View Full Version : Mac Pro
Doug Dolde
7-Aug-2006, 12:35
Wow
http://www.apple.com/
Walter Calahan
7-Aug-2006, 13:37
I need two!
Frank Petronio
7-Aug-2006, 13:46
I configured a dream system all maxed out: $16,500 or so. But I really need those twin 30-inch displays and 16 Gb RAM ;-)
What is especially impressive is that they cost less than a comparable Dell high end config, and undoubtedly are better built. So even PC people are going to be looking at these for workstations... and they may never boot in OSX!
Gordon Moat
7-Aug-2006, 13:57
Yawn . . . how many angels can dance on a processor. Yet another computer destined to be outmoded in twelve to eigthteen months. Other than PIXAR or someone doing 3-D animation, how many photographers are so backed up with work and impossibly busy that saving a few minutes a day will help them out? When it comes down to it, despite claims of two to four times faster, real world tests rarely show more than a few minutes a day improvement in working efficiency. Bottom line is that if you need to replace your old machine, getting brand new might be a great idea. Of course, the geek in many of us always longs for the ultimate of anything . . . oh well, just be careful what you wish . . . . . . .
Ciao!
Gordon Moat
Just goes to show how wrong all those mac users were for all those years in beleiving all the marketing hype about the performance of macs. Now they move to intel and everything is soooo much better. But then mac users were always suckers for marketing hype...;)
I configured a dream system all maxed out: $16,500 or so. But I really need those twin 30-inch displays and 16 Gb RAM ;-)
What is especially impressive is that they cost less than a comparable Dell high end config, and undoubtedly are better built. So even PC people are going to be looking at these for workstations... and they may never boot in OSX!
Heh, the real irony is: they'll still be running the best Windows AND Unix machine available.
Notice that the new Xeon-based XServe is also available.
The circle is almost closed now, only waiting for Adobe to release the CS3. Should happen by March, could happen sooner, maybe even in time for the Sales Season...
Walter Calahan
7-Aug-2006, 15:43
"the real irony is: they'll still be running the best Windows AND Unix machine available."
OSX is based on Unix.
Who would want to run Windows? You wouldn't see a clear "Vista" for a while. HA!
Who would want to run Windows? You wouldn't see a clear "Vista" for a while. HA!
Well, people do the damnest things, most of them not very rational. Speaking of which, that proved to be a very aptly chosen name - it's moving at the same approximate speed.
JW Dewdney
7-Aug-2006, 17:19
Well, I'll forego - for now. I've already blown my was on my apple dream system in 1994 (I think it was...)
Macintosh Power PC 7500 - $3200
64Mb RAM - $3400
Radius 32 bit Video Card (forgot model) - $2400
Sony 17" GDM 17SE1 monitor - $1200
FWB JackHammer SCSI card - $850
2x 7200RPM Barracuda HDs (500MB?) - $2000 (? - can't quite recall)
so, not counting software... hmmm... that makes ABOUT $12,500.
Hey - don't knock it! It's 100MHz!!!
Silly me.
Frank Petronio
7-Aug-2006, 18:14
LOL
Spent $15K in 1989 on a Mac II with dual floppies and 8 mb RAM, 20 mb HD, a Radius 24-bit video card driving a 13-in monitor, GCC Postscript printer, Kurzweil grey scale scanner (400 dpi?), Syquest drive, Abobe Pagemaker, Aldus Freehand, and Digital Darkroom. Photoshop wasn't out yet ;-)
The cool thing about some of the Macs is how long you can get out of em. My IIci was productive for ten years, finally ending up as a print server after several upgrades. It had over 75,000 hours on it.
Just goes to show how wrong all those mac users were for all those years in beleiving all the marketing hype about the performance of macs. Now they move to intel and everything is soooo much better. But then mac users were always suckers for marketing hype...;)
There's no irony. IBM lost interest, first in the laptop processor market and then in the desktop processor market. They cut their R&D and allowed themselves (and a pissed off apple) to fall behind. Close to the same time Intel introduced a whole new architecture with a vastly better roadmap.
