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OMG! She got me a Mac Pro! What to do?
- Thread starter netdog
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KEEP it and her! That is an incredible gift, anyone would be extremely lucky to have a woman like that. ...As long as she is not using your money to buy it for you... 
Keep it
You're grateful for it. It was a VERY thoughtful present, and she knew exactly what she was buying. It's not like she just picked up something she reckoned you'd like without putting too much thought into it.
If you return it then you won't be getting any for a long, long time.
Another point to consider. I believe that Intel have committed themselves that the next couple of processor families will include support for our socket, the 771. Just drop some new chips in there when they become cheap enough to be worthwhile. It's what I intend to do...
Since she wanted you to have what you wanted (which is great) but knew of an impending update, I think she should have talked about it with you before she bought you the MP. It wouldn't have been a surprise, however you wouldn't be in the situation you're in now.
Unless she gave it to you as the ultimate stopgap!
This entire post seems ass-backwards.
To the OP. First, you are willing to return a thoughtful gift that you can use, is completely functional, and is here now for an item that you have no idea will hit the shelves on 1/14? Glad I'm not married to you man.
Keep it or return it, clearly it's not good enough for you.
When she gets home, I tend to log out and shut it down.
I hope you brought her out to a nice dinner, gave her a message... etc...
Many good comments here, some not so good. No one but you can know your girl as well as you and how she might react.
That said, if you do end up returning it and getting a new Mac Pro, be sure to continually thank her for the fantastic a gift and how grateful you are for having her (do this after the new Mac comes in so she knows that you still see this new Mac as still being from her).
That said, if you do end up returning it and getting a new Mac Pro, be sure to continually thank her for the fantastic a gift and how grateful you are for having her (do this after the new Mac comes in so she knows that you still see this new Mac as still being from her).
This entire post seems ass-backwards.
To the OP. First, you are willing to return a thoughtful gift that you can use, is completely functional, and is here now for an item that you have no idea will hit the shelves on 1/14? Glad I'm not married to you man.
Keep it or return it, clearly it's not good enough for you.
Lol, good call
The fact the OP had to even ask or ponder what to do about getting an expensive gift from his loved one.... makes me wonder.
Keep it. Enjoy it. i am not allowed to do ANYTHING with my gifts, and I can see why. it's pretty disrespectful to return or hawk an incredibly expensive gift for more power that you don't even need, IMHO.
To the OP, back to your original question Like a few other people here have mentioned even if a new Mac Pro is released in january it may not ship till some time after. If you can deal with that and if you have talked to her then i say you should do it. Its not a matter of greed like most people think is just a simple case of economics. I figure your girlfriend loves you and wants you to have the very best, and seeing that a upgrade is imminent i would think she would be understand that for the exact same price you exchanged it. So lets do the math 4 cores or 8 cores... Hmmm thats a tough one... But i this could all blow up in your face, the new Mac pro could be release in January and start shipping in early March and you wouldn't get it till April . In retrospect i really doubt the 8 core will out last the current 4 cores. Both machines will last you several years.
Like a few other people here have mentioned even if a new Mac Pro is released in january it may not ship till some time after. If you can deal with that and if you have talked to her then i say you should do it. Its not a matter of greed like most people think is just a simple case of economics. I figure your girlfriend loves you and wants you to have the very best, and seeing that a upgrade is imminent i would think she would be understand that for the exact same price you exchanged it. So lets do the math 4 cores or 8 cores... Hmmm thats a tough one... But i this could all blow up in your face, the new Mac pro could be release in January and start shipping in early March and you wouldn't get it till April . In retrospect i really doubt the 8 core will out last the current 4 cores. Both machines will last you several years.
AFAIK Xeon is a Core processor (Core 2 Quad or Duo depending on package). It just has more pins for the processors to be able to talk to one another, and it requires registered (an possibly ECC, I am not sure) RAM. That really is it.
I agree, keep it. Even if you won't take advantage of it's power, I would still keep it. I want one one day even though all I really ever do is use my computer for iTunes and internet stuff.
It must be nice to get such an awesome gift.
This is a true. But it normally has a faster FSB, and a large L2 cache. It just supports ECC it isn't required. Also it requires FB dimms. I can't find any benchmarks comparing them though. But either way it has more cores then the imac.
