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MacPro down to MacBook Pro
- Thread starter justit
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Stop complaining, get yourself a Dell and bask in mediocrity. 
if i have my mb setup in my lil studio pretty mugh every port is filed up
if i have my mb setup in my lil studio pretty mugh every port is filed up
There is absolutely nothing wrong with having two computers, so your first mistake was selling the Mac Pro rather than complimenting it with a MacBook Pro. The ports on my MBP were all occupied before I bought the MP. Now they're all free except for the power teat.
I disagree, I actually went this route and think it's a smart move provided the mbp suits your needs
as for the port issue the apple store now sells a nice looking brushed metal USB hub. I think it's from Kensington.
1 USB goes to a powered hub
1 USB For Eyetv needing more power/speed and so is directly connected.
1 Firewire - daisy chained to 2 external drives. I'm experimenting with RAID0 external as a bootup since the apple internal MBP drive is dog slow. Might just go the SSD optibay route.
So if you could wear my shoes for a minute....
(1) Having a dual file system, desktop and macbook, was getting to me. Because I travel so much, my old macbook or MBAs always had the latest projects, and I would have to figure out which files to copy back to the Mac Pro when I got back.
(2) The mac pro was way too powerful (yes you read that right
) for my needs. If you're not directly doing video/audio production all the time, it's not getting you back the money you poured into it, especially with the new iMacs are out now. And money I did pour: Multiple RAID0 Drives, 10GB Ram, ATI 4870 and on and on.(3) My Mac Pro actually appreciated in value and I had an opportunity to sell it before the 1 year warranty mark, or I would have had to buy extended Applecare. With new Quad iMacs and a new a MP release expected in January 2010, I pulled the trigger. Would I consider a MP in the future? Ofcourse I would, best desktop machine period.
I was in your shoes, but I guess I decided to lace mine up differently. All the ports on my MBP had something connected to them, from an external monitor to the expresscard slot (Sonnet eSATA card). All those connections made the machine much less portable than it should have been, so that machine rarely left my desk.
Then mix in my need for computing redundancy in the form of a second computer.
I had 2 laptops for a while, but I knew I would be giving the second one to a very good friend at my earliest opportunity. Once that Macbook was gone to her, then I needed a second machine to replace it. A Mac Pro was the right solution for my needs last March when I needed the machine, but the current i7 iMac would probably be the leading contender given today's lineup (and memory prices - I have 12GB in my MP hosting VMWare and more than one Windows server development sandboxes).
It would be nice if Apple would come up with a proper docking station for their laptops. I suspect a dock compromises some design principle they're holding on to with respect to their laptop line (and possibly how they see them integrating into an office environment). I can't envision any technical barriers preventing them from offering a dock, so it has to be based on some product positioning strategy they have. Dunno..
That's a few years away. My laptops have a 3 year life and I just bought a new one less than a month ago, so we'll see what's out there when I look for its replacement. In the meantime, today's problems have to be solved with today's technologies.
cnet is reporting it "will be ready in 2010". Knowing how Apple gets Intel chipsets before anyone else, it's easy to see how the next line of MBPs could get this.
Intel was quoted in September stating they hoped to begin shipping product in 2010. That likely means the end of 2010, at best. Apple will probably be among the early adopters since they've been advocating the technology, but it will have to fit into their existing product development cycles. Integrating the technology into peripheral products will take time, and initial choices will be limited and probably expensive. Since the technology is aimed at high bandwidth (and high profit margin) applications like HD video, I wouldn't be looking for lightpeak mice and keyboards any time soon.
(edit: and yes, I should probably change my name to Mr. Buzzkill
It's safer to keep a healthy sense of skepticism about new technology and related product release timelines.)I can see that. I've got all my drives and hubs behind my 24" LCD as I'm not use to all the desktop clutter. Out of sight out of mind perhaps.
Maybe something like thismight be what you want
http://www.engadget.com/2009/11/27/zemnos-500-deskbook-pro-docking-station-is-strictly-for-zealot/
IMO the easiest port to free up is the ethernet. WiFi is definitely your friend.
http://www.engadget.com/2009/11/27/zemnos-500-deskbook-pro-docking-station-is-strictly-for-zealot/
IMO the easiest port to free up is the ethernet. WiFi is definitely your friend.
same here
I cut down the number of cables.
Used to have
1.power
2.usb to wireless mouse
3.usb to DVI displaylink adapter secondary
4.mini display port to primary monitor
5.audio out to speakers
i just bought a usb hub and connected all my USB stuff to it. I also added a usb audio interface so I can leave my speakers plugged into it.
now its just power, one usb and display port.
Why is this preferred over a hub?
Also, what if you need a Firewire 400 and 800 device? Can you daisy chain from a 800 device over to a 400 ? I thought I tried that once and was unsuccessful.
Wait are you running dual external monitors?
DVI monitor and display port monitor? I thought that was only possible on desktops, mini,imac, MP?