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my brand new Mac Pro! I am happy!

peejack said:
How much did you pay in total for this btw?
Click to expand...

I bought my Mac Pro from the german Apple Online Store. I bought it there with 1Gig of RAM, as I am not crazy to spend another 1000 Euros for the extra 4GB!!! The Mac Pro costed 2.728 Euros and the Apple Cinema Display 23" 899 Euros. I paid 200 Euros for the extra 4GB from www.dsp-memory.de
 
netdog said:
I guess you can't read so well. He said he is happy. Frankly, I can understand why.
Click to expand...

I guess YOU can't read so well, he said the same machine will likely be cheaper in a few weeks. Even if you don't want the new processors, the old models value will plummet as soon as they come around.

This guy is happy, sure, but at the sake of maybe $500. Hey, not my money. :)
 
petvas said:
After two years of constantly changing Macs (I had quite a few iMacs, Macbook Pros and Macbooks), I decided to buy a Mac Pro, despite the fact that there are going to be updates soon (nobody knows though when!).
I bought the following configuration:
2 x 2,66Ghz Xeon
5GB RAM (4GB bought extra for 200 Euros...)
500GB HD
Nvidia 7300

I convert lots of DVDs and AVI files to mp4 for my Apple TV. I was amazed by the speed difference. The machine just never hungs when I decompress big files. Everything is smoother and the Leopard really rocks on it! I know it may be an overkill to have a Mac Pro for a "home" user, but I sold my 24" White iMac and my white Macbook, so now I have the Mac Pro and my iPhone (as a laptop replacement for basic internet surfing and mails). This combination is much better for me, I havent paid much extra and I get to use a very fast computer that doesnt compare to the iMacs.
I am very happy with my purchase and the build quality of my Mac Pro. I now wait for my iSight (bought from eBay)...
Click to expand...

Well, if apple tv conversion is your main application for quad core computing you spent 1000 Euro too much as any 1500 Euro 6600QG0 PC can easily trump your pro in any encoding tasks. The added latency of current fbdimm solutions adds injury to insult. You paid way too much for a machine that is totally outperformed by a current pc that costs 1000 Euro less. You could have installed 8 gig, Samsung F1 1TB drive and a video card such as the 8800 gt that is infinitely more potent than the crap 7300gt that is a 40 Eur part. Mac Pro makes only sense for people that either need OS X or pro level apps on OS X. Apart from that the Mac Pro is a con with severe deficiencies for home users. Given the current platform performance and upgrade path of Intel Desktop solutions only 1% of userbase are better served with overpriced server hardware.
 
ceres said:
Well, if apple tv conversion is your main application for quad core computing you spent 1000 Euro too much as any 1500 Euro 6600QG0 PC can easily trump your pro in any encoding tasks. The added latency of current fbdimm solutions adds injury to insult. You paid way too much for a machine that is totally outperformed by a current pc that costs 1000 Euro less. You could have installed 8 gig, Samsung F1 1TB drive and a video card such as the 8800 gt that is infinitely more potent than the crap 7300gt that is a 40 Eur part. Mac Pro makes only sense for people that either need OS X or pro level apps on OS X. Apart from that the Mac Pro is a con with severe deficiencies for home users. Given the current platform performance and upgrade path of Intel Desktop solutions only 1% of userbase are better served with overpriced server hardware.
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Windows isn't an option. I don't like the way it works. Max OS X is much better
I used PCs for a very very long time and I am not going back. There is a quality difference and I am paying extra to have it. The Mac Pro is a great machine.


And may I ask which deficiences you speak of? If you mean the RAM and Games, the Mac Pro isn't a game machine.
 
even though I do a lot of more serious stuff with my Mac Pro my favorite thing to do is still to covert DVDs to mp4s within 45 minutes doing a 2 time pass encoding.:D

Congrats on finding the Mac for you.
 
I just picked one up about 3 days ago and I absolutely LOVE it. Glad to have switched from horrible Windows, took me long enough ahha :).
 
I did much the same. I sold my 17" iMac Core Duo and a dual G5 i took as payment for a job(along with a 23" ACD which i use with the MP now) and bought a dual 2.66 Mac Pro. It's amazing how it can hapily run Eye TV, Photoshop & Dreamweaver CS3 whilst downloading with Unoson and burning a DVD without any stutters or pauses.
I do wonder if an Elgato Turbo 264 will speed up encoding for your apple tv?
:D
 
jabbawok said:
I did much the same. I sold my 17" iMac Core Duo and a dual G5 i took as payment for a job(along with a 23" ACD which i use with the MP now) and bought a dual 2.66 Mac Pro. It's amazing how it can hapily run Eye TV, Photoshop & Dreamweaver CS3 whilst downloading with Unoson and burning a DVD without any stutters or pauses.
I do wonder if an Elgato Turbo 264 will speed up encoding for your apple tv?
:D
Click to expand...

I don't think that the Elgato Turbo 264 will work with Visual Hub or Handbrake, so I don't need it.
 
ceres said:
Well, if apple tv conversion is your main application for quad core computing you spent 1000 Euro too much as any 1500 Euro 6600QG0 PC can easily trump your pro in any encoding tasks. The added latency of current fbdimm solutions adds injury to insult. You paid way too much for a machine that is totally outperformed by a current pc that costs 1000 Euro less. You could have installed 8 gig, Samsung F1 1TB drive and a video card such as the 8800 gt that is infinitely more potent than the crap 7300gt that is a 40 Eur part. Mac Pro makes only sense for people that either need OS X or pro level apps on OS X. Apart from that the Mac Pro is a con with severe deficiencies for home users. Given the current platform performance and upgrade path of Intel Desktop solutions only 1% of userbase are better served with overpriced server hardware.
Click to expand...

