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Guess What I'm Doing Tonight?

xiovoix

xiovoix

macrumors regular
Original poster
Jun 2, 2009
100
0
Maybe Ned Ludd was Right?
Got this bad boy Today. But if any of you read my earlier posts the reason for this will become quite clear. Previously, I went to PCWorld to purchase but knew there was a stock quota of 3 from late June so I sat on it until now and saved myself £300. Thats £100 a month. Initally they quoted me £1379 for the privilege of owning this beauty but today got it for £1069(US$1764, AU$2024). This £300 is now going towards 8GB of Crucial ram and an M225 SSD and maybe fork out a little bit more for a decent graphics card. The machine comes in a brand new sealed box (I will post further pics) and manager told me it qualifies for the up to date programme.(True?). Anyhow even the box looks gorgeous and I am very happy I didn't get swayed by the lure of "The Nehalem". I had to hurry to get it today as another sold a few weeks ago and the other had been opened in the shop (always better to open yourself-like early Xmas pressie). This was a real cat and mouser over the past few weeks and several times I thought I had lost my chance. So there's one brand new 2008 2.8 octo(opened) left in the world. Mine might remain unopened until tomorrow or maybe not!:D;):cool:
 

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£1000 is a bloody good price, makes up for the fact the Nehalem versions will completely destroy it :p

But for that price, who cares? What was the original apple price?
 
I've seen it quoted by others in the forum that US$2799. Last year here it was on the :apple: site for £1899 and even in the shop the price was still displayed as £1711.98. Nehalem phooey:p
 
OK the realization of this bargain is just sinking in! Yeah sure old architecture, older memory etc but for the next 3yrs or so I know this machine will sort PT, Reason, Logic, Maya, Houdini, Poser, CS4 etc. Just need to get my act together to get ram and some SSDs(not to be confused with STDs).:)
 
You may be more fortunate than you realize. ;)

  • Does well with hardware based RAID (no adapters needed to use the HDD bays)
  • Doesn't have the ICH10R bottleneck that's in the '09's, that's particularly applicable to SSD's in RAID, or even 6x fast HDD's. Limit = 660MB/s from the information out there, and is acknowledged by Intel.
  • Additional SATA ports available ('09's have no PATA interface for optical drives, so one of them <6 total> gets used for the Superdrive)
  • Uses EFI64 firmware, so you can still opt for future upgrades for graphics cards & will allow you to continue to use future versions of OS X in full 64bit
  • Upgrades are cheap, even 800MHz FB-DIMM ATM
 
MattZani said:
£1000 is a bloody good price, makes up for the fact the Nehalem versions will completely destroy it :p
Click to expand...

Depends, but in general, the 2008 Mac Pros give you more bang for the buck. You need to get to the high end Nehalems to beat the 2008's.

And I say this as someone with a 2008 Mac Pro at home with a Nehalem Mac Pro at work.
 
nanofrog said:
You may be more fortunate than you realize. ;)

  • Does well with hardware based RAID (no adapters needed to use the HDD bays)
  • Doesn't have the ICH10R bottleneck that's in the '09's, that's particularly applicable to SSD's in RAID, or even 6x fast HDD's. Limit = 660MB/s from the information out there, and is acknowledged by Intel.
  • Additional SATA ports available ('09's have no PATA interface for optical drives, so one of them <6 total> gets used for the Superdrive)
  • Uses EFI64 firmware, so you can still opt for future upgrades for graphics cards & will allow you to continue to use future versions of OS X in full 64bit
  • Upgrades are cheap, even 800MHz FB-DIMM ATM
Click to expand...

I knew there was good reason to buy this machine apart from the budget but you illustrate the point beautifully there Nanofrog-ribbit, ribbit!:D
 
Salavat23 said:
Don't open it up and in 15-20 years sell it for 10x what you paid for it.:D
Click to expand...

Was just thinking! Maybe I should go buy the other one and sell this one as it's unopened. Anyone need a 2008 Mac Pro?:) Nah that's too mercenary! But if anyone needs one I have the ear of someone at the store and they would hold it for them!
 
xiovoix said:
I knew there was good reason to buy this machine apart from the budget but you illustrate the point beautifully there Nanofrog-ribbit, ribbit!:D
Click to expand...
NP. :D

It's the best Intel based MP model Apple has released IMO. Best price, and capability to use 3rd party add-ins without some additional costs for adapters to get it to work. :)
 
Dude nice buy there :)

Where about in the UK did you pick this up from?

Forgive my ignorance - but it is a 2.8 8 core, right?
 
scouser75 said:
Dude nice buy there :)

Where about in the UK did you pick this up from?

Forgive my ignorance - but it is a 2.8 8 core, right?
Click to expand...

Hey man! Peace to the Pool brethern:) Yeah! 2.8 octad brand new-sealed box, totally untouched by human hands since it left :apple:. Sprucefield NI just outside Lisburn-PC World of all places. There is 1 left! Want it?:D
 
xiovoix said:
I knew there was good reason to buy this machine apart from the budget but you illustrate the point beautifully there Nanofrog-ribbit, ribbit!:D
Click to expand...

Not to mention that there's both FW 400 & 800 (not a big deal, but kind of handy if you have 400 devices) and don't need the stupid mini display port adaptors for 3rd party displays.

I plan on continuing to use my '08 for the foreseeable future and feel zero upgrade lust for the current models.

If you're using it for music apps it's still total overkill and at that price, a heckuva (job Brownie) value.

Nice find.
 
rockinrocker said:
Not to mention that there's both FW 400 & 800 (not a big deal, but kind of handy if you have 400 devices) and don't need the stupid mini display port adaptors for 3rd party displays.

I plan on continuing to use my '08 for the foreseeable future and feel zero upgrade lust for the current models.

If you're using it for music apps it's still total overkill and at that price, a heckuva (job Brownie) value.

Nice find.
Click to expand...

I'm extremely pleased with the machine! 8gig of ram arriving on Monday from crucial. Just hope I can also use the stock ram in conjunction with it to get me to 10gig and then wait a while for price drop(maybe)!

Yeah maybe overkil for music since my 2008 MBP has sufficed until now!
 
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