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Whats keeping you from getting a new Mac Pro?
- Thread starter illegalprelude
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Backpedaling is such a great way to stay in shape!
Who's backpedaling? I never said Apple does a lot of price drops, I simply said it's flat out wrong to say they never do.
And you're quite right too - Apple cut the price of the entry-level Cube by about 300 hundred bucks and then discontinued the model (and the entire line-up) six months later.
Aha, there we go. I knew there was something G4-based that had a price drop, I just couldn't remember what the hell it was.
Discussing price drops with current customers who have paid the current prices will get you no where. If you notice they will make up anything to try to convince them selves it was *OK*. Also they seem to be hard core apple fans. So be wise and don't waste your time.
hardware changes
I can only draw my conclusions from personal experience. I bought my G5 dual 2.0 as a top of the range product which should have been relatively future proof. The next revision dropped the instantly obselete pci-x (not express) format.I believe it also dropped the agp graphics card format. Who knows what is happening between nvidia and apple, for sure things are in progress and by no means finalised. One thing is for sure is that apple writes the drivers for these cards. Surely something highly suitable for snow leopard is in the pipeline as i cannot believe a 512 card is the optimum for a workstation. This may only then be available as a BTO like the quadro which is otherwise unavailable (unless flashed). I understand Tallest Skill your strong commitment and i salute you for it where would we be without the feedback ? At the moment a lot of questions remain unanswered as to performance especially with SL. We here can only speculate as to the behind the scenes progress with gpu's selection & development. For sure apple likes to tout being the industry leader in products and hardware which the gpu isn't really. The processors yes are great undisputably. Regarding pricing i think apples prices for ram have dropped considerably. I think they are slightly responding to requests and feedback in this respect especially with the quad trying to cover the x mac position.
By the way my power mac was still a great investment and served me loyally for 5 years being productive under tiger. I am by no means complaining and i agree that these discussions are inevitable, sometimes non productive but essential !
I can only draw my conclusions from personal experience. I bought my G5 dual 2.0 as a top of the range product which should have been relatively future proof. The next revision dropped the instantly obselete pci-x (not express) format.I believe it also dropped the agp graphics card format. Who knows what is happening between nvidia and apple, for sure things are in progress and by no means finalised. One thing is for sure is that apple writes the drivers for these cards. Surely something highly suitable for snow leopard is in the pipeline as i cannot believe a 512 card is the optimum for a workstation. This may only then be available as a BTO like the quadro which is otherwise unavailable (unless flashed). I understand Tallest Skill your strong commitment and i salute you for it where would we be without the feedback ? At the moment a lot of questions remain unanswered as to performance especially with SL. We here can only speculate as to the behind the scenes progress with gpu's selection & development. For sure apple likes to tout being the industry leader in products and hardware which the gpu isn't really. The processors yes are great undisputably. Regarding pricing i think apples prices for ram have dropped considerably. I think they are slightly responding to requests and feedback in this respect especially with the quad trying to cover the x mac position.
By the way my power mac was still a great investment and served me loyally for 5 years being productive under tiger. I am by no means complaining and i agree that these discussions are inevitable, sometimes non productive but essential !
Quite precisely you said neither, but launched an ad hominem attack on Tallest Skil:
"You haven't been a Mac user very long, have you?"
That is where the thread was derailed. And, in fact, you've had a long string of attacks about his age, what with your comments about "how many Mac computers did you actually buy after puberty" and "Everyone between the age of birth and about 17 can evoke the same reaction".
Not very useful to anyone scanning these threads for info or ideas about Mac Pro, but serves your own cult of personality I guess. Rage indeed.
Crack a Fosters and calm sown a bit!
Quite precisely you said neither, but launched an ad hominem attack on Tallest Skil:
"You haven't been a Mac user very long, have you?"
That is where the thread was derailed. And, in fact, you've had a long string of attacks about his age, what with your comments about "how many Mac computers did you actually buy after puberty" and "Everyone between the age of birth and about 17 can evoke the same reaction".
Not very useful to anyone scanning these threads for info or ideas about Mac Pro, but serves your own cult of personality I guess. Rage indeed.
Crack a Fosters and calm sown a bit!
The comment about people between birth and 17 actually wasn't aimed at him. I was watching the news and some dumbass teenagers beat up some old guy 😡
But yeah, I'll concede I derailed the thread a bit.
Also, ten points for knowing what an ad hominem attack is in the first place. The educational standards even in the developed world are so sad these days, I weep for the future.
They guy seems to be from Israel. I'm sure living in a constant war teaches you all about them. It wouldn't surprise me if they where tough how to defuse bombs in high schools.
