nvidia drivers behave differently when
using a Quadro. (Eg: duel monitor support in Linux)

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2bluesc
Sad that a replaceable CPU on a desktop is "feature" or even noteworthy. I'm
sure Apple will "fix" this.

~~~
oakwhiz
It's possible that Apple could whitelist the CPU in the BIOS so that the
system does not boot if you replace the CPU with one that isn't "approved."

~~~
astrodust
About as likely as Microsoft being run by lizard people.

~~~
oakwhiz
How so?

~~~
superuser2
Apple's closed-ness is mostly about protecting the user experience.

\- OSX is only available on relatively expensive Apple hardware because Apple
sets (high) minimum standards on quality and "official" OSX on shitty hardware
would pollute the brand.

\- iOS apps are sandboxed and the App Store is curated to protect users from
scammy/spammy/malicious apps.

\- OSX enforces code signing, again, to protect users from malware. It can be
switched off by users who demonstrate clear intent and understanding of the
consequences.

\- Parts that are non-user-serviceable are usually that way to achieve smaller
form factor and higher capacities. The reason for non-user-serviceable
batteries, for example, is that batteries are bags of dangerous chemicals
inside of heavy and thick protective cases. Making _the entire laptop_ the
"case" for the battery lets them get larger batteries in less space and
weight. That it cannot be safely removed by a nontechnical user is a side-
effect.

Your comment attributes a sort of "inverse FSF" religious sentiment to Apple,
as if they make things closed and locked down just for the hell of it, because
they believe in closedness the way Stallman believes in freedom.

Reality indicates that most of their restrictions are about protecting users
who don't know better.... you're not going to "accidentally" replace your CPU.
There's no legitimate problem that would be solved by whitelisting processors.
Could they do it? Yes, but only if they exhibited some sort of fanatic
obsession with preventing users from achieving what they want even when it
serves no other purpose. Which would be stupid. Hence, it's as likely as
Microsoft being run by lizard people :).

~~~
barrkel
When I bought my MBA back in 2011 or so, I wanted 4G of memory. I didn't want
a bigger SSD, but I had to get one - no choice. I didn't want a faster
processor, but I had to get one - no choice. I ended up paying a lot more for
stuff I didn't want or need, simply because the device wasn't upgradeable -
not by the user nor the store I bought it from. How was my user experience?
What was Apple's profit?

Apple segment their product range just like any sensible company. There's a
range of products that increase in power, and in profit margin. People who can
afford to buy the highest end products end up paying over the odds, because
they're usually the least sensitive to price.

This doesn't mean that Apple is about user experience. Frankly, that's
hogwash. They're about corporate profit, in the medium term. And if people end
up buying lower end devices and upgrading it themselves, I can easily see them
seeing this as a lost profit opportunity, and doing something like
whitelisting. It's little different than Intel eventually getting around to
locking down frequency multipliers, and selling unlocked chips at a premium.

~~~
Bud
You are the one who made the choice to get the tiniest, slimmest computer
available. You made that choice. Don't come griping now that you had no
choice: you did. You chose to get a computer so conveniently slender that, as
an inevitable and obvious consequence, there was not room in the design for
socketed RAM. Quit your griping and enjoy what you bought, or buy a slightly
larger machine that has room for more upgradable components.

~~~
barrkel
Are you a laptop designer? How do you _know_ it's not possible?

FWIW, it wasn't the tiniest slimmest computer available, and I already had a
lighter PC laptop that also had a DVD drive (Toshiba Portege). It was one of
the lighter options that ran OS X, but only a handful do by design. If I could
have gotten something slightly bigger, lighter and with more upgradeable
components, I would have. But Apple didn't sell it.

In any case, this is missing the point. You're reacting to what you perceive
as my griping. But I'm not actually griping. My point is that Apple is
motivated by profit, and divides the hardware they produce with market
segmentation. If they get the segmentation wrong, or if there is a bunch more
profit that can be extracted by segmenting it differently, they'll extract it,
like any company should. Limited hardware expandability is a part of that
segmentation, as it reduces the bleed of low-margin parts into high-margin
segments.

~~~
astrodust
There is literally _no room_ in the Air for socketable memory. Look at the
teardown
([http://www.ifixit.com/Teardown/MacBook+Air+13-Inch+Mid+2013+...](http://www.ifixit.com/Teardown/MacBook+Air+13-Inch+Mid+2013+Teardown/15042))
if you don't believe me. This thing is 80% battery, 20% highly dense circuit
board.

There's barely enough room on there for an upgradeable SSD.

Until they make a standard DDR3 socket that's smaller, there's simply no way
to fit removable memory into a computer that thin.

