Mac Pro, MUCH HELP REQUIRED.....please ????

[ZexeZ]

Hi Guys, hope this is the right forum for this, this is my first venture into mac territory, Ive been thinking long and hard about upgrading to a mac, ive seen and used a mac pro in my local apple shop, and compared to my windows PC it was great, i really didn't find anything i didn't like apart from Aperture, i'm a photoshop cs2 user. after my first trip (been back several times) ive convinced myself a mac pro is for me, a friend has a 24" imac but i feel i need more, i want to start with the 2.66ghz processors, 2gb of ram (upgrade to 4 later) and along side the 250gb HD add a 500gb for photography (add another 2x500 later on for music and media), oh and i use bluetooth a fair bit, is it worth having that enabled?,
i want 2 superdrives and then i hit the wall.............Graphics card/s ????
which and what, first i have a calibrated samsung 931c monitor and am very happy with it, so will keep that till i need a bigger one, then i will get another samsung, But the cards, it's a toss up between the 2 x 7300gt 256mb or 1 x X1900XT, i dont play games other than miniclips and other sites like that the only 'big' title i ever played was the demo of Halo, for gaming i use a PS2.
my mac will be used for the usual email & internet but some heavy photo editing using photoshop and the odd music editing/cutting.

second subject is, the software, do i need to install windows xp/vista to run windows version of photshop and other windows software or will it work on the intel processors, like i said previously, my son's the i.t. expert, i just use the things, having said that, the mac pro isn't a thing, it's a gorgeous beast, and soon it will be mine, but please as you see from the thread, i have several questions, can any of you guys help me out here, many thanks in advance

PS do i ned itunes?? or are there other music players/libraries i can use.

Why the Mac Pro and not the imac, i guess the Pro is more upgradable and interchangable as far as internals are required.

 

[bmat]

I'd get the X1900 for the photo editing, although you'd really see the difference more with aperture for your photo editing. I definitely wouldn't get two 7300s, A 7300 can drive two monitors easily, as long as they are not two 30-inchers.

If you want to photoshop, I'd get CS3 when it's available rather than just run a windows machine on a Mac.

Finally, you don't need iTunes, but why wouldn't you use it. It's free, and it works well, and is integrated with a Mac Pro.

Of course, this all said, what is your purchase timeframe. Even though it's just a fraction of the cost of the machine, I'd wait for he new OS before buying, since people think it's this month or next (and who knows if something else might come out with it). Of course if you need it, you need it. But you'd probably want to wait for CS3 anyway, if the whole point was photo editing.

 

[Sun Baked]

A note about the cards, they do not work in tandem. So buying more isn't better unless you have a lot of displays.

1 card -- 1-2 monitors
2 cards - 3-4 monitors
3 cards - 5-6 monitors
4 cards - 7-8 monitors

The ATI X1900 card is a high wattage card, so you can have 2 max -- so if you want to drive 5-8 monitors you will need to use the low power 7300 Nvidia card.

---

Buy aftermarket memory, and drives -- you will generally get a longer warranty for less if you shop around.

 

[BiikeMike]

As bmat said, DEFINITELY get CS3 for Mac. It would be pointless to get a Mac Pro and then run Windows on it to run Photoshop. I use Photoshop on both a Mac and PC, and I have to say, the Mac version is super betterrer!

Good luck with your new machine!

 

[trainguy77]

Go with the single x1900. Thats what i would do atleast.

 

[Keebler]

hey Z.

mac pro all the way, but do hang on another few weeks until NAB around april 15th. supposedly leopard will be released as well as maybe new mac pros, meaning maybe a speed bump and/or price reduction 2.66s.

i'm hanging on until then (barely, but i am

 

[ZexeZ]

Thanks Guys

Thanks Guys, Lots to think about, i like the idea of the X1900 now but will seek more advice as for now i'm using a 19"monitor that may go up to 23" or 24", but ive not seen any thing about CS3, i have been told it's on its way, will wait and check that out, luckily there is'nt a rush to buy, so ive got time on my side, i defo want 2Gb of RAM and start with a 250gb HD & a 500gb HD, the Mac pro is so much computer, but i must admit from what ive seen of tiger and the little bits about leopard i know moving from XP to vista would b a mistake, the mac OS looks more complete.
Well thats my first post out the way, i look forward to conversing more, and hopefully i can configure the system i want and buy it.............i cant wait
Thanks for the great advice so far guys.

 

[dpaanlka]

Try to avoid running Windows on your Mac Pro, if at all possible. It's able to do it, yes, but it's not what it's meant to do. You want to acquire Mac versions of your software.

 

[killmoms]

lol troll.

If you're planning on using just Photoshop and doing music editing, a 7300GT would probably be fine for you. If, on the other hand, you plan on using Aperture/Motion/doing some gaming, the X1900XT is probably a better bet. You might want to wait until NAB if you can (i.e. if this isn't a "NEED" purchase but more of a "WANT" purchase) just to see what happens ugrade-wise (if anything).

Also, I'd consider 2GB as the minimum amount of RAM you'd want while doing content creation + internet/music/e-mail/AIM duties on a Mac Pro. 4GB would be better. It'd probably be cheaper, however, to just get the 1GB from Apple (default 2x512MB config) and then buy 2x2GB sticks on your own for a total of 5, instead of upgrading to 2GB from Apple and buying 2x1GB on your own.

As for Photoshop, you'll want to get the Mac version. No point in buying a Mac if you're just gonna keep using Windows versions of software on it. Wait for CS3. It will be out in less than a week (March 27th, as I recall, unless my memory's foggy).

iTunes is pretty much the only polished game in town. Once you get used to it I think you'll find you like it—especially considering how well it integrates with other apps on the system (and is extensible by other apps as well).

 

[ZexeZ]

Thanks for adding dpaanlka & killmoms

More great advice, so here's the situation, i'm not in a Rush to buy, but will be buying soon, i have decided to run just Mac software, got to write a list of programs and look for mac alternatives, will be starting with 2gb of RAM and may look for alternatives for another 2 or 4 gb to save the old coppers, also if i get the 250gb HD with it, i want to shop around for alternatives to apples HD's say 3 x 500gb HD's that should save me more coppers.
if i can make enough savings i should get all the Mac software i need, first one will be CS3 (only looking into it since you guys mentioned it looks wicked) then office for the wife to do her word docs on, and i use excel for work rota's, other than that i only have nikon capture, but since using cs2 thats never been opened, i reckon at least 90% of my programs on windows i don't really need. at present i use Norton, will i need this on the Mac or is there alternatives as it slows down the windows system when its running, and what music/video players are available on macs ??, any more great advice greatly received, this is one nearly ex-windows user thats learning a lot, thanks

ps, ive got Music and images on external freecom drives, will i have a problem transfering these to hard drive on the mac pro ?