Matlab is actually rubbish on the mac and really slow, plus the mathworks have not optimised matlab for multi-core processing which really sucks.... If you want matlab stick with linux
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Mac Pro Unboxing Photos, Early Benchmarks and Notes
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Matlab is actually rubbish on the mac and really slow, plus the mathworks have not optimised matlab for multi-core processing which really sucks.... If you want matlab stick with linux
These days it's more questionable to get support from your apple product in future versions than from the homebrew community
There is a difference, it's the difference between a desktop and workstation class machine. Because the types of components selected for workstations have typically higher service expectations, the price tends to be much higher. I recently tried to price out an IBM Power 6 or 7 based workstation for work so I could have a Unix workstation at my desk, I'm now leaning toward a Mac Pro because it's actually priced substantially cheaper.
If you want an analogy, it's the difference between buying a Kohler toilet direct and a Kohler from Home Depot. Believe me, I know the difference and the plunger sits next to the Home Depot toilet almost permanently for a reason.
Correction: for working people
Rich = laying around, drinking, partying, travelling. Kind of like students.
And how exactly do I lay off uncompressed HD video to an HDCAM SR deck? Via USB???
You guys are so jealous.
The assumption is that the Mac Pro is being purchased as a toy. Uh, we buy them for work.
Lower optical bay is where I'm putting mine. Cables are already there, just need the drive and adapter from OWC.
And how exactly do I lay off uncompressed HD video to an HDCAM SR deck? Via USB???
You guys are so jealous.
The assumption is that the Mac Pro is being purchased as a toy. Uh, we buy them for work.
^ This man speaks the truth.
iMac is great for the average jo and casual professional however it is NOT in any shape or form better than a Mac Pro for heavier users.
Go and fit 5 HDs in your iMac, or a decent GPU, or a PCI-E SATA card for more internal HDs...
Agreed, if all you need is MATLAB. This is not the scenario I'm discussing. OS X is excellent across a spectrum of programs - those mentioned above as well as software development and LaTeX authoring tools.
The real issue is people comparing the Mac Pro to a Core i7 system when they don't need to. A "UP Workstation" branded board costs the same as a consumer board, Xeon processors cost the same as Core i7 and ECC memory is not even $10 more per GB. You can get a better power supply than Apple offer, great case and still be at half the price of a Mac Pro. You can go through Dell and buy a UP Precision specified similar for $1,000 less too.
Don't know where your getting your figures from but a few weeks ago when I compared the 2009 Mac Pro with the equivalent dell the difference was only £200 odd...
Only differences between a Xeon and an i7 is ECC RAM and Dual QPI, AKA, not a whole lot.
Drooling as he falls to the floor in envy of those with the means to purchase such a work of art.
Beautiful
I really hope the mini-tower is a reality one day. Even though I'm an iMac user I love the expandability of the MP and would hope to see a consumer model along with the existing work station for the pros. I think Jobs is really missing a key market here and really wish he'd make that xMac while keeping the existing tower of power.
And when I hit the lottery my above comment is moot. I'd give my new iMac to my sister and buy two MPs. 
One for me and one for a friend who really uses the MP (he's got an Apple G4 tower from 2002 and can't afford an upgrade). Told me his "dream build" of the new MP cost about $13g...
I really hope the mini-tower is a reality one day. Even though I'm an iMac user I love the expandability of the MP and would hope to see a consumer model along with the existing work station for the pros. I think Jobs is really missing a key market here and really wish he'd make that xMac while keeping the existing tower of power.
And when I hit the lottery my above comment is moot.
I'd give my new iMac to my sister and buy two MPs. One for me and one for a friend who really uses the MP (he's got an Apple G4 tower from 2002 and can't afford an upgrade). Told me his "dream build" of the new MP cost about $13g...I think these look great, but I'm kinda of 'meh' on them b/c there's few software packages out there which can maximize the cores, from my experience.
I love using compressor, but if it would work right, it'd be much better. Can you imagine if it would actually maximize 12 cores to process mpeg2 or h.264 files, without crashing pathetically? THAT would be fantastic.
Bitvice, on the other hand, does maximize all cores (although it's primarily SD mpeg2 output).
If Apple fixes FCP and compressor, then i'll be more excited, but my 2009 quad pro handles Photoshop, FCP, email and surfing without issues as it is. I can't image needing to run more apps at once.