Apple switched just in time for desktops--they moved to intel right when the intel desktop chips started to pull ahead. But they couldn't switch fast enough for laptops (even though they switched laptops first). IBM fell behind in laptop processors (their previous greatest strength) a while ago.
The irony is that intel, long proponent of megahertz=marketing muscle, switched to a design strategy much closer to IBM's: lower clockspeed emphasis, more work done per cycle, huge emphasis on energy efficiency. In a sense, Intel is picking up where IBM left off, and apple's timing is close to perfect (except for the performance thrashing they took in the notebook market over the last couple of years).
LOL
Spent $15K in 1989 on a Mac II with dual floppies and 8 mb RAM, 20 mb HD, a Radius 24-bit video card driving a 13-in monitor, GCC Postscript printer, Kurzweil grey scale scanner (400 dpi?), Syquest drive, Abobe Pagemaker, Aldus Freehand, and Digital Darkroom. Photoshop wasn't out yet ;-)
The cool thing about some of the Macs is how long you can get out of em. My IIci was productive for ten years, finally ending up as a print server after several upgrades. It had over 75,000 hours on it.
I hate to even think about the outlandish sums I paid for my computer stuff back then... But that was the early period, and we were mostly paying for R&D as well as debugging. Kinda similar to where small format digital was a year or two ago and where medium format digital is today.
But you're right, those Macs used to run forever and were built like tanks. I wonder how the aluminum boxes will measure up... Even if they don't, they are much cheaper then they used to be.
what i like about the state of computers is that they've hit a kind of plateau for people who aren't doing cutting edge work. i outgrew my 7 year old mac and replaced it with a 5 year old mac. i was able to get all the computer i need, with an excellent monitor and tons of memory for well under a thousand dollars on craigslist.
A few years ago this wasn't possible--a five year old computer was a doorstop back then.
Dominique Labrosse
7-Aug-2006, 20:25
Everyone mentions how expensive it is to max it out, however, today I priced out a 'low end' MacPro and the price came out to what I paid for my 15" 700 MHz G4 flatpanel iMac almost 4 years ago!
Everyone mentions how expensive it is to max it out ...
anything that fits 16 gigs of ram will be expensive to max out!
anything that fits 16 gigs of ram will be expensive to max out!
"640 KB of RAM is more than anybody will ever need."
Bill Gates, early 1980's
:)
Tempus fugit.
QT Luong
7-Aug-2006, 22:26
Other than PIXAR or someone doing 3-D animation, how many photographers are so backed up with work and impossibly busy that saving a few minutes a day will help them out?
http://www.terragalleria.com/new.html
Frank Petronio
7-Aug-2006, 22:31
Try to edit 100 plus hi-res digital captures and you'll appreciate a machine like this...
(maybe you could donate the old Dual G5 to APUG as a server?)
Try to edit 100 plus hi-res digital captures and you'll appreciate a machine like this...
no doubt. i'd appreciate it for the work i do. but i couldn't justify it, given my current ratio of money to free time!
what's great is that today there's such a wide range of workable choices, ranging from a few hundred to several thousand dollars ... depending on how much time you have to get your work done.
JW Dewdney
8-Aug-2006, 00:09
LOL
Spent $15K in 1989 on a Mac II with dual floppies and 8 mb RAM, 20 mb HD, a Radius 24-bit video card driving a 13-in monitor, GCC Postscript printer, Kurzweil grey scale scanner (400 dpi?), Syquest drive, Abobe Pagemaker, Aldus Freehand, and Digital Darkroom. Photoshop wasn't out yet ;-)
The cool thing about some of the Macs is how long you can get out of em. My IIci was productive for ten years, finally ending up as a print server after several upgrades. It had over 75,000 hours on it.
Ha Ha - reminds me of the Monty Python sketch - oooohhh you think YOU had it rough..? etc etc... (maybe you know which I'm talking about?) - but SERIOUSLY Frank. NOT a fair comparison! I didn't include software! Hell - I bought an $8000 CAD program with it!! HA! Competitive type, aren't I?? (joking!)
