Mac Pro Advice

[chris e boy]

HI guys,

Im looking to purchase a Mac Pro in the next month or so for my works machine at home. It will be replacing a windows pc (2.6 pentium 4).

The spec im looking at is:
2x 2ghz Xeon
1gb Ram
GeForce 7300 GT 256mb
1x 160gb hard drive ( i have another sata hard drive at home)
wireless + bluetooth

I have a 20" display at home already so wont be needing a display.
I also need to plug in my firewire audiophile and my eyeTV dtt

Programs i will be running include:
Dreamweaver
Fireworks
Aptana
skEdit
Millions of different browser versions (im a web designer by trade)
Ableton Live
Reason
Traktor DJ Studio
iMovie & iDVD (for some simple slideshow and video work)
Parallels (to run a windows server 2003 web server and for browser testing on win2k and xp)

im aware that the macromedia/adobe products dont yet have UB versions.

my questions:
1) anyone know the UB status of the other software programs i intend to use? If not, how well do the non UB versions run through rosetta?

2) will the lower processor and ram handle this sort of workload? would it be worth the huge amount of cash for an extra gb of ram?

3) If i need to, will vista run ok under bootcamp for games for my family? (i have vista currently installed and it runs ok)

4) How well does Parallels run on the Mac Pro? I have it installed on my iMac at work and it runs xp a little sluggish when other apps are open.

[chucker]

It sounds to me like you'd be much cheaper and better off selling your display getting a 20-inch iMac. Heck, for the money of your Mac Pro configuration, you could get a 24-inch iMac, even.

my questions:
1) anyone know the UB status of the other software programs i intend to use? If not, how well do the non UB versions run through rosetta?

Since you presumably still have Windows licenses for several such programs anyway, could always run those via Parallels, which would be faster than Rosetta.

2) will the lower processor and ram handle this sort of workload? would it be worth the huge amount of cash for an extra gb of ram?

The CPU definitely won't be a problem. If you do intend to use Parallels a lot, I would indeed recommend 2 GBs of RAM instead of 1. Rosetta, too, works better with such a higher configuration.

3) If i need to, will vista run ok under bootcamp for games for my family? (i have vista currently installed and it runs ok)

I've been using Vista through Boot Camp for gaming. However, ATi does not currently supply OpenGL support in their Vista drivers, so, if the Mac you end up buying has an ATi card, and if a game requires OpenGL (as opposed to Direct 3D), you will not be able to play it in Vista just yet. That problem will go away soon enough anyway, though, as ATi will eventually update their pre-release drivers.

4) How well does Parallels run on the Mac Pro? I have it installed on my iMac at work and it runs xp a little sluggish when other apps are open.

How much RAM does that iMac have?

[chris e boy]

thanks for the reply.

I already have an iMac G5 in my room for music, tv and dvd so dont really want to get another. I prefer something that has more scope for upgrading via PCI, PCI-express cards. Ive already decided that the machine i need is a mac pro, just not sure of the spec yet. I do appreciate you trying to save me money though ;)

Since you presumably still have Windows licenses for several such programs anyway, could always run those via Parallels, which would be faster than Rosetta.

nope. have mac licenses from my iMac G5 ... really wouldnt want to run Ableton through parallels! The sound driver latency would be awful, it gets extremely processor heavy and im not sure it would support my audiophile. Same goes for Reason too.

I thought i may have to splurge for the 2GB of ram. the prices are scandalous though (£183 for an extra 1GB!!!). The plan was to maybe wait for ram prices to drop a bit before splashing out.

[Fahrenheit]

Listen up Welshy, Im only going to say this once: ;)

RAM is so important, Im sure you know this. If you make it your career to use this kind of software, or its important, as much RAM as you can handle is important.

Apple on its BTO options isnt the cheapest place to get RAM. Beg borrow or steal but to get the most out of Parallels you are going to need it. Stick with the 20 inch screen as well, and maybe if you've got cash left over get a second, but not as important as RAM!

