I have followed Macs very closely in the past and have had many, mostly towers but all PowerMacs. I have been redoing my network in my house and decided to start buying Intel machines for myself and my kids. Rather than buying iMacs, I have wanted to buy machines that are highly upgradeable. However, my main activities will be office apps, my own website design and maintenance (mostly blogs), and lots of web surfing. I found a Dual Core 2.0Ghz first generation Intel Mac Pro that someone I know was selling for $850, with a 20" Cinema Display, extra 750G Internal HD, KB, Mouse, Bose Speakers and ram upgrade from 1 to 5GB, for a total of about $1100. I have agreed to the deal, and given a non-refundable $200 deposit, but in looking around wonder if it was a deal? It has no wireless, however I have a ethernet network in my house. I am not sure whether a Airport card is available for this model. I imagine that if I upgrade the ram, add a third hard drive, my 13 year old who will get the machine in a few months will have a good machine that he will be able to upgrade more than an iMac, for a fraction of the cost. Question is, how upgradeable is it? I tried to find a processor upgrade, at least to the higher standard 2.66 Dual Core and could not find it? Also, I have learned that the fans in the machine are processor specific. For what I have described, would I see a big bump from the 2.0 to the 2.66? Does this deal sound like I got hosed, or does it seem reasonable for the ability to upgrade and the purposes I described. I think I should have done my homework! I am feeling pretty crappy.
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Please Help Newbie re Dual Core 2.0Ghz Purchase/Upgrade
- Thread starter AverageGuy
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Yes there was.
OP, I'm sorry to tell you that $1100 is a horrible deal for that machine. 2009 ones (which blow away the machine you just bought) go on ebay for $1300 to $1500.
Yes. Downgrade from the stock dual 2.66GHz DualCore. The BTO options were dual 2.0GHz DC and dual 3.0GHz DC.
BTW: The best CPUs that machine can handle are 3.0GHz Quad Cores (X5365).
You can upgrade the graphics card, add solid state disk drives, install an airport card, add more memory, more storage, swap the processors for quad core ones ($300 for a pair of E5345 2.33GHz quads, $400 for X5355 2.66GHz and $500 for X5365 3GHz). The thing is you don't really need to throw any more money at it unless you need wifi or more graphical power. It is a perfectly capable system.
$850 is not all that bad for just the tower, but not great either as the 2x2.66 dual core seems to go for around $900 on ebay these days.
I have been watching ebay closely for a while now and have never seen a Nehalem go for that little? From what I've seen $1200-1500 is more Clovertown and Harpertown territory. The latter usually go for more than that if they are dual CPU models, too.
If I saw a Nehalem for that money I'd snatch it up in a heartbeat and consider it my lucky day!
I have been watching ebay closely for a while now and have never seen a Nehalem go for that little? From what I've seen $1200-1500 is more Clovertown and Harpertown territory. The latter usually go for more than that if they are dual CPU models, too.
If I saw a Nehalem for that money I'd snatch it up in a heartbeat and consider it my lucky day!
Do you mean Euros? I never saw 2009s sell anywhere near that low when I was looking for used.