Anyway - wow - quite a system at the time..! How does THAT work, Frank? I thought Republicans only used PCs...!
But seriously - yes, it's true. You really CAN get quite a lot out of them! Don't tell anybody on here - but I'm still on a G3!! It's still super great with photoshop when you're on OS9 and have a disk array...!
Kurzweil made a scanner??? As in the MAN - RAY Kurzweil??? I didn't know that. Wow.
JW Dewdney
8-Aug-2006, 00:12
what i like about the state of computers is that they've hit a kind of plateau for people who aren't doing cutting edge work. i outgrew my 7 year old mac and replaced it with a 5 year old mac. i was able to get all the computer i need, with an excellent monitor and tons of memory for well under a thousand dollars on craigslist.
A few years ago this wasn't possible--a five year old computer was a doorstop back then.
That's the way to do it, Paul - I'm looking to upgrade to G4 pretty soon! Just waiting for a $500 MDD 1GHz unit to show up on CL!!
Frank Petronio
8-Aug-2006, 04:31
I think the Kurzweil scanner was meant to assist blind - err, let's be PC and call them visually impaired - people with text reading. It was the artists who hot rodded them and tried doing graphics. But I think mine was something of a break through, one of the first inexpensive scanners -- $3600 or so.
Funny thing is that scanning software hasn't improved much since. Oh, they added a RGB control plane but that looks like about it. Even the interfaces look like 1989!
Yep, Republicans use Macs. Even Rush Limbaugh is a Mac fan, and Macs play prominent roles in Tom Clancey novels. And out in the field, our sometimes brain dead military does use some Macs for secure communications. I think Jobs is Taxocrat and Gates is out in Bono-land...
Michael Graves
8-Aug-2006, 05:09
Hey Frank,
Political orientation doesn't dictate who uses a MAC. Democrats, Republicans and Independents ALL use MACs. In fact, just about anybody who is sick and tired of the sound of crashing Windows applications, daily virus updates and downloading 160GB of Service Packs each week has moved over to a MAC.
Hey Frank,
Political orientation doesn't dictate who uses a MAC. Democrats, Republicans and Independents ALL use MACs. In fact, just about anybody who is sick and tired of the sound of crashing Windows applications, daily virus updates and downloading 160GB of Service Packs each week has moved over to a MAC.
All the PC bashing here is entertaining but the assumptions are far overstated. I use PCs and have considered MACs at various times over the years, and for various reasons remained a PC user. That isn't to say with the new MACs I may not reconsider at some point. Perhaps I've been lucky. I don't see the blue screen of death anymore often than my friend down the street sees the grey screen of death. He s a graphic designer and his Mac system has given him more grief over the last year than my PC.
As for the virus updates, they happen tranparently and automatically. My AMD dual core based machine runs just fine and is very stable. And you can laugh at the service pack updates but they help keep the machine secure and contrary to what others HERE may say, the hackers are coming to MAC land. At a recent convention of hackers in Las Vegas, a supposedly secure MAC was hacked in five minutes in a public demonstration. PC owners may ultimately have the last laugh. Apple has refused to publicly and agressively acknowledge they do have some security issues while Microsoft has taken steps to combat the problem head on.
I always thought the biggest selling point of macs was that they were foolproof. ;)
I always thought the biggest selling point of macs was that they were foolproof. ;)
No such thing!
I think the real promise of the Mac is that you'll spend far fewer hours screaming at it than you did your PC. But you still spend too many hours screaming.
As far the Mac that got hacked in Vegas, you have to get the details on these reports. The last time someone won one of thos hack-a-mac contests, it turns out they were given a local account on the machine. Which is like taking credit for burglaraizing Fort Knox when you a key to the front door.
Bruce Watson
8-Aug-2006, 08:05
I'll need one later, when Adobe finally takes Photoshop 64 bit so it can take advantage of what this machine and Leopard can do.
