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need help deciding which mac to buy

twoodcc

twoodcc

macrumors P6
Original poster
okay, so right now these are the macs that i have:

2006 Mac Pro 2.66
2006 Macbook Pro 2.16
2007 Macbook 2.16 (wife's)
2008 Macbook Air 1.6 (1st gen)

now, both the 2006 machines are starting to show age. i was having trouble with the mac pro last night - in fact, i was afraid it wasn't going to even start up, but it did.

the macbook pro's battery seems pretty bad - it seems to always say less than 2 hours left. i know i could replace the battery, but the machine does seem pretty slow.

anyways, i have started a new job, and my bday is coming up. i feel i deserve a new machine. also, with this job, i will have some traveling (up to 3 months at a time).

of course, my first thought is a new 8 core mac pro. but since i will travel some, for 3 months at a time (not from now on, just for training) i am at least thinking about a laptop. even though i already have 3 laptops

what are your thoughts?

thanks in advance
 
twoodcc said:
okay, so right now these are the macs that i have:

2006 Mac Pro 2.66
2006 Macbook Pro 2.16
2007 Macbook 2.16 (wife's)
2008 Macbook Air 1.6 (1st gen)

now, both the 2006 machines are starting to show age. i was having trouble with the mac pro last night - in fact, i was afraid it wasn't going to even start up, but it did.

the macbook pro's battery seems pretty bad - it seems to always say less than 2 hours left. i know i could replace the battery, but the machine does seem pretty slow.

anyways, i have started a new job, and my bday is coming up. i feel i deserve a new machine. also, with this job, i will have some traveling (up to 3 months at a time).

of course, my first thought is a new 8 core mac pro. but since i will travel some, for 3 months at a time (not from now on, just for training) i am at least thinking about a laptop. even though i already have 3 laptops

what are your thoughts?

thanks in advance
Click to expand...


1. Geekbench your macs and see how slow they are
2. doesnt sound like you need a new mac pro
3. sounds like you want the latest generation laptop
4. if gone alot, consider getting a 17" to play with..
 
My first thought is a maxed out MB. I'm curious what you already have in mind. Surely your eye is already on a machine.
 
sbb155 said:
1. Geekbench your macs and see how slow they are
2. doesnt sound like you need a new mac pro
3. sounds like you want the latest generation laptop
4. if gone alot, consider getting a 17" to play with..
Click to expand...

1. that's a good idea. i'll try to do that when i get a chance
2. well, like i said, it gave me a huge scare last night. it is hosting several web apps, and some of those have priceless data.
3. i do want a new machine, not necessarily a laptop though
4. well, like i said, i'll travel some in the next year, but after that, i'm not sure

iknowyourider said:
My first thought is a maxed out MB. I'm curious what you already have in mind. Surely your eye is already on a machine.
Click to expand...

of course i have my eye on a new mac pro. but am also thinking a macbook pro
 
If you have the money for a Mac Pro and want portability. Go ahead and get a 15 or 17 inch MBP. Max it out. It could probably even replace your desktop at home aswell.
 
Mintin8 said:
If you have the money for a Mac Pro and want portability. Go ahead and get a 15 or 17 inch MBP. Max it out. It could probably even replace your desktop at home aswell.
Click to expand...

well, since i have a macbook air and macbook pro already, i'm kinda leaning towards the mac pro. mainly b/c of those 8 cores !

but i really do need to run some benchmarks on my machines
 
twoodcc said:
well, since i have a macbook air and macbook pro already, i'm kinda leaning towards the mac pro. mainly b/c of those 8 cores !

but i really do need to run some benchmarks on my machines
Click to expand...

If you got the Mac Pro that would do you for when working at home. You could then upgrade your previous laptops and have them for portability. Your MBA would do you good when travelling.
 
Mintin8 said:
If you got the Mac Pro that would do you for when working at home. You could then upgrade your previous laptops and have them for portability. Your MBA would do you good when travelling.
Click to expand...

well i can only afford one machine. if i got the mac pro, i would run my current mac pro headless as a server (it is already a webserver).

if i get a new laptop, then i'm not sure what i'd do with my current laptop. probably continue to use it
 
What about selling one or two of the machines you already have, once you benchmark them all to see which ones are serving you best?
 
