The First - of probably many Mac Pro advice posts...

[nater.]

Alright, I was able to wait till the Mac Pro came out! I was planning on buying a PowerMac G5 about a month or so ago but was told, it would be a good idea to wait. GOOD IDEA. The Mac Pro looks awesome!

I'm a graphic designer just about to finish school. My dad was gonna buy me a mac around graduation. Somewhere around 2000-3000 budget. What would you suggest? I have an alright CRT but nothing fancy. I plan to buy memory from somewhere else and install it myself.

Are the Cinema displays worth it? I love the look of it, but if I bought one of those - I would have to go with the lowest Mac Pro. But if I just continued using my CRT, I could go with the mid-range. Any help out be great.

I know no one has one yet...but just on paper, what looks good for me?

thanks for your time.

 

[cag17]

A)I would say go with the lowest config option on the Xeon. --It's a kickass setup.

B)You said you would be doing memory... I would say what, 4gb to be comfy? Maybe scrape by with 2? I'm a ram junky...Either way, you have to add that into the price.

C)The Apple Cinema Display is gorgeous, but not all it's cracked up to be...
I have relatively new Sony twins...a 19" and a 17"..IMO the image quality is crisper than the 20" ACD, along with more accurate color. I assume you could only afford the 20" Display with your budget.

D)I'd say a single 500gb would be enough for your photos. Unless you're storing in .raw, you should be fine.

E)Baseline graphics card, no ifs ands or buts.

F)2 superdrives or 1, your choice

G) Wireless and Bluetooth, a must have.

 

[seany916]

Mac Pro

get the 2.66 processors

you get a lot for that $300. Can upgrade almost everything else...

but you can't upgrade the processor. That said, 3.0GHz is not worth $800 unless your work is footing the bill. A faster processor will keep your computer useful longer.

2.66 over 2.0 for $300 What % increase in GHz for that $300?

YOU DO THE MATH.

 

[tipdrill407]

the cinema displays have dropped in price! The 30 inch is now cheaper then Dell's offering and are much sexier!

 

[nater.]

the cinema displays have dropped in price! The 30 inch is now cheaper then Dell's offering and are much sexier!

wish i could afford that...

 

[ironic23]

by graphics designer do you mean 2D or 3D graphics? i use Pro/E at work and i use an IBM workstation with dual Xeon processors, 4gb of ram and a quadro fx3500 (i think) card. my rendering often lags wih that setup. if you were to do 3D graphics i'd say go for a better graphics card. and yeah, go for the 2.66ghz. the $300 is worth it imho. if your assemblies aren't too big, 2gb should be ample for now (and can be upgraded for later). good luck!

 

[nater.]

thanks for all the replies.
I do 2d stuff. print work, some web...

I might just go with the 2.66 and then look around for one or two cheap lcd's.
Probably add 1gig of ram or 2.

 

[fowler.]

but you can't upgrade the processor.

sure you can. they aren't soldered like the macbook line.

 

[Clydefrog]

For the display i would look into getting a Dell with coupon codes. I managed to get my 2005FPW for $411 plus shipping using promo codes. Its pretty much the same as the cinema minus the looks