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Mac Pro price comparison.

Anonymous Freak

Anonymous Freak

macrumors 603
Original poster
Dec 12, 2002
5,725
1,842
Cascadia
Alright. it's been a given in the PC industry that you could 'build it yourself' cheaper than buying from a major OEM.

So I priced out the parts (or a similar alternative,) of a Mac Pro from PriceWatch.

For a system using Intel's S5000XVN 'workstation' motherboard, two 2.66 GHz Xeons, two 512 MB 667 MHz FB-DIMMs, a GeForce 7300 GT, the cheapest 250 GB hard drive, cheapest DL SuperDrive, cheapest 400 watt case/power supply combo, cheapest FireWire 800 card, and el cheapo mouse and keyboard; it came to $2540, or $41 more expensive than Apple. And that's without an OS. (I was assuming using a Linux.)

I also compared to Dell and HP systems of similar specs, and the Dell was slightly more expensive, while the HP was significantly more expensive. (I also compared dual 3 GHz with a Quadro 4500, and the price difference with the HP grew even more. That Quadro is the only card offered by all three companies, so I figured that was the only truly 'fair' comparison.) Sorry, had a browser crash that lost the exact numbers on this comparison.
 
Not to mention AppleCare and teh sexy case! :D

I think if I was in the position of buying a new computer, the Apple Mac Pro would be a high priority.
 
LoveMacMini said:
it's a great rig, now if bootcamp didn't suck so much
Click to expand...

Why bootcamp? Why just not try to install Windows on a different HDD with windows drivers?
 
Fadl said:
Why bootcamp? Why just not try to install Windows on a different HDD with windows drivers?
Click to expand...

windows doesn't support efi, a more advanced form of bios, that frankly is over rated (that's just my opinion)

bootcamp isn't your comventional boot loader like grub or lilo, it's a stupid worthless app that lets you install windows xp sp2 only

apple is trying to make the boot loader simple, but they're forgetting that if you're using a boot loader you're probably a power user so you can handle making your own driver CD and you might want to install something OTHER THAN WINDOWS lol

but hey what do i know, leopard isn't out yet, things might change, i only described it how i would like it.
 
Fadl said:
Why bootcamp? Why just not try to install Windows on a different HDD with windows drivers?
Click to expand...

Because that doesn't work. The only way to get Windows to boot on an Intel Mac (unless they changed it with the Mac Pro,) is to use Boot Camp. And Boot Camp uses Windows drivers. It just uses Apple-provided ones. (Although OEM drivers work fine. So, for example, using Intel video drivers on a Mac mini, rather than the provided Apple drivers, works fine.)
 
Where do I have to go on Dell's site to find workstations with Woodcrest chips? I can only find the Dell Precision Workstation 490/690 with old Xeons.
LoveMacMini said:
it's a great rig, now if bootcamp didn't suck so much
Click to expand...
I'd say it's a greater rig with OS X than Windows, anyway. :p
 
LoveMacMini said:
windows doesn't support efi, a more advanced form of bios, that frankly is over rated (that's just my opinion)

bootcamp isn't your comventional boot loader like grub or lilo, it's a stupid worthless app that lets you install windows xp sp2 only

apple is trying to make the boot loader simple, but they're forgetting that if you're using a boot loader you're probably a power user so you can handle making your own driver CD and you might want to install something OTHER THAN WINDOWS lol

but hey what do i know, leopard isn't out yet, things might change, i only described it how i would like it.
Click to expand...

Boy, what a rant. Would you like some cheese to go with that whine.

EFI over-rated? Yeah right. BIOS is 20 years old, time for something newer and better. For Windows not to support EFI is Microsoft saying to users, here use BIOS, it's good enough. I'm sorry, I don't want "good enough," I want the latest and greatest.

if you want to use something other than Windows then why not dual-boot Linux? It's possible and done quite regularly on Macs.

As for only being able to use Windows XP SP2 on BootCamp, why are you whinging? It's the newest, most secure and most supported version of Windows. Apple could've just said "nope, stuff ya" and not released it at all, leaving us with no option of running Windows. Instead they released a program that makes it easy for everyone with an Intel Mac to run the latest version of Windows in a native environment - you got a problem with that?
 
Chundles said:
EFI over-rated? Yeah right. BIOS is 20 years old, time for something newer and better. For Windows not to support EFI is Microsoft saying to users, here use BIOS, it's good enough. I'm sorry, I don't want "good enough," I want the latest and greatest.
Click to expand...

please inform me of the differences of the i/o systems between bios and efi. the outlining structural differences, the addressing differences, and i can go on and on.

you want the latest and greatest when you don't even know what it is.

but hey, what i know about hardware level programming is jack compared to the man who wrote the linux kernal, Linus.

Let's see what he says here: http://kerneltrap.org/node/6884

don't get me wrong - the problem with EFI is that it actually superficially looks much better than the BIOS, but in practice it ends up being one of those things where it has few real advantages, and often just a lot of extra complexity because of the 'new and improved' interfaces that were largely defined by a committee
Click to expand...

and my lol moment

Linus Torvalds offered his views on EFI, the Extensible Firmware Interface beginning by describing it as "this other Intel brain-damage (the first one being ACPI)
Click to expand...

edit: want me to PM you my address, i would love some cheese
 
ehurtley said:
Because that doesn't work. The only way to get Windows to boot on an Intel Mac (unless they changed it with the Mac Pro,) is to use Boot Camp. And Boot Camp uses Windows drivers. It just uses Apple-provided ones. (Although OEM drivers work fine. So, for example, using Intel video drivers on a Mac mini, rather than the provided Apple drivers, works fine.)
Click to expand...

