I am a big time computer person who is now going to be working at home. Unfortunetly my company will not provide a computer for me but they will give me money to buy one($2,500). I am looking at a quad core or six core computer(six core because I will be running multiple operating systems at the same time so I want more threads). I would like to get a very well built computer because it will be on for probably 7 hours a day. From what I see getting a quad core mac pro will cost more than a quad core iMac. I do not understand why. The iMac comes with a great display and has sandy bridge. I would really like a six core processor and the cheapest mac pro is $3,600! ): So my coworker recommended that I get an alienware area 51(http://www.dell.com/us/p/alienware-area51/pd?refid=alienware-area-51&s=dhs&cs=19&~ck=mn). With this computer I can get a 3.3 GHz six core processor(same as the mac pro), 6Gb of tri-channel 1333Mhz ram(mac pro only dual channel 3Gb), a ATI HD 6870(mac pro only has 5770), and a 23 inch display for only 2,400! Why is the mac without a display, with less ram, with a much worse graphics card, and a much less compatible operating system over 1000 dollars more? Is there anything I am missing?
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Why Apple?
- Thread starter dongiavongie
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There's something I'm missing - what do you mean by "less compatible"?
For many (if not most) Mac users, the OS is really the primary reason for buying a Mac. If you don't like the OS, you should probably buy a PC.
Apple's not big on discounts and the like. The price you pay for a mac pro on the day it comes out is the same you'll pay the day before the new model is announced.
Bit inflexible on their part, granted. Maybe an i7 imac with 8 virtual cores. Or a used mac pro.
Too bad you don't have (cough, osx86, cough, hackintosh) other options.
Bit inflexible on their part, granted. Maybe an i7 imac with 8 virtual cores. Or a used mac pro.
Too bad you don't have (cough, osx86, cough, hackintosh) other options.
yes it is a MacPro the flagship of Apple and user upgrade friendly , can take much more Ram , more HDD's , and it can power up to 6 cinema displays
not to mention the possibility of easyly running multiple operating systems at once OSX , install Parallels or VMware Fusion and run OSX ,windows 7 and linux (whatever distro you fancy or if you like multiple of those too)all at the same time , the MacPro 12 core takes 64GB ram thats plenty enough for 3 operating systems running at once
and the best of all after 3 years you get at very least even from the most cash strapped buyer 2/3 your money back if you sell it again to get a new one , so your next MacPro in say 3 years time cost you just 1/3 the money, so buying a MacPro is a investment for the future
while the Area 51 might be good value , but after 3 years its literally worthless and you find it in the bargain basement of ebay
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I think I will go with the pc. Alienware has six hard drives bays. By the way it's not the operating system. I run win 7 ubuntu debian and osx. I have to work with compatibility of graphics software across different operating systems. I use debian to develop so I don't see why I should pay more. Unless you can convince me within 2 days I will go ahead and buy the pc.
After 20 years of using Windows, and trying OS X as a weekend project and quickly falling in love, I can't understand why anyone would ever consider buying a Windows PC anymore, especially a high end one.
That 2-3-4 thousand dollar PC still runs Windows, and it's junk.
OK, editorial over.
The Mac Pro has more power and is expandable. The iMac has no expansion abilities, but if you don't need to upgrade anything and you don't have a monitor already, or the difference in price is a big issue, then pick the iMac.
As for being on 7 hours a day, that's not a problem no matter which Mac you buy.
That 2-3-4 thousand dollar PC still runs Windows, and it's junk.
OK, editorial over.
The Mac Pro has more power and is expandable. The iMac has no expansion abilities, but if you don't need to upgrade anything and you don't have a monitor already, or the difference in price is a big issue, then pick the iMac.
As for being on 7 hours a day, that's not a problem no matter which Mac you buy.
1) Mac Pro uses Intel Xeon processors, 51 doesn't.
2) Mac Supports 64 gig of ECC ram, 51 12 gig, regular ram
3) Mac Pro is sold by a company that has brick and motor stores that you can bring your machine to if there is any problems or questions.
4) Mac Pro comes with English speaking tech support (if that's what you want).
