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Thread: Mac Pro users: Opinions

  1. #1

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    Mac Pro users: Opinions

    My Dell is prematurely on its last legs and I am considering the jump to a Mac Pro. Wanted to get opinions of Mac Pro owners and how they like the machine.

    If I buy it, figure I would get the standard configuration, then upgrade to 4gb ram from a third party vendor and save some dough. Good strategy?

    I mostly use Photoshop with files up to 600mb.

    Any opinions or advice would be appreciated.

  2. #2

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    Re: Mac Pro users: Opinions

    Hi Harley,

    It is a good choice and you won't regret it. But I would recommend two things, both of which I did:

    1. Buy the AppleCare package - it is extra money, but they will fix anything that might go wrong within 3 years and if they can't, they'll replace it. Since it is a laptop, chances of developing a problem are much higher than with a desktop and the costs are higher.

    2. Buy extra memory from Apple at the same time you buy the laptop. Yes, it is also a bit more expensive, but that way, you have memory covered too. Memory failures are among the most frequent problems and one failure can easily recoup the entire investment.

    Also, get an external, port-powered FW drive for easy backup and redundancy.

  3. #3

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    Re: Mac Pro users: Opinions

    Marko,

    Thanks for the advice. Appreciate it!

    Just for clarification, I believe the Mac Pro is a desktop, not a laptop. I am looking at replacing my desktop.

    Regards

  4. #4

    Re: Mac Pro users: Opinions

    I agree with Marko on the extended warranty and service, well worth the money in case of any problems. Unfortunately it works differently with memory purchases. When you buy memory from Apple, the warranty is only for that time period. When you buy memory from many third party vendors, it has a lifetime warranty. While memory failures do happen, they are not as common as harddrive failures or other problems, hence the ease at which many companies provide lifetime warranties.

    Anyway, comparing prices is another thing you can do. There is a website that tracks memory pricing from most major vendors, and you might want to compare to what is available from Apple. Check out Ramseeker for more on this.

    Adobe is releasing CS3 very soon. I will be at a seminar on the whole creative suite later this week.

    Ciao!

    Gordon Moat
    A G Studio

  5. #5

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    Re: Mac Pro users: Opinions

    Quote Originally Posted by Harley Goldman View Post
    Marko,

    Thanks for the advice. Appreciate it!

    Just for clarification, I believe the Mac Pro is a desktop, not a laptop. I am looking at replacing my desktop.

    Regards
    Yes, of course, I get easily confused with marketing lingo. If you are looking at the desktop, it is even better choice. What I have is the MacBook Pro and if you are getting a desktop, I take back what I said about memory - it is entirely standard and easy enough to change/add yourself.

    Given the difference, Gordon is right, desktop memory indeed does not fail all that much. Laptop memory is a little different, because it tends to heat up much more than in a desktop.

  6. #6

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    Re: Mac Pro users: Opinions

    I also recommend getting AppleCare, especially if you transition over from PC as AppleCare can be an additional source of info if you get stuck. I've had Macs every since 1987 and I currently have about 20 working Macs in my company. In my opinion:

    a. Always get AppleCare - on average it will pay for itself

    b. Always get Apple memory. If you don't have Apple memory, if you call AppleCare with a problem you'll need to remove third party memory and reproduce the problem before AppleCare will deal with the problem. This was a recurrent hassle for us so now we use only Apple memory. The Apple memory has also been very problem free, including with huge large format files that tend to bring out the problems in substandard memory.

  7. #7
    Ted Harris's Avatar
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    Re: Mac Pro users: Opinions

    Quote Originally Posted by Tim Brazelton View Post
    b. Always get Apple memory. If you don't have Apple memory, if you call AppleCare with a problem you'll need to remove third party memory and reproduce the problem before AppleCare will deal with the problem. This was a recurrent hassle for us so now we use only Apple memory. The Apple memory has also been very problem free, including with huge large format files that tend to bring out the problems in substandard memory.
    I've been using Mac's since 1987 and have never bought additional Apple memory, it is just too expensive. I do, however, make sure I buy " Apple Certified" memory from third party vendors and I have never had a tech ask me to remove the memory. This is over many many service calls on some 20+ laptop and desktop machines. BTW, I have only had one memory failure in that time and that was a defective chip that went up in smoke during installation.

    I buy all my memory from Data memory Systems www.datamem.com .... I have found them to be the "Midwest Photo Exchange" of computer memory and storage ... ask for Bud.

  8. #8
    MJSfoto1956's Avatar
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    Re: Mac Pro users: Opinions

    don't forget that the current version of Mac OS on the Core Duo harware can run Windows XP (assuming you have a legal copy of Windows XP to install) . Here is a link: http://www.apple.com/macosx/bootcamp/

    The next version of Mac OS is reported to be able to run Windows in a separate virtual window as its own concurrent process.

    This feaure will be a big win for you if you have any Windows-specific applications that don't work on Mac OS.

  9. #9
    Founder QT Luong's Avatar
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    Re: Mac Pro users: Opinions

    I'd wait a little as the current Mac Pros are at very the end of a product cycle. Many mac users get their memory from third party.

  10. #10

    Re: Mac Pro users: Opinions

    QT is probably right about waiting, especially as Intel has announced the quad-core chip with the same power envelope. OTOH, the 2.66 GHz is currently at a nice point price-wise.

    Having said that, i got one for work, and I'm generally pleased with it. Standard desktop operations are notably faster, and rosetta has only coughed on some home-grown Fortran code. (even then it runs it just fine, it just writes extra : into the output) On the other hand, for heavy floating point (Quantum Chemistry) it's only marginally faster than a G5, and most of the improvement is from the extra two cores. Apple's scientific apps group thinks the problem is a mixture of old-style Fortran-77, and the somewhat beta state of the Intel compiler, which is improving. We'll see when I get some more modern codes built. The good news is that I can run one of those packages while still doing other work, and I haven't heard a fan come on yet. The thing is Quiet, as in barely louder than a Mini.

    As for Windows compatibility, I've been running Win2K under a beta of VMWare, and it performs spectacularly. My last Windows machine was a P4-1.6, so even with all the debugging code turned on, it's far snappier than what I've been used to. If you've been running Photoshop native, I can't comment, but Word and Excel are more than acceptable, and having only given the VM one core, it doesn't slow down the rest of the machine.

    Don't cheap out on RAM, but third-party should be fine. It does seem to need more RAM than a comparable G5 for similar operations, but my 2GB system doesn't seem to have many problems.

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