2008 or wait

[cps-sound]

All the waiting I read about for the new Mac Pro has me waiting for one. Its giong to be my first.

I already know what I would get if I wait for the new mac pro: I'd get the bottom of the line single chip fewest amount of cores. I wouldn't upgrade the graphics. I would go for two 2 TB drives and one optical drive. I would probably go ahead and have them put 2 gigs of ram in each slot so I didn't have any empty slots.

Currently with the current MP's, I'm looking at some $3400 without the display. I don't know half of the technical mojo that I read on here about lanes and chipsets. I know what nand gates are and Karnough maps though..
Essentially, I am waiting because I want this computer to last as long as possible..

Now I have an option where someone might sell me their 2008 dual 2-core and I might be able to score licenses for some software I want also as part of the deal. Essentially, for $2000, I'd get the '08 MP, a 27" Apple display, and a couple thousand $'s worth of software that I want. as well as the upgraded to current MP graphics card.

Here is where my concerns kick in: I end up liking the software and for whatever reason, I end up needing to scrap the hard-drive I end up losing the software part of the deal.. I'm also sketched that something might be wrong with the motherboard or some other part of the equation. the Seller says he's doing this so he can buy a server.
I have no reason not to believe him and no evidence that anything is wrong with the machine.. part of the deal is, the hard drive in it now is a brand new one loaded up with Leopard which makes me scratch my head since he says he has Lion but doesn't like it. The other part is he put the graphics card and hard-drive in himself. I get weirded out about hearing of "certain" people doing their own hardware. (like someone who opted for Leopard instead of Lion).

Any insight would be much appreciated. The deal seems like it could save me about $3000--- on the other hand, if I go for the new computer, I may be able to take it slow and slowly upgrade the software later and buy cheapo displays. this decision is using up all of my brain cells.

 

[goMac]

A lot of people don't like Lion. I don't think that's surprising at all. I'd switch back if I wasn't locked onto it for development.

I'd check on the graphics card he used though. You need details on that. Did he replace it with an official Apple one, or a non-Apple one?

That'll tell you the sort of things you might have to deal with.

 

[wonderspark]

Putting a GPU and hard drive in is as easy as it gets... that and RAM. I wouldn't worry about whether or not someone installed those items themselves. I've installed an eSATA card, an Apple 5870 GPU, an Areca RAID card, four RAM sticks and swapped the hard drives many times in mine, and believe me, this machine is still pristine. Apple makes it pretty easy to do any of these things.

I happen to love Snow Leopard, and have no desire to move to Lion... mostly because everything works perfectly right now in SL 10.6.8 (updated version).

 

[gpzjock]

Octo '08 is a gr8 Mac Pro I have the 2.8 Ghz Quad x2 one, keeping it till the wheels fall off. Sounds like you are being offered a bargain.

 

[GermanyChris]

You don't seem like much of a geek, so I think the things that concern you now will be of even more concern in the future. I vote for wait get a new one which will be far more powerful, then get Apple Care go you covered for 3 years. Then you can work and not worry.

 

[Neodym]

Now I have an option where someone might sell me their 2008 dual 2-core and I might be able to score licenses for some software I want also as part of the deal. Essentially, for $2000, I'd get the '08 MP, a 27" Apple display, and a couple thousand $'s worth of software that I want. as well as the upgraded to current MP graphics card.

Quite a bargain!

Here is where my concerns kick in: I end up liking the software and for whatever reason, I end up needing to scrap the hard-drive I end up losing the software part of the deal..

If you actually purchase the software licenses, i don't understand why you would lose them when migrating to a new harddrive. If the software will "just be sitting on the harddrive" when you purchase the machine, the value of that software should not be considered as part of the equation imo.

[...]part of the deal is, the hard drive in it now is a brand new one loaded up with Leopard which makes me scratch my head since he says he has Lion but doesn't like it.

I'm also not convinced of Lion (yet) like many others, so for me that reason is perfectly understandable. I would get the SnowLeopard update though, which is very affordable and has many improvements under the hood (especially regarding speed and general stability - not that Leopard would be instable, but a little slower in comparison and perhaps a little clumsy in parts).

The other part is he put the graphics card and hard-drive in himself. I get weirded out about hearing of "certain" people doing their own hardware. (like someone who opted for Leopard instead of Lion).

This is far from being rocket science! Open the case, drop in new hardware, close case and be up and running again after 15mins. And that is in no way connected with personal evaluation of the new OS (besides: Lion is still buggy as any .0 / .1 release - one more reason to stick to [Snow] Leopard for the time being).

Any insight would be much appreciated. The deal seems like it could save me about $3000--- on the other hand, if I go for the new computer, I may be able to take it slow and slowly upgrade the software later and buy cheapo displays. this decision is using up all of my brain cells.

If you really save that much money depends heavily on the fact, if you are really acquiring the software licenses. Even without them you could save some money and get a good basis for further updates (Ram, CPU, harddrive storage etc.). If a revised MacPro should arrive within the coming weeks, it will likely be twice as expensive as that offer - without monitor and with only little Ram (how much is installed in the offered machine btw?).

 

[nanofrog]

...2008 dual 2-core...

2008 MP's used Quad core CPU's, not dual cores (those were in 2006/7 models).

I'd recommend you make sure of the system being sold, as it might be older (check the MP identifier).

• 2006 = 1,1
• 2007 = 2,1
• 2008 = 3,1

Worth looking at before you buy IMO, as the 2006/7 Quads (2 * dual core CPU's) aren't worth $2k.