Stan's List

DailyTech has benchmarks of the new GeForce 8800GTX , a NVIDIA video card due next week, which is to replace GeForce 7900. This latest has no problem embarrassing the former top of the line Radeon X1950 XTX. According to the article, ‘The GeForce 8800GTX used for testing is equipped with 768MB of GDDR3 video memory on a 384-bit memory bus as previously reported. Core and memory clocks are set at 575 MHz and 900 MHz respectively. More …

Will it be available for the Mac? The Intel marriage created hope that cheaper and faster PC video cards would be plug and play.

Apple Computer is prepping a lavish new version of the Mac Pro that will boast nearly twice the brawn of existing models and form the centerpiece of the company’s high-performance professional desktop line, AppleInsider has learned.

CNET posted computer ratings with a link on the front page entitled “Best desktop PCs we’ve ever seen.” It leads to ratings in five categories, three of which Apple took top honors:

Mainstream PCs - 17″ iMac

Media Center - 24″ iMac

Business - 17″ iMac

In “Budget PCs” the Mac Mini came in second but with a caveat that “… if you want a small, innocuous computer for sending or receiving media or other files between rooms, no other computer offers the deal that Apple has with this one.”

In “Performance PCs” the Apple Mac Pro tied for second place with an “Excellent” rating at 8.0, with a Dell costing $1,500 more grading out at 8.1. More …

After updating to Mac OS X 10.4.8 or Mac OS X Server 10.4.8 on a Mac Pro that has a software RAID boot volume, a kernel panic may occur during startup. More …

PC Pro has branded Apple’s Xeon-powered Mac Pros the ‘fastest PCs in the UK’, according to the magazine’s benchmarks

In a 3D-render test, the dual Xeons under Win XP cut the time taken to complete the exercise down by nearly half, from a minute on the fastest PCs to 34 seconds. More …

The full review and benchmarks will be published in PC Pro magazine on October 19.

Mac Pro SMC Firmware Update–The SMC Firmware Update adjusts fan behavior in the Mac Pro. After this update has completed successfully, the SMC Version will be: 1.7f8.

Mac Pro (mid 2006) EFI Firmware Update 1.0–This EFI Firmware Update fixes several Boot Camp and start up issues on Mac Pro computers. After this update has completed successfully, your Boot ROM Version will be: MP11.005C.B01.

MacInTouch readers are reporting difficulty installing the updates

AnandTech has installed and tested quad-core (”Clovertown”) processors in a Mac Pro.

“We grabbed a pair of 2.4GHz Clovertown samples and tossed them in the system, and to our pleasure, they worked just fine. Our samples used a 1066MHz FSB, although we’re expecting the final chip to use a 1333MHz FSB, but the most important part of the test is that all 8 cores were detected and functional. [...] For the performance of Clovertown you’ll have to wait a bit longer as we’re not allowed to disclose it just yet, but we wanted to let you know that so far it’s looking like you’ll be able to upgrade your Mac Pro to 8 cores in the not too distant future.” More …

ZDNet comments on some Ars Technica performance comparisons between a dual-G5 PowerMac and a Quad Xeon Mac Pro, noting that the performance difference is (currently) not striking. More …

This supports Bare Feats test results.

Bare Feats tested the new Photoshop Benchmark created by the Retouch Artists on a Mac Pro 3.0 GHz (reported to be the fastest Mac ever), and the results weren’t exactly spectacular. “It was carefully crafted to reflect typical actions of a professional Photoshop user. Checkout our findings so far.” More …

Dell and Sony were allegedly aware some 10 months ago that the batteries that shipped with Dell laptops were flawed, Macworld UK reports.

According to the story, Dell and Sony “knew and discussed manufacturing problems” that existed with the batteries which are made by a Sony subsidiary.

It is unknown at this stage how many vendors employ the Sony battery. Apple, which also gets their batteries from Sony, made a brief statement last week saying the company was “looking into” the matter. But no further press release has been issued by the company since then.More …