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To build or not to Build: Mac love vs. Cost

M

MrJingles

macrumors member
Original poster
Aug 22, 2007
70
0
First off I bought a 2.4 iMac with 4GB October 2007 and I've loved it.

I'm currently running CS3 Design Premium and make full use of it, Lightroom 2 with D300 sized images and the normal Office 2008 apps. It runs 'fine' as long as I don't have too much open at once but if I'm editing batch files in Lightroom 2 and editing in Photoshop while surfing the web for tips and listening to iTunes well.. it's not so fast anymore.

BUT with CS4 coming out with GPU acceleration (I don't care about the 64bit I don't do 5GB file manipulation) and I am now moving to a full time freelance designer so doing 10hrs/week on an iMac was fine but doing 50+ hours of trade show graphics/web/magazine layout doesn't seem so fun. I don't really love Vista but it's 'alright' but I definitely prefer OS X any day of the week but here is my major dilemma: I can build a very fast cheaper PC.

I've built PC's for years but I moved back to mac for my home computer, I love them! But software demands more so here is what I priced out:

1. MacPro - I priced the 2x 2.8/500GB HD/8800 upgrade with 8GB 800Mhz 3rd party ram (I have a very nice 24in LCD hooked up to my iMac right now so that doesn't go into the equation)
Price: $3600

2. Build-A-PC 2.8Ghz C2D Quad / 8GB PC1066 (MB supports 16GB) / 1x 250GB 1x 1TB HD / Radeon 4500 512MB / Case , fans, MB, Sound Card etc for Price: $1700!

I understand "2x Quad Xeon vs 1Quad Desktop' but honestly I'm not editing HD content I just need access to more ram, better video cards and more than a single Hard Drive. (I already have external FW800 but that doesn't substitute for a 2nd internal)

Am I nuts for even considering this for price alone or should I continue to drink the Steve-Aid and spend 2x on the MacPro? Decisions Decisions...
 
I'd be more concerned about your workflow and staying productive. If you can do that in Windows then go for it! You can see that I have my MacBook and my quad core powerhouse as well.
 
emt1 said:
I agree with the above. It's hackintosh time!

http://www.insanelymac.com/
Click to expand...

Well granted there is always THAT :) I have to be honest but I've never researched it much and I thought you were locked into specific boards/ram/video cards etc and you can't install updates without breaking your install.

Maybe things have progressed beyond that but awhile ago it seemed like 500% too much work!
 
MrJingles said:
Well granted there is always THAT :) I have to be honest but I've never researched it much and I thought you were locked into specific boards/ram/video cards etc and you can't install updates without breaking your install.

Maybe things have progressed beyond that but awhile ago it seemed like 500% too much work!
Click to expand...

You could just copy someone else's exact setup who says that it works. It is a lot of work though, I will give you that. Worth it maybe.
 
when you go to the hackintosh world, prepare for these minor upsets:

worry over software updates
make sure you make a copy of your harddrive incase a nvidia driver install crashes your OS
pRAM wont work
sleep/shutdown/restart may not work properly
minor useless stuff like 'energy saver' w/ feature such as wake up @ scheduled time or 'restart after a power failure' wont work
airport updates might cause a slight headache
bluetooth (who miiight use it anyways?) might also cause headaches
time machine system restore wont work?

heres a HUGE one!!!
sorry for the caps but they are for exaggeration::
THE GRAY LOADUP SCREEN W/ THE APPLE LOGO WONT MATCH ITS PROPER RESOLUTION and YOU STILL HAVE THE BLACK MOTHERBOARD LOADUP SCREEN


if those dont bother you,
id say go to hackintosh!!
 
if you do the hackintosh route, which i would do, i would do the boot-132 method. with this way, you install leopard with a retail dvd and can use software update no problem

only con is that you need to have a disk to load the kexts while booting up but once done booting, you can eject it and use it as normal
 
MrJingles said:
Well granted there is always THAT :) I have to be honest but I've never researched it much and I thought you were locked into specific boards/ram/video cards etc and you can't install updates without breaking your install.

Maybe things have progressed beyond that but awhile ago it seemed like 500% too much work!
Click to expand...

on the osx86 wiki, there are hardware compatibility lists. key thing is selcting the mobo abnd the lists will tell you what issues the board has and what you can do to resolve it.

for instance, mine had an audio problem. easy fix though

i will say it can be frustrating when initially installing leopard. if you do somethings wrong, you can very easily be stuck at the apply logo screen for example ot not even be able to get there

only way to fix it is to reinstall the whole thing over. even me, who has done the hack route for a while now devoted a whole day to reinstalling leopard due to an issue (dvd drive was not recognized for some stupid reason on my part) just within the week. i have since made myself step by step guides with what files need to be installed at what point and so on lol. its golden now

the reason i installed it again last week was because i went from the kalyway method to boot-132. the error was just part of my learning curve for the new method


it is worth it though, ill say that much
 
i dont know too much about it, but you might be able to build that pc and get the EFIX dongle. supposedly you can update and everything and you'd also be installing the retail version of OSX
 
Don't discount the used/refurb Mac Pro option.

