Thanks all for feedback/suggestions
It will likely run all the latest software in 5 years. It might not run everything super fast, but if that's not so important to you.... Just remember in 5 years the technology will actually be 7 years old.
I would greatly recommend not paying full price for a 2010 Mac Pro in 2012 if you can avoid it, however. A little bit of DYI will save you a lot of money. If you're willing to buy the RAM and SSD from a 3rd party and install it yourself, you'll save $1000 USD on the RAM and a good $500 on the SSD. If you are willing to do the quad 2009 to hex 2010 upgrade yourself, you can save even more (maybe another $1000). All told a 2009 4 core could be $1800 + $600 for W3680 + $350 for 32 GB RAM + $400 for the video card. So, $3150 USD in total, or about 2100 with today's exchange rate. You might find different prices in the UK, however, I'm still guessing you could save nearly 40% if willing to do so.
Wether you want to acknowledge it or not, the likelihood of a refresh in nearly month should enter into consideration when spending this much money. And with a good chance of a refresh, plus the simple fact that the current system is fairly old and easily built for substantially less money, I would say its not worth buying at the cost from the apple store. At the very least, don't do the RAM and SSD from Apple.
i know i could save a lot by getting components from 3d parties, but also read that apple's memory is "special" regarding it's ECC (error correcting) whereas other memory doesn't have this(and if they do, you end up in the same price range as apple's), meaning chances of failure are more likely, now i only read this, so don't know if it's true
i'd prefer memory that's reliable and lasts a long time, unless of course you don't think it matters
the SSD i was indeed thinking of buying from 3d parties, because 1100 euros more for an SSD is quite a lot, it is a 500GB though, but i don't need that much for applications/OS, think a 200 would be enough for that (2 OS's)
you also said building a quad 2009 into a hexa, i have no experience on this area and it's not that i do not want to do this, but i'd like a reliable/stable system, preferably with warranty since i have that kind of luck where everything tends to break (my MBP from in my sig had the Nvidia card issue (production fault) but no longer chimed so they couldn't confirm the production fault and had to pay for a new mobo...)
as for the software, i guess that's fine, as long as apps don't freeze/crash because of lack of CPU it's good
I would wait, to see if there is a new Mac Pro before you buy,
If you buy, try to buy good condition used or refurbished.
Right now, the new Mac Pro is theft at best.
i've been waiting for good over a year now and am getting quite impatient
, i'll need this comp for my studies so i can't really wait much longer
and i've already been looking in used ones (haven't found refurbished ones), but the hexacores are very rare to find in the used market
Given your needs, together with a time frame of 5 years, and possibly 8, there is no way I would purchase a Mac Pro. Nor can you simply X out the consideration of whether the Mac Pro line will continue. That must be a consideration.
Mac Pro hardware is great, it really is, most reliable desktop I've ever owned, solid components, great construction, nice case, reliable. OS X beats Windows hands down as well. OS and hardware integration is tight on Mac Pro. A lot of plusses.
But the minuses are starting to grow. Mac Pro support is really thin now. PC hardware and aftermarket upgrades are really starting to kick Mac Pro in the ass -- and it's most noticeable in precisely the things you laid out you want to do with the machine.
Take us for example. We have a slew of 2008 Mac Pros that need upgrading, most critically GPUs, but would like a CPU boost and USB 3.0 if we could do it. But we really can't -- not economically, anyway. Look at the price of Apple's video cards -- $475 for cards that are like three years old, and frankly are garbage, absurdly outdated. And look at what really matters, Mac Pro logic boards -- ancient, frankly. The cheapest PC motherboards come with USB 3.0 standard, yet the i/o of current Mac Pros right now is just terrible. And no, I don't feel like taking our valuable time and money to buy scores of PCIe cards merely for USB 3, heck I don't even think we have the space on some of our machines. No bluetooth either -- great, now I need yet another USB dongle for that too.
Wait until PCI Express 3.0 starts moving -- and developers start taking advantage of what it has to offer. I can see a time when our Mac Pros are discarded as doorholders if this continues. Bottom line, Mac Pro tech is starting -- starting -- to get left in the dust. Period.
So it's the best of times, and it's the worst of times. Really fond of Apple, all our Macs, love OSX, and the integration is the best in the business, much more solid and tight than any Windoze PC.
But damn if PC hardware and advances are really kicking Mac Pro's teeth in. I recently built a screaming fast PC for half the cost of a Mac Pro, and this PC, performancewise across any number of benchmarks, would just destroy my stable of 2008 Mac Pros, which we paid top dollar for. Can't ignore the price issue any longer, because faster PC tech is now far, far cheaper than anything Apple is offering the professionals. And because Apple has abandoned us, there's not much I can do about it. That's a problem. A big problem.
i totally agree with you, the hardware's getting old and you can't just keep adding PCI cards to update your comp, eventualy you'll have used them all
i also don't like the fact that the mac pro's don't have thunderbolt, wether or not this will be a new standard, i'd like to have this insanely fast I/O interface, even if it's just for daisy chaining more hardware same for the PCI 3.0
and yes, i currently run windows and mac OSX and if the software i need wouldn't be windows only, i would've unleashed my rage on the windows 7 disc (way too many problems i had with that ****** OS)
so on the hardware side, it's a real bummer
i even thought about building a hackintosh, but after all the research i did, i can't rely on that, sure it runs fast and stable at a certain time, but as soon as an update hits, you're system is K.O. until you fix it, which i don't feel like doing every time there's an update
My deadline for a new comp is end july/early august, so you guys suggest i wait till then?
i've also thought about buying a cheap windows computer (as much as i hate saying that) that should keep me going until a new Mac Pro arrives but don't really like the thought of buying 2 computers just to pass time...
so thanks again all for the advise, much appreciated
and please do make more suggestions, my MBP Penryn can't keep up anymore with the stuff i'm doing.
Regards,
Apple-Guy
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