Mac Pro - spec suggestions?

[Athena]

I've decided to replace my dead PC desktop with a Mac Pro. In the future I'll upgrade my Samsung monitor to an Apple monitor and replace my PC laptop with a Macbook Pro, but for now this will do.

These are the specs I think I am going to order. Any suggestions for changes before I click it, pay it and play the waiting game for it to be delivered?

• Two 2.26GHz Quad-Core Intel Xeon
• 8Gb (4x2Go)
• 1Tb 7200-rpm Serial ATA 3Go/s
• NVIDIA GeForce GT 120 512MB
• One 18x SuperDrive
• Apple Magic Mouse
• Apple Keyboard (US)
• AirPort Extreme Wi-Fi Card with 802.11n
• Apple Mini DisplayPort - DVI Adapter

But I am not sure about the 2.26GHz. My greedy little self wants more, but the price jumps up severely even to go to the 2.66GHz.

You guys in the US sure are lucky - you get better software bundles and way better prices on this stuff.

[roncgizmo]

I think you'll be very happy with that setup

A few months ago I wanted to buy a netbook after looking into it more I bought a used iBook G4 and upgraded the hard drive and memory.. It's a 1.33/1.5/160
it smokes my PC laptop that's only a year old.. it's a dual core 64 2/3/320 running Vista 32 and I haven't wanted to use it since I bought this 4 year old $200 mac.. I like it so much that I'm going to pickup a newer macbook pro for my birthday in March

Good luck with it. Once you get used to it you will never look back )

[roncgizmo]

Oh, The one thing I'd change is the hard drive. You can buy a 1.5TB drive for about $120USD and put it in the 2nd bay and use the standard drive as your main. It's a painless install that only takes about 15 min even if you're clueless.

[Athena]

Can that HD be bought from the online mac store? I could pick one up when I am in the states at Christmas time.

[roncgizmo]

You can pickup a hard drive for it just about anywhere..

Micro Center - Barracuda 1.5TB 7,200RPM SATA 3.0Gb/s Hard Drive

Just to give you a idea.

If you go to the Mac store I'm sure the price will be much more..

[Gna]

Originally Posted by Athena

• Two 2.26GHz Quad-Core Intel Xeon
• 8Gb (4x2Go)
• 1Tb 7200-rpm Serial ATA 3Go/s
• NVIDIA GeForce GT 120 512MB
• One 18x SuperDrive
• Apple Magic Mouse
• Apple Keyboard (US)
• AirPort Extreme Wi-Fi Card with 802.11n
• Apple Mini DisplayPort - DVI Adapter

But I am not sure about the 2.26GHz. My greedy little self wants more, but the price jumps up severely even to go to the 2.66GHz.

How about a tricked out brandnew 27" quadcore iMac! Matches and exceeds your specs on many counts, includes a jaw-dropping 27" screen, yet is hundreds cheaper...:

• 2.8GHz quad-core i7 with 8MB shared L3 cache
• Turbo Boost dynamic performance up to 3.46GHz
• Hyper-Threading for up to eight virtual cores
• 4GB (two 2GB SO-DIMMs) RAM; four SO-DIMM slots support up to 16GB
• 1TB 7200-rpm SATA
• ATI Radeon HD 4850 with 512MB of GDDR3 memory

[Athena]

The iMacs seem a lot less upgradeable to me.

With the Mac Pro I feel like I can drop more memory and disks in pretty easily and upgrade the monitor too.

Not trying to be argumentative - because really I don't know - but how does that iMac exceed my dual quad specs when it's just a single quad?

[TonyK]

The older iMacs were limited more in RAM than the new ones. Drives though, the MP wins with 4 internal bays. I've never been fond of all-in-one solutions.

You could think about a mac mini server (1TB of drive space and 4GB of memory) and the external super drive. Still limited yes, but you have more external/display options than an iMac.

You buying the MP locally? It is not something I would purchase stateside and then bring back on a plane.

Love my 2008 MP with 12GB of memory and 1.8 TB of drive space. Yet it is BIG and draws a LOT of power.

Take care,

[Athena]

Yes, I would be buying the Mac Pro here - grinning and bearing the fact that it's a lot more expensive here than there.

