Mac Pro specs help

In advance, thank you all for all of your help - You've been great!

I have a few questions about the Mac Pro. My dad is a die-hard, build-your-own, take-it-apart every other week Windows guy, ever since there was such a thing as a home computer. However, I have succeeded in convincing him that Macs are far superior!!!! He wants to get a Mac Pro at some point, and my mom wants to surprise him with it sooner than he was expecting. I don't want to get more than he needs, because it will be too expensive. So I need some help on what specs would be good for him. I already know that he will refuse to get the high-end iMac because he loves to mess around with the CPU, so that is out of the question. This is what he uses his computer for:

-Photo editing (he is an amateur photographer but does extensive work with it on his computer).

-Video editing (family trips, etc, pretty minor)

-EXTENSIVE CD and DVD burning, and storing on the computer.

-Database for his 1800 CD/DVD library

-Running Windows

-He likes to have the options to do more than he actually does, so that is why the Pro would be good -able to expand if he needs to.

I am trying to figure out what I would ABOSLUTELY need to get from Apple (what GHz, etc.) and what I can skimp on and upgrade later for cheaper (RAM, HDD, etc.). But I don't know Mac Pros and their specs well at all, or where to even begin. My dad doesn't know Macs at all, so I am sure he would go for the $14,000 configuration, without knowing what he actually needed!!

Any help would be sooo wonderful. My mom really wants to surprise him, and I don't know where to begin, so I figured this forum would be the best place to get help.

Thank you!!!

I would get the Mac Pro 2.66 ghz. Stay with the 1 GB of Ram because Apple overcharges for RAM and if he needs more, you mentioned he likes to tinker so I would imagine he would like to install it himself. I have 1 Gb and its enough

I have the airport and bluetooth. I like them very much and would recommend them. However this is more of a preference.

I strongly suggest is getting the ATI graphics. If you buy it with the computer its $249 and will is much much faster than the 7300. It will help alot with video editing and gaming (if he is into that). If you were to go buy this card after the fact it would be around $400. I regret that I didn't pay the extra upfront to get the ATI because the 7300 is a weak card.

The only other option I can think of is getting two super-drives because you said he does alot of burning/ripping.

This computer will be more than enough for him and will last him a long time.

Possibly you may want to get another smaller HD for windows like I did. Im sure he could install it pretty easily. I picked up a 100 gig WD for $50 off newegg just to run windows on.

kuklachica said:

In advance, thank you all for all of your help - You've been great!

Click to expand...

We have?...Oh yeah...we...have...

Thank you mr_g5.

I just talked to my dad and asked him "what if" you could get a mac pro- what would you get? And he said someone (I think an Apple rep) recommended to him that since he does photography he get the 3.0GHz Quad-Core. Now, I don't think he needs it, and it's wicked expensive. In what circumstances would he actually need the processor? Would the 2.66 definitely suffice?

Thank you so much.

2.66 would definetely suffice. I mean my 2006 iMac with 2.16GHz dual core and 1GB of RAM can do that easily. Sure, maybe a little slower than I'd like (well I would say that about everything except an 8 core Mac Pro), but even on this iMac it's not hard to do that stuff.

I'm sure 2.66 will be fine.

my 2.66 has never maxed out with anything that has to do with photos.
importing, converting, photoshop, aperture.

The only thing that gave it problems was photoshop CS2, but that was because it was not optimized for Intel macs.

Of course they will sell you the most expensive model they have to sell.
The 2.66GHz model with last a super long time. We sell Macs where I work and we sell a lot of the 2.66GHz models in comparison to the Quad 3GHz.
Bryan

Newbie (first post)

Hello everyone, I have joined the forum and this was basically going to be my first question 2.66 or 3 GHz.

As the speed of a computer is a balancing act between ram/hd/cpu/chipset etc a 10% difference in CPU speed is only going to make a 5% difference in computer speed realistically. I have seen reviews showing a 15% difference by upgrading from 1Gb to 2Gb (both because of the extra ram and because you have a full bank of 4 fb dimms).

I just wanted some other opinions, this has been most useful. (I can spend another £450 on the camera!!

I would guess the perfect combination of cpu/RAM/money would be the 2.66 with 4 GB of RAM