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Apple really needs to rethink their Mac Pro pricing

Whackintosh

Whackintosh

macrumors 6502
Original poster
Mar 8, 2009
435
14
Montreal, Quebec
I really, really want a Mac desktop but I would prefer not to get an all-in-one, nice as the Imacs are, and the mini might be a little too little computer given that it comes without a GPU. Much as I want to get away from PC, I specced out the following Dell XPS 435, and I'm going a bit nuts holding back from simply getting it:

Genuine Windows Vista® Home Premium Edition SP1, 64-Bit

Intel® Core™ i7-920 processor(8MB L3 Cache, 2.66GHz)

Microsoft Works 9.0

1 Year Next Business Day Onsite/In Home Service and Tech Support

No Monitor

8GB Dual Channel DDR3 SDRAM at 1066MHz - 4 DIMMs

1TB 7200 RPM SATA Hard Drive

750GB 7200 RPM SATA Hard Drive

ATI Radeon HD 4850 512MB

Dual Drives: Blu-ray Disc (BD) Combo (BD-ROM; DVD/CD Burner) and DVD+/-RW

Soundblaster® X-Fi™ Titanium

56K PCI Data Fax Modem

Hauppauge HVR1250 hybrid TV Tuner with Remote Control


The price? $2, 019 Canadian!

How does Apple justify their much, much higher pricing for a Mac Pro with a single hdd, 3gigs of RAM, a lower video card, no BR etc?

I don't want to go with a PC desktop, but with Windows 7 on the horizon and these kinds of machines being offered, it sure is tempting.
 
Tallest Skil said:
That Core i7 isn't a workstation processor and the Mac Pro is not for consumers.
Click to expand...

True, but it still seems to be drastically underloaded for what it's priced at, don't you think? By much more than just a few hundred dollars, which I think we could all accept. The Dell is also a terrible power hog from what I read, very much not Energy Star compliant. I imagine it's also considerably louder than any Mac on the market.

I'm just frustrated because I want a proper Mac desktop, and the options are to go under-powered, be stuck with an all-in-one or go much, much bigger than I want, yet spend through the nose for that machine with paltry specs compared to anyone else's.
 
Regardless of what the OP priced, the beef is legit. I'm in a similar boat.

I need a desktop that'll run the latest FCS and LS with decent amount of muscle. The mini is just too weak. The iMac has laptop components and is married to a screen. The MacPro is just too expensive. I'd like something for around $1000, and Apple just doesn't have it.

What's worse, I don't think Apple is interested in getting into this market segment anytime soon. This has sent me, reluctantly, looking at building a hackintosh. I'm gonna tackle that once Snow Leopard drops, and people report that it works with whatever components and FCS. I'm looking at sometime around the end of October, beginning of November.

I bet I can get a decent rig for $1000 in components. How stable it'll be running SL and FCS + LS is a different story. Aaah, if only Apple sold mid-tower computers...
 
Pardon me for asking, but why do want that particular config? What will you be using it for? If it's gaming, don't get a Mac in the first place (build it yourself, don't buy a Dell). Loose the sound card if you spent less than $100 per speaker or so on your computer speakers, it's probably not worth it. It's definitely not worth if your speakers have a dedicated preamp and the integrated audio has a digital out. Use 6GB of RAM, so you get tri-channel. MODEM?????!!

OP, seriously, what IS this thing for? Sorry to sound rude, but it looks like you just maxed out everything because either:

A. You really have no idea what you are doing spec-ing out a computer

or

B. You feel some bizarre compulsion to have a machine with hardware you have no possible use for. (I won't bother with the "man-size" joke here)


You say you don't want an overkill box, but I have a hard time seeing how the machine you posted isn't going be an overkill box. I'll bet anything you could drop some of those options and not notice they're gone.
 
J the Ninja said:
Pardon me for asking, but why do want that particular config? What will you be using it for? If it's gaming, don't get a Mac in the first place (build it yourself, don't buy a Dell). Loose the sound card if you spent less than $100 per speaker or so on your computer speakers, it's probably not worth it. It's definitely not worth if your speakers have a dedicated preamp and the integrated audio has a digital out. Use 6GB of RAM, so you get tri-channel. MODEM?????!!

OP, seriously, what IS this thing for? Sorry to sound rude, but it looks like you just maxed out everything because either:

A. You really have no idea what you are doing spec-ing out a computer

or

B. You feel some bizarre compulsion to have a machine with hardware you have no possible use for. (I won't bother with the "man-size" joke here)


You say you don't want an overkill box, but I have a hard time seeing how the machine you posted isn't going be an overkill box. I'll bet anything you could drop some of those options and not notice they're gone.
Click to expand...