Agreed. I used up all my tears years ago, but not my sense of apprehension. Now I just work hard trying to "make a dent in the universe", to quote Steve Jobs.
I bought my pro only a year ago. If I wanted to be on the annual treadmill I would do like I did in the past and build a windows computer. And just upgrade components as long as the technology permitted.
Also, trying to build up a emergency fund since last election.
Also, trying to build up a emergency fund since last election.
It's not uncommon for Apple to drop prices, but I think they normally drop on a new revision of hardware (sometimes at least), and I'm hoping they'll do that with the next rev of the mac pros, or have them all as dual processor configurations.
Couple of Mid cycle price drop links here
https://www.macrumors.com/2008/07/03/1-8ghz-ssd-macbook-air-drops-500/
http://www.appleinsider.com/article...k_and_canada_price_cuts_ipod_mini_drives.html
Back on topic.
No new mac Pro for me for the following reasons, note this is regarding the base model which I had budgeted for.
Price/Performance ratio - seems very skewed compared to the last base model (8 core 2.8), especially when the 8 core 2.8 may outperform the new 2.66 quad in some tasks, and for a cheaper (UK) price too.
Ram limitation - Only 4 slots, that's the same as my dual G5 from a good few years ago, plus it seems silly to not have at least 6 slots in their for the triple channel goodness.
GPUs - Nvidia have recently released the GTX 295, and ATI have the 4870X2 and there are rumours of the 5 series on the horizon so although the 4870 is regarded as a very good (if somewhat noisy) GPU it'll be a last gen card pretty soon, they could have at least stuck 1GB in there. Not to mention having to use a (not included) dongle to drive a pair of DVI displays. Of note my G5 included a DVI to VGA adaptor when purchased, which was handy as I had VGA displays back then.
Lack of a workstation GPU - Although I'd have no need for one many heavy users of a select few apps will.
Blu-Ray - Blu Ray doesn't mean much to me, but to some content creators having a mac based Blu-Ray option would be a dream, especially if DVD Studio Pro let you author Blu-Rays, it does seem a little backwards that macs, which are often seen as the creative platform of choice, don't do Blu-Ray, no matter if you think that Blu-Ray is doomed, or the best thing since sliced bread there should be an option.
eSATA - Now the Mac Pros do have features that I may not need, but which others couldn't do with out, likewise many may not need eSATA, but how difficult could it be to implement a couple of ports in the back, so that those who do use eSATA drives don't have to use a PCIe slot, which may otherwise be used for something else.
If I had money to burn, or my landlord didn't mind going without his rent for the next six months I would be tempted to grab one of the higher end 8 core models. But I don't and my landlord would mind, so I'm stuck with the hackintosh option.
Couple of Mid cycle price drop links here
https://www.macrumors.com/2008/07/03/1-8ghz-ssd-macbook-air-drops-500/
http://www.appleinsider.com/article...k_and_canada_price_cuts_ipod_mini_drives.html
Back on topic.
No new mac Pro for me for the following reasons, note this is regarding the base model which I had budgeted for.
Price/Performance ratio - seems very skewed compared to the last base model (8 core 2.8), especially when the 8 core 2.8 may outperform the new 2.66 quad in some tasks, and for a cheaper (UK) price too.
Ram limitation - Only 4 slots, that's the same as my dual G5 from a good few years ago, plus it seems silly to not have at least 6 slots in their for the triple channel goodness.
GPUs - Nvidia have recently released the GTX 295, and ATI have the 4870X2 and there are rumours of the 5 series on the horizon so although the 4870 is regarded as a very good (if somewhat noisy) GPU it'll be a last gen card pretty soon, they could have at least stuck 1GB in there. Not to mention having to use a (not included) dongle to drive a pair of DVI displays. Of note my G5 included a DVI to VGA adaptor when purchased, which was handy as I had VGA displays back then.
Lack of a workstation GPU - Although I'd have no need for one many heavy users of a select few apps will.
Blu-Ray - Blu Ray doesn't mean much to me, but to some content creators having a mac based Blu-Ray option would be a dream, especially if DVD Studio Pro let you author Blu-Rays, it does seem a little backwards that macs, which are often seen as the creative platform of choice, don't do Blu-Ray, no matter if you think that Blu-Ray is doomed, or the best thing since sliced bread there should be an option.
eSATA - Now the Mac Pros do have features that I may not need, but which others couldn't do with out, likewise many may not need eSATA, but how difficult could it be to implement a couple of ports in the back, so that those who do use eSATA drives don't have to use a PCIe slot, which may otherwise be used for something else.