You dont' need Bootcamp. Bootcamp ist just a partition maker and a driver compilation.
It is important to upgrade the firmware so you can boot windows.
So when the MacPro has a firmware that supports Bios you can just put in a windows sp2 cd and install windows.
 
Dell v. Apple in 'ol Europe

To get back to the topic of the thread.

I made a similar thing here in Sweden. Configured a Dell and a MacPro as closely as possible.

Like so:

Dell Precision WorkStation 690:
Intel® Xeon® 5150 (2.66GHz)
512MB nVidia Quadro FX4500
1GB DDR2 RAM
1 250GB SATA
16x max DVD+/-RW

SEK 33 290 (excluding sales tax)
SEK 41 613 (with our lovely 25% sales tax)


The MacPro:
Intel® Xeon® 5150 (2.66GHz)
512MB nVidia Quadro FX4500
1GB 667 DDR2
1 250GB SATA
16x SuperDrive DL
AppleCare Protection Plan

The Price:
SEK 34.552 (no tax)
SEK 43.190 (yes tax)


There you have it.. all Macs are obviously overpriced and only suckers buy them. </irony>

/The sucker
 
jubjub said:
To get back to the topic of the thread.

I made a similar thing here in Sweden. Configured a Dell and a MacPro as closely as possible.

Like so:

Dell Precision WorkStation 690:
Intel® Xeon® 5150 (2.66GHz)
512MB nVidia Quadro FX4500
1GB DDR2 RAM
1 250GB SATA
16x max DVD+/-RW

SEK 33 290 (excluding sales tax)
SEK 41 613 (with our lovely 25% sales tax)


The MacPro:
Intel® Xeon® 5150 (2.66GHz)
512MB nVidia Quadro FX4500
1GB 667 DDR2
1 250GB SATA
16x SuperDrive DL
AppleCare Protection Plan

The Price:
SEK 34.552 (no tax)
SEK 43.190 (yes tax)


There you have it.. all Macs are obviously overpriced and only suckers buy them. </irony>

/The sucker
Click to expand...

I think you have misconfigured the Dell. Assuming prices where you are are similar to the UK you have configured a single 2.66Ghz CPU. You need 2. To get 2 CPUs I have to configure with a 19" flat panel and 2Gb of RAM for £3000. The base Mac Pro only costs £1700.
 
See you failed in you mission...

If you would have compared it to the new Ronco PC Pocket Fisherman Plus™ for $49.95 -- not only would the Mac Pro be too overpriced, you couldn't even use it as bait to catch fish on your PC Pocket Fisherman Plus.
 
OK, I figured out why I couldn't find the similar Dell models. I had to go to the "Big business" section. Dell's web site sucks.

In Norway:

Dell Precision 690 - kr 52 350 incl. tax ($8492)
2 x 2.66GHz Xeon "Woodcrest"
1GB RAM (2x512MB)
Quadro FX4500
DVD +/- RW
250GB HD
3 year next day on-site

Mac Pro - kr 38 080 incl. tax ($6177)
2 x 2.66GHz Xeon "Woodcrest"
1GB RAM (2x512MB)
Quadro FX4500
DVD +/- RW
250GB HD
3 year next day on-site

That's right, it's a $2300 difference.
 
ehurtley said:
Alright. it's been a given in the PC industry that you could 'build it yourself' cheaper than buying from a major OEM.

So I priced out the parts (or a similar alternative,) of a Mac Pro from PriceWatch.

For a system using Intel's S5000XVN 'workstation' motherboard, two 2.66 GHz Xeons, two 512 MB 667 MHz FB-DIMMs, a GeForce 7300 GT, the cheapest 250 GB hard drive, cheapest DL SuperDrive, cheapest 400 watt case/power supply combo, cheapest FireWire 800 card, and el cheapo mouse and keyboard; it came to $2540, or $41 more expensive than Apple. And that's without an OS. (I was assuming using a Linux.)

I also compared to Dell and HP systems of similar specs, and the Dell was slightly more expensive, while the HP was significantly more expensive. (I also compared dual 3 GHz with a Quadro 4500, and the price difference with the HP grew even more. That Quadro is the only card offered by all three companies, so I figured that was the only truly 'fair' comparison.) Sorry, had a browser crash that lost the exact numbers on this comparison.
Click to expand...

At 400W that system would have a tough time running. If it would run at all.
 
rafifreak00 said:
Why are you guys even comparing Macs to Dells?
Click to expand...
Because they're the only other computer maker that makes comparable computers, with comparable service and also has online store that actually tells you the price of the different configurations.
 
gekko513 said:
OK, I figured out why I couldn't find the similar Dell models. I had to go to the "Big business" section. Dell's web site sucks.

In Norway:

Dell Precision 690 - kr 52 350 incl. tax ($8492)
2 x 2.66GHz Xeon "Woodcrest"
1GB RAM (2x512MB)
Quadro FX4500
DVD +/- RW
250GB HD
3 year next day on-site

Mac Pro - kr 38 080 incl. tax ($6177)
2 x 2.66GHz Xeon "Woodcrest"
1GB RAM (2x512MB)
Quadro FX4500
DVD +/- RW
250GB HD
3 year next day on-site

That's right, it's a $2300 difference.
Click to expand...
Wow - $6177 in Norway?

In the US store that comes to $4698 (before tax ... I would pay 8.25% more here in California, so $5085 in total)

rafifreak00 said:
Why are you guys even comparing Macs to Dells?
Click to expand...
OK, HP xw8400 workstation, same config (I needed to add DVD burner, mouse, keyboard and gigabit ethernet): $5620 i.e. $922 more before tax
Alienware 8550i workstation: $6921 i.e. $2223 more before tax
 
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