About to take the plunge t-24hours...help.

[youyou]

Hi everyone,
Ok so I posted a few threads already regarding what i should get between an Imac 24" or a Mac Pro with a 30" Cinema Display...
Anyhow I told myself i would give myself another week to see if the Cinema Diplays would be changed at the Photokina event but they didn't...
So tomorrow afternoon i'm talking the plunge and getting the Mac Pro with the 30" Cinema Display...
I just have a few questions before i finalize the specs on the computer and since this forum is full of helpful people who know what theyre talking about i'm sure i can find answers to all my questions in general...
So here goes...
I'll tell you first what i will be using my computer for...
Basically browsing the net alot, using iphoto,idvd, alot of itunes. I have alot of music and love to add many tunes every day. Over 15000 songs right now.
I will be using garageband as well to make songs ( found it to be a little slow on my previous Imac g5). Now i do alot of divx encoding with Roxio 7 Toast Titanium and found that to be extremely slow with my Imac g5. It would take hours and hours... Wondering if it will be much quicker with the Mac Pro?
I will be using Aperture as well. I am new to Aperture and it will be a hobby mostly but hopefully in time I will get more familiar with the program and will be able to use it more extensively. I have over 5000 pictures...
I will be probably be watching dvd's as well on the machine since I will be getting that stunning 30" Cinema Display...
Again as hobbies since I will be getting such a powerful machine I will probably play around with Logic Express and Dvd Studio Pro...
Now here's how I'm going to configure the machine and by all means please tell me if i'm doing it right and what i should add or not...
-2.66ghz Processor
-Gonna upgrade to 2gb or Ram (unless you people can point me somewhere else where I can get it cheaper)
-Gonna upgrade to 500gb Hard Drive(unless you people can point me somewhere else where I can get it cheaper)
-2 16x Superdrives
-Bluetooth + Airport card
-Wireless keyboard and Mighty Mouse
- Now here comes a big issue. The video card... I truly don't know what to get. Either the stock nvidia 7300 or upgrade it to the Ati x1900. I have read alot of people bashing the Nvidia 7300 and Praising the Ati x1900. So I truly don't know what to do. I don't mind spending the extra 300$ for the card if it's truly that much better and if it's going to make my system that much better. Do i really need it? Will I notice a difference in all the things i descibed that i would be doing? I mean i'd rather put the 300$ somewhere else if i don't need the card but from what i have been reading everyone is speaking very highly about this card... So please help me out on this one.
- And lastly the reason for this whole purchase the 30" DISPLAY!!!
Now in terms of the Hard Drive and the memory if you people advise me to buy it separately would it be a simple process? Will I really be saving that much money to justify going through the trouble of installing these things myself? And lastly if i buy memory or a bigger hard drive can i just bring it on to the Apple store and they will install it for me free of charge??
I will also running boot camp on this machine and basically using the Windows side to chat on msn messenger and browse the net a little and maybe watch some videos or whatnot... I have seen many threads in regards to Boot Camp and the Mac Pro but haven't come around to reading them and just wondering if it works flawlessly... I am not too familiar with some of the technical terms used in these forums. And i was wondering as well if my isight camera will work with msn messenger in windows on Boot Camp.
So that's all folks...lolol... Please tell me what you think about all this, if i'm configuring it properly or if i should add anything else and if i'm making a good choice...
I thank you all very much for talking the time to read all this and to help me out with your insightful information.
Thank you again

 

[fusionstudios]

Get RAM from NewEgg.com. You'll save a ton. You can probably get Hard Drives cheaper there as well. RAM is incredibly easy to put in, and you'll get step-by-step instructions on how to install it in the users guide. Hard Drives are not that much harder. If you're still uncomfortable, I'm pretty sure the Apple store will do it for you. As for the video card, the ATI x1900 is a much better card, but if you're not doing a lot of gaming or graphic design, it may not be worth the extra $300.
If I were you, I'd still consider getting the 24" imac. The screen is huge, if you haven't seen it already, and from what you've mentioned you'll be doing with the machine, I'm sure the imac would handle it just fine. I understand you wanting the mac pro, though. If I had the cash I'd buy one too. Sorry, not a huge fan of windows, so I've never really bothered with bootcamp. Hope this helps!

 

[youyou]

Well I took a look at newegg and i have to say its pretty confusing... Not as simple to figure out what kind of ram i need as the crucial website.
As for the 24" Imac i know it can pretty much handle my needs but to be honest when i say it in the Apple store i wasn't impressed at all by the screen size. Not as impressive as the 30" Cinema Display... Maybe that's just because i saw it in a big environment like the Apple store but I truly wasnt impressed. But don't get me wrong it's a beautiful machine. I just sold my 20" Imac g5 Rev A on ebay and that machine was amazing...

 

[emptyCup]

If you are confused about RAM use a selector such as can be found at Crucial and other RAM suppliers. As to machine, you know in your heart what you want to buy, as long as your bank account is as big as your heart go buy it. Best wishes.

 

[youyou]

Any more info please would be appreciated... Any comment on the divx encoding and boot camp? And bacsically all the other questions... Please people...

