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Pls prove me wrong: received a dual core instead of a quad core!?!?

B

bblove600rr

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Nov 13, 2007
10
0
Please help me out here. Tell me there's something so far advanced with this technology and the new OSX that I'm being deceived... Tell me that I just don't know what I'm doing... Tell me Apple QA didn't seriously make this mistake...

I won't even go into the hell that has been AppleCare today...

So we purchase a 2x 3.0 quad core at no where less than the Stockton street flagship store... 1 hour later, we've unboxed the glorious machine... hmmm... looks used... or open boxed... but definitely not straight off the assembly line... we mentioned to the sales rep that the box looked taped over but he assured us it was "brand new"... better be since it had a "brand new" price tag...

For some god foresaken reason, we decide to check out the system profile... here's what it says (don't worry, memory is already purchased and ready to be installed... just haven't gotten that far yet):

Hardware Overview:
Model Name: Mac Pro
Model Identifier: MacPro1,1
Processor Name: Dual-Core Intel Xeon
Processor Speed: 3 GHz
Number Of Processors: 2
Total Number Of Cores: 4
L2 Cache (per processor): 4 MB
Memory: 2 GB
Bus Speed: 1.33 GHz
Boot ROM Version: MP11.005C.B04
SMC Version: 1.7f8
Serial Number: G8725383Y8F

Already confirmed that the physical machine has the same S/N... the box has the same S/N... my receipt has the same S/N... the config specs of this S/N show the 2x quad core...

Like I said earlier, I won't get into the bashing of AppleCare... this issue and our customer service experience has already been escalated and we have corporate customer service managers in constant contact with us until we get this issue resolved... but all the same, the General Manager of the flagship store is still telling us that we simply don't know how to read the system profile and that the "quad core has a convoluted way of displaying it's specifications". Not to mention he's never heard of a system going out with the wrong specs before...

So here is my question... Tell me I'm just reading this "convoluted display" incorrectly... does this look like the woodcrest or the clovertown to you?

Anyone out there experienced something like this before??? It seems that there would be several others out there who wouldn't even think to check the system profile... would they ever realize they didn't get what they paid for?
 
Did you try to buy the 8 core or 4 core? I'm thinking you went Cor the quad which it is reporting correctly, the quad cores come from 2 dual core processors. The only way you will get 4 cores on one chip is if you buy the 8 core model which is two quad core chips. About the box appearing open, did you get a drop in Leopard disk? If you did the box was opened to insert the disk and then resealed.
 
mrkramer said:
Did you try to buy the 8 core or 4 core? I'm thinking you went Cor the quad which it is reporting correctly, the quad cores come from 2 dual core processors. The only way you will get 4 cores on one chip is if you buy the 8 core model which is two quad core chips. About the box appearing open, did you get a drop in Leopard disk? If you did the box was opened to insert the disk and then resealed.
Click to expand...

purchased the 2x 3.0 quad core... should be 8 core total... should be the clovertown, not the woodcrest... but from what I can tell from the system profile, the specs show those of the dual-core woodcrest (also note the 4MB L2 cache vs the supposed 8MB per processor)...
 
That certainly doesn't sound like an 8core - which should show up like this:

Hardware Overview:

Model Name: Mac Pro
Model Identifier: MacPro2,1
Processor Name: Quad-Core Intel Xeon
Processor Speed: 3 GHz
Number Of Processors: 2
Total Number Of Cores: 8
L2 Cache (per processor): 8 MB
Memory: 8 GB
Bus Speed: 1.33 GHz
Boot ROM Version: MP21.007F.B06
SMC Version: 1.15f3
 
Sounds like the wrong computer.
What's the specs on the box?

Also the box may have been opened to put the Leopard up-to-date disc in.
 
Hm... isn't the 8-core Mac Pro priced at $3997?