1st generation 2.66GHz Quad cores can be had for $1,500-$1,800 and 8GB and an ATI 3870HD (better than the 8800GT) are going to run you $500. You might also want to wait for the 4800 series cards that are supposed to come to the Mac Pro soon. You can get good deals if you search every day multiple times a day, look at completed eBay listings to see what I mean.

Quad 2.8GHz refurbs can be had from Apple for $2,000 and 8 cores for $2,400.
 
build your own pc, and if you make the upgrade to cs4 it will be faster on your 64 vista box then the equivalent mac pro.
 
Abstract said:
I'll have to go with "Build a hackintosh" if you're capable.[/i]
Click to expand...

That's INSANE. The man wants to be PRODUCTIVE and some here want him to build a PC and spend huge amounts of time loading OS X and getting it to run right.
Cut it out!
The answer is clear: He needs the PC. He needs it to save money, he needs it to be productive. Leave the Job's Brand Kool-Aid at home please. :)
But PLEASE, oh PLEASE don't load Vista on that 2.8. I have a brand new decked 3.0 with 4GB ram with Vista Premium and it's laughable. XP SCREAMS on a similar machine.
 
dukebound85 said:
on the osx86 wiki, there are hardware compatibility lists. key thing is selcting the mobo abnd the lists will tell you what issues the board has and what you can do to resolve it.
Click to expand...

See now I'm going backwards to my dual-booting/overclocking/tweak-o-rama days that got me into so much trouble, I mean it's like asking a sober person to just take a sip. Next thing you know I'm not working anymore and spending all day setting up Hackintoshes, the horror!:D

It does sound like a 'project' I'd be willing to take on but I'd have to get it serious thought over just saying 'F' it and building a Vista 64 box. I will have to read that Wiki some more...
 
Les Kern said:
That's INSANE. The man wants to be PRODUCTIVE and some here want him to build a PC and spend huge amounts of time loading OS X and getting it to run right.
Cut it out!
Click to expand...

Well I know who's got my back! Wow!

Les Kern said:
The answer is clear: He needs the PC. He needs it to save money, he needs it to be productive. Leave the Job's Brand Kool-Aid at home please. :)
But PLEASE, oh PLEASE don't load Vista on that 2.8. I have a brand new decked 3.0 with 4GB ram with Vista Premium and it's laughable. XP SCREAMS on a similar machine.
Click to expand...

The only issue is that I would HAVE to use Vista to use more than 3GB of ram, which is the main issue (plus the Hard Drives etc). =(
 
The Mac Pro may have a better resale value than a home built PC. So if you consider the sale price and purchase price together maybe the gap might not be so large.

Also you may not need to buy the 8800GT upgrade - supposedly the default ATI card is faster for certain desktop apps.

And well, if it's 50hrs+ a week, wouldn't you prefer Mac :)
 
SydneyDev said:
The Mac Pro may have a better resale value than a home built PC. So if you consider the sale price and purchase price together maybe the gap might not be so large.

Also you may not need to buy the 8800GT upgrade - supposedly the default ATI card is faster for certain desktop apps.

And well, if it's 50hrs+ a week, wouldn't you prefer Mac :)
Click to expand...

A lot of people could careless about resale value. I keep my laptops/desktops until they are dead most of the time.

I think if someone has the ability and know how to build one that would be fun.
 
I run Vista on my desktop at home, and use OS X at work (Mac Pro). I will say, the Mac Pro is the fastest computer I've ever used, but probably not worth the 4K it cost. It's nice to be able to prototype and run something on 4 processors without having to log in to the cluster. Since I'm running a lot of stuff made for Unix/Linux, OS X is a godsend. But for some of my visualization work, I use my Windows PC, as the OS X versions of the software is lacking.

Since it's a work machine, if you think you can be just as productive on the Windows box, I'd do that. You could always get a MacBook for anything you need the Mac for, and still come out on top.
 
Umbongo said:
Don't discount the used/refurb Mac Pro option.
Click to expand...

That is a good point I will keep my eyes peeled. It's just I bought an iMac because I couldn't bring myself to spend the dough on a Pro but I do know people who got some pretty great deals so I will keep that option alive.
 
One thing to keep in mind with the pricing of your build-it-yourself box is the cost of Windows and the associated Windows versions of all your software. You can move all your old Mac software from the old system to the new one, but you can't do that with a Windows transition (with few exceptions).
 
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