the right beginner MAC for me?

dtravis7

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Mac Pro said:
Well if I were you, I would get the mini now and see how you like OS X, then when your office pc needs replacing, you could get something more powerful like a mac pro.
Click to expand...

That really to me is an excellent suggestion. If for some reason you do not like OSX after giving it a fair shake, you will not be out all that much and the later Minis hold their value quite well.

If you find you like OSX, you can always get a faster Mac down the road and use this as a 2nd system as you said.
 
CrimsonRequiem

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LIVLUVLAF said:
Which one would you recommend???

Since I don't need to spend my money on the monitor or accessories, and I'm really hesitant to buy entry level products (in anything) - I though a tower was the way to go. In Canada new towers start at $3000CAD ... way beyond my budget for hardware. But on ebay they occasionally sell at $1500US, or I was also considering a G5. Initially I figured a good G5 was better than a mini ..... but now I've learned it won't work well with windows.

So now it's a choice of waiting for the budget to buy a intel tower (+ software), or I could get the mini now. If you guys swear the mini wouldn't let me down, I'll consider it. Eventually I'll need a 2nd MAC anyhow, as the office PC will need replacing in a couple of years.
Click to expand...

Try looking at Apple's Refurbished store. It changes frequently so you have to check back every so often. Right now there is this one:


Refurbished Mac Pro 2.66GHz Quad-Core Intel Xeon

One 2.66GHz Quad-Core Intel Xeon "Nehalem" processor
3GB (3 x 1GB) of 1066MHz DDR3 ECC memory
640GB Serial ATA 3Gb/s 7200 rpm
18x SuperDrive (DVD±R DL/DVD±RW/CD-RW)
NVIDIA GeForce GT 120 with 512MB GDDR3 memory

For a little over 2.1k
 
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CrimsonRequiem said:
Try looking at Apple's Refurbished store. It changes frequently so you have to check back every so often. Right now there is this one:


Refurbished Mac Pro 2.66GHz Quad-Core Intel Xeon

One 2.66GHz Quad-Core Intel Xeon "Nehalem" processor
3GB (3 x 1GB) of 1066MHz DDR3 ECC memory
640GB Serial ATA 3Gb/s 7200 rpm
18x SuperDrive (DVD±R DL/DVD±RW/CD-RW)
NVIDIA GeForce GT 120 with 512MB GDDR3 memory

For a little over 2.1k
Click to expand...

hmm, that's worth considering. oh, decisions, decisions ....
 
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LIVLUVLAF said:
hmm, that's worth considering. oh, decisions, decisions ....
Click to expand...

If you are pretty sure you will stick with mac and not want to sell it soon after you get it, it may be a good idea to go with the mac pro. If you are unsure how you will like macs and OS X then I think the mini is a better choice.
 
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nothing yet ... still salivating at the counter.
how much better is a quad core 2.6, than a core 2 duo 2.53?

or is it quality of "other parts", or flexibility of the tower which makes it better longterm than the mini?

trying to rationalize the $1600 CAD difference between the two units.
 
CrimsonRequiem

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LIVLUVLAF said:
how much better is a quad core 2.6, than a core 2 duo 2.53?

or is it quality of "other parts", or flexibility of the tower which makes it better longterm than the mini?

trying to rationalize the $1600 CAD difference between the two units.
Click to expand...

It's easier to upgrade the tower than the mini.

How much better is quad core vs duo...?

Would you like to have 4 people working on a project at the same time or 2?
 
dtravis7

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Also the Mac Pro is a Pro machine and does not use the normal Intel C2D or QuadCore CPU's. It uses a Xeon CPU or CPU's and different memory architecture. It has expansion bays and slots, WAY better video card options which can be upgraded later. It will accept 32GB RAM (Eight Core and 16GB Ram for QuadCore) and up to 8TB of internal storage!
 
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"Would you like to have 4 people working on a project at the same time or 2?"


have I mistaken the meaning of Core 2 duo - does it not mean 2x2 (4) processors?

or is the "duo" missing from the Quad core title?
 
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dtravis7 said:
It uses a Xeon CPU or CPU's and different memory architecture.
Click to expand...

Aha! thank you, now I get it.

Initially I wasn't sure giving myself room to grow was worth the extra 1.6K.

Back to tearing my hair out ....
 
CrimsonRequiem

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LIVLUVLAF said:
ah, have I mistaken the meaning of Core 2 duo - does it not mean 2x2 (4) processors?

or is the "duo" missing from the Quad core title?
Click to expand...

The duo part does mean two...the "Core 2" part is what gets confusing. It's basically just another new processer architecture/design. It still has two cores.
 
dtravis7

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CrimsonRequiem said:
The duo part does mean two...the Core "2" part is what gets confusing. It's basically just another new processer architecture/design.
Click to expand...

CR beat me to it! :D

The first of the Core Series CPU's was the CoreDuo. It was a 32-Bit with 2 cores on the same die. Then the newer incarnation came out so they called it a Core2Duo. 64-Bit CPU with 2 cores on the same die.
 
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Just to confuse things, the Core 2 line of Intel processors can be quad core as well. They are known as the Core2Quad line of processors.
 

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