 

[Abulia]

First, you can find hard drive and RAM from a third party cheaper than Apple. The question becomes if you feel comfortable installing them yourself.

Personally, I went with the Western Digital WD5000YS 500GB enterprise class drive. They're designed for RAID use. They also support AAM and have amazing performance. Something of an easy choice, I feel.

RAM, I went with generic from Newegg without any problems. They have the stock heat spreaders and work fine. Others prefer to spend $100-200 more and get the "Apple Certified" memory. Either way, up to you.

On the video card, unless you're a hard core gamer or do rendering that offloads to the GPU, you don't need the X1900. However your post kinda sounds like money isn't much of a barrier, so that might be $300 well-spent. Your uses for this machine are all over the map...

Boot Camp works flawlessly (for me) but I see no reason for you to down down that path to "chat on msn messenger and browse the net a little"; you can do that in OS X.

I gotta agree with the other poster...you sound like an iMac guy. The Mac Pro is probably way more than you need. I don't get the impression that you're a pro that needs this kind of horsepower from your rather eclectic post.

 

[youyou]

Thank you for the quick reply...
In terms of horsepower I know that the Mac Pro is overkill and that the Imac would suit me fine...
It's just that I absolutely want that 30" Cinema Display and the only thing that can power that screen is the Mac Pro. So what I am to do? I already have a laptop so there's no point in me getting another one just to drive the 30" display. So i'm left with only the Mac Pro.
In terms of New Egg Ram do you have an exact model number for me that i should be looking at? Because i see a few but they all say " no" next to heat sink and i thought that the memory for the Mac Pro needed heat sinks...
Thank you again

 

[Abulia]

Here you go.

Can't beat $174 for Mac Pro RAM!

 

[suneohair]

Here you go.

Can't beat $174 for Mac Pro RAM!

Make that $320 with shipping, since you need 2.

 

[moogs]

Make that $320 with shipping, since you need 2.

More like $348 + shipping.

 

[Abulia]

Thank you, captains of the obvious.

 

[youyou]

Thank you for the link...
But do i need a heat sink for this? Or does it come with it?
And does the Apple Ram come with a heat sink?
Do i even need it...
Thankx

 

[suneohair]

Thank you, captains of the obvious.

Not everyone knows that they need to be installed in pairs...

 

[youyou]

Wow i'm going crazy here... Now i really don't know what to do. I postponed my purchase until tomorrow and am still debating between the Mac Pro or the Imac 24".
I would just be absolutely furious if i spent all that cash on a Mac Pro and a 30" display and then boom suddenly brand new display with built in isight and Octacore Mac Pro...
I think spending too much time in this forum is driving me crazy!!! Always talking about what's coming out soon and making me think twice about my decisions... I am the type of person that hates buying something and then suddenly a new model comes out...

 

[technicolor]

I would just be absolutely furious if i spent all that cash on a Mac Pro and a 30" display and then boom suddenly brand new display with built in isight and Octacore Mac Pro...
..

Its gonna happen regardless.

 

[Nuc]

Ok then just buy the 24" iMac and then sell it when and IF the 30" screen and Mac Pro is updated (probably not for a little while though)... just an option...

Nuc

 

[Harbl]

MaxUpgrades is now selling Mac Pro RAM with their MaxSink already attached. They use high quality Samsung memory. Barefeats recently tested them and found the temperatures lower on average than other FBDIMM's.

Their price is also currently the lowest for this type of memory with the Apple-approved larger heatsinks.

2GB kit (2x1GB) = $399 and 4GB kit (2x2GB) = $799.

 

[Silentwave]

yeah that 2GB kit sounds nice. If you don't want to keep your existing 1GB for money reasons you can always sell it here

HD: you can get those wayyyyy cheaper elsewhere.

Get the X1900XT with the money you save from the above two.

 

[waremaster]

I honestly think you are better off with the matched apple ram. It certainly will not have compatibility issues and you will end up with a perfectly matched set. You are nearly guaranteed not to get ECC errors. And you will not have to worry about the fans running at higher speeds due to lacking ram heatsinks. Also make sure you have 2 x 512's in riser A and 2x512's in riser B to give you 256bit bandwidth. As far as the video card for what you described you are going to be doing the default 7300GT will work just fine. If however you ever plan on doing graphics intensive tasks like video editing or 3d rendering or even games in either Mac OS or Windows via bootcamp by all means you should get the x1900xt.

 

[waremaster]

Wow i'm going crazy here... Now i really don't know what to do. I postponed my purchase until tomorrow and am still debating between the Mac Pro or the Imac 24".
I would just be absolutely furious if i spent all that cash on a Mac Pro and a 30" display and then boom suddenly brand new display with built in isight and Octacore Mac Pro...
I think spending too much time in this forum is driving me crazy!!! Always talking about what's coming out soon and making me think twice about my decisions... I am the type of person that hates buying something and then suddenly a new model comes out...

With the 24" iMac what you get is what you will always have at least with the Mac Pro you can always sell off the 30" monitor and upgrade to whatever you want. I dont even consider the iMac as an option when it comes to that train of thought. Hell you can upgrade nearly every component in the Mac Pro but you cant in the iMac.