Little HZ said:
What about selling one or two of the machines you already have, once you benchmark them all to see which ones are serving you best?
Click to expand...

it's possible. i'll have to think about that. but in the meantime, i want to make this decision without that included
 
I would sell three of you machines (not your wife's) and than buy something new, if you want a new, shinning toy...
 
opeter said:
I would sell three of you machines (not your wife's) and than buy something new, if you want a new, shinning toy...
Click to expand...

well, the only machines that i could possibly sell would be the macbook pro and mac pro. the macbook air was a gift, and i cannot sell it
 
come on, surely ya'll can give me more advice.

which would you rather do:

replace a 2006 macbook pro 2.16 ghz with a new macbook pro

or

replace a 2006 mac pro 2.66 quad with a new octo mac pro?
 
I'd prefer the MBP--I like watching TV w/ my computer in my lap ... 🙄

Not sure this feature matches your particular needs ... 😀
 
Little HZ said:
I'd prefer the MBP--I like watching TV w/ my computer in my lap ... 🙄

Not sure this feature matches your particular needs ... 😀
Click to expand...

i have a macbook air for this, though it does get too hot for me. so i put it on a tv tray instead of my lap
 
my mac pro got a score of 5,358 from geekbench 32-bit

edit: my mac pro got a score of 5,973 from geekbench 64-bit
 
Since you said your Mac Pro is dying, I'd upgrade that. Then get a new battery for your MacBook Pro. If you can, take some time and reinstall everything.
 
alphaod said:
Since you said your Mac Pro is dying, I'd upgrade that. Then get a new battery for your MacBook Pro. If you can, take some time and reinstall everything.
Click to expand...

if i did get a new mac pro, i'd take the current one and continue to run it, but just a headless server.

i'm just not sure how much faster a new macbook pro would be from my current one
 
Run an apple hardware test or techtool on the mac pro to see if it can pick up any hardware problems. Take it to an applestore to see if the genius can pick up anything.

Consider putting 4 gigs of ram and a 7200 rpm hard drive in your existing macbook pro to extend its use. Yeah, it can only use 3 gigs and change, but getting use of all 3 gigs and dual channel mode would justify putting in the ram, especially with how cheap ddr2 is these days. You've already paid for the machine, you may as well use it as long as you can. I've also had some luck with older powerbook batteries by running them down completely and letting them sit in the freezer for at least a couple of days before charging them back up. Do this a couple of times, and let them thaw completely before charging them back up.

As for a new MP, macworld benchtested the 4 and 8 core new machines, and their conclusion was the 4 core was faster for everyday use unless you had software like FCP that could effectively utilize multiple cores.
 
clyde2801 said:
Run an apple hardware test or techtool on the mac pro to see if it can pick up any hardware problems. Take it to an applestore to see if the genius can pick up anything.

Consider putting 4 gigs of ram and a 7200 rpm hard drive in your existing macbook pro to extend its use. Yeah, it can only use 3 gigs and change, but getting use of all 3 gigs and dual channel mode would justify putting in the ram, especially with how cheap ddr2 is these days. You've already paid for the machine, you may as well use it as long as you can. I've also had some luck with older powerbook batteries by running them down completely and letting them sit in the freezer for at least a couple of days before charging them back up. Do this a couple of times, and let them thaw completely before charging them back up.

As for a new MP, macworld benchtested the 4 and 8 core new machines, and their conclusion was the 4 core was faster for everyday use unless you had software like FCP that could effectively utilize multiple cores.
Click to expand...

thanks for the reply.

the mac pro is not under warranty, so i'm not going to bother with the apple store. and i've got 14 GB of RAM in there, that i put in myself. and i've changed the hard drives as well.

not a bad idea about the ram for my macbook pro. i have just put a 500 GB hard drive in it last year. but i'm still at 2 GB of RAM right now.

yeah i saw the macworld benchmarks for the new Mac Pro. and it's way faster than mine
 
twoodcc said:
thanks for the reply.

the mac pro is not under warranty, so i'm not going to bother with the apple store. and i've got 14 GB of RAM in there, that i put in myself. and i've changed the hard drives as well.

not a bad idea about the ram for my macbook pro. i have just put a 500 GB hard drive in it last year. but i'm still at 2 GB of RAM right now.

yeah i saw the macworld benchmarks for the new Mac Pro. and it's way faster than mine
Click to expand...

1. You can still take it to the apple store for a free diagnostic. What if the pro has something simple wrong with it that's a $200, or free, fix?

2. Does the mbp have a 7200 drive? If not, you'll tell a difference with one. Stick the old drive in an enclosure for a backup.

3. If you get a pro, get a quad instead of an octo unless you're heavy into FCP.
 
All depends

Dude, it depends on what you need it for.
Portability i would say macbook/Macbook Pro.
Maybe even an air.
If you just want one for little things and need it to be cheap then go for Mac Mini.
Performance go for Mac Pro.
Or maybe an iMac and upgrade the RAM.

Good luck

- Ted
 
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