Apple Mac Pro hands-on
By Ryan Block 
posted August 7th 2006 3:06PM
posted August 7th 2006 3:06PM
posted August 7th 2006 3:06PM
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Apple needs to come out with a mid-range tower. They used to have the G4 towers in the $1500 price range, and that was good for people like me who like to get performance out of iMovie, GarageBand and the other consumer apps. Now, to be honest, I don't know if the Mini runs these just fine, but it seems like there needs to be a class between the Mini and the Pros. I don't want an iMac because I already have a monitor. Apple needs to make a high-end consumer machine that costs around $1500-$1800.
Pixelnurse, if its running windows its not really a mac anymore is it? isnt the big reason to get a mac to run the OS? If your running windows your not really using a "mac" are you? Ill admit voodoo is overpriced but no more so than apple, the 600 dollar mac mini is rediculous i could make a 600 dollar machine 5 times more powerful than that. I would also like to take this time to point out that while Steve Jobs sits on his snobbish butt, Bill Gates donates millions and billions of dollars to charities and actually makes a difference in the world.
$4500 for a system that saves a lot of my time ?,... this is acceptable price :)
Forest,
Do you know what Steve Jobs does with his money?
I give money to charity, but I don't go around telling it to people all the time (except this time now of course... :P).
When comparing pricing between Apple Mac Pro and other workstations in the same league, like HP XW8400 and DELL Precision 690, don't forget to add $249 for Apple Care Protection. This Warranty is standard on the HP and the DELL.
"Pixelnurse, if its running windows its not really a mac anymore is it? isnt the big reason to get a mac to run the OS? If your running windows your not really using a "mac" are you? Ill admit voodoo is overpriced but no more so than apple, the 600 dollar mac mini is rediculous i could make a 600 dollar machine 5 times more powerful than that. I would also like to take this time to point out that while Steve Jobs sits on his snobbish butt, Bill Gates donates millions and billions of dollars to charities and actually makes a difference in the world."
Anyone that thinks ridiculous is spelled rediculous is a moron. Or a product of incompetent schools. Either way, they come across as ignorant/uneducated.
Really f*cking tired of this basic spelling error.
The G5 is a workhorse of a machine. It is priced at probably the most affordable market position for its value. Those of us who are pro users (FCP, AEFX, CS2, etc.) appreciate the price point because we know that a P.C. capable of cranking out the same work would be priced close to or more than a tricked out G5. Can you imagine buying a $1,100 P.C. and trying to get pro performance from Adobe Premiere? The box would grind to a halt. People who use pro apps don't buy a G5, they buy the apps. I don't see the G5 as a computer as much as I see it as an editing platform (that when it is totally tricked out, it's $20k less than a PC with Avid Adrenaline). And for those of you who wanted the ipod phone, I have a simple mod for you: iPod, Phone, Crazy Glue. I think it's wonderful that the G5 is ichat ready, comes with a DVD player and other features that entertain consumers, but if I'm watching DVDs and chatting, I'm not making money... If you want a Dell, buy a Dell. If you're a serious gamer, by the alienware box. If you want a edit box in a PC, go for it, just remember, it only runs windows.
FYI purposes, 1.2x faster= 120%, not 20% Learn your math. By that reasoning, 2x would only be 100%, does this make sense to anybody?
It's a very nice machine and the price is very reasonable.
Things are not as contentious as many of you love to make them.
waddo
http://www.waddo.net/
Well I can say only this. Never tought that I will switch to Mac, but finaly we have the same power as Dell or other brands packed in best tower on earth with best OS at the moment. Mine is arriving next week :)
How fast will the Mac Pro be in comparision with a Mac Book Pro - that's what I'd like to know. I use Final Cut Pro and finally updated to the Universal version and boy does it fly!
For those of you who wish to buy the Mac pro but short of cash, its easy. Start a business, then get the Mac Pro as a piece of office equipment and write it off as company expense and hence tax deductible! DROOL.. if I get more video shoots and editing jobs, who knows, I might have one sitting on my desktop!!
The only people I know that has Macs are the geekiest on the planet, lol. Those commercials are so misguiding.
To say that macs finally have the same power as Dells is not true.
The fact is, when the G4 and then G5 processors were introduced they were faster (or to avoid silly numbers arguments, lets say as fast) than anything from Intel. The problem was intel was better and increasing the speed over time than moto or IBM. And certainly the G4 became very long in the tooth and its use in powerbooks the main reason for the switch to Intel.
Having said that, the reason that the tower is the last to have an intel switch is because the G5 is actually so damn good. The Quad was pretty much as good as you could get until these new chips came out.
Let's be logical: pros in graphics, video etc would not consistently use Macs if they were slower. It's the companies that buy stuff and time is money.
Still. I'm glad Apple now use intel because we can avoid all the silly arguments abut Macs being slower which are often based on misinformation.
waddo
http://www.waddo.net/
WOW!
3GHz x 4 CPU Cores!
Drop In your own 4 750 GB Seagate Drives for 2.8 TB of storage on board!
Stuff it with RAM and start producing your next outside of Hollywood blockbuster movie!
PodCasts are going to start looking and sounding much better with the Pro and especially after the release of the new OS X.
JP - it's the wording that's got you confused. The machine is NOT "1.2x FASTER", but "1.2x THE SPEED of the old machine".
To say it was 1.2x FASTER would imply an INCREASE of 1.2 times the original speed OVER AND ABOVE this original speed, which is not the case. The INCREASE in speed is the 0.2 part - that is, the machine is 0.2x, or 20% faster than it's predecessor.
You're correct, 2x as fast would "only" be 100% faster. You started at 100%, doubled it, and ended up with 200%, which is "only" 100% more than you started with.
