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Why a Mac Pro? Why not a PC?

mjsmke said:
Some friends convinced me to have a go on windows 7 saying it wont crash more than OSX and its easier to use... really? It crashed within the first 10 mins of use. It wouldnt even open a large maya file. I even tried importing it as an object but it crashed after 20-30 seconds of it opening. This was in a brand new bay of PC's. It may be down to me being too optimistic about a new so called perfect version of windows, but it was terrible.
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I don't think your experience was at all typical. In my experience Win7 is very stable, at least as much as an OS with a system registry can be.

I've always built my own boxes, and for a long time used a hackintosh system. Over time I incorporated more and more OSX software into my workflow, and I eventually bought a Mac Pro. I know folks get militant, but I won't ever go the hackintosh route again. It's too much of a pain to setup, and something as simple as a CPU upgrade can break it anyways. Bottom line, if I am using the machine for work.. I need to be able to recover it ASAP after any type of potential disaster. I couldn't be certain I could do that with the hack route. It was fine when it was working though.
 
I think a Mac Pro is a great choice! You get a powerful computer and then you can bootcamp W7 on it. So you can get the best of both worlds from a Mac Pro. I personally have an attachment to Macs, but I have a desktop PC. I think it depends on preference so why not get the machine that'll allow you to have the best of both worlds.
 
One of the best things I enjoy about macs is I can clone my disk, then if I ever have a crash or issue (never had one yet), plug in my backup and keep right on going. Can't do that in windows. I recently installed win7 on my latest build and will have to admit, the best so far. Maybe when UEFI gets implemented on windows in the near future, hopefully make it even better.
 
bearcatrp said:
One of the best things I enjoy about macs is I can clone my disk, then if I ever have a crash or issue (never had one yet), plug in my backup and keep right on going. Can't do that in windows. I recently installed win7 on my latest build and will have to admit, the best so far. Maybe when UEFI gets implemented on windows in the near future, hopefully make it even better.
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You can clone a Windows disk (Linux too), but you need software to do it (Acronis True Image is one example - can do both Windows and Linux from the emergency boot disk if you burn it).

If you use Boot Camp (single or shared disk), Carbon Copy Cloner can also clone the Windows installation in a MP (BC sets the GPT system on the disk in front of the Windows installation, so it gets recognized).
 
ddwit said:
Dear People,

I would like to know your thoughts? I like OSX, I like Apple hardware, I like Mac software, we own a Mac Book Pro and an Imac a PC, and we will buy a Mac Pro this week or so.

Why not buy a PC instead: the same setup will cost 1000,- less, it has more extra's (like more RAM, USB3, eSata), Windows 7 is stabil?
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Personally, I wouldn't buy the current Mac Pros at their current prices. I would wait for the next version unless I had no choice but to buy one right now.

You might also want to look at a used 2008 or 2009 model.

You do end up getting ripped off on the hardware. All a Mac Pro is a bunch of commodity Intel server/workstation hardware... but price the same stuff from Dell or HP, and compare apples to apples.

The OS is nicer and you can always use boot camp to go into Windows 7.
 
oban14 said:
Personally, I wouldn't buy the current Mac Pros at their current prices. I would wait for the next version unless I had no choice but to buy one right now.

You might also want to look at a used 2008 or 2009 model.

You do end up getting ripped off on the hardware. All a Mac Pro is a bunch of commodity Intel server/workstation hardware... but price the same stuff from Dell or HP, and compare apples to apples.

The OS is nicer and you can always use boot camp to go into Windows 7.
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One thing that gets overlooked, though, is the inability to get to low level functions of the system in a MP.

For example, try to run a full disk scan on a HDD. You can't, as the system's firmware won't allow the low level functions to work properly (i.e. low level format to map around bad sectors). This particular issue crops up a lot with RAID (as well as the inability to access the card's firmware directly; Web Access is all, and there are instances this won't work, such as setting the array as the bootable location). Cloning is the only way to get around this, but you cannot do a clean installation directly to the array when you create it.

Access to the firmware settings is another one, and is more commonly an issue from what appears here in MR.

Now this sort of thing may not appear that often, but it's important when they do, as they may not have a solution in a MP only environment. :(

A PC on hand or accessible can solve this, but it's a PITA (even the simple situation of making a DOS boot disk on a PC and using it via a USB 3.5" Floppy can help, but you can't make the disk on the MP).
 
