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OK to buy new Mac Pro?

M

MarsupialMac

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Apr 7, 2008
2
0
Hello. I've decided to upgrade from my old G5 to a Mac Pro. But I keep seeing these scary reports from people having all sorts of problems. USB, Firewire port problems. Video problems..monitor artifacts...and the optional GeoForce 8800 card is worse than the stock ATI 2600. Ram problems.

Are there satisfied Mac Pro owners? Do I just see these reports because people who post are usually people with problems. Does anyone have an idea of the amount of people with problems...as opposed to happy Mac Pro owners? Is it that you have to be lucky to get 'a good one'?

I was going to order the Basic setup; Dual 2.8, 2GB Ram (which I would upgrade 3rd party), 500GB drive. Then down the line an ACD 30". I do graphic work in CS3.

It's a lot of money...is it safe yet?
 
The squeaky wheel gets the oil.

Don't let a few reports out of HUNDREDS OF THOUSANDS OF MACHINES turn you off ;-)

I have never (and many on here will tell you this) EVER been happier with a Computer Purchase as I am with this one :)

Now... go forth and purchase!!!! LOL
 
This forum is the main worldwide repository for people with a gripe against Apple. Look at the number of newbies whose first post here is a rant about how Apple really done 'em wrong. And it's conversely rare that anyone signs up here just to say that everything is working fine.

You CANNOT take this forum seriously as any kind of quality indicator. It is a constant parade of mostly one-off technical glitches, most of which are user-induced.
 
Agree with Got Pro

I switched from the PC world about a month ago. Mac is smooth, and no problems with software/firmware upgrades, the 8800 or coming out of sleep mode. It arrived to NY with the standard shipping in a weeks time.

I think you'll be happy too.

Best,

John
 
Thank you...feeling better about purchase

Thanks for the response...any thoughts on the Video Card...my sons are into editing their films...is the 8800 better than the 2600?

Again, thanks
 
For now, at least, the 2600 is better for video editing apps than the 8800, which is better for gaming and other realtime 3D. Whether a potential future driver update for the 8800 would bring it up to speed is still nothing more than speculation.
 
Hmac said:
This forum is the main worldwide repository for people with a gripe against Apple. Look at the number of newbies whose first post here is a rant about how Apple really done 'em wrong. And it's conversely rare that anyone signs up here just to say that everything is working fine.
Click to expand...

Some long-timers too. Also, I suspect we have a higher than usual
proportion of perfectionists amongst us. After all, we choose to go
Mac because we want something better than the average. And the
Mac Pro group may be even more discerning.

Hmac said:
You CANNOT take this forum seriously as any kind of quality indicator. It is a constant parade of mostly one-off technical glitches, most of which are user-induced.
Click to expand...

I wouldn't entirely agree. There were 2 major problems with affected
a lot of people (HD2600XT freezes and unwanted rebooting). Both of
those have happily been resolved now. What remains is a set a much
more isolated and often relatively trivial issues (on the whole).
 
MarsupialMac said:
Hello. I've decided to upgrade from my old G5 to a Mac Pro. But I keep seeing these scary reports from people having all sorts of problems. USB, Firewire port problems. Video problems..monitor artifacts...and the optional GeoForce 8800 card is worse than the stock ATI 2600. Ram problems.
Click to expand...

Whew, thanks for letting me know about all these problems with my machine! If you hadn't posted I would have never known! Damn you Apple!
...
(goes back to playing TF2)
 
Most of the time, in this forum anyway, you tend to hear from the people that are having problems. This makes sense since this is the place to go to get help. So if you read that 1000 people are having problems, don't forget that Apple sells probably a million Macs a month. You don't here from all those other people that bought the machine of their dreams.
 
Infrared said:
Some long-timers too. Also, I suspect we have a higher than usual
proportion of perfectionists amongst us. After all, we choose to go
Mac because we want something better than the average. And the
Mac Pro group may be even more discerning.



I wouldn't entirely agree. There were 2 major problems with affected
a lot of people (HD2600XT freezes and unwanted rebooting). Both of
those have happily been resolved now. What remains is a set a much
more isolated and often relatively trivial issues (on the whole).
Click to expand...

The other thing I've noted is that, when (some) people post their latest rant against Apple, those that respond by saying that they're not having such problems are immediately labeled as being "Apple Fan Boys", the implication being that those of us who don't have problems with their Macs are somehow blind to the evil that is Apple Inc. So many of the bitter diatribes here are just not receptive to the possibility that their particular problem with their particular Mac may not be a universal issue.

Yes, I agree that therre are occasional design glitches with Apple products that are relatively broad-based, but that's been true, and definitely more true, of multiple other computer platforms for 20 years. I've used many, many different computer brands and platforms over the last 30 years, and at the risk of being labeled yet again an Apple Fan Boy, I would have to say that Apple has shown the most consistency in design and reliability superiority.
 
Got mine yesturday-you will not be sorry

WOW - that is all I have to say! EVERYTHING was easy. Network setup, file transfer from old hard drive (sitting comfortably in bay 3) - it was all so freaking simple

It was WAY quieter than my G5 tower (2 X 2.5) - I mean WAY quieter.

Super drives are still loud - but I know my PC is also a bit above silent when a disc goes in.

All and All - I was sad when my G5 died after 4 years... but now, I could not be happier. In fact this is by far the best Mac I have owned and I go OLD school to the Mac 800 (which replaced my Apple IIe). Hey it had TWO floppy drives I was the king!


aibo said:
Whew, thanks for letting me know about all these problems with my machine! If you hadn't posted I would have never known! Damn you Apple!
...
(goes back to playing TF2)
Click to expand...
 
