Would I notice the performance drop from 2.66 GHz to 2.0 GHz?

[deputy_doofy]

Will people stop with the Rev A myth...it's so old and ridiculous. That's idiotic reasoning. "Buy a slower laptop because it's revision B whereas the true professional grade workstation, which smokes the laptop in every sense of the word, is revision A." Want a workstation? Buy a workstation! You run no more a risk buying a Rev A product than a Rev B (regardless of screen defects, battery issues, etc. these are potentially inherent of all revision products)

Agreed. At the time of my 12" PB purchase back in 2003, they were all rev B's or rev C's, and the 15" and 17" were having some white spot issues on the screens. Revision A means nothing. I'll be buying a "revision A" MacBook Pro with C2D when released. Scary that my upcoming laptop will be on par with my dual-proc 2.3GHz G5.

 

[MovieCutter]

Sorry, I still subscribe to the Rev.B philosophy, especially whenever Apple releases a completely re-engineered product. Rev.B always makes improvements to the Rev.A after customer feedback and price/value ratio is always better too, and not due to just technology progress. Once a certain component becomes in demand, the price drops quite a bit by the time the second revision is released.

Um, you don't think the Mac Pro was built on the learning of engineers working on the Power Mac? You don't think they took customer feedback into consideration when making the Mac Pro? What the heck is it doing with 4 HDDs and 2 optical drives if they didn't listen to customer feedback. And price/value ratio...YOU JUST GOT QUAD PROCESSORS WITH A HIGHER CLOCK SPEED FOR $800 LESS THAN TWO DAYS AGO!!! Not to mention, Apple rarely does price drops. They keep the same price points and slip new products into those price points. You need to rethink your philosophy

 

[Palad1]

Only time will tell

 

[Maxiseller]

I was planning on getting a 20'' ACD, too. Do you think it would be better getting a refurbished display instead of a new one? I would be pretty nervous getting a refurb Mac, but I wouldn't be if I got a refurb display. Plus, it would save me $50.

I actually purchased a display off eBay - if you pick your sellers well (I know, it's hard! ) then the chances are you'll get a bargain. The displays over here are £525 (with the price drop yesterday) and I picked mine up for £290 inclusive of postage! Bargain!

 

[gnasher729]

If initial reports are to be trusted, this is not true. The CPU are likely socketed and thus you could upgrade to 2.66GHz, 3.0GHz or beyond in the future.

Note that at the moment 2.66 GHz costs $690, 3.00 GHz costs $851 _each_, and you need two of them. The 2.66 GHz is the absolute best value for money.

 

[jiggie2g]

The 2.66ghz is the best overall model for the money. Apple charges way too much for the 3.0ghz upgrade. As for dropping down to 2.0ghz ask yourself this , will you notice a 33% drop in performance. not worth it just to save $300. the leap from 2.0-2-66ghz is much more noticeable than the jump from 2.66ghz-3.0ghz. When I go from my Athlon X2 3800+ stock speed of 2.0ghz to 2.5ghz I notice a huge boost. especially in encoding apps like DVD shrink and Nero Recode 2. Don't be cheap on this one , if u have to cut corners , skimp on the superdrives , ram and hard drive as you can always get those things cheaper on Newegg any how.

 

[spicyapple]

Don't be cheap on this one , if u have to cut corners , skimp on the superdrives , ram and hard drive as you can always get those things cheaper on Newegg any how.

Don't you wish Apple could give you the choice of a shipped Mac Pro without RAM or HD? Too bad those are forced on you at Apple prices.

 

[Schroedinger]

Also, assuming that soon most apps will be optimized for dual core and quad core, you're not just getting 667 MHz for $300, you're getting four times that, or another 2.66 GHz of processing goodness across the system.

 

[johan_tanying]

I was planning on getting a 20'' ACD, too. Do you think it would be better getting a refurbished display instead of a new one? I would be pretty nervous getting a refurb Mac, but I wouldn't be if I got a refurb display. Plus, it would save me $50.

The new 20" and 23" ACD have better specs than the old ones. I would rather buy new than refurb. Or second hand on eBay if it was REALLY a bargain.

 

[Fuzzy Orange]

What's new with the Apple Cinema Displays?

 

[ravenvii]

In my opinion, when buying a system to last several years, it's best to buy the fastest non-replaceable components you can afford and then upgrade the replaceable ones as time goes by.

If you get a 2.0 GHz system, it'll never be a 2.66 GHz system. But you can always upgrade the RAM or video card later on.

For most situations what you say is sooth, but in the Mac Pro's case, behold one of the many benefits of the Intel transition: you can simply swap out the CPU at a future date!

 

[spencecb]

For most situations what you say is sooth, but in the Mac Pro's case, behold one of the many benefits of the Intel transition: you can simply swap out the CPU at a future date!

Sure, you can swap it out...for a price. And these processors are not cheap.

 

[ravenvii]

Sure, you can swap it out...for a price. And these processors are not cheap.

And you can BTO the fastest CPU you can get... for a price.

What's your point?

 

[Fuzzy Orange]

The 2.66 GHz Xeon does look like it has the best $/Performance ratio. I do need to decide whether or not to buy the refurb or new ACD- after upgrading the processor, my wallet is already in a comatose state. I know it's only $50, but.... that $50 saved is starting to sound good right now.