I've got some 1.1 GB files to work on, and Photoshop is amazingly slow -- each operation takes minutes (and yes, this machine is fully optimized for Photoshop). It spends far too much time going to disk. I'd love to try it with a 6 or 8 GB machine...
Maybe in another year, eh?
As for the virus updates, they happen tranparently and automatically. My AMD dual core based machine runs just fine and is very stable. And you can laugh at the service pack updates but they help keep the machine secure and contrary to what others HERE may say, the hackers are coming to MAC land. At a recent convention of hackers in Las Vegas, a supposedly secure MAC was hacked in five minutes in a public demonstration. PC owners may ultimately have the last laugh. Apple has refused to publicly and agressively acknowledge they do have some security issues while Microsoft has taken steps to combat the problem head on.
Yeah, Microsoft takes those steps every day, and head-on, all right. ;) I don't know about you, but I would certainly not take the number of security and other patches for the OS as a measure of its quality.
Any computer platform can be hacked or made to fail in so many other ways. It's just that in my experience (and apparently not only mine), Macs do it much less often and in fewer ways.
And I've been a dual user for the last ten years. Before that, I was PC-only guy. Did tech support for a living, obtained a few certifications along the way.
There are three main reasons why I prefer Macs over PCs:
1. OS - There's just no comparison. In the last ten years, I had a Mac crash on me twice, both times before OSX and both times due to bad third party memory. That's it. Two (2) times in ten years.
2. Build - their build quality is way above an average PCs. There are PCs' built on the same level, but they also cost the same or more.
3. Design - I am not buying the usual come-back that design does not matter. It does matter to me. It's just like with cars - design doesn't run your car, but you still have to walk to it every time.
But that's just me - If you prefer a PC, than the best computer for you is a PC, period.
Then again, if you really were that happy and confident with your choice, why are all PC users on this forum writing caustic comments in every Mac-related thread?
Both of you...
:rolleyes:
fred arnold
8-Aug-2006, 09:35
>>I think the real promise of the Mac is that you'll spend far fewer hours screaming at it than you did your PC.
I find my self screaming at it less, and often settling for, "Now, now, stop that...". Windows generally causes me to channel Longshoremen. We will pass on the phrases that SGI used to inspire.
But that's just me - If you prefer a PC, than the best computer for you is a PC, period.
Then again, if you really were that happy and confident with your choice, why are all PC users on this forum writing caustic comments in every Mac-related thread?
Both of you...
:rolleyes:
There are probably more PC users here than you might imagine. Some may prefer to forgo the abuse they're likely to receive by admitting it. As for me, my PCs work fine, my prints look the same coming out of my printer as they do on my screen, I sell my work, and my customers don't ask if I did it on a Mac or PC system.
As for this forum, it's really no different than others I've frequented during my industry career. There are always those that immediately circle the wagons to defend a brand for technical and emotional reasons. I've witness this phenomena in high end audio, video and photography. I've seen it happen with groups of BOSE owners who believe it's the best audio gear in the world (No highs, no lows, it must be BOSE) and of course, the Nikon vs Canon debates. It's no different between PC and MAC owners.
I attach no emotions to any piece of hardware that I own whether it be audio, video or photographic in nature. I've long gotten out of the exotic (make that expensive)automobile thing. They are tools for me, period. When one ceases to do the job for me or is no longer competitive, or gives me lots of grief, I look for new alternative solutions. I haven't had to do so with my PCs. Your mileage obviously has varied.
I attach no emotions to any piece of hardware that I own whether it be audio, video or photographic in nature. I've long gotten out of the exotic (make that expensive)automobile thing. They are tools for me, period. When one ceases to do the job for me or is no longer competitive, or gives me lots of grief, I look for new alternative solutions. I haven't had to do so with my PCs. Your mileage obviously has varied.
I am really happy that you are happy with your tools. ;)
I'm just trying to understand why are you and select few others regularly commenting on something you admitedly have no interest in?
