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Ordering this week

S

SolidShadow

macrumors member
Original poster
Jul 2, 2007
96
0
New Brunswick, Canada
Well I waited a month and regardless of what happens or doesn't happen I've come to the end of my waiting period. I need a good machine to start on my new portfolio as well as a rather large book illustration project.

Money is a little tight so I'm making certain concessions. My plan is to purchase;

• Mac pro quad 2.66 with X1900 video card.
• Dell Ultrasharp 24" widescreen (I'll calibrate the colour manually)
• Four 1 GB RAM sticks probably from CanadaRAM since it's in Canada and all.
• Apple DVI to AVI connector just in case I want to watch something on the TV

The reason for the dell monitor is to save some money so I can funnel it into extra RAM. I would rather have an ACD but as they say "them's the breaks."

Considering I'm moving from a Yosimite B&W G3 350Mhz with 512Meg of RAM and an ATI Rage 128 video card with 16 Meg of video RAM, I'm probably going to be completely blown away. Hopefully the Mac Pro will last me another seven years like this machine did. Frankly the G3 is still running solid though miserably slow.

Does this sound ok to people?
Any advice?
 
i have a similar system , tbh , if i was ordering again - i'd get the nvidia card and update it later

the radeon is noisy as hell and apart from games , i don't think it'll make a lot of difference to your user experience

plus get bluetooth via usb , forget about it being built in - that's if you even want it in the first place !
 
Unless you're planning on doing some serious video work (think: "Motion") or are into the latest games I'd leave the X1900. Apart from that, I'd say go for it!
 
flappo said:
i have a similar system , tbh , if i was ordering again - i'd get the nvidia card and update it later

the radeon is noisy as hell and apart from games , i don't think it'll make a lot of difference to your user experience

plus get bluetooth via usb , forget about it being built in - that's if you even want it in the first place !
Click to expand...

I hear you. Part of what's killing my current system is video weakness. So I figure if I pony up a little extra now it may last me a little longer this time around. I do plan on playing some WOW casually from time to time so the extra video power is welcome for those occasions as well. I've already purchased WOW and Adobe CS3, both of which are just waiting to be installed.

As for bluetooth, I currently have no real need for it. I don't mind having a wired keyboard and mouse. So I'm ok in that department.
 
Buy Refurbished $2,199.00

No point in buying it new when you can buy one refurbished for $2,199.00. You can add the price of the X1900 to your order and still come out for less money. Or see how the stock card works for you before you order the x1900 afterwards.

Plus you might score more RAM with a refurb. My Quad G5 came with two 1GB sticks instead of two 512 sticks.

NOTE: That model appears and disappears every week. So you have to be on the Refurb Page Watch to catch one when it shows up. They were on there yesterday morning and gone by afternoon. Just be patient and you will be glad you were.

Right now they are available. So more were added since yesterday afternoon.
 
cal6n said:
Unless you're planning on doing some serious video work (think: "Motion") or are into the latest games I'd leave the X1900. Apart from that, I'd say go for it!
Click to expand...

I don't currently do video work but despite being primarily an illustrator I'm rather an every-task sort of designer so it wouldn't surprise me if I had to do so in the future. I figure the larger video card is a good safety net in case such a scenario arrives.
 
Multimedia said:
No point in buying it new when you can buy one refurbished for $2,199.00. You can add the price of the X1900 to your order and still come out for less money. Or see how the stock card works for you before you order the x1900 afterwards.
Click to expand...

That's a very good point. I'm going to look into that. Thanks for the suggestion.
 
looking at what you're upgrading from ( B&W G3 350Mhz with 512Meg of RAM and an ATI Rage 128 video card with 16 Meg of video RAM ) , even a mac mini would blow your mind

the mac pro is quite simply staggeringly nippy at just aboot everything

you're definitely gonna have some fun !

:)
 
Refurb $2,199 Is Available NOW!

Father Jack said:
I use the stock card and it works fine for me. I do lots of Photoshop and a reasonable amount of video editing .... :)
Click to expand...
Yeah if I were you I would buy the refurb 2 x 2.66 dual Core right now for $2,199 refurb and the DELL 24" refurb for $500 and then order 4GB of 2x2GB sticks from Omni for $299 after that. Total $2,999.

