If I'm doing work in Logic Studio, Final Cut Pro and Motion:
8 cores with standard video card
4 cores with 8800 GT?
I'm planning on bumping to 4g of ram anyway, so I have to pick between one of those configs as they're roughly the same price..
For Logic, the 8 cores will definitely give you a big boost, while the video card will make zero difference. I suspect the same will be true for FCP, but motion may benefit from the video card...but someone who is more of a video expert should address that.
Computer gaming is a real market that Apple has chosen to leave to the PC.
Is it? I was under the impression that the computer game market isn't all that big and shrinking all the time due to consoles (which it can't really compete with). It would be nice if apple shipped some machines that appealed to gamers, but I don't think it would result in that big a boost in sales.
And yet the new Mac Pro will crush a Power Macintosh G4 in every performance category. And a Mac Pro is cheaper then the majority of equivalent workstations from the major Windows PC suppliers.
That's all true, but the MP is overkill for many users. There are users who want expandability (and choice of monitor) but only need power similar to the high end iMac. People want the equivalent of a midsize pickup truck, but apple only offers an 18 wheel semi in that category.
I'd agree that apple could add a MP model that is even more stripped down and cheaper, but they still couldn't reach the price point people are looking for. They could be much more competitive on the midrange with a machine running Core Duo or Core Quad, much cheaper ram, probably cheaper mobo, smaller/simpler case.
And I think apple should seriously consider adding a midrange tower AND adding a BTO quad core option to the iMac, I don't see why the two are mutually exclusive.
I expect the Mac Pro, and Apple in general, to be a leader. Now, with a price hike, it's just catching up.
Nothing I don't like, nothing I really like either. And that's the problem for me: brand new Mac Pros shouldn't be lukewarm. They should be smoking hot. This one clearly isn't.
Nisaea
And again, what exactly are you missing that would make you consider this box a leader? If you're going to complain that it's not good enough, you should be able to point to specific shortcomings.
What is it missing? And who is making a box that has those things that you wish this box had?
And again, it's not really a price hike for most models, the lowest price is exactly the same while it's now hundreds cheaper to get an 8 core than it was yesterday.
Going Intel may have had other advantages, but the G5 still holds its own performance wise.
Holds its own? Didn't you just say the new MP almost doubles what the quad G5 did? Or is your point that a hypothetical nonexistent 8 core G5 with faster clock rate would keep up with the xeons?
