I'm looking at buying a 6 core base processor, 512GB SSD, 32GB RAM, and dual D700s (and AppleCare) for about $5500 + tax. Thunderbolt peripherals extra of course.
From what I can see an equivalent cost workstation PC isn't all that different. Building one yourself is cheaper I assume but that's still not really worth the time based on my hourly/daily rate.
Then there is the cost of equivalent GPUs on the PC side. As I understand it a D700 is pretty equivalent to a W9000 at over $3000/GPU. But even the D300 is a pretty good deal. Someone correct me if I am wrong here.
In any case, if there is a couple of hundred dollar premium (GPUs aside) for having what I personally consider a superior system (knowing full well that what each of us considers a superior system varies immensely) and I can pay for it on average with about 2 weeks of work... well, what's the debate really about?
James
On Dec 20, 2013, at 12:11 PM, Søren Christensen wrote:
I was trying to configure a HP Z workstation and a Boxx workstation with the same specs (cpu, gfx card etc)as the new mac pro. They ticked in between 38-51% more expensive than a new mac pro. With normal sata6 ssdnand with smaller category gfx cards (And off course pcie slots). With one gfx card they where still expensiverl... I find it quite odd that people are ranting about how expensive the mac is maxed out when pc counterparts cost the same or a lot more for the same configuration.
In my case the mac pro comes as a blessing and the form factor is very welcome. I do a lot of live visuals and virtual scenography where gpu performance and multiple (more than 3) outputs is a must. And super fast ssd speeds to handle xx amounts of realtime hd video layers a necessity. This small wine-cooler-look-a-like design (Bodum, anyone?) fits in the hand luggage. Touring with mac pros has become fun again :-)
Looking forward to see some real world cpu and gpu tests. What has been clear for a long time is that gpu power is the new 'black'. Lets hope that the all-in bet on opencl pays off.
Cheers, Søren
Count me in as a rich nerd I guess - I'll be buying one. I've never regretted buying a Mac, when I've gotten a bad one (1 in 16+years, they've been great at correcting the problem).
I've made a couple PC purchases I'd rather not go into...
Why make an assumption how long it will take to get repaired? I had a MacPro way out of warranty that had a power supply go bad; I guess they didn't have the part because they gave me a brand new base model MacPro for no charge at all, they didn't even charge for the diagnostic fee. (And they let me pay the difference to upgrade it to the fastest MacPro). What a waste of money! This was for a 4+ yr old machine, they weren't obligated to do anything. Time to receive the new machine was about a week ( mainly because I requested a non-stocked configuration).
HP wants $3,749 for the 12 core Xeon chip, they're not cheap.
800.00 to upgrade from a 256GB SSD isn't bad considering it will do 1200 MB/s. To match that speed, you can't really replicate it easily (RAID adds latency).
mho... Dennis Wilkins
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