Subtotal $3,997.00
Estimated Ship:
2-4 business days
Free Shipping
Next business day delivery available




Specifications

Two 3.0GHz Quad-Core Intel Xeon
1GB (2 x 512MB)
250GB 7200-rpm Serial ATA 3Gb/s
NVIDIA GeForce 7300 GT 256MB (single-link DVI/dual-link DVI)
One 16x SuperDrive
Apple Keyboard and Mighty Mouse - U.S. English
Mac OS X - U.S. English
Click to expand...

And, looking at the serial number it looks like it's not recently manufactured... Some time in June perhaps.
 
What happens when you open Activity Monitor? You should see 8 CPU usage windows under CPU.
 
bartelby said:
Sounds like the wrong computer.
What's the specs on the box?

Also the box may have been opened to put the Leopard up-to-date disc in.
Click to expand...

The box also states that it should be a 2x 3.0 quad core...

Yes, makes sense that they would need to drop in the Leopard disk...

But the scratches on the top of the system and the dirt on the bottom of the system are pretty sure signs of being "non brand newish" :(

Sours me to think I almost got taken...

So the GM said he's never seen a system go out with the wrong specs... this ever happen to anyone else?
 
bblove600rr said:
.........But the scratches on the top of the system and the dirt on the bottom of the system are pretty sure signs of being "non brand newish" :(

Sours me to think I almost got taken...

So the GM said he's never seen a system go out with the wrong specs... this ever happen to anyone else?
Click to expand...

I've never heard of this before. But again, what does the Activity Monitor show?
 
Yes, it's a 2x quad core price...
Click to expand...

No, it's not.

Check your specs - you'll have a 500GB HDD (versus the standard 250GB), and X1900 ATI 512MB card (versus the standard NVIDIA 256MB) and 2GB of RAM (versus the standard 1GB).

You got the 2X3.0 dual core machine with 2GB of memory, ATI x1900 and a larger than standard hard drive (500GB). That's the 3.0 config the store's stock.

The stores do not stock the octo machine.
 
You got ripped off buddy... someone is enjoying your 8 core. Albeit I think that type of behavior is highly unlikely at an Apple Store. You probably just ordered the wrong computer. Do you see Mac Pro/3.0GHz_8Cx on your box? Go into Applications/Utilities and run Application Monitor and it will show you if you have 8 cores or not.
 
trancepriest said:
You got ripped off buddy... someone is enjoying your 8 core. Albeit I think that type of behavior is highly unlikely at an Apple Store. You probably just ordered the wrong computer. Do you see Mac Pro/3.0GHz_8Cx on your box? Go into Applications/Utilities and run Application Monitor and it will show you if you have 8 cores or not.
Click to expand...

How did he get ripped off?

The problem is in the "quad" versus dual-core terminology. He probably asked for a quad core machine and that's what they figured they were giving him (after all, it really is a quad core machine <2 dual core = quad core machine>).

He has the dual 3.0 config with upgraded HDD, RAM and vid card. Guaranteed.

The box was likely opened to drop in Leopard, not to do some sleezy swap for a machine the stores don't even have access to.
 
If I seriously thought I'd been given machines with half the cpu I purchased I'd be down at the store working out the problem rather than chatting on the internet.
 
Feverish Flux said:
How did he get ripped off?

The problem is in the "quad" versus dual-core terminology. He probably asked for a quad core machine and that's what they figured they were giving him (after all, it really is a quad core machine <2 dual core = quad core machine>).

He has the dual 3.0 config with upgraded HDD, RAM and vid card. Guaranteed.

The box was likely opened to drop in Leopard, not to do some sleezy swap for a machine the stores don't even have access to.
Click to expand...

I was specific when I stated 8 core machine. I did not ask for the wrong machine. The hard drive is NOT upgraded. There is the standard 250G drive so your guarantee is not correct. We confirmed with everyone we spoke with that the Serial Number of our system is the configuration we asked for (2x Quad Core = 8 core).

