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rockandrule

macrumors 6502
Original poster
Aug 3, 2004
448
0
Jacksonville, FL
So, I found myself humored when I decided to match up and price check the Dual 2.7GHz PowerMac and the Dell Precision 670 that were used in the system tests ran by Apple. The Dell came out to a whomping $6,300, as configured with the Dual 3.6GHz Xeon processors, 2GBs of RAM, and a 250GB SATA HDD. Whereas, the Apple came out at a menial $4,000. I'm sick of listening to people complain about how expensive Apples are, but they don't look and compare what a system from their beloved Dell would come out to. Look at the tests, if you're actually working, as opposed to just sitting and playing games, get the Apple.
 
If you want something competitive, look at dual dual-core Opteron at aslab.com
 
I'm not sure I'd consider a Linux box built by a tiny systems assembler that doesn't even have tech support on evenings and weekends to be a suitable point of comparison. Nobody's arguing that you can't buy a cheap machine with a costless OS from some garage builder or one-off shop, there are millions of them out there. I don't want to have to know what timezone my vendor is in to decide if I can call them or not.

I would agree that a Dual Opteron is probably a closer hardware match for doing a comparison -- and that you'd want to limit your search to equivalent companies which are in a position to offer equivalent support in order for the price comparison to be relevant.

How about an HP xw9300 workstation as a realistic alternative to a PowerMac?

Dual Opteron 2.6GHz, XP Pro, 2GB RAM, 250GB SATA, 16X DL DVD+/-RW comes out to $6,389.
 
This graph might not be same hardware we are talking about, but very close.
 

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