*cough* Final Cut Studio and Logic Studio *cough* Apart from those 2 massive ones, the fact it looks pretty, its quiet, its powerful and it can power my cinema display.
 
Because of the OSX, you can even chose form 4, 6, 8 or 12 core processing power. If you are into editing mac pro has a powerful graphic card and a much faster performance.
 
chrismacguy said:
*cough* Final Cut Studio and Logic Studio *cough* Apart from those 2 massive ones, the fact it looks pretty, its quiet, its powerful and it can power my cinema display.
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I prefer After Effects and Premier to Motion and Final Cut Pro. There was a time when FCP was revolutionary. It did more than anything to rid the world of $100,000 Avid suites.

I don't use Logic Studio, so, I have no comment on whether or not it it a killer app worthy of requiring a Mac Pro.

FCP has not been that app for a while.
 
oban14 said:
Personally, I wouldn't buy the current Mac Pros at their current prices. I would wait for the next version unless I had no choice but to buy one right now.
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Weird, that's what they said about the last Mac Pros.
 
When I'm actually achieving something in terms of work, I go into a sort of "zone". I start working extremely quickly and efficiently, and this is when I'm actually productive - often way more productive than the people around me. The problem is that I'm easily broken out of this, be it a missing tool or a slow/loud environment, and once I'm out it's hard to recover that workflow. With OS X everything is where I want it to be, behaves how I want it to behave, and almost never disrupts this flow. Windows and Linux, on the other hand...

That comfort and flow is what keeps me in the Apple ecosystem - that and the great community surrounding it. :apple: It's hard to describe to somebody who doesn't work like me or who has only used Windows, but it's worth way more than $1-2000 to me. And it isn't just OS X - take a look at the design of all of Apple's products, especially the inside of the Mac Pro. Everything Apple makes screams quality and screams flow, at least to me.

Maybe I'm just weird, I don't know. :p
 
The 2010 Mac Pro is the best PC I have ever owned. It runs great with Mac OS X, OS X Server, Linux, and Windows 7. No issues. When I find another PC that can do all of that as seamlessly (a hackintosh is not a seamless solution) I will consider it.

The Mac Pro is great physical hardware as well, and I have yet to come across anything comparable outside of Apple. Very streamlined inside and out. Perfect? No. It has it's little issues. But it meets my needs more than any other piece of hardware out there.

And the cost? The modern Mac Pro costs me about as much as I paid for nicely loaded PCs from 10-20 years ago. It also costs me a lot less than similarly loaded Macs of that era, and much less than UNIX workstations from back then for sure. And considering the dollar was worth more back then I would call today's Mac Pro a bargain.
 
snouter said:
I prefer After Effects and Premier to Motion and Final Cut Pro. There was a time when FCP was revolutionary. It did more than anything to rid the world of $100,000 Avid suites.

I don't use Logic Studio, so, I have no comment on whether or not it it a killer app worthy of requiring a Mac Pro.

FCP has not been that app for a while.
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And Im the opposite - I cannot stand Premiere - It just seems awful from years of Final Cut use - so for me its a massive killer App. Logic isnt so much killer, but the only way to use it and have ProTools on 1 box is to get a Mac Pro if you want decent performance.
 
chrismacguy said:
And Im the opposite - I cannot stand Premiere - It just seems awful from years of Final Cut use - so for me its a massive killer App. Logic isnt so much killer, but the only way to use it and have ProTools on 1 box is to get a Mac Pro if you want decent performance.
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Premiere used to be a steaming pile of poo. No doubt.

But right now, especially considering the tight integration with Photoshop, Illustrator and After Effects, I'm not sure it's even close. I stopped upgrading my FCP a long time ago and I've never looked back.

In my defense, I absolutely hate Motion (or have just failed to come to terms with it) and have used After Effects since forever, so, that's a huge part of it.

As always different strokes for different folks but for someone new to the scene or whatever, I'd recommend them going with Production Premium CS5 over FCP Studio without reservation.
 