DELL refurbs are currently out of stock of that model. But at their regular Home Office Store they're offering a SAMSUNG 24" 1920 x 1200 monitor for only $479 instead of $599. I'd say scoop that bargain up. PLUS a $20 mail in rebate for a total of only $459. :eek:

Total now only $2,959.00
 
Awesome suggestions everyone! Thanks!
I'm seriously considering a refurb now.
I'll be making final decisions and an order on Tuesday afternoon/evening.
I just have to wait till Tuesday. It's an apple pavlovian response.
:)
 
Monitor wise I'm looking to buy from Canada if at all possible.
The Canadian Dell site doesn't list the Ultrasharp 24" only the 27" model for some reason.

If I did buy a refurb 2.66 with the stock video card I couldn't run the 27" could I? It would require dual link DVI wouldn't it?

27" would be sweet.
But perhaps my eyes are too big for my budget.
:)
 
Stock Card Will Do All You Want And More

SolidShadow said:
Monitor wise I'm looking to buy from Canada if at all possible.
The Canadian Dell site doesn't list the Ultrasharp 24" only the 27" model for some reason.

If I did buy a refurb 2.66 with the stock video card I couldn't run the 27" could I? It would require dual link DVI wouldn't it?

27" would be sweet.
But perhaps my eyes are too big for my budget.
:)
Click to expand...
No you CAN. Plus in case you didn't notice the stock card HAS A DUAL LINK port on it. One Dual Link and One single link that supports up to 1920 x 1200 on any size screen. So no problem driving the 27" DELL or even also a 30" DELL with the STOCK Card AT THE SAME TIME.

Stop thinking you need more than the stock card. You Don't.
 
Multimedia said:
No you CAN. Plus in case you didn't notice the stock card HAS A DUAL LINK port on it. One Dual Link and One single link that supports up to 1920 x 1200 on any size screen. So no problem driving the 27" DELL or even also a 30" DELL with the STOCK Card AT THE SAME TIME.

Stop thinking you need more than the stock card. You Don't.
Click to expand...

Ahh sweet that was my bad.
Sorry.
so 27" it very well might be.
I'll post back here when I've made an order.
 
The Deed is Done!

Well I took Multimedia's advice and went Refurb on a quad 2.66Ghz Mac Pro.
I also noticed a refurb 23" ACD so in the spirit of CrAzY I ordered that too.

Part of me wishes I could have waited just a little longer but I just couldn't. Now I just have to sit back, twiddle my thumbs and hope she comes with an easter egg in the form of a little more RAM.

That reminds me, I'm still going to have to buy more RAM.
:)

(Update) 4 1GB sticks of RAM now Ordered.
Can't wait.
 
Just realized that one of the uses I wanted this machine for is not doable with the refurb I ordered. because I took the advice to NOT get the X1900.

Apparently the DVI to video adapter doesn't work with the baseline video card so I'm S.O.L. with that aspect of my purchase. I was really looking forward to that too.
:/

I wonder if I can get the refurb with the X1900 installed.

Edit: I'm not blaming anyone. The situation is just kind of annoying me is all. Multi-thousand dollar machine and it can't do what the imac can without a BTO video card.
 
SolidShadow said:
Well I took Multimedia's advice and went Refurb on a quad 2.66Ghz Mac Pro.
I also noticed a refurb 23" ACD so in the spirit of CrAzY I ordered that too.

Part of me wishes I could have waited just a little longer but I just couldn't. Now I just have to sit back, twiddle my thumbs and hope she comes with an easter egg in the form of a little more RAM.

That reminds me, I'm still going to have to buy more RAM.
:)

(Update) 4 1GB sticks of RAM now Ordered.
Can't wait.
Click to expand...

It's a similar setup to mine, except that I have 2 23" ACDs. You won't be disappointed.

I also purchased 2 x 2GB RAM from CanadaRAM, which was an excellent experience. Although there was a problem with one of the modules came initially, CanadaRAM responded promptly and sent me another set of RAM. I tested them thoroughly, and I sent the original RAM back when I was convinced 100% that the new set of RAM was problem free.

BTW, I ordered 2 x 2GB instead of 4 x 1GB in order to avoid any possible scenarios where I want to add more RAM (2GB incrementally) but no slots available in the future.
 
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