I am really happy that you are happy with your tools. ;)
I'm just trying to understand why are you and select few others regularly commenting on something you admitedly have no interest in?
Likely for the same reason you and others take pot shots regularly at PCs. As for how regularly I comment, I've only made a few posts. One post was regarding HD speed and was cautionary in nature but it was summarily dismissed, if not rediculed, by you as resulting in shortened battery life...which is not likely an issue if one is trying to edit video in the field.
My other posts regarding Apple OS susceptibility to viruses and hackers was also cautionary in nature and was also rediculed by you and essentially dismissed as irrelevent.
I did a search on some of your prior posts and I found that you once commented to the effect that occasionally 'arrogant pricks' make their presence known on this forum. I would suggest that is like the pot calling the kettle black.
Bob McCarthy
9-Aug-2006, 13:39
You have to Marko credit for his tagline. Very clever.
Anyway, to the point: How transparent are the new mac's when primarily running PC software?
bob
Frank Petronio
9-Aug-2006, 14:13
Well my wife's MacBook looks and feels just like her Toshiba except the screen is sharp and the trackpad works and nothing rattles. I think it is the best Windows PC made ;-)
Likely for the same reason you and others take pot shots regularly at PCs. As for how regularly I comment, I've only made a few posts. One post was regarding HD speed and was cautionary in nature but it was summarily dismissed, if not rediculed, by you as resulting in shortened battery life...which is not likely an issue if one is trying to edit video in the field.
My other posts regarding Apple OS susceptibility to viruses and hackers was also cautionary in nature and was also rediculed by you and essentially dismissed as irrelevent.
I did a search on some of your prior posts and I found that you once commented to the effect that occasionally 'arrogant pricks' make their presence known on this forum. I would suggest that is like the pot calling the kettle black.
Well.
I suppose you can back that claim up with some quotes?
Or are you just going to reply "Whatever" again, like you did the last time when I tried to reason with you on another thread related to Macs, although you say you have no interest in them?
You have to Marko credit for his tagline. Very clever.
Anyway, to the point: How transparent are the new mac's when primarily running PC software?
bob
Hey Bob,
Much as I'd like to take the credit for it, I can't - I read something along those lines somewhere a long time ago and the idea just stuck. I'm not even sure I'm quoting it verbatim, but I don't think it matters as long as you get it... :)
About your question: I haven't tried it, but based on what I hear, Windows should run on them natively. With Leopard (the next version of OSX), you should be able to switch between OSX and Windows on the fly, without needing to reboot.
Well my wife's MacBook looks and feels just like her Toshiba except the screen is sharp and the trackpad works and nothing rattles. I think it is the best Windows PC made ;-)
Nope, they just made even better one. :D
Well.
I suppose you can back that claim up with some quotes?
Or are you just going to reply "Whatever" again, like you did the last time when I tried to reason with you on another thread related to Macs, although you say you have no interest in them?
As you wish...your quote below:
8-Apr-2006, 20:47 #54
Marko
Join Date: Dec 2005
Location: Los Angeles
Posts: 356 Running CS2 on XP on a Bootcamp MacIntel
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Where you really defining the problem or telling us your experience with that type of media.
Having an occasional arrogant prick pop up here just makes me appreciate even more he majority of participants.
__________________
There are only 10 kinds of people in the world - those who understand binary and those who don't.
Likely for the same reason you and others take pot shots regularly at PCs. As for how regularly I comment, I've only made a few posts. One post was regarding HD speed and was cautionary in nature but it was summarily dismissed, if not rediculed, by you as resulting in shortened battery life...which is not likely an issue if one is trying to edit video in the field.
My other posts regarding Apple OS susceptibility to viruses and hackers was also cautionary in nature and was also rediculed by you and essentially dismissed as irrelevent.
I did a search on some of your prior posts and I found that you once commented to the effect that occasionally 'arrogant pricks' make their presence known on this forum. I would suggest that is like the pot calling the kettle black.
Well.
I suppose you can back that claim up with some quotes?
