[vagarach]

You have a Core i7 system and you want to buy a mac pro? As you are realising, this is rather pointless.

Mac Pros are for people who charge so much for whatever they are doing, not having 8 cores and 16GB RAM would cost them money! Why don't they buy a much cheaper PC with the same specs? They've got their workflow down pat in OSX.

 

[Jigglybootch]

Quote:

Originally Posted by vagarach /img/forum/go_quote.gif You have a Core i7 system and you want to buy a mac pro? As you are realising, this is rather pointless.

I never made any claims about my decision making sense. I'm just stupid crazy that way.

 

[spraggih]

LOL.

But it is a good question about the Mac Pro. I keep saying this -- probably sound wrong now but an used Mac Pro would cost you peanuts relative to performance.

If you bought a 1st or 2nd generation Mac Pro it would perform just as well as a new Mac Pro. The limitating factor is not DuoCore or QuadCore.

Or.... assuming a new line of Mac Pros are coming out--- at least wait.

 

[Surferp]

have had a mac pro since last march. best computer i've ever owned mac or pc. and i've owned them all from many Dell's, IBM's, and even a compaq thrown in i'm now a fully converted mac guy, especially since i worked at apple for the last 2.5 years! But the mac pro is honestly one the best made computers i have ever seen. not only are the components top quality but the machine is a beast. it's dead quiet, looks amazingly beautiful on any desk, and is amazingly fast. i've got the 8 core with 8gb of ram and the 8800gt video card. the ram i purchased from crucial because, as said before, apple is a rip off on ram and hdd's. i got the hard drives from newegg and have it loaded to the gills with 4 terabytes of hard drive space, one of the hard drives is for vista. not only is it a fantastic mac computer but i also run Vista 64bit without problems. It's seamless. You wouldn't be able to tell if it was a dell or a mac sitting on the desk. at this stage in the game there's really no reason not to buy a mac if it's been tempting you. especially with their dual-boot ability. if you hate os x then you just have a really nice looking windows machine. At this point i would probably wait for the Mac Pro's to come out with the new processors. That should be within the next couple of months for sure. I got a Mac Pro and have never regretted it since the day i got it. A fantastic machine albeit expensive but nonetheless worth every penny. People don't realize that when you buy a mac your not just buying a machine. Your buying some of the best service and support in the industry as well. I had an issue with the optical drive in my mac pro and had a new one at my door at the start of the next business day. Also, all the user installable parts in the mac pro are really easy to work on. Ram, hdd's, optical drives are all VERY easy to get in and out. Stupid easy! Get one and enjoy it!

 

[spraggih]

Yes -- you are going to buy a new one then buy the most basic version and add your own memory from Crucial and drives from Newegg or TigerDirect.

 

[Jigglybootch]

Quote:

Originally Posted by spraggih /img/forum/go_quote.gif Yes -- you are going to buy a new one then buy the most basic version and add your own memory from Crucial and drives from Newegg or TigerDirect.

That was the plan should I choose to go through with the Mac purchase.

 

[spraggih]

That's cool. Enjoy. What are you going to do for backup/restore?

Will you have two solutions? One for PC and another for Mac?

 

[spraggih]

Having a hybrid hardware environment is sometimes a headache--- assuming you like efficiencies.

For example:

1. Two backup systems
   Once your hooked on Time Machine you will have two backup systems because it's incompatible with PC.
2. Centralized File Sharing
   Still have not found an easy way for multiple Mac computers to share documents, music, etc.
   
   With PC it's a little easier-- redirect, alias, symbolic link the My Documents folder to the fileshare where the central repository is.
   
   On the Mac it is harder because Mac also have local preferences in the User Account folder so then if the User Account is on the fileshare the local preferences must be copied also or if the User Account is local then there are symbolic links all over the place for the documents, music, pictures, downloads, etc.
   
   Fine once it is setup but any changes are problematic. And it feels like patchwork.
   
   ALL ASSUMING you want to do more than just share music via iTunes or wirelessly or share pictures via iPhoto.
   
   Want to share an iTunes library?? (ratings, album art)?? Then it becomes very difficult quickly: PC or Mac.
3. Two versions of MS Office (assuming you use Office)-- good news here is compatibility between Office 2008 and Office 2007 (PC) is great.

When I think about what I want to do:

• Have central files on a NAS or fileshare.
• Have one backup/restore program.
• Reuse applications across the platforms as much as possible

It's amazing how arduous this is when you have multiple computers and multiple hardware platforms.

Oh well.

 

[A<aA?]

i wouldn't waste your bread on a mac. i doubt you're pushing your new i7 anywhere near the limit. you obviously just buying it just to have it, you don't need it.

spend on music or save toward a new piece of audio kit or something, buy something you'll session.

 

[spraggih]

Quote:

Originally Posted by ċãţ /img/forum/go_quote.gif i wouldn't waste your bread on a mac. i doubt you're pushing your new i7 anywhere near the limit. you obviously just buying it just to have it, you don't need it. spend on music or save toward a new piece of audio kit or something, buy something you'll session.

Good point. No reason to buy something you don't need. If you must have a Mac and cannot get it out of your system (no pun intended) then would you consider selling your i7 and using the proceeds for a Mac Pro?

 

[Jigglybootch]

Quote:

Originally Posted by spraggih /img/forum/go_quote.gif Good point. No reason to buy something you don't need. If you must have a Mac and cannot get it out of your system (no pun intended) then would you consider selling your i7 and using the proceeds for a Mac Pro?

I've considered it. As it stands, I have 3 PCs. The Core i7 system, which is my main computer. I also still have my old desktop, which is running a 3 GHz P4, 2 gigs of RAM, GeForce 6200, 74 gig Raptor for OS, 250 gig Samsung for storage. This computer is currently hooked up to my TV and is running the Windows 7 beta. I also use this system for ripping CDs, because it has the nice Plextor drive in it. The third system is another P4, 2.4 GHz, 1 gig of RAM, and I don't really remember what else. This is the computer I built for my parents, but they screwed it up and I reformatted the HD and installed some flavor of Linux (I don't really remember which, I haven't used the computer in well over a year). This computer gets zero use and is just taking up space in my closet. And no I'm thinking about buying a Mac.

I have issues.

 

[spraggih]

I do not know about having issues but you have some real easy solutions if you want to take them.

Sell two computers (keep the i7) and buy a Mac Pro; buy Parallels or VM Fusion (virtualization software) and install Windows7 Beta, Linux and anything else.

I have VM for Vista 64-Bit, Windows7 64-Bit, Mac OSX Server 10.5 and XP. Works great.

I thought about dual booting but I do not want to wait to restarting the computer and this easily allows the ability to check out beta software safely.

Go on and sell the two computers and buy your Mac Pro and come out the game even or cost to even financially. Then your move is wise and financially sound and gets you want you want.

But I ask the Head-fi forum, will Jigglybootch take the counsel? The world wants to know.

 

[Jigglybootch]

Believe me, I'm going to try to find someone to buy the computers. My boss might be willing to buy one of the computers, but I don't know for sure.

 

[mogata]

Whatever you do keep the Raptor drive. Ya gotta love those Raptors. Haven't tried the Velociraptor yet, but hoping to get one soon.

 

[Surferp]

the old SATAI (1.5gbps) 10,000rpm raptor drives are not faster than todays 7200rpm SATA II (3.0gbps) drives. the raprtors not worth keeping really unless you need more storage. Especially with the amount of noise and heat they put off. I went through this dilemma when putting storage in my MacPro and just opted for 1tb sata II drives.