Update since then: They confirmed that the box was incorrectly configured and they are swapping out and throwing in extras to make up for it.

saltyzoo said:
If I seriously thought I'd been given machines with half the cpu I purchased I'd be down at the store working out the problem rather than chatting on the internet.
Click to expand...

If you note my earlier posts you will see that we've already gone up to the GM of the store. Really doesn't get much higher than that at the store. We're already dealing with corporate who have been very helpful.

The purpose of my post, as I stated in my OP, is to find out if this has happened to anyone else. Point being, if I have to take this to a higher power, or even to the media, more voices are certainly stronger than one.
 
I have one question for the OP, does the 8 core pro scream? I know things are really snappy and almost instant on my 2.33 C2D macbook pro. I guess you would really benefit when doing intensive applications most.

- James
 
4God said:
I've never heard of this before. But again, what does the Activity Monitor show?
Click to expand...

Thanks for that... checked and confirmed that there are only 4 running. So with everyone we've dealt with so far the only person who still believes it's a 4-core, is the GM... hence us having absolutely zero reason to deal with that store any further.

jamesarm97 said:
I have one question for the OP, does the 8 core pro scream? I know things are really snappy and almost instant on my 2.33 C2D macbook pro. I guess you would really benefit when doing intensive applications most.

- James
Click to expand...

We haven't even gotten far enough to install our extra memory, much less any apps... we'll be using the system for production video editing so yes, the 8 core will definitely benefit us. But as far as where we're at, we can't test the 8 core since we've confirmed that all we actually have is 4.
 
bblove600rr said:
If you note my earlier posts you will see that we've already gone up to the GM of the store. Really doesn't get much higher than that at the store. We're already dealing with corporate who have been very helpful.

The purpose of my post, as I stated in my OP, is to find out if this has happened to anyone else. Point being, if I have to take this to a higher power, or even to the media, more voices are certainly stronger than one.
Click to expand...

Then your thread title makes no sense to me. Your OP didn't sound much like you were going through the proper channels to fix the problem. Your story seems to wander too much for me to follow so I'll bow out.
 
saltyzoo said:
Then your thread title makes no sense to me. Your OP didn't sound much like you were going through the proper channels to fix the problem. Your story seems to wander too much for me to follow so I'll bow out.
Click to expand...

Same here.... bblove600rr your story sounds like total crap. You probably went to the store and ordered the wrong computer.
 
bblove600rr said:
.....Update since then: They confirmed that the box was incorrectly configured and they are swapping out and throwing in extras to make up for it.
Click to expand...

Glad to hear that you are being taken care of. Sorry you had to go through that though.
 
There are cases where the mistake are so obvious that sometimes we just find that unbelievable - like the one I read about people buying an iPod from Target that turn out to be a box of rocks. In this case, I would believe the OP cannot believe Apple can screw up something this "basic", as in giving him the wrong computer. I know someone that actually got two left shoe in a box once - talk about bad luck...
 
I was the one who originally said I asked for an 8 core and got a 4 core. I wanted to be proven wrong... that is, after all, what the title asks for... everything I knew pointed to 4... EXCEPT the S/N... but alas, the task of proving me wrong didn't happen... Thus, if I couldn't be proven wrong, then I must be right... therefore, I knew I had a 4 core and low and behold I DID!!! :p

noi375 said:
There are cases where the mistake are so obvious that sometimes we just find that unbelievable - like the one I read about people buying an iPod from Target that turn out to be a box of rocks. In this case, I would believe the OP cannot believe Apple can screw up something this "basic", as in giving him the wrong computer. I know someone that actually got two left shoe in a box once - talk about bad luck...
Click to expand...

EXACTLY! I really didn't want to believe someone screwed up that badly but yes, it does happen... and in this case it did...

Good news is... So far we're being taken care of... 23 cinema, and lots of upgrades... sounds like they're doing their best to avoid any bad publicity... or it could be true customer service... one can hope... ;)
 
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