Ive done the hard work for you:

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/2GB-PC2-5300-ECC-Ram-KIT-for-Mac-Pro-PC_W0QQitemZ140034319830QQihZ004QQcategoryZ80034QQ ssPageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem

or this one from the US: http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/2GB-2X1GB-DDR2-OPTIVAL-RAM-MEMORY-APPLE-MAC-PRO-NEW_W0QQitemZ180032136675QQihZ008QQcategoryZ80037Q QssPageNameZWD2VQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem
:D

You wont regret a Mac Pro, Ive tried one and they are screamers. :cool:


Edit:

As for your other questions, Vista should run fine on it, although have a root round on the internet for definite as Ive not tried, and also I have parallels on my 1.83 iMac with 1gig of RAM and it ran OK, although it felt a bit sluggish, but hey, you are gonna use a Mac Pro! :D

[chris e boy]

cool.

thanks for the advice Farenheit, and for the link!

and yes, i know how much a difference RAM makes on OSX compared to Windows. Looks like 2GB is the way forward.

[chris e boy]

Well, ive taken your advice and added some of my own and ordered my Mac Pro a little earlier than i thought i would (dont you just love credit cards!).

I upped the processor spec to the 2.66 for future-proofing, lowered the hard drive size to 160 since i have another one of those ready to go in it, added the bluetooth and wireless and left the ram at 1gb.

Full Spec:
2.66 GHz Quad Xeon
1GB 667 DDR2 FB DIMM ECC-2x512
NVIDIA GeForce 7300 GT 256MB
160GB Serial ATA 3Gb/s drive
16x SuperDrive DL
Airprt Extrm & BT 2.0+EDR-IN

I'll use ebay as suggested to get some extra ram in a few weeks when i get paid.

Oh. and a quick tip for UK shoppers. If you know anyone working for the Royal Mail, they can get you a great discount with their employee purchase program (between 10 to 20 percent!). Even better than the student discount. I got £140 off my Mac Pro that I just ordered.

Thanks again guys. and have some sympathy with my week and a bit wait for my order to be delivered :(

[Fahrenheit]

Thanks again guys. and have some sympathy with my week and a bit wait for my order to be delivered :( We are crying with you, we honestly are. Life must be so hard. :D

[Moogs]

Hey Chris. Haven't noticed you here before but I caught your location right away. I spent some time in Wales recently and I have to say it's a beautiful country / cool place to visit. I was in the north mostly but drove by Swansea on the way to St. Davids / Fishguard, and then on up the coast.

As for advice on a Mac Pro for a web designer, I think it's going to have more than enough horsepower for anything you need to do. As far as customizations, get as much RAM as you can afford. You're not going to need a souped up graphics card for anything you're doing, nor are you going to need more than 2 HD (max). If you don't get a second internal drive I would recommend maybe getting a couple of fast external FW drives to backup your audio / video or for any scratch disk needs.

Good luck!

[chris e boy]

Hey Chris. Haven't noticed you here before but I caught your location right away. I spent some time in Wales recently and I have to say it's a beautiful country / cool place to visit. I was in the north mostly but drove by Swansea on the way to St. Davids / Fishguard, and then on up the coast.

As for advice on a Mac Pro for a web designer, I think it's going to have more than enough horsepower for anything you need to do. As far as customizations, get as much RAM as you can afford. You're not going to need a souped up graphics card for anything you're doing, nor are you going to need more than 2 HD (max). If you don't get a second internal drive I would recommend maybe getting a couple of fast external FW drives to backup your audio / video or for any scratch disk needs.

Good luck!

Glad you liked Wales ;) The weather is normally a lot worse than it has been the last couple of months. As for the beautiful country bit, its pretty picturesque in the country. I live just outside the suburbs of Swansea but spend most of my time in the cities (for both work and play) where it aint so beautiful.

I intend to upgrade the RAM to 2gb in the next month or so, im sure 1gb will be adequate until then. Ive also got a 160gb SATA drive in my windows pc (which will soon be hitting ebay) which I intend putting inside my new baby. I also have an old IDE drive which i'll probably put in a usb enclosure for music and other odds and ends. Cant wait to crack open Ableton and Reason on this beast to see how they perform.

EDIT: Oh, and ive been loitering around these forums for a few years now. If you search, ive even made quite a few posts! (about 90-odd) I tend to keep quiet unless i have something important to say though.

As for the horsepower... I bet it'll run a mean game of Doom :D

[Moogs]

Yep. Or Call of Duty 2.

I see now from your registration date you are what we like to call "lurktastic". Instead of jumping in and ambushing, you wait until you have something useful to say. Good work! ;)