OSNews > Thread > "RE[2]: Well, " by Thomas2005

What Would You Change About the Mac Pro, Mac OS X?

Linked by Thom Holwerda on Sat 9th May 2009 09:58 UTC

Since it's weekend, which usually equates to no news, we figured we'd follow in Engadget's footsteps by asking you, our dear and loving readers, what you would change about Apple's current Mac Pro. Engadget readers already had a few things to say - this is the internet after all. And since this is OSNews, we add a question of our own: what would you change about Mac OS X?

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RE[2]: Well,

by Thomas2005 on Sat 9th May 2009 15:43 UTC in reply to "RE: Well, "

Member since:
2005-11-07

I don't understand why a Macintosh requires a mac-specific graphics card, when the various hackintoshes that work with generic cards show that this apparently isn't necessary. The small amount of hacking required to make this work could just as well be done properly by Apple.

Could anyone please explain why it is this way?

I think it has to do with the BIOS (Windows) vs. EFI (OS X). I do not know how difficult it is to make a card support EFI, but that might not even be the issue. Since the Mac Pro is the only Mac that has removable graphics it might not be worth the effort to offer a bunch of cards, or even one more than they do now; however, I think it should be easy enough to offer the same cards, but with more RAM.

Maybe Apple will surprise us and turn the low-end Mac Pro into a Core i5 and keep the high-end Core i7. This could be done easily because the RAM and processor are on a riser board so the rest of the system does not need to be redesigned and would offer the following benefits:

1 - The low-end Mac Pro could get a price reduction.
2 - It would separate the two models even more while keeping both more powerful and expandable than the iMac.
3 - There would be little, to no, cannibalization of the other models.

Reply Parent Bookmark Score: 1

RE[3]: Well,

by zlynx on Sun 10th May 2009 17:00 in reply to "RE[2]: Well, "

Member since:
2005-07-20

I think that EFI from Intel normally has an interface to load the BIOS code from add-in cards. Unless Apple took that out.

It is a driver issue too. I believe Apple gets driver code from ATI and nVidia and customizes it to their own specifications. The driver code probably works on most nVidia cards and most ATI cards, but Apple only wants to support the cards they qualify in testing.

They can get away with it because the older PPC Macs used OpenFirmware and that really wouldn't work without a different BIOS, so Apple customers are used to it.

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RE[4]: Well,

by macUser on Sun 10th May 2009 17:21 in reply to "RE[3]: Well, "

Member since:
2006-12-15

It is a driver issue too. I believe Apple gets driver code from ATI and nVidia and customizes it to their own specifications. The driver code probably works on most nVidia cards and most ATI cards, but Apple only wants to support the cards they qualify in testing.

I believe you're correct. Apple does the main driver work for the cards. Until Apple releases a Mac for the rest of us (ie a Mac Pro without the Pro) I don't see this changing as the Mac Pro is the only machine in Apple's lineup with an upgradeable card.

Really, the Mac Pro is the odd man out, as all their other computers are just cleverly repackaged laptops.

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