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Product Review: Speedy Mac Pro beats Dell on price
Pittsburg Post Gazette ^
| Saturday, August 26, 2006
| By Robert Weston, The Associated Press
Posted on 08/27/2006 2:14:00 AM PDT by Swordmaker
The Mac Pro workstation features four interchangeable 500-gigabyte hard drives like the one seen above. The bottom slot has an interchangeable memory card that can take up to 16 gigabytes of RAM.
For years, Macintosh computers have been praised for their cool looks and elegant simplicity while being knocked for often carrying a hefty price premium over Windows-based machines sold by Dell Inc. and others.
It's time to think different. Again.
The recently released Mac Pro maintains the Apple shine in design, usability and software but does something unexpected: It turns the old Mac vs. Windows PC price equation on its head.
. . . .
Dell spokesman Marco Pena suggested that the numbers might be closer after configuring the Mac to include a three-year warranty similar to the Dell offering. "But I think we're still going to end up a little higher than the Mac," he said.
"The results were a bit surprising to me too," he said. "But it is what it is."
(Excerpt) Read more at post-gazette.com ...
TOPICS: Business/Economy; Computers/Internet
KEYWORDS: apple; tomatoes
To: 1234; 6SJ7; Action-America; af_vet_rr; afnamvet; Alexander Rubin; anonymous_user; ...
The Mac Pro workstation features
four interchangeable 500-gigabyte
hard drives like the one seen above.
The bottom slot has an inter change-
able memory card that can take up to
16 gigabytes of RAM.
If you want on or off the Mac Ping List, Freepmail me.
2
posted on
08/27/2006 2:18:29 AM PDT
by
Swordmaker
(Remember, the proper pronunciation of IE is "AAAAIIIIIEEEEEEE!)
To: Swordmaker
"A low-end Mac Pro will cost you $2,124, compared with $3,071 for a nearly identically configured Dell Precision Workstation 490. The Mac is about $947 cheaper -- and the gap widens when you start piling on options such as more memory, faster processors and bigger hard drives.". . . .
. . . a higher-end Mac Pro that included two processors running at 3 gigahertz, an Nvidia Quadro FX 4500 graphics card with 512 megabytes of video memory, four 500-gigabyte hard drives and 4 gigabytes of system memory. In this configuration, it sells for $7,449. A similarly configured Dell Precision 690 -- the 490 doesn't offer as many hard drives -- with the same hardware costs $8,534 -- or $1,085 more than the Mac."
3
posted on
08/27/2006 2:21:48 AM PDT
by
Swordmaker
(Remember, the proper pronunciation of IE is "AAAAIIIIIEEEEEEE!)
To: Swordmaker
Anyone whose job requires them to jump into the Dell configuring/ pricing/ ordering maze ought to get paid double time.
4
posted on
08/27/2006 4:25:53 AM PDT
by
elli1
To: Swordmaker
I built my computer out of tomatoes and a stray raccoon. It runs an operating system based on the Book of Exodus, and it will run any software on the market, so long as it is 43-bit.
Fooey on Mac and its easy interface and fast processors.
5
posted on
08/27/2006 4:57:48 AM PDT
by
SlowBoat407
(I've had it with these &%#@* jihadis on these &%#@* planes!)
To: SlowBoat407
and it will run any software on the market, so long as it is 43-bit. While I believe you picked a crazy-sounding bit number for your software, there were 43-bit computers in the old-days. Shall we dig up some old Strela software to see if it works, as per your claim? :)
To: SlowBoat407
7
posted on
08/27/2006 6:24:18 PM PDT
by
SunkenCiv
(updated my FR profile on Thursday, August 10, 2006. https://secure.freerepublic.com/donate/)
To: antiRepublicrat
Shall we dig up some old Strela software to see if it works, as per your claim? :)(haughty sniff) I wouldn't put anything that old on this machine. It has feelings, you know.
8
posted on
08/27/2006 7:15:34 PM PDT
by
SlowBoat407
(I've had it with these &%#@* jihadis on these &%#@* planes!)
To: Swordmaker
Seriously, skimp on the hard drives. Purchase one 250GB drive. Then seperately purchase 500 or 750GB drives from an OEM store. Install them in a RAID 1 or RAID O set up as desired. This is cheaper than upgrading to two 500 GB drives from Apple.
The Dell design is still better for storage. It has an integrated SAS controller. Give me two 146GB (15,000 rpm) drives (and a set ear plugs) anyday! I just built a server with two of the smaller 73GB drives in a RAID 1 configuration. Talk about about fast! I then used 3 SATA-II 750GB drives for storage in a RAID 5 config. Damn that thing was fast! I actually went off the clock to play with (err, burn in) the system.
The Dell has one other advantage, more flexibility in choosing graphics cards. I could get a :SLI config w/ 2 X512MB PCIe x16 nVidia Quadro FX4500 cards in graphic riser". I suppose that if the
NVIDIA Quadro FX 4500 X2 were an option on the Mac Pro, the point would be moot.
9
posted on
08/30/2006 1:32:25 AM PDT
by
rmlew
(I'm a Goldwater Republican... Don Goldwater 2006!)
To: rmlew
Seriously, skimp on the hard drives. Purchase one 250GB drive. Then seperately purchase 500 or 750GB drives from an OEM store. Install them in a RAID 1 or RAID O set up as desired. This is cheaper than upgrading to two 500 GB drives from Apple. You can do the same thing with the Apple... no one is requiring you to purchase your Hard Drives from Apple...
10
posted on
08/30/2006 8:11:13 AM PDT
by
Swordmaker
(Remember, the proper pronunciation of IE is "AAAAIIIIIEEEEEEE!)
To: Swordmaker
Actually, that was advice for the MacPro.
11
posted on
08/30/2006 9:04:09 AM PDT
by
rmlew
(I'm a Goldwater Republican... Don Goldwater 2006!)
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