The Mac Pro – A Great Value Until….
I’m sure most of you know by now that Apple has released its Intel-powered PowerMac replacement, and it is called the Mac Pro. Aimed at professional users, each Mac Pro is powered by twin Core Duo 2 processors, so that every new Mac Pro is essentially a quad CPU machine. The standard configuration comes with 2.66 GHz CPU’s, 1 GB RAM, and a 250 GB SATA II hard drive. It lists for $2499. This is a great value, not only because the cost is lower than Apple’s $2999 (or higher) baseline for a decent performing professional machine but also because it is very price competitive with an equivalent offering from Dell. If you’ve ever thought about running OS X but still want to run Windows either because you routinely use applications not available on the Mac OS or just because you’re unsure about switching to the Mac, you can buy the Mac Pro and not risk anything at all.
Frankly, I’m so impressed with the machine I’m going to get one as soon as it’s practical for me to do so. With this machine, Apple has addressed many of the shortcomings of the last generation G5’s such as too-limited hard drive bay space (two without third party intervention) and space for only one optical drive. The new Mac pro can handle four hard drives natively and has an extra drive bay for a second optical drive. (I recently replaced my Dual G5 PowerMac’s optical drive (a Pioneer DVR-109) with a Pioneer DVR-710, and I intend to keep the 710 around to put in the Mac Pro when I get it.) But I’m not going to order it until next spring for two reasons. One is that I’m not going to get rid of my G5 until I have in my grubby little hands Intel-native versions of my major Adobe applications (Photoshop, Illustrator). The second is because buying memory for the Mac Pro will cost me almost 50% of the machine’s price.
My current dual G5 contains 4GB of DDR RAM. The Mac Pro only comes with 1GB of RAM. To expand it to 4GB from Apple would currently cost $1100. Now, everyone knows Apple always charges an arm and a leg for extra RAM. As I write this, only Other World Computing has DDR2 memory modules that contain the larger heat sinks matching Apple’s thermal specifications; OWC is only selling matched sets of memory in 2, 4, 6, and 8 GB quantities. So, if I ordered the 4 GB set (giving me a total of 5 GB including the factory memory), I’d have to pay $1099. That’s better than the Apple deal since I get 5 GB for that money instead of 4, but it still amounts to an additional 44% of the machine’s total price. My $2499 Mac pro now becomes a $3598 machine.
True, if I sell or trade in my G5, the cost difference falls to somewhere between $2098 to $2498. But, essentially, that means that my dual G5 PowerMac is worth just a tad more than the memory I’m sticking in the new machine. Somehow, that doesn’t seem quite right. As much as I’d like to have a Mac Pro now, I’m going to hold off until I save up more money and the Adobe applications fall in.
Frankly, I’m so impressed with the machine I’m going to get one as soon as it’s practical for me to do so. With this machine, Apple has addressed many of the shortcomings of the last generation G5’s such as too-limited hard drive bay space (two without third party intervention) and space for only one optical drive. The new Mac pro can handle four hard drives natively and has an extra drive bay for a second optical drive. (I recently replaced my Dual G5 PowerMac’s optical drive (a Pioneer DVR-109) with a Pioneer DVR-710, and I intend to keep the 710 around to put in the Mac Pro when I get it.) But I’m not going to order it until next spring for two reasons. One is that I’m not going to get rid of my G5 until I have in my grubby little hands Intel-native versions of my major Adobe applications (Photoshop, Illustrator). The second is because buying memory for the Mac Pro will cost me almost 50% of the machine’s price.
My current dual G5 contains 4GB of DDR RAM. The Mac Pro only comes with 1GB of RAM. To expand it to 4GB from Apple would currently cost $1100. Now, everyone knows Apple always charges an arm and a leg for extra RAM. As I write this, only Other World Computing has DDR2 memory modules that contain the larger heat sinks matching Apple’s thermal specifications; OWC is only selling matched sets of memory in 2, 4, 6, and 8 GB quantities. So, if I ordered the 4 GB set (giving me a total of 5 GB including the factory memory), I’d have to pay $1099. That’s better than the Apple deal since I get 5 GB for that money instead of 4, but it still amounts to an additional 44% of the machine’s total price. My $2499 Mac pro now becomes a $3598 machine.
True, if I sell or trade in my G5, the cost difference falls to somewhere between $2098 to $2498. But, essentially, that means that my dual G5 PowerMac is worth just a tad more than the memory I’m sticking in the new machine. Somehow, that doesn’t seem quite right. As much as I’d like to have a Mac Pro now, I’m going to hold off until I save up more money and the Adobe applications fall in.
posted by Andy Foster at
5:56 AM
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