If I were going for a Macbook Pro I'd definitely buy it in the states, but the Mac Pro is way too big to do that with (and I don't know if its dual voltage anyway). It's size is pretty overwhelming actually.

[TonyK]

@ 60 lbs it is a heavy monster. Had to drag mine in earlier this year for a video card issue. They ordered a new card and I did the install. No problems sense.

Wife has a MP and a MBP. Rarely use the MBP except when traveling though she might start using it for streaming content at night.

When you get the MP, check out Other World Computing for memory. My system has 12GB of RAM, 8 GB came from OWC. They have very good products for the Apple line of computers.

Take care,

[Gna]

Originally Posted by Athena

The iMacs seem a lot less upgradeable to me.

You're not the type to upgrade. You'll always get the latest and greatest.

With the Mac Pro I feel like I can drop more memory

It'll be a while before you need more than 16GB, imo.

and disks in pretty easily

You want a top-of-the-line HD setup? Get a hot-swappable Drobo RAID system (or similar).

and upgrade the monitor too.

You're planning to upgrade the Samsung next year anyway, aren't you?

Besides, you can plug that Samsung (and your next year's new one!) straight into the iMac for use in multiple screen configurations.

[Gna]

Originally Posted by Athena

how does that iMac exceed my dual quad specs when it's just a single quad?

The new iMac's i7 cores can run sustained at 2.8GHz, and with Turbo Boost up to 3.46GHz, hyper-threading into up to eight virtual cores, for which CS4 and FCP are optimized. I'd say that exceeds the MacPro's cores running at 2.26GHz max. by a wide margin, don't you? And the i7s are a more modern architecture than the Nehalems are.
Unless you're in the business of rendering HD Hollywood feature productions for a living you will never use more than 20% of that iMac's horsepower.

[Athena]

Given what you've said about the horsepower and my needs I think I'd still be more inclined to buy a quad (rather than an 8 core) Mac Pro than an iMac. I just don't like that whole all-in-one thing, nor glossy screens. Personal preference thing I guess - thank goodness Mac accommodate that.

[Gna]

So, if you've made your decision, what's keeping you from implementing it?

[Athena]

I'm trying to decide on what processors to put in the box. How many and which ones. Two 2.26 or one 2.93. The price difference is fairly small, but I am not sure what the performance difference is or which setup would be easier to upgrade in the future.

[Gna]

Originally Posted by Athena

which setup would be easier to upgrade in the future.

It seems to me upgradeability should/is not (be) an issue since, and I repeat: "You're not the type to upgrade. You'll always get the latest and greatest."

[Athena]

Originally Posted by Gna

It seems to me upgradeability should/is not (be) an issue since, and I repeat: "You're not the type to upgrade. You'll always get the latest and greatest."

Yes, you repeat your assessment of me, but it is still false. Repeating it will not make it true. I have mentioned several times that the ability to upgrade is important to me, that should have indicated to you that I do not always buy the latest and greatest.

The PC desktop that I am replacing is more than five years old and certainly wasn't the greatest when it was brand new. I am only replacing it now, because it is dying and has become unreliable. I am changing platforms after lengthy consideration. I don't make purchases of several thousand dollars flippantly. If I did, I would not be here begging for information and help in making the decision.

The likelihood is that this computer will be under my desk for the next five years like the last one was. So it is indeed important to me that I can upgrade it should my needs grow.

[Athena]

Interesting webpage discussing the performance of a dual versus a single CPU Mac Pro running Photoshop with large files: Mac Performance.

[Gna]

Originally Posted by Athena

So it is indeed important to me that I can upgrade it should my needs grow.

...Should your needs grow from what needs now? How much and what kind of work do you do now that requires a quadcore MacPro or iMac?

[Athena]

I need a computer that will run ACR and Photoshop efficiently and quickly. Multiple large files, many layers. When I am working, I spend hours in front of those applications and I would like to spend the time efficiently, rather than sitting waiting for the processes to run (which is how life was with the PC).

The factors that could change my needs are an increase in work, camera upgrade (not likely for awhile), software changes. File storage and backup is of course an ongoing, expanding need.