How much will that Wintendo be worth in a couple of years? Next to nothing, that's how much. The Mac Pro will be worth more than half what it cost new, probably more. I sold my iMac for £600 and it cost me $750 from the refurb store. my powerbook G4 12" fetched £650 just over half the £1200 i paid for it 2 years previously. It's like buying a BMW, you get more bang for your buck out of a honda but the BMW will hold its value way better.
That's enough fanboy ranting from me for now.
 
I think ceres what you aren't realizing is the power of the Xeon processor. Intel's Duo 2 Core CPUs are nice but when the user runs many processes that demand processing power, then slowdowns occur. This isn't the case with the Mac Pro. I am extracting a 15GB rar file, converting a mkv file to mp4 (h264), surfing with Safari, have Mail.app open, iTunes, iPhoto, iChat, Unison and the Mac Pro is so fast, you will have to see it to believe it! I did all these with my iMac too, but I had slowdowns, the system couldn't keep up the speed and while I was using Macpar Deluxe, Safari was almost unusable. Now I dont have to wait anymore! :cool:
 
petvas said:
After two years of constantly changing Macs (I had quite a few iMacs, Macbook Pros and Macbooks), I decided to buy a Mac Pro, despite the fact that there are going to be updates soon (nobody knows though when!).
I bought the following configuration:
2 x 2,66Ghz Xeon
5GB RAM (4GB bought extra for 200 Euros...)
500GB HD
Nvidia 7300
Click to expand...

He Petvas,

where dit you bought the 4GB extra ram for 200 euros, on the Apple store it cost 680euro to upgrade 1GB to 4 GB .... :-(

Mac Patrick
 
petvas said:
I think ceres what you aren't realizing is the power of the Xeon processor. Intel's Duo 2 Core CPUs are nice but when the user runs many processes that demand processing power, then slowdowns occur. This isn't the case with the Mac Pro. I am extracting a 15GB rar file, converting a mkv file to mp4 (h264), surfing with Safari, have Mail.app open, iTunes, iPhoto, iChat, Unison and the Mac Pro is so fast, you will have to see it to believe it! I did all these with my iMac too, but I had slowdowns, the system couldn't keep up the speed and while I was using Macpar Deluxe, Safari was almost unusable. Now I dont have to wait anymore! :cool:
Click to expand...

and in terms of irony you also forget that the imac is using a mobile processor ;)

and what super duper features does a xeon have what the normal core 2 duo doesn't have ? improved virtualization and bigger cache ? (and high latency ram ?)

it would be interesting to benchmark a quad mac pro with xeons and it's Fb-ECC memory and comapre it with a desktop class computer with a Q6700 who has the same amount of memory except lower latency at DDR2-1066 or newer DDR3 memory

that entirely depends on the apps and their memory requirements
 
ob81 said:
Thanks. Second time i heard Visual hub today. Guess I will just purchase it. I have been using quicktime pro for all of my conversions, but it isn't that great.
Click to expand...

The only thing I dislike in Visual Hub is that I dont have a choice for subtitles and Audio channel. Even if the mkv file has subtitles, I cannot select any of them...I wish this wil change in the future
 
petvas said:
After two years of constantly changing Macs (I had quite a few iMacs, Macbook Pros and Macbooks), I decided to buy a Mac Pro, despite the fact that there are going to be updates soon (nobody knows though when!).
I bought the following configuration:
2 x 2,66Ghz Xeon
5GB RAM (4GB bought extra for 200 Euros...)
500GB HD
Nvidia 7300

I convert lots of DVDs and AVI files to mp4 for my Apple TV. I was amazed by the speed difference. The machine just never hungs when I decompress big files. Everything is smoother and the Leopard really rocks on it! I know it may be an overkill to have a Mac Pro for a "home" user, but I sold my 24" White iMac and my white Macbook, so now I have the Mac Pro and my iPhone (as a laptop replacement for basic internet surfing and mails). This combination is much better for me, I havent paid much extra and I get to use a very fast computer that doesnt compare to the iMacs.
I am very happy with my purchase and the build quality of my Mac Pro. I now wait for my iSight (bought from eBay)...
Click to expand...

I'm waiting for the new Penryns, I hope it come very soon. My recent PowerMac G4 400 is very slow now. It was a fantastic machine, OS10.4 was to big. Time to change....
 
Mac Patrick said:
I'm waiting for the new Penryns, I hope it come very soon. My recent PowerMac G4 400 is very slow now. It was a fantastic machine, OS10.4 was to big. Time to change....
Click to expand...

If you can afford it the g4 upgrade cards are definitely worth it.....took my old g4 400 to a 1.6ghz & worked great!
 
It's good to see somone buying regardless of rumors, like you said, you can upgrade the processors at a later date,

I'm so tempted to a 2nd hand one and do it up so badly but a MBP is a greater need for now :(
 
netdog said:
I guess you can't read so well. He said he is happy. Frankly, I can understand why.

In any case, he didn't ask our opinion as to whether he should have bought now or waited.

Congrats petvas. I may buy a used one tomorrow.
Click to expand...


He mentioned price, and I suggested that the PRICE will go down shortly. I wasn't recommending that he buy the new penryn, only to buy the current model then since it'll be cheaper. But hey.. not my monies :D

In any event, congrats on the new shinies! A big benefit of buying the current model now is that it should have all the kinks worked out, and you'll avoid the usual 1st revision problems that i'll be sure to have hehe
 
I now have the Mac Pro since Monday and all I can say is that I am still impressed. All my daily tasks take less to finish, movie conversion is really fast (I only hope that Handbrake and Visual Hub will make better usage of multiple cores in the future) but it could be faster. The machine flies! The iLife apps are faster than ever and overall I love it.
 
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