Or are you just going to reply "Whatever" again, like you did the last time when I tried to reason with you on another thread related to Macs, although you say you have no interest in them?
As you wish...your quote below:
8-Apr-2006, 20:47 #54
Marko
Join Date: Dec 2005
Location: Los Angeles
Posts: 356 Running CS2 on XP on a Bootcamp MacIntel
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Where you really defining the problem or telling us your experience with that type of media.
Having an occasional arrogant prick pop up here just makes me appreciate even more he majority of participants.
__________________
There are only 10 kinds of people in the world - those who understand binary and those who don't.
One of us is apparently not understanding the other...
1. I asked you to quote when did I ridicule and summarily dismiss YOU. The miss-quote you provided was a response to someone else in another context.
2. Irrelevant as it is in this line of discussion, you could've at least bothered to quote it right and separate my quote from my response in that same message, as it was a sardonic response to a very sarcastic message someone else aimed at me.
Or pehaps you did understand my question but chose to deliberately not respond?
Either way, I find this kind of behaviour rather immature and if that's the best you can do, you'll have to find someone else to fight your battles with.
Have a nice day.
Bob McCarthy
10-Aug-2006, 07:48
Well my wife's MacBook looks and feels just like her Toshiba except the screen is sharp and the trackpad works and nothing rattles. I think it is the best Windows PC made ;-)
I am mostly concerned with external devices. Screen calibration, printers, scanners all being driven with PC (at present anyway) software.
That Power Pro is one killer piece of equipment. Memory is priced at rediculous levels though. Anyone know if it's propritary?
Bob
Kirk Gittings
10-Aug-2006, 08:08
As someone who uses both Macs and PCs, I find the contention of both camps unfounded. Usually Apple leads the way with cutting edge technology, but soon a PC is offered which is comperable in terms of actually day to day performance. I find top of the line machines in both camps perfectly adequate for photographic work. Apple currently has a slight edge, but that will not last. Shortly PCs will catch up. Then the whole cycle repeats itself.
Its all about selling slight advantages as revolutionary developments, so that we feel like we need to dump our 12 month old dinosaur for the latest thing.
As someone who uses both Macs and PCs, I find the contention of both camps unfounded. Usually Apple leads the way with cutting edge technology, but soon a PC is offered which is comperable in terms of actually day to day performance. I find top of the line machines in both camps perfectly adequate for photographic work. Apple currently has a slight edge, but that will not last. Shortly PCs will catch up. Then the whole cycle repeats itself.
Its all about selling slight advantages as revolutionary developments, so that we feel like we need to dump our 12 month old dinosaur for the latest thing.
Absolutely right. A machine is just that - a machine. I am a dual user myself, and the only reason I dislike Windows is its inherent sloppyness. They are getting better though, but ever so slowly, and Apple, it seems to me, is getting better a little faster and a little fancier, that's all...
The rest is just good, old bar brawl kind of fun. Can't keep serious about everything all the time, life is too short for that :)
some interesting looks at the power mac vs. the mac pro:
http://www.barefeats.com/quad05.html
http://www.barefeats.com/quad06.html
Doug Dolde
10-Aug-2006, 10:00
That's because Microsoft just copies Apple. They have done this since day one.
Witness Vista which is a Tiger clone. But it's still bloatware built on old x86 code.
Hard to believe Bill Gates is the richest man in the world based on copying Apple. But then it's hard to believe W is president.
I know my next machine will be a Mac Pro.
Frank Petronio
10-Aug-2006, 10:24
None of the Apple RAM is proprietary, but many of their newer, first generation machines seem to be touchy about the RAM. The advantage of paying the extra for the Apple RAM is that they should test it and if necessary, exchange it if there is a problem. Some of the better third party RAM vendors offer liberal exchange policies too, but I would wait a few weeks and let someone else be the bleeding edge tester.
There is little reason to hurry out and get one until CS3 is released. My wife's Mac Book runs nicely but for day to day writing and office work (non-Photoshop work) it is only slightly faster (but pleasantly so) but not enough to justify switching from a perfectly fine G4-G5 box.