 

[weldon]

The 2.66 GHz Xeon does look like it has the best $/Performance ratio. I do need to decide whether or not to buy the refurb or new ACD- after upgrading the processor, my wallet is already in a comatose state. I know it's only $50, but.... that $50 saved is starting to sound good right now.

Not to take this too far off topic, but the Dell displays are pretty nice and much more aggressively priced than the offerings from Apple. I'm pretty happy with my 20" for under $400.

 

[dngonzales]

just dont be like uzombie and buy the wrong processor

http://forums.macnn.com/showthread.php?t=304580

 

[triotary]

If initial reports are to be trusted, this is not true. The CPU are likely socketed and thus you could upgrade to 2.66GHz, 3.0GHz or beyond in the future.

I agree with your premise that you should spend money to get the fastest non-upgradable components but everything should be upgradable in the Mac Pro with the possible exception maybe bluetooth.

 

[ravenvii]

just dont be like uzombie and buy the wrong processor

http://forums.macnn.com/showthread.php?t=304580

 

[triotary]

just dont be like uzombie and buy the wrong processor

http://forums.macnn.com/showthread.php?t=304580

poor thing

 

[shuurajou]

In my opinion, when buying a system to last several years, it's best to buy the fastest non-replaceable components you can afford and then upgrade the replaceable ones as time goes by.

If you get a 2.0 GHz system, it'll never be a 2.66 GHz system. But you can always upgrade the RAM or video card later on.

Bingo.

 

[ravenvii]

Bingo.

Dude, read the thread. The 2.0 GHz machine CAN be a 2.66 GHz or hell, a 3.0 GHz machine later on. Mac Pros' CPUs are swappable, and Intel CPUs are readily available, unlike PPC CPUs.

 

[shuurajou]

Dude, read the thread. The 2.0 GHz machine CAN be a 2.66 GHz or hell, a 3.0 GHz machine later on. Mac Pros' CPUs are swappable, and Intel CPUs are readily available, unlike PPC CPUs.

Dude, I read the thread. Absolutely. I still agree with what he said. - plus nobody has done it yet.

 

[seany916]

Get the 2.66

Spend the extra $650+tax for the GPU & faster processor and don't look back. You won't be second guessing yourself that way. You also won't be replacing your processor or graphics card for a long time, if ever.

I'm all for saving a buck, but in the long run, it's better to spend, use, and get more for your money. The same logic you're using in buying a Mac Pro instead of a Mac Mini is the same logic I'm applying toward the 2.66 processor & the X1900.

If you really don't know what to do, just get the processor. $300 for 1/3 more GHz from the 2.0 is such a no brainer. You will get faster results almost every time you use your computer.

Consider the jump in processing speed of .16GHz, 20GB more storage, 128MB more RAM in the GPU, and an extra 512 of RAM in the Macbook Pro for $500. Upgrading the 2.0's RAM is $100, upgrading the hard drive is $100, leaving the slight GPU bump (basically the same card) in RAM and the .16GHz speed bump at around $300.

You're getting 4x the speed bump for almost the same price. Do you really think that 512 more RAM is worth $100? Do you really think that 20 extra GB of hard drive space is worth $100?

The 2.66 is the best deal by far of the 3 offered CPU levels.

Just my humble opinion.

(FWIW, I hate the GPU in my Dual 1.8. I wish I would've spent more and gotten a decent card to start with. I do not wish to spend any more money on this computer upgrading it. I wish I would have spent more up front, so I could benefit from the money spent throughout the life cycle of the computer. Now, I'd be spending only 1/2 as much on a better GPU, but given the 2 years or so left I'd be keeping this computer, I don't believe it would be a prudent purchase.) GeForce FX 5200 for reference. I've wanted a 30" for a long time now.

Remorse, remorse... Don't make the same mistake I did...

Oh, and I 2nd the Dell. I have a 20" I bought for almost $900 back in the day. Seamless, reliable, and I like having a black edge bordering my screen more than a silver one. It "frames" what is displayed on the screen better for me, differentiating what is on the screen from my living room behind it (huge jump in visual depth from the edge of my screen to the tv/wall 11-12 feet behind it). Yes, my workstation is FACING toward my living room. Allows me to watch tv, monitor the kid, socialize with people while still being online at my desktop (usually with people standing over my shoulder because we're excited about Googling or Wikiing some trivial piece of information).

Sorry, off topic. My apologies. Good luck with your Mac Pro.

 

[LethalWolfe]

I do Photoshop work semi-intensively and would like to do a bit of video editing in the future. I decided to buy a Mac Pro because of their expandibility and knowledge that (hopefully)it will last me a good 3 years. However, I'm trying to save every dime and the 2.0 GHz Mac Pro looks to be a good deal. However, would it be better to save for the 2.66 GHz version? Would it make that much of a difference?

I didn't see this brought up yet, but how does PS perform under Rosette on these machines (since there is no UB PS yet)?

By a "bit of video editing in the future" do you mean taking a stab at making money w/your Mac, or do you mean just making your own personal projects? If it's just for personal stuff any current Mac will be fine.


Lethal

 

[Fuzzy Orange]

Does the Mac Pro or the Dell display come with a DVI cable? I don't have one.