Cheers,
Keebler
I love using compressor, but if it would work right, it'd be much better. Can you imagine if it would actually maximize 12 cores to process mpeg2 or h.264 files, without crashing pathetically? THAT would be fantastic.
Bitvice, on the other hand, does maximize all cores (although it's primarily SD mpeg2 output).
If Apple fixes FCP and compressor, then i'll be more excited, but my 2009 quad pro handles Photoshop, FCP, email and surfing without issues as it is. I can't image needing to run more apps at once.
Cheers,
Keebler
Can anybody tell me -honestly- please what the difference would be for software like FCP if I traded in my macpro 1,1 for this one, Does graphic card play a role in video editing and rendering of video (Episode, Compressor)? Im totally not up to speed with all the hardware lingo.
Does it also handle 3 disk Raid better when it comes to RT speed (RT playback of xx layers of HD)? Thank you in advance.
Does it also handle 3 disk Raid better when it comes to RT speed (RT playback of xx layers of HD)? Thank you in advance.
So does apple include any SSD bay adapters if you don't buy the drives from them? If not, can you buy them from apple? I assume other options would be cheaper but I"m curious.
Depends what the user needs. I don't need anything more than a pedestrian video card and I'd rather not be paying for one. If there was a better base model at the same price, that would be good but I'd still like the option to downgrade to the most basic card and save some cash.
So far, it looks like Logic runs terribly on the six core machine, worse than on the quad. There's a benchmark here if you want to try it out and compare.
http://www.gearspace.com/board/music-computers/371545-logic-pro-multicore-benchmarktest.html
Although based on how it runs on the other machines, it seems like it could use all cores if they'd update it.
No computer from a manufacturer is ever going to be as cheap as building one yourself. It's like complaining that the food at a restaurant isn't as cheap as the ingredients you get at the grocery store.
Depends what the user needs. I don't need anything more than a pedestrian video card and I'd rather not be paying for one. If there was a better base model at the same price, that would be good but I'd still like the option to downgrade to the most basic card and save some cash.
So far, it looks like Logic runs terribly on the six core machine, worse than on the quad. There's a benchmark here if you want to try it out and compare.
http://www.gearspace.com/board/music-computers/371545-logic-pro-multicore-benchmarktest.html
Although based on how it runs on the other machines, it seems like it could use all cores if they'd update it.
No computer from a manufacturer is ever going to be as cheap as building one yourself. It's like complaining that the food at a restaurant isn't as cheap as the ingredients you get at the grocery store.
Farmville, mostly.
Ha, no... Graphic Design; Getting into Video Editing... I also bought for longevity. I bought the best in 2002 and it a good living for me. Just seemed natural to do it again, eight years later. Hoping this purchase will last a 6-8 years.
Thank you very much. I'm sorry if it seems I am boasting... I'm just excited. This is the only place I could tell someone what I'm getting and they would understand. I could tell my non-geeks friends (or relatives) and it's just Greek. They wouldn't appreciate the hardware. Also, being that the Quicksilver G4 it's replacing is so slow at doing everything, won't go to sleep and sometimes quits for no reason, I am so glad that I am saying goodbye to those problems. Like going from a broken-down "heap" into a beautiful new Ferrari.
Good advice and I will certainly follow it... just as soon as the 4GB Ram modules come down and the SSD disks get a little cheaper, too.
No it isn't obvious, so there's no need to be snarky.
The dummy enclosure then is incredibly short, and if it's a 2.5" drive they could really design a fifth slot somewhere for such a drive, front of the PCI section maybe, but of a shame. I wonder if there's any brackets out there that could fit two 2.5" drives in a 3.5" bay?
Ugh, sell the 5870 Upgrade Kit already Apple. I feel very sad seeing them in new towers, but not in mine
A Dell T3500 is $1,199 with 2.8GHz quad Xeon, 3GB RAM, 320GB HD, cheap 2D card and 3 year warranty. You can add a 5770 and 1TB drive for less than $300 if you wanted via 3rd party. Same thing is £1,385 in the UK inc. VAT.
The huge price differences are only for single processor systems, but my point was to highlight their being little need to compare consumer orientated Core i7 systems to make a point when a workstation can be used as a comparison.