If I had money to burn, or my landlord didn't mind going without his rent for the next six months I would be tempted to grab one of the higher end 8 core models. But I don't and my landlord would mind, so I'm stuck with the hackintosh option.
cmaier
Suspended
The chipset has 6 sata channels, of which four are reserved for hard drives and 2 are reserved for optical drives. (We assume this to be the case, though until someone cracks one open...)
Adding esata would then require an additional chip on the motherboard, additional drivers to support, additional cost, etc.
I just noticed Skil's new sig. Laugh out loud, if Apple can't sell one to the guy with the 80 page thread, the joke is on them. 😀
okay, seriously
so the white box isn't the real reason why i'm not getting the new mac pro. I think ultimately, it depends what you need the new mac for and for me, i don't need the latest and greatest to do what I'm doing quickly (ie, with the mac not being the limiting factor in how fast I work).
For awhile I found myself seduced by the new geekbench scores that just came out for the 8x2.93Ghz Mac Pro, but I had to remind myself that me getting a Mac Pro is more than just having the fastest machine out there. Even if the 8x2.26Ghz is faster than the 8x2.8Ghz, it doesn't mean I need to bet the 2.26Ghz. Why? Because I'm balancing my budget & my needs. It's funny, I know that when people say "$500 (or $700) over the life of the machine isn't a lot of money" but it IS a lot of money for me when I think about it. And the 8x2.8Ghz is going to be a HUGE upgrade for me from my single dual-core 2.0Ghz G5.
I primarily run Aperture and FCE (aside from your typical web surfing, odd programs, etc.) and it actually runs OK right now - not painfully slow, but I wish it was faster. So in the end, I'm going to continue my pattern of buying the newest old Mac - I bought the dual core G5 when the transition to intel was happening, the previous gen Macbook Pro when the unibody Macbook Pros came out and now, very likely the 8x2.8Ghz Mac Pro. I'm sure there will be times that I want to new sexy Mac, but I've been really happy with the Macs I've owned thus far.
so the white box isn't the real reason why i'm not getting the new mac pro. I think ultimately, it depends what you need the new mac for and for me, i don't need the latest and greatest to do what I'm doing quickly (ie, with the mac not being the limiting factor in how fast I work).
For awhile I found myself seduced by the new geekbench scores that just came out for the 8x2.93Ghz Mac Pro, but I had to remind myself that me getting a Mac Pro is more than just having the fastest machine out there. Even if the 8x2.26Ghz is faster than the 8x2.8Ghz, it doesn't mean I need to bet the 2.26Ghz. Why? Because I'm balancing my budget & my needs. It's funny, I know that when people say "$500 (or $700) over the life of the machine isn't a lot of money" but it IS a lot of money for me when I think about it. And the 8x2.8Ghz is going to be a HUGE upgrade for me from my single dual-core 2.0Ghz G5.
I primarily run Aperture and FCE (aside from your typical web surfing, odd programs, etc.) and it actually runs OK right now - not painfully slow, but I wish it was faster. So in the end, I'm going to continue my pattern of buying the newest old Mac - I bought the dual core G5 when the transition to intel was happening, the previous gen Macbook Pro when the unibody Macbook Pros came out and now, very likely the 8x2.8Ghz Mac Pro. I'm sure there will be times that I want to new sexy Mac, but I've been really happy with the Macs I've owned thus far.
wow man, im not sure what store you work in and or planet, but were gonna just have to agree that we disagree that Gateways and the word quality can come in the same sentence. Considering nobody I know and the people they know and the size of their market share, I would say many will agree with me on that one.
Its to me the story of the kid who rices out his civic and thinks because it has vents on the side and a turbo on the side and hell even same HP, he somehow is now hanging with the Ferrari.
exactly. Am I the only one who recalls that it was a few years ago at WWDC that Jobs was on stage with the president of Sony and together, they declared the year of HD had begun. We showed of .H264 with House of Flying Daggers and yes Final Cut can do HD and then everything fell flat on its face with Apples push to Cloud....
So fantastic, I can Shoot in HD, Edit in HD but I can dump back in SD....YAY! or if their solution is everything is going to the clouds, yea...I love my MobileMe but it takes me 30min to upload 20MB...how am I about to upload an HD movie anywhere.
Like ive said, I dont need it included in every machine, but on a Pro Machine, I would like the upgrade option.
I'm not buying until Apple stops charging rediculous premiums. I can build a better quad core system for $1500. So why would I spend $3000?