Fax modem. For... faxes, which I unfortunately, still need to send every now and then. :)

I'm looking for a machine that could crunch through video and photo editing when needed, but I'm not at all interested in gaming. Actually, correction, I do like gaming, but I use my PS3 for that.

RAM-wise, if I can get 8 gigs and not pay anything crazy for it (in this case, barely pay for it at all), why not? Better to have too much than not enough. Realistically, I'm more than fine with 4 gigs, but if I'm being offered 8gigs, I'm not going to say no.
 
Also, tri-channel ram has so far been slower performning than dual-channel, for some reason. But if I wanted tri-channel, Dell gives you the upgrade option of spending an extra $50 and getting, wait for it, 9 GIGS of tri-channel ram!
 
Whackintosh said:
RAM-wise, if I can get 8 gigs and not pay anything crazy for it (in this case, barely pay for it at all), why not? Better to have too much than not enough. Realistically, I'm more than fine with 4 gigs, but if I'm being offered 8gigs, I'm not going to say no.
Click to expand...

Tri-channel is faster.
 
Apple with rethink their pricing when their computers aren't selling. Pony up, buy an iMac or Mini, or enjoy your Widows PC.
 
They don't have a good consumer desktop. The MacPro is way too expensive for light duties and the mini limiting in many regards. I have chosen mini's, but would rather have the equivalent of the PM7500.
 
You really need to rethink your career before complaining about the price of a pro machine.
 
TYAN S7002WGM2NR-LE motherboard - 350$
2 x Intel Xeon E5520 2.26GHz - 770$
Western Digital Caviar Black 640GB - 75$
NVIDIA GeForce GT 120 - 149$
6 x Kingston 1GB DDR3 1066 - 156$
SAMSUNG Black 22X - 29$
Nexus RX-1K 1000W - 200$
Mac Pro case (eBay) - 51$ OR APEVIA X-JUPITER S-Type - 160$
Mac OS X Leopard 10.5.6 - 129$
Apple keyboard with numeric pad - 49$
Apple Mighty Mouse - 49$

Total: 2 007$ (2 116$ with Apevia case)

That's the closest motherboard I found. Of course that doesn't include fans and cables etc etc... Is it overpriced now? I think not. Let me now if I missed something
 
What I'd like to see even more than a price drop on the Mac Pros (which would still leave them expensive considering how much the drop would likely be) is an offering between the iMac and the Pro. Drop the price of the iMac a bit and offer a Mac with a desktop processor, and and upgradeable HDD and video card. Although this would cannibalize sales on both ends (iMac more than Pro), I bet that Apple would sell a ton of these for an overall net gain.

I don't think it's going to happen, though.
 
Hellhammer said:
TYAN S7002WGM2NR-LE motherboard - 350$
2 x Intel Xeon E5520 2.26GHz - 770$
Western Digital Caviar Black 640GB - 75$
NVIDIA GeForce GT 120 - 149$
6 x Kingston 1GB DDR3 1066 - 156$
SAMSUNG Black 22X - 29$
Nexus RX-1K 1000W - 200$
Mac Pro case (eBay) - 51$ OR APEVIA X-JUPITER S-Type - 160$
Mac OS X Leopard 10.5.6 - 129$
Apple keyboard with numeric pad - 49$
Apple Mighty Mouse - 49$

Total: 2 007$ (2 116$ with Apevia case)

That's the closest motherboard I found. Of course that doesn't include fans and cables etc etc... Is it overpriced now? I think not. Let me now if I missed something
Click to expand...


Except those are all retail prices...not even close to what Apple pays for those components.
 
Hellhammer said:
That's the closest motherboard I found. Of course that doesn't include fans and cables etc etc... Is it overpriced now? I think not. Let me now if I missed something
Click to expand...
I think the only things you missed are related to the motherboard. The Mac Pro has 4 Firewire 800 ports and optical digital audio, but the motherboard you mentioned doesn't have those. Adding PCI cards for Firewire 800 and audio should add another $100 or so.
 
Voidness said:
I think the only things you missed are related to the motherboard. The Mac Pro has 4 Firewire 800 ports and optical digital audio, but the motherboard you mentioned doesn't have those. Adding PCI cards for Firewire 800 and audio should add another $100 or so.
Click to expand...

I know I missed Firewires, USBs, PCI-Es etc but I just couldn't find one with right attachments. Mac Pro motherboard is custom likely.
 
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