I won't lie and say I haven't had any problems with my MacPro, but they've been relatively minor and were due more to a lack of documentation on 3rd parties part as to what works with what than to any fault of Apple's. I've had problems with getting everything to 'play well' together - PCI card not working with Firebox, which would have been averted by, oh A FEW MORE FIREWIRE INPUTS, APPLE!

The only thing I'm still having problems with is the aluminum keyboard working with Microsoft Office 2004 for some reason...thought it was the keyboard and sent it back but it still occasionally happens.

That said, the joys far outweigh the sorrows. It processes like a dream. Just worked on someone else's relatively new IMac and the same video job that would take 30 minutes to export on the MacPro took 5 hours. It's whisper quiet and every time I use the two year old one at work I'm amazed at how noisy the fans are.

I have it hooked up to KRK speakers and HP LP3065 30" monitor and love every minute I'm on it (well, every minute that doesn't involve Microsoft :)
 
treehorn said:
I won't lie and say I haven't had any problems with my MacPro, but they've been relatively minor and were due more to a lack of documentation on 3rd parties part as to what works with what than to any fault of Apple's. I've had problems with getting everything to 'play well' together - PCI card not working with Firebox, which would have been averted by, oh A FEW MORE FIREWIRE INPUTS, APPLE!

The only thing I'm still having problems with is the aluminum keyboard working with Microsoft Office 2004 for some reason...thought it was the keyboard and sent it back but it still occasionally happens.

That said, the joys far outweigh the sorrows. It processes like a dream. Just worked on someone else's relatively new IMac and the same video job that would take 30 minutes to export on the MacPro took 5 hours. It's whisper quiet and every time I use the two year old one at work I'm amazed at how noisy the fans are.

I have it hooked up to KRK speakers and HP LP3065 30" monitor and love every minute I'm on it (well, every minute that doesn't involve Microsoft :)
Click to expand...
I have mine hooked up to an LP3065 as well, I LOVE that monitor. And I was anti LCD for so long. Speakers are 30 year old ESS's, with the original HEIL Air motion transformers. Rebuilt the cones on the woofers and still sound fantastic.
 
Now that Apple has released a Firmware update for the keyboard...maybe that problem will disappear too :)

And yes, love my HP monitor. Was torn between it and an ACD and honestly liked the look of the HP better design-wise (all that aluminum was too eyecatching and distracting at 30" The black frame of the HP just fades to the periphery) and the picture looked as good on a side-by-side comparison so...
 
Yes, it seems on all of the Mac Pros there have been quite a few problems...

BUT when all the firmware updates (SMC, EFI) and the 10.5.2 update are installed, it seems like most everyone is having a positive experience after getting these updates installed. They fix alot of the boot/sleep/memory/fan issues with the Mac Pro units

-Ward
 
I got my Mac Pro as soon as Apple saw fit to ship the models with the 8800GT (Apple's poor supply chain to blame for that one) and the only real problem Ive had with the machine is the reboot after wake issue. The latest EFI firmware issue cleared that up and I'm happy to report no problems (other than not knowing why Handbrake and / or VisualHub won't encode my movies with proper AC3).

Anyhow, keep in the back of your mind that, once you buy the Mac Pro and Apple releases a newer model down the road with a better graphics card, there is a very very HIGH probability that you will be stuck with the graphics card that came with your Mac Pro, and you won't be able to upgrade.

I don't care what the hell Apple says. They screwed over the pre-2008 Mac Pro owners out of an upgrade path to the 8800GT in order to force users to buy a newer model. As a result of the consumer backlash, Apple said there was a "fix" in the works. That "fix" never surfaced. And there are still promises of a "fix" in the works, but I'll believe it when I see it.

Apple wants you to buy new model after new model. Sure, it's a brilliant strategy profit-wise, but purposely screwing your customers out of upgrade options is just poor business practice IMHO.
 
Wild-Bill said:
I got my Mac Pro as soon as Apple saw fit to ship the models with the 8800GT (Apple's poor supply chain to blame for that one) and the only real problem Ive had with the machine is the reboot after wake issue. The latest EFI firmware issue cleared that up and I'm happy to report no problems (other than not knowing why Handbrake and / or VisualHub won't encode my movies with proper AC3).

Anyhow, keep in the back of your mind that, once you buy the Mac Pro and Apple releases a newer model down the road with a better graphics card, there is a very very HIGH probability that you will be stuck with the graphics card that came with your Mac Pro, and you won't be able to upgrade.

I don't care what the hell Apple says. They screwed over the pre-2008 Mac Pro owners out of an upgrade path to the 8800GT in order to force users to buy a newer model. As a result of the consumer backlash, Apple said there was a "fix" in the works. That "fix" never surfaced. And there are still promises of a "fix" in the works, but I'll believe it when I see it.

Apple wants you to buy new model after new model. Sure, it's a brilliant strategy profit-wise, but purposely screwing your customers out of upgrade options is just poor business practice IMHO.
Click to expand...


Case in point.


.
 
Wild-Bill said:
Case in point what?

Is that supposed to be some sort of fanboyish comment, eluding to your previous post?
Click to expand...


Whew! I thought maybe I was being too subtle.

Yeah. That's me...I don't agree with you so I must be an Apple Fanboy. Thanks for making my point.
 
As a former PC user who returned to the Mac after many years of self built machines, I guess I am in the Apple fan boy cat.:cool:

I loved my Apple IIc, Centris 650 and my (still running) PB G3.

My Mac Pro is a BEAST!!! I love it!:D

...I have not looked back since!
 
No problems so far with my Mac Pro (purchased this month). But I just might have great karma - I have owned 6 Macs without ever having a single hardware problem.
 
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