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530W, 80% efficiency-doesnt say about the RMS. doesnt particularly seem that 'workstationy', great beginner workstation i guess. nice expandability kinda. :)
Actually, it's a real workstation. :)
Nice internals too, from what I could see in the pic.
W3570 (3.2GHz) & FX5800 available. Something an MP doesn't offer. :(

I did notice it only has a single NIC, as a dual is preferable IMO. Not too hard to get one 3rd party at a decent price though. ;)

W3570, 500GB, add keyboard ($50), Quadro FX 380, and pre-install Solaris 10 ($0.00, but $30 if you want a disk) = $3354USD.
(All else stock, no Solaris disk).
 
Actually, it's a real workstation. :)
Nice internals too, from what I could see in the pic.
W3570 (3.2GHz) & FX5800 available. Something an MP doesn't offer. :(

I did notice it only has a single NIC, as a dual is preferable IMO. Not too hard to get one 3rd party at a decent price though. ;)

W3570, 500GB, add keyboard ($50), Quadro FX 380, and pre-install Solaris 10 ($0.00, but $30 if you want a disk) = $3354USD.
(All else stock, no Solaris disk).

very nice indeed, personally i wouldnt use Solaris and i would have no idea where to start.. too bad it cant run OSX (how hard would that be to hack haha?). nice for server farms *dreams* hahaha
 
i cant see anything from this thread anymore :p its been forked!! but yes the general concensus is that if you use it for making money then it will pay for itself - it makes you look more 'pro' and 'stylish', people these days think Macs are cool and hip :) if your a general user and can afford it then why not!?!? ill be buying one when i can afford it (once i get out of stinking uni!), im a pretty heavy user though ;)



yes completely agree, EA = LAME. its basically an insult to think that we will put up with their crappy Cider games... tsktsktsk



the fact that its a workstation doesn't really help either :D



they want a profit?? :)

OT it is!

(i have no idea about all this cooling stuff so ill keep quiet :p)

Yeah, completely agree.

Well, Sun offers a 60day trial... Someone willing to test if the Ultra 27 works as an hackintosh? :D
 
The U27 uses standard parts though, the power supply could be replaced if you required it. Solaris 10 is a superb server and workstation OS (I am a UNIX admin (including Solaris) by profession), and is worth at least trying once in your life, but isn't great for multimedia work like it used to be (it used to be marketed for 3d modeling). The hardware being close enough to a MP, I would bet it wouldn't be an issue to OSX86 one them, and I am dying to get my hands on one (I have an U20, AMD Opteron based), but I don't have the money at the moment (in the process of moving etc).

Anyways, I have worked a ton of Sun hardware in my day, and it may look not as well designed as a Mac Pro but its always solid as a rock.
 
US v UK prices

Comparing US prices to UK, why are the UK base models so much more expensive?

US
4-core base model - $2,499 (£1,492)
8-core base model - $3,299 (£1,970)

UK
4-core base model - £1,899 ($3,179)
8-core base model - £2,499 ($4,184)

(1 USD = 0.597266 GBP
1 GBP = 1.67429 USD)
Source: http://www.xe.com/ucc

US 8-core is almost the same price as UK 4-core.
Unless it's something to do with the exchange rate at the time of pricing back when they were updated?

EDIT: Looking at the historical exchange rate at the time the Mac Pros were refreshed, it was closer to the mark, but the UK was still about £150 more expensive (on the 4-core for example).
 
All the European prices are higher, but you also have to consider that they usually include 5% duty unless the Mac comes from the Corck factory and they have 19% VAT included.
 
Comparing US prices to UK, why are the UK base models so much more expensive?

US
4-core base model - $2,499 (£1,492)
8-core base model - $3,299 (£1,970)

UK
4-core base model - £1,899 ($3,179)
8-core base model - £2,499 ($4,184)

(1 USD = 0.597266 GBP
1 GBP = 1.67429 USD)
Source: http://www.xe.com/ucc

US 8-core is almost the same price as UK 4-core.
Unless it's something to do with the exchange rate at the time of pricing back when they were updated?

EDIT: Looking at the historical exchange rate at the time the Mac Pros were refreshed, it was closer to the mark, but the UK was still about £150 more expensive (on the 4-core for example).

Apple set their exchange rate at $1.4 to £1 which was lower than it ever went. I guess that they thought the pound would drop further and they wanted to cover themselves if it did. Of course the pound has since risen to as high as $1.7 to £1 so the prices are ludicrously high.

I noticed some T3500s on Dell outlet at the moment, a 2.66GHz with a 256 MB ATI FirePro V3750 graphics card and otherwise rather basic is £678.82 plus VAT, ie under £800 with VAT. I know this is a refurbished machine but it is probably new (just returned or cancelled order) and has 3years on-site. The Mac Pro with Apple care is over £2000.

The Mac Pro with OS X is much nicer but component-wise it has less RAM slots, doesn't have a workstation graphics card and you don't get on-site.
 
Technically Apple does offer On-Site. It's just that they mostly ask you to bring it in yourself or that you may live outside the service area.

I thought they didn't either till I took a look at the actual Apple Care policy sheet. ;)
 
longevity

The high price might impart have something to do with the quality of engineering that went into constructing the Mac. I have a Mac 6100, 8100, dual 450 Graphic, Quicksilver, and now a Mac Pro Nehalem 8 core 2.93ghz. The early model Macs I have still all work after all these years. So I would say the astronomic price I paid for the most recent Mac Pro I have is justified in quality of hardware/"anticipated longevity", expandability, combined with speed. By the way, I won an auction on Ebay and was able to save a significant amount of money. Otherwise, I would not have been able to afford the new store retail cost. I saved approximately $2000.00, compared to the cost if I would have bought my Mac Pro from an authorize Apple retailer.
 