A customer paid his wedding with his "old" Mac pro (8cores 2.8, 12gb ram) and I'm an :apple: user now after years of denying to spend extra money in hardware, software and Istuff i don't really need. Sorry mr. Jobs but I don't even know the Iphone yet. ("I think different").
I can't tell you which platform or hardware is better cause I like them both, instead I will share my happiness of having OSX and Windows 7 in the same network. They're both stable enough for me and neither gave me an issue. I never had the chance to learn Final Cut so I always worked with Premiere. It's running on both pc and mac. I plan to upgrade the graphic card in order to take advantage of the acceleration in CS5.
what I miss with macs are some simpler software/plugins like muvee, Proshow,etc and in the case of Premiere 52 missing transitions. But that's why I like about having both systems. They complement good. Life is good.
 
Do you want hairloss with that sir?

I have used Macs at home for the last 22 years, the GF and her son are happy Mac users too, our home network is simple, clean, secure and easy to use/maintain/backup. I put Win 7 on my Mac Pro to flash a Sapphire GFX card for OS X use, the GF demanded I remove the Win 7 build as soon as it was done, she doesn't want it in the house after about a week of dual booting. :eek:
So it sits on a HDD in a cardboard box out of her sight. Domestic bliss restored.

Then I go to work, where we have a Windows Server 2003 network running (read limping); everyone who uses it has a resigned look of pained inconvenience at best, at worst they have keyboard rage. I would place the network's "foibles" as the most likely cause of work stress and argument. People can't wait to get away from it. Nobody there likes being inside the Hell of Gates. I go home and relax a happy man. :)
 
bearcatrp said:
One of the best things I enjoy about macs is I can clone my disk, then if I ever have a crash or issue (never had one yet), plug in my backup and keep right on going. Can't do that in windows. I recently installed win7 on my latest build and will have to admit, the best so far. Maybe when UEFI gets implemented on windows in the near future, hopefully make it even better.
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May I ask what software you use? Thanks!
 
I've been building PC's forever but am now transitioning to OSX. I'm just "done" with ***** with Windows and constantly dealing with malware suppression!

regards
JohnG
 
I use my Mac Pro for work.

At the minute I am on a 4 year upgrade cycle, next one is due middle of this year. In this time all I have done is upgrade software, OS's and HDD's so maybe up to a week in required downtime over 3.5 years.

That, to me, is worth the extra money. But when I really look how much money this machine has helped me make in that time the extra $1000 at the beginning is trivial.

I guess that's it. I want my machine to work and keep helping me earn money.

I think people who complain about the price initially aren't actually using their computers for income. And if they are they're doing it wrong.
 
OP,

If you didn't already have a couple of good Macs (iMac and MBP), which are pretty substantial computers in their own right, then I would say get a Mac Pro to join your PC.

Ask yourself will you need a Mac Pro in addition to your iMac and MBP? Are you going to use it for heavy duty graphics/gaming or is it just going to do what the other two Macs could do fairly well already?

That's not to say the Mac Pro is overkill, but see if you really need it first. Most people I know can get by with an iMac and MBP and probably with just one of them if they are reasonably new.
 
Really depends on what your needs are, but bottom line is that any intel based machine capable of running OSX is capable of running Windows too. Personally, after weighing all my options for a replacement desktop (our personal laptop is a Mac) I went the Hackintosh route. Going with the GA-X58A-UD3/5/7/9 motherboard series and a DSDT from tonymacx86 I was able to put together a i7-950 system with 12GB of RAM, a better graphics card, 120GB SSD primary drive, Blu-Ray burner, SATA6 and working USB3 in an outstanding Lian-Li case for much less than a baseline MacPro. Granted there was an initial learning curve, but it runs like a champ and there have been zero issues with updating. The only real issue I have had is that I need to run an older version of iStat Menus to get full support of all sensors.

If I were buying for commercial use or I really needed a dual processor machine, I would spend the extra and get a Mac Pro - but for personal use the 'Apple Tax' is just too high on a single CPU system.

For your 'normal' user that only needs the one drive, one monitor and will never even consider cracking open the case, look at the MacBook Pro (or the iMac if you need the desktop class processor).
 
ddwit said:
Dear People,

I would like to know your thoughts? I like OSX, I like Apple hardware, I like Mac software, we own a Mac Book Pro and an Imac a PC, and we will buy a Mac Pro this week or so.

Why not buy a PC instead: the same setup will cost 1000,- less, it has more extra's (like more RAM, USB3, eSata), Windows 7 is stabil?
Click to expand...

Purely for OSX in my case.
 
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