Is a Mac Pro for me?

[gadgetgirl85]

I am about to buy an iMac but this talk of video cards not being able to be used to full capacity in Leopard has got me considering a Mac Pro. I'm sure it would be absolutely overkill for my needs (watching movies, gaming, internet, word documents, statistics etc) but at least it can be updated. What do you think or should I just go with the iMac? I want to keep the machine as long as I can

 

[Blue Velvet]

I want to keep the machine as long as I can

If you can afford it, go for it. Always get the best Mac you can afford and if you like the idea of expansion and also having the choice of display that you want, then it's an easy decision.

Today's overkill machine is tomorrow's laggard, anyway.

 

[TheStrudel]

Unless you've got a ton of spare walking-around-money, I'd disagree with this. Buying a Mac Pro, for a lot of people at least, means later buying upgrades. While this is a good thing, I can't help but imagine that you'll at least want more RAM, HDDs, a monitor, etc. and it is far more powerful than you'll need - you don't really need the super fast memory bus, etc. If you still want an upgradable headless desktop, I suggest you examine the possibility of models from the previous revision, which are much cheaper and still overpowered for what you're doing.

 

[Tesselator]

Unless you're fabulously wealthy buy the one that fits your needs - whatever that is. I dunno anything about iMacs but a MacPro purchase is good for about 4 to 6 years before you need a new system. About 1/2 way into that you need to up-spec it a bit I suppose. Right now the 2008 MacPros are the best deal going! About the same price as the iMac 24-inch 3.06GHz and as you say, expandable in all directions. It or the 2009 will last you 4 to 6 years before it even starts to become a laggard. At least if the next 4 to 6 years are anything like the last 4 to 6.

 

[gadgetgirl85]

Where would I find a 2008 Mac Pro? Doesn't appear to be any in the refurb section on the Australian Apple store

 

[TheStrudel]

There are some third party retailers selling them such as MacMall, but I don't know who serves the Australian market - if you know of any, look them up.

 

[hugodrax]

Unless you're fabulously wealthy buy the one that fits your needs - whatever that is. I dunno anything about iMacs but a MacPro purchase is good for about 4 to 6 years before you need a new system. About 1/2 way into that you need to up-spec it a bit I suppose. Right now the 2008 MacPros are the best deal going! About the same price as the iMac 24-inch 3.06GHz and as you say, expandable in all directions. It or the 2009 will last you 4 to 6 years before it even starts to become a laggard. At least if the next 4 to 6 years are anything like the last 4 to 6.

I dont think that is correct all the time. I have the 06 model and I could see getting another 4-5 years easy which means 9-10 years of use.

I just upgraded the video card to a 4870


With laptops I do not see them going that long though.

 

[trainguy77]

I dont think that is correct all the time. I have the 06 model and I could see getting another 4-5 years easy which means 9-10 years of use.

I just upgraded the video card to a 4870


With laptops I do not see them going that long though.

Yeah I have the 06 model and its over 2 years old and still faster then I need.

 

[Genghis Khan]

The best advice in this thread so far is that you don't need a new Mac Pro.

If you buy a midrange iMac, you can spend the money you save on a new mid-range iMac in 2-3 years.


However, if you want to splurge on yourself, I would second the recommendation of getting an older Mac Pro. The Aussie refurb store is updated every morning about 2am...and Mac Pro's come along fairly often, usually Mondays (but be ready to buy, because they go quick).

- Michael

 

[mac88]

The previous generation 2.8 Mac Pro is a great deal in the refurb. store. You couldn't go wrong picking this one up.

 

[richard.mac]

all i do is browse the web, watch movies and listen to music, encode videos and audio, play a few games and do Uni work and the iMac would be fine for this.

but im after a desktop Machine along with my MBP so i can have the flexibility of upgrading and a seperate LCD. the Mac Pro is too overkill and expensive for me. thats why im going for a Core 2 Quad + an HD4850 hackintosh.

 

[Genghis Khan]

*lol going slightly off-topic, but it may help the OP

Are Hackintoshes reliable enough to use everyday yet? (as long as you buy the parts with a hackintosh in mind...

 

[grue]

Where would I find a 2008 Mac Pro? Doesn't appear to be any in the refurb section on the Australian Apple store

Where in Australia are you? I know of at least one place that has an ex-demo 8x2.8.

 

[richard.mac]

*lol going slightly off-topic, but it may help the OP

Are Hackintoshes reliable enough to use everyday yet? (as long as you buy the parts with a hackintosh in mind...

yeah i was thinking that . i wont go too off topic on Hackintoshs. but if you build one around tested parts it wont be a disaster but you will still probably have a little increase in instability compared to a real Mac.

 

[trainguy77]

My friend built a hackintosh this past summer. He bought hardware that would be best with it. Yet it was still semi stable. Not perfect by any means. He has now converted and bought a macbook as he liked OS X so much. He just didn't like how unstable it was.

 

[Tesselator]

I dont think that is correct all the time. I have the 06 model and I could see getting another 4-5 years easy which means 9-10 years of use.

I just upgraded the video card to a 4870


With laptops I do not see them going that long though.

Good points!