Listen I have the perfect plan that I did when my parents bought me the powerbook g4 before the macbook were introduced.
Frist tell your wife something is wrong with the compouter and that you need the receipt so you can return it. If your wife know nothing about computers you are fine. If she does say the psu is overheating and the macpro keeps on shuttind down. Then once you return it tell your wife that it will not come until the end of January because they are in backorder due to christmass. I would do it it is only weeks away and it would be much much much faster and apple is most def update the video cards to the 8800 series which would blow the ones they have in their currently. Do it! or you can just be so honest to your wife and tell her the truth.Listen I have the perfect plan that I did when my parents bought me the powerbook g4 before the macbook were introduced.
And if it doesn't work?
That's not really the way to treat a gf...
Listen I have the perfect plan that I did when my parents bought me the powerbook g4 before the macbook were introduced.
Nice! Dishonesty in the relationship... that'll last.....
Oh now there is solid advice! Lie to the woman who gave you the gift so you can rid yourself of what? The hassle of having a stellar machine in exchange for an equally stellar machine? Take advantage of the fact that his wife may not know enough about computers to know something is up? Then LIE again and tell her it's not coming until January at best? Oh but sum it up with "you can be honest"?!Listen I have the perfect plan that I did when my parents bought me the powerbook g4 before the macbook were introduced.
You're clearly not married or in any sort of committed relationship. If you are then I pity the lady.
Good call.
The OP will do as he wishes and I'm sure he's grateful to some extent, but not grateful enough to not have some level of greed inserted into the whole spirit of giving.
I mean, I was given diamond earings for Christmas. They're very pretty but I happen to believe there may be something that will function the same but has better clarity out there. I should take them off and return them. Hopefully the price of diamonds will drop after 1/14 and I can put another pair on order.
If that's the case, then she probably knows how you will use it and how much horsepower you really need.
Maybe.
This doesn't make too much sense. So you really wanted this configuration to begin with? But you don't want it if a faster machine shows up in the future? If you wanted an 8-core system (how it is looking to me now), then why didn't she get you that model instead?
The answer to this really depends on what applications you use now and what their development roadmaps are. Not too many apps support multi-core yet, and it won't be an overnight transition. So this Mac will have a long shelf life IMO. And as I mentioned before, these computers have a high resale value. Also, having too many cores for some tasks can be counterefficient and is why some apps may not actually need 8 cores. For video rendering, it is probably a big improvement over what you have now. For "most of my time is spent writing and doing the usual webstuff, iTunes, email" what you have is already plenty.
Just do it. Don't analyze this too much more.
Yes, that's the rumor. Nothing is for sure yet until Steve announces it. We've had enough false starts that I know not to base buying decisions on unannounced hardware.
So netdog got a Mac Pro for Christmas from his other half.
You're going to be a bad partner if you instantly want to swap it.
(You're in a bind, as it's a significant present, and unfortunately didn't hit the macrumor's Buyer's guide to see that MP will be upgraded soon.
However, a fully laden Mac Pro will cover your needs.)
The best present for her? Thoroughly enjoy what she gave you.
You can always in a year or two upgrade the mac for a new model, or in a few months chuck in a new CPU/mobo/graphics card.
That is some present.
You're going to be a bad partner if you instantly want to swap it.
(You're in a bind, as it's a significant present, and unfortunately didn't hit the macrumor's Buyer's guide to see that MP will be upgraded soon.
However, a fully laden Mac Pro will cover your needs.)
The best present for her? Thoroughly enjoy what she gave you.
You can always in a year or two upgrade the mac for a new model, or in a few months chuck in a new CPU/mobo/graphics card.
I completely agree with this post. Enjoy the machine that she gave you. It obviously came from the heart so keep it.
I would seriously worry if someone who I am not already married to (or at least someone who I wasn't absolutely sure I wanted to marry) gave me a gift like this.
OP should ask himself: do I want to marry this girl? If the answer is no, then he should return the computer (but not to the Apple store, to her).
OP should ask himself: do I want to marry this girl? If the answer is no, then he should return the computer (but not to the Apple store, to her).