Doug Dolde
10-Aug-2006, 10:32
Mac Pro memory
http://eshop.macsales.com/shop/memory/Mac-Pro-Memory
false_Aesthetic
13-Aug-2006, 12:36
Buy ram via newegg and not crucial. If you do some searching the pricing practices on Crucial are dubious at best. (2 gigs on newegg will run you about $300).
You need to install the ram in pairs too. It won't work if you just install 1 stick.
And for all you photoshop users, may I suggest partitioning your drive and installing Windows and a PC version of CS2. That way, you're not using rosetta to run it. It's hellla faster!
Finally, why is there still an argument of Mac vs PC.
WHO CARES?!?!
Amiga is the best.
Jim Ewins
13-Aug-2006, 16:06
Frank, was that a Mac II or an AppleIIci? My Apple II I bought in 82 and a Apple IICi in 87. great machines. There was also a super game called Tiapan.
Frank Petronio
13-Aug-2006, 16:16
I'm not that old that I had Apples Jim! Only Macs... you win! LOL
Gordon Moat
13-Aug-2006, 16:42
Buying RAM for any Macintosh, you might want to check out http://www.ramseeker.com
Apple charge a premium for RAM they install, and only include the regular warranty time. Most third party RAM is available with a lifetime warranty. In case anyone thinks RAM does not fail, I have replaced at least three modules that were from three to six years old. However, if you regularly sell or dump your old gear for new in less than three year intervals, a lifetime warranty might not mean much.
Ciao!
Gordon Moat
A G Studio
QT Luong
15-Aug-2006, 16:25
How do you find out whether your RAM is defective ? Are there any diagnostics programs for the Mac ?
Tuan.
Gordon Moat
15-Aug-2006, 17:11
Checking RAM can be done with various testing applications, such as MicroMat Tech Tool Pro. Depending upon the computer, some check RAM at start-up, and give you a hardware error message in the event of any problems. In practice, it was tough to figure out what was going wrong when I had the RAM failures. First guess on a computer problem is that the software is causing the error, since few people expect hardware problems. Unstable operating, sudden lock-ups, sudden shutdowns, all are things that could be attributed to software, though might be hardware issues.
My last return went through Other World Computing in the Chicago area. Absolutely great people to do business with, though I think they were surprised I had a receipt from over five years ago. They tested the RAM module I sent back to them, that had a lifetime warranty; after determining it was bad they sent me a new replacement. That last particular one finally generated an error message at start-up, though it took numerous tries to even keep the computer running. After getting the replacement module, all has been fine.
Ciao!
Gordon Moat
A G Studio
on a pc you can set the BIOS to run a memory check on start up. This is nothing to do with windows. It's a function of the BIOS software which is installed on the motherboard. All machines should allow you to enter and configure the BIOS setup.
mac or pc, the motherboard is likely made by one of the big motherboard companies. If you can get the model/part no from the board, then you should be able to find it on the makers web site where they tell you which memory brands and part nos are matched to the motherboard since not all memory is made equal. At least the good ones do...
Michael Chmilar
15-Aug-2006, 17:26
The Mac should have a system diagnostic program in Applications/Utilities.
You should also be able to boot from a DVD/CD that came with the system, and run the diagnostics from the DVD/CD.
Try these first before buying third-party diagnostic tools.
Michael Graves
15-Aug-2006, 20:41
How do you find out whether your RAM is defective ? Are there any diagnostics programs for the Mac ?
Tuan.
If you're running OSX, insert the installation CD into the drive and restart the machine, holding down the system key. That'll start the system to a boot menu that allows you to choose from starting from the hard disk, starting the installation program or running the hardware diagnostics utility. Select the latter. Then you have two options; a quick test or an extended test. If you strongly suspect bad memory, use the extended test. It takes about half an hour to run the full diagnostics, but it really hammers the memory hard. If it's bad, the program will find out.
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