I've come to the conclusion it is overpriced but there is nothing that beats it for speed/expandability/behemothness this side of windows so what can we do but accept our purchase and love it? :D
 
I spent $3494 on my new MacPro that I got today, but given the build quality, the clean case design, how insanely fast this thing is and the ease of use (Migration Assistant transferred EVERYTHING from my MacBook Pro) it's worth it. No hassles and this thing will surely last 4-5 years.
 
The high price might impart have something to do with the quality of engineering that went into constructing the Mac. I have a Mac 6100, 8100, dual 450 Graphic, Quicksilver, and now a Mac Pro Nehalem 8 core 2.93ghz. The early model Macs I have still all work after all these years. So I would say the astronomic price I paid for the most recent Mac Pro I have is justified in quality of hardware/"anticipated longevity", expandability, combined with speed. By the way, I won an auction on Ebay and was able to save a significant amount of money. Otherwise, I would not have been able to afford the new store retail cost. I saved approximately $2000.00, compared to the cost if I would have bought my Mac Pro from an authorize Apple retailer.
If you've ever gotten your hands on a proper workstation from other vendors, you'd notice Apple's not anything special, and has been bested. Additional components available, such as professional graphics cards are also offered as BTO. Then add in service and training contracts that Apple doesn't provide, they have a bit of an advantage.

It's all a matter of perspective and specific needs. Single users and enterprise customers have different needs most of the time. Not necessarily differing on the graphics so much (needs, not what's offered), but the contracts/services available can make a big difference.
 
I thought the 2.26GHz mac pro was overpriced but after using it the past week, I find it worth every penny. :D
 
I think the Mac Pro is worth every cent, but having said this it was too rich for my blood until I discovered their refurbished site!

In April 2008, I bought my Mac Pro 2.8 GHZ 8 core with ATI Radeon 2600 HD with 320 GB Drive and 2 GB Ram for $2499 CDN + tax = $2820.75.

Since then I added 8 more gigs of Ram and 3 other Hard drives and will soon upgrade my graphics card.

I buy my ram at http://www.canadaram.com/apple_mac_pro.htm

And all the other stuff pretty much at newegg.ca

Mac Pro is the most hassle free computer I have ever had! Pop open the side panel and easily access Ram, HD's and PCI slots!

I also purchased the esata extender cable to access 2 othe esata ports on the Motherboard! Now I have an extra 2 esata external HD's
 
I think the Mac Pro is worth every cent, but having said this it was too rich for my blood until I discovered their refurbished site!

In April 2008, I bought my Mac Pro 2.8 GHZ 8 core with ATI Radeon 2600 HD with 320 GB Drive and 2 GB Ram for $2499 CDN + tax = $2820.75.

Since then I added 8 more gigs of Ram and 3 other Hard drives and will soon upgrade my graphics card.

I buy my ram at http://www.canadaram.com/apple_mac_pro.htm

And all the other stuff pretty much at newegg.ca

Mac Pro is the most hassle free computer I have ever had! Pop open the side panel and easily access Ram, HD's and PCI slots!

I also purchased the esata extender cable to access 2 othe esata ports on the Motherboard! Now I have an extra 2 esata external HD's
The '08's were excellent deals at MSRP, and refurbs were even better. The '09's OTOH, are another story. Not much improvement on performance (where it occurs), and is overpriced for what you get. Nor are they perfect, but no computer is. Especially when you consider the software side of the equation. :eek: :p
 
Yeah, relative to my bank account. ;)

There's no denying they're nice machines. It's just that the competition is even nicer and for half the price. Duh, like, this is the meaning of "overpriced". :p

I swear guys... get a dictionary! :D
 
There's one thing such discussions always miss (not here though), in marketing terms it's called regional discrimination. The cheapest new Mac Pro costs $700 more in EU than in US, and in CIS countries (Russia, Ukraine etc) and Brazil it may cost up to $1200 more than in US (while PCs are sold at normal prices).

Components such as RAID card, wireless & graphics update may cost 2 or 3 times more, this is also (surprisingly) true for Australia AFAIK.

Additionally, in most of those countries there is no phone support, no "genious bars", Apple Care doesn't work and so on. If "limited 1 year warranty" expires and something breaks in your Mac, you'll have to pay double/triple price for the new components as well.

Yeah, it's definitely overpriced :(
 
Components such as RAID card, wireless & graphics update may cost 2 or 3 times more, this is also (surprisingly) true for Australia AFAIK.

Additionally, in most of those countries there is no phone support, no "genious bars", Apple Care doesn't work and so on. If "limited 1 year warranty" expires and something breaks in your Mac, you'll have to pay double/triple price for the new components as well.

Yeah, it's definitely overpriced :(

i dont know the science behind it all, but here in Australia the exchange rate and our "technology tax" helps to increase the price of the products. it is cheaper for me to order a MP and get it shipped from the US then it is to buy in australia!! (well it used to be, not sure about with the exchange and stuff now)

we have a compulsary 1 year warranty, we have no problems with Apple-Care (its exactly the same as in any other country) and of course it will cost heaps to get it fixed if its out of warranty ;)

all technology is expensive over here, not by much but there is a definite increase, this may be because we buy in smaller packages, or have extra shipping costs or something - im not entirely sure..
 
In terms of performance Apple is far behind Sun on a 5500 HTC workstation or server.

The Apple MP fits 48 GB RAM @ 1066 MHz. Sun fits 96 GB RAM @ 1066 MHz or 48 GB @ 1333 MHz.

In a pure 64-bit HTC workstation environment the huge band width advantage coupled with running pretty much everything on RAM speed will see the SUN machine pull away like a Ferrari from a Golf.

In a server scenario the sun will fit twice the numbers of virtual machines and run rings around the MP.
 
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