 

[nanofrog]

Unless you're fabulously wealthy buy the one that fits your needs - whatever that is. I dunno anything about iMacs but a MacPro purchase is good for about 4 to 6 years before you need a new system. About 1/2 way into that you need to up-spec it a bit I suppose. Right now the 2008 MacPros are the best deal going! About the same price as the iMac 24-inch 3.06GHz and as you say, expandable in all directions. It or the 2009 will last you 4 to 6 years before it even starts to become a laggard. At least if the next 4 to 6 years are anything like the last 4 to 6.

For you.

Usage patterns do differ, so YMMV.

 

[Tesselator]

Yeah, milage varies sure, but look at what has been available in the past 3 or 4 years. A little over 3 years ago the first intel MacPro was released. A quad 2.66 was about $2400. Just a few months later Intel released socket compatible quad core chips. If you acted quick you could sell the X5150 duals for $600ea and buy the X5355 for $800ea making the upgrade to an octad only $400 in total. Roughly speaking of course. Between then and now there have been no compelling releases so my 2006 octad is pretty close to the same performance as 2.26 octad costing almost the identical dollar amount part for part / spec for spec.

So really regardless of usage patterns the 2006 Mac Pro has held it's value almost exactly 100% for three years running. I don't see Apple going for the 6 or 8 core chips and I don't see Intel offering 4 or 5 GHz xeons within the next 2 years so I guess the Mac Pro 2006 1,1 will still be nearly at 100% of it's original purchase value at it's 5-year mark (assuming of course you upgraded the procs to quad cores somewhere along the line). For years 5 and 6 I assume the 3GHz X5365 chips will be available for about $200 and if purchased will bring the total longevity of the 2006 to 5 or possibly 6 years at nearly 100% of function as compared with new Apple MP offerings at the same (or higher!) price.

Probably sometime within those last two years it'll be in the general user's best interests to keep an eye open for new systems but if we're comparing Apples to Apples then so far anyway, it looks like they hold their value at ~100% for ~5 years no matter the usage pattern.

 

[RebootD]

I agree with a lot of the posts here. The only reason I got the Mac Pro is to work from home and use a RAID setup with multiple hard drives.

Ask yourself these questions and I think you can come to an easy answer:

1. Do I need access to 1-3 extra internal hard drives?
2. Will any software I have make use of quad or eight cpu cores?
3. Do I run enough programs that will eat up more than 4GB of ram?
4. Do I need access to better graphics cards like the 4870 or 285?

If you answered NO to those then you most likely don't need a Mac Pro. You can get the 24in iMac 2.93 that will be faster for 99% of what you do compared to a slower clocked Quad plus you can upgrade to the GT130 or 4850 for less than the entry 2.66 Quad (with the low end GT120).

Hope this helps and good luck!

 

[nanofrog]

Yeah, milage varies sure, but look at what has been available in the past 3 or 4 years. A little over 3 years ago the first intel MacPro was released. A quad 2.66 was about $2400. Just a few months later Intel released socket compatible quad core chips. If you acted quick you could sell the X5150 duals for $600ea and buy the X5355 for $800ea making the upgrade to an octad only $400 in total. Roughly speaking of course. Between then and now there have been no compelling releases so my 2006 octad is pretty close to the same performance as 2.26 octad costing almost the identical dollar amount part for part / spec for spec.

So really regardless of usage patterns the 2006 Mac Pro has held it's value almost exactly 100% for three years running. I don't see Apple going for the 6 or 8 core chips and I don't see Intel offering 4 or 5 GHz xeons within the next 2 years so I guess the Mac Pro 2006 1,1 will still be nearly at 100% of it's original purchase value at it's 5-year mark (assuming of course you upgraded the procs to quad cores somewhere along the line). For years 5 and 6 I assume the 3GHz X5365 chips will be available for about $200 and if purchased will bring the total longevity of the 2006 to 5 or possibly 6 years at nearly 100% of function as compared with new Apple MP offerings at the same (or higher!) price.

Probably sometime within those last two years it'll be in the general user's best interests to keep an eye open for new systems but if we're comparing Apples to Apples then so far anyway, it looks like they hold their value at ~100% for ~5 years no matter the usage pattern.

The value does work out for the older models, but I'm not so sure on the '09's, given the price hikes. I've presummed the OP meant the purchas of an '09 BTW.

Definitely works out in favor of either a refurb, "new" '08, or even used '06 - '08 though.

 

[Tesselator]

The value does work out for the older models, but I'm not so sure on the '09's, given the price hikes. I've presummed the OP meant the purchas of an '09 BTW.

Definitely works out in favor of either a refurb, "new" '08, or even used '06 - '08 though.

Yeah, you may be right about the 09 models. Actually it's only because the 09 deals suck so terribly bad that I can say an 06 is still holding it's value.

If Apple had priced the new 2.66 dual processor machine two thousand dollars cheaper in accordance with every other machine they've released in the past 15 years then I couldn't be making these comments at all. In fact I would probably be upgrading this time around. Hehehe, I still can't get over it. A normal machine update schedule that should have been priced appropriately in-line saw a $2000 jump? nUtZo...

 

[nanofrog]

Yeah, you may be right about the 09 models. Actually it's only because the 09 deals suck so terribly bad that I can say an 06 is still holding it's value.

If Apple had priced the new 2.66 dual processor machine two thousand dollars cheaper in accordance with every other machine they've released in the past 15 years then I couldn't be making these comments at all. In fact I would probably be upgrading this time around. Hehehe, I still can't get over it. A normal machine update schedule that should have been priced appropriately in-line saw a $2000 jump? nUtZo...

The price hike really changed things this time around.