2008 Mac Pro 8-Core for $2100 (brand new) - Good deal, or no?

[GodWhomIsMike]

Hi,

I am about to pick up a 2008 Mac Pro 8-Core for $2100 (brand new) from an Apple certified reseller tomorrow. Is this a good deal or no?

I work IT in academia, and soon will be working on my MS in Computer Science in the evening.

It's the 2.83GHz 8-core 2008 model.

Opinions? Pointers? I am trying to keep the costs as low as I can go, and also be able to get a 3-year Applecare warranty later.

[hcpilot]

If your local Apple store has them in stock just tell them your are a business, i.e, consultant and if they are in stock then their clearance price will be $1,899. I also got the applecare for the Mac Pro for 199.

[GodWhomIsMike]

wow...

[Tesselator]

Pointers....

Buy it before I do....

[GodWhomIsMike]

It's on hold for me, for tomorrow.

[GodWhomIsMike]

I just tried most of the stores in my area, and they are all sold out.

[sparkie7]

good deal :D i just got one here in australia for roughly the same price wise, currency conversion wise :D:D

[GodWhomIsMike]

My upgrade plan is to buy a Sapphire's 1GB 4870 video card (~185), $12 power cable from ATI, and "flash the card by installing FreeDOS on a FAT32 BootCamp partition and add atiflash.exe."

Also pick up 2x4GB FB-DIMM memory for ~ $270.

And finally, replace main drive with a 640GB WD Black Hard drive ~80. Use the 320GB drive as a data back-up.

~$550 in upgrades.

Two 2.83 GHz Quad-Core Xeons
1GB 4870 video card
10GB FB-DIMM memory
640GB Primary HD
320GB Secondary HD
------------------------
$2650

[Tesselator]

My upgrade plan is to buy a Sapphire's 1GB 4870 video card (~185), $12 power cable from ATI, and "flash the card by installing FreeDOS on a FAT32 BootCamp partition and add atiflash.exe."

Also pick up 2x4GB FB-DIMM memory for ~ $270.

And finally, replace main drive with a 640GB WD Black Hard drive ~80. Use the 320GB drive as a data back-up.

~$550 in upgrades.

Two 2.83 GHz Quad-Core Xeons
1GB 4870 video card
10GB FB-DIMM memory
640GB Primary HD
320GB Secondary HD
------------------------
$2650

Careful! I also thought the Seagate Blacks were good - even great but there's some manufacturing troubles with them (something to do with bad firnware) and there's a samsung that is rating a little better for a little less cost. I think it's samsung anyway.. Check Tom's Hardware Drive Comparison data-base.

[GodWhomIsMike]

I turned it down. I thought about it this weekend, and to spend $2500 on a computer just isn't the most prudent thing I for me do at the moment.

Saturday, I received an acceptance letter for the Computer Science Master's Program from my local college. That money is best put toward my Master Degree, which I would work on at night after work.