My only question is, why are they calling this thing "Quad Xeon"? That's a blatant lie, no matter how much of a Mac fan you are. It's running TWO dual-core Xeons. Dual core does not mean dual processor, or Intel would have called it dual processor. Sure, there's a performance benefit, and it might be close to having four processors, but the simple fact of the matter is it's not a quad-proc computer. Plus, their price "mythbusting" was totally off-base. Really, what professional is stupid enough to buy a Dell in the first place? The Mac Pro is basically a server configuration, so what makes them think quoting Dell's prices for 1U and 2U rackmounts makes a point? I also agree with what tugboat said about the price gap between pro and consumer. The average consumer Mac might go for $1,500 or thereabouts, and processionals are paying $1,000 more for 4x or 5x the performance. The gap is enough so that no consumers will venture there, but it's still small when you consider the performance difference.
Wow, it's amazing to me how much bashing is going on here. I think Apple is headed in the right direction. I talked to a guy at an apple store and he told me that they have had several companies call them up and order 400 Mac Pros at a time. There are a lot of companies that use Macs and PCs to get their work done. Now they can do both on one machine, so why not? I have a dual 1.8 G5 with 4Gb of ram on it. When I bought it almost 3 years ago, I paid almost 6K for the computer and a monitor, and then it only had 2Gb of ram on it. The new Mac Pro is so much faster and I think it's a lot cheaper than it was three years ago.
I received my Mac Pro a couple days ago. Got the 2.66GHz standard package and a 30 inch display. Picked up a Samsung 250GB hard drive yesterday for 120 bucks and dropped it in bay 2. So simple, works great. Installed Windows with Boot Camp. The Windows drivers Boot Camps Beta provides do not work with the Mac Pro, so I had to find those on my own. Once I installed the drivers, Windows looks great and runs really fast. Installed Flight Simulator 04, runs like a champ. Runs better then on any PC I have used before, especially on the 30 inch with the highest resolution settings. It is the quietest machine I have ever heard as well, in fact I can't even hear it. The one bummer is that Pro Tools HD is not compatible until next month, which is what this machine will really be used for, but leave it to Digidesign to always be a month or two behind. This machine is simply awesome. For the price of one computer you get basically get two. Glad I bought it, all in with extra drive, display, Windows and tax I spent about 5000. Anyone who bashes it is ignorant and is just speculating. It is a killer machine.
So wait, is there going to be a standard Mac, kinda like the MacBook and MacBook Pro. Mac and Mac Pro... Sounds cool. Since the Mac name has never really been officially used before, it sounds like a possibility. I mean, we've had Macintosh, iMac, eMac, MacBook, Mac Pro, but no Mac yet.
If so, the Mac will probably be the mid-range model you mouth breathers have been bitching about. I mean, sure the transition of current mac models is finished, but that doesn't mean a new model couldn't be introduced.. you follow me?
A 20% increase in performance is NOT worth $3000 or $4000.
In the near(enough) future Apple will realize they made an error and correct this with something that goes 3x faster or at least 2x faster with lower-end configurations going 30% to 50% faster. Apple will also realize they can experiment a bit and produce several much cooler designs.
and...
The eMac was replaced about a month or so ago. Currently the iMac without FrontRow etc sells for $899 in a scaled down config.
http://www.apple.com/education/k12/
About all this price point comparison:
1) Make sure you are using the EXACT SAME processor. Usign a 2.66GHz Xeon at Dell's website ISN'T GOOD ENOUGH! You have to also make sure it's the 1333MHz w/ 4MB L2. That is what Apple uses in it's Mac Pro and it's a lot more expensive than the 667MHz w/ 2MB L2.
2) The Dell 690 is the most equivalent to the Mac Pro in size, expandability, and possible configuration. THIS IS NOT A 1U SERVER, IT'S A TOWER.
3) Don't try to compare this to HP, Sony, Alienware or Gateway. I've been on their sites for a week and none of them have a comparable configuration. Some don't even offer that high-end XEON. I MEAN THE 1333MHZ w/ 4MB L2.
You are not "forced to buy the drives from Apple($400 for 500GB) or buy a proprietary HD case."
The guy who said that did not know what he was talking about.
Still need more but can't afford it? Still griping about old technology being
replaced. Can't game you day away 'cause you short of cash.. gads, can't e get these losers off the site and onto the fema trailer relocation program?
Why can't Oprah give these to poor people who need a dual core for crazy eights or the latest chutes and ladders game
Great job rip. Apple has left those of us that don't want a laptop on a stick or a professional workstation out in the cold.
Too bad you got it wrong. These are workstations remember.
Configuring a workstation for real work would look more like this:
Apple
Two 3.00 GHz Duo Core Zeons
4 Gb RAM
Superdrive
4 500 Gb SATA Drives
NVIDIA Quadro FX 4500 512MB
Apple Cinema Display 23"
Apple Protection
$9,696
Dell
Two 3.00 GHz Duo Core Zeons
4 Gb RAM
DVD Burner + 2nd DVD Drive
4 500 Gb SATA Drives
NVIDIA Quadro FX 4500 512MB
24" Ultrasharp
3Yr Onsite Warranty
$7,632
Even when I add two 3.7 GHz Zeon Duo Cores to the Dell total it still costs me less: $9,492 - and Apple won't even offer you the best processors. Dell has two processor choices Apple can't even offer you for a total of nine options. Apple offers three.
Now that the hardware is the same except Apple's pretty box all you have is to brag about is OS X.
Anyone notice nothing about Frontrow or the Remote with the Mac Pros? I see no IR sensor either...
http://www.laptopbatteryclub.com/