Re: Do you own a Mac Pro?

In article
<replytogroup-A60D5B.10123923042007@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>,
The New Guy <replytogroup@xxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:

In article <2007042220041216807-@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>, Simon Connah
wrote:

On 2007-04-21 21:34:36 +0100, *** Sidbury <DrJamesSidbury@xxxxxxxxxxx>
said:

I'm in the process of configuring one to buy in about a month. I was
planning to wait until the hardware update and the release of 10.5 but I
can't wait until October so I'm going to wait until the June developers
conference on the off chance that they will have an additional upgrade.

Anyhow, I'm trying to decide about configuration and wanted some
opinions from owners.

I'm leaning toward the wireless keyboard/mouse but have had some
problems with my Powerbook and it's bluetooth mouse not being recognized
on occasion (the mouse is a microsoft so maybe there's some sabotage :)

Second, how much memory do you have (need)? It will be a general use
machine but one of the uses will be Final Cut Studio. I've seen Crucial
memory (2x512 with mac-like heat sinks) for 130 which would give me two
gigs total, but I might be able to do better with regular ram and then
install extra heat sinks. Or I could go for a 2 gig module for a total
of 3 with plenty of space for expansion but at a price that's about 150%
higher than the one gig upgrade. And it's not clear whether mixing
512's and 1024's is a good idea.

My intention is to stick with the 250 gb disk drive and wait until 750's
drop in price before adding more and just get along with my several
external drives.

I'd also decided on the ATI video board with the plan to get dual
monitors of about the 19 (4x3) or 20ish (16x9) monitors (not apple since
they're outside of my budget.

Thanks for suggestions.

***

Personally I hate the wireless mouse and keyboard. The mouse feels
unresponsive and jumps around the screen. Stick to wired it is much
better.

As for the specs I'd go for the 2.66Ghz model, with 2 - 4GBs of RAM and
the ATI graphics card. Stick to the 250GB hard drive and get some more
from a third party retailer once you get the machine.

No: Buy the most basic, stripped down version, and have the dealer
keep the hard drive, ram and perhaps the cpu, video card and optical
drive in the original sealed packages and not to assemble it with the
motherboard. Then sell those genuine Apple parts for top dollar, then
buy cheaper, better replacements at your local competitive dealer. I
believe that is the only way of lowering the cost of a brand new Mac
Pro. By shopping around you might be able to shave 5% of the initial
cost. Ebay might help - 10-15% but then its used. And you can't sell
unsealed parts nearly as well as sealed parts. Choices, choices.

Actually when I was originally lusting after a Mac Pro, I priced out the
cost of "building" one from scratch (assuming that were possible). It's
actually more expensive than just buying the system -- assuming of
course that you buy aftermarket additional memory and disks. And I
don't think you can buy a Mac Pro unassembled. Two woodcrest xeon 2.66
CPU's cost 1350 or so from Newegg.com and memory is 120 and a single
disk is 80, and this doesn't even include case, power supply, video,
keyboard, mouse. Oh and the cheapest dual xeon motherboard costs 300
dollars. That's 1850 which is 450 less than I can get a new machine
with an operating system and a warranty not to mention the case, etc
listed above.

But you keep harping on the idea of buying a machine with the parts
still in factory fresh bags, which means that you're more than likely to
be clueless or a troll.

***
.