What would you do in my situation

[cosmicjoke]

Currently own: Late '11 15" MBP, two Thunderbolt Displays, and an i7-2600k tower w/ 16gb of ram, 8tb of HDD space etc...

I bought the MBP & TB displays a desktop replacement last Dec., I was impressed w/ the idea of TB technology and made the early adoption leap.... Prior to that I had been using the tower as a desktop, but since have been using it as a server for a lot of handbraking, irssi, transmission, sabnzbd, itunes yadda... The MBP is more or less adequately fast enough for my needs in conjunction with my server, and I adore the displays, however, I run it pretty hard every day and it sounds comparable to a hairdryer on full blast all day... I can't entirely say I didn't expect this, but it's starting to become grating and I wish I had a proper desktop again... I want a tower, but I have these incompatible displays to contend with...

Ideas that have crossed my mind.... see if I could craigslist trade the TB displays for cinema displays, or sell them for at least $800 a pop and eat the loss and buy a set of cinema displays... or wait indefinitely and see what happens with the Mac Pro..

an iMac is not really an option, I want a relatively quiet machine under load (like my desktop), I have no need for a 3rd monitor, and I don't have the time to take my desktop in for service for a simple thing like a HDD failing S.M.A.R.T.

Anyone have any other ideas (earplugs aside)? I've looked into thunderbolt extension cables but they don't seem to exist, or I'd just put my MBP in my walk in closet and close the door...

 

[CaptainChunk]

I guess the question becomes whether you want to run OS X or not on official hardware.

The only way to get the things you want out of an OS X Mac is to buy a Mac Pro. You can also take the Hackintosh route with your existing PC (provided it has compatible hardware), if you're adventurous.

The next Mac Pros would presumably have Thunderbolt (but no one knows for sure), so that might be an option worth waiting for if you wanted to hold on to your displays.

 

[cosmicjoke]

I guess the question becomes whether you want to run OS X or not on official hardware.

The only way to get the things you want out of an OS X Mac is to buy a Mac Pro. You can also take the Hackintosh route with your existing PC (provided it has compatible hardware), if you're adventurous.

The next Mac Pros would presumably have Thunderbolt (but no one knows for sure), so that might be an option worth waiting for if you wanted to hold on to your displays.

Yeah, I guess for now I'll hold onto the displays and see what happens... A Thunderbolt capable Mac Pro would be ideal, though if thunderbolt motherboards roll out for PCs first and turn out to be a viable alternative through hackintoshing at least it will be a relatively inexpensive upgrade as I wait out the fate of the Mac Pro.