Mac Pro is more of a professional workstation, where the 51 is a gaming PC. It also includes all of the other benefits that come with Xeon processor based systems.
The Mac Pro however is over due for an update. I wouldn't buy one now, but if you can hold off a little bit...
Edit: Mac Pro will run all the os's you listed.
And to all the naysayers, Macs make GREAT Windows machines.
2) Mac Supports 64 gig of ECC ram, 51 12 gig, regular ram
3) Mac Pro is sold by a company that has brick and motor stores that you can bring your machine to if there is any problems or questions.
4) Mac Pro comes with English speaking tech support (if that's what you want).
Mac Pro is more of a professional workstation, where the 51 is a gaming PC. It also includes all of the other benefits that come with Xeon processor based systems.
The Mac Pro however is over due for an update. I wouldn't buy one now, but if you can hold off a little bit...
Edit: Mac Pro will run all the os's you listed.
And to all the naysayers, Macs make GREAT Windows machines.
You can't run OS X on your Alienware, not reliably, or legally. And many of the programs/apps you will try to run in OS X on a Hackintosh will have problems.
Buy a Mac, you can install the other 2 on it and everything will still run perfectly.
Alienware is Dell with twice the sticker price.
Sounds like you're a developer, what kind of development do you do?
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The Mac Pro uses Xeons, not Extreme Edition i7s. Xeons require fully-buffered DIMMs. The Xeon and the FB-DIMMs are most of the price discrepancy. An analogue to the Mac Pro in Dell's lineup is not the Alienware line, but the Precision line (specifically the Precision 5500 and Precision 7500).
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With the iMac you're paying for the ability to run OS X, and the industrial design. Remember, no physical box, no bluetooth dongles, no external wireless antennas, no display cables, etc. Limited storage and the ability to connect to SANs should no longer be an issue when Thunderbolt devices start hitting the market in about 60 days (I think Sonnet has a Thunderbolt FCAL HBA coming). If none of these things are of value to you, an iMac may not be for you.
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The Mac Pro uses Xeons, not Extreme Edition i7s. Xeons require fully-buffered DIMMs. The Xeon and the FB-DIMMs are most of the price discrepancy. An analogue to the Mac Pro in Dell's lineup is not the Alienware line, but the Precision line (specifically the Precision 5500 and Precision 7500).
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With the iMac you're paying for the ability to run OS X, and the industrial design. Remember, no physical box, no bluetooth dongles, no external wireless antennas, no display cables, etc. Limited storage and the ability to connect to SANs should no longer be an issue when Thunderbolt devices start hitting the market in about 60 days (I think Sonnet has a Thunderbolt FCAL HBA coming). If none of these things are of value to you, an iMac may not be for you.
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Go ahead and buy the beige box. No one really needs to convince you to do anything except for the guy you see in the mirror.
If you want to complain about Apple's offering, fine complain about it, but complain to Apple directly. You can do it on apple.com/feedback. No need to come here and bitch about it to the rest of the community.
Lastly, if you really want to bitch, you should be wagging your finger at your employer as they are the ones who aren't spoiling you as you feel they should, correct? Look bud, you're essentially getting a free computer from your company. Either you work within the budget or put in some of your own money, know what I'm sayin'?
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LOL, 7 whole hours a day? I think I have run my iMac 12 hours a day for the last 4 years, and I never shut it off.
Im not here to convince you either, get the PC.
You didnt mention what you are doing -- but it doesnt sound like gaming or video. So a faster video card does crap for you, get a cheaper one.
Quad core ≠ quad core -- unless you believe the "mhz myth". Its like saying the V8 in a corvette is the same as the V8 in a Silverado. 2 totally different things.
6 GB of ram is nothing, tripling that would help with your multiple threads more than the video card.
And you mean a crappy $150 23" TN panel display @ 1900 X 1080 resolution.
At least if you are going to compare, compare like to like.
Im not sure what kind of responses you were expecting here. What would happen if I posted the opposite statement on PC world forums?
Get the PC.
Im not here to convince you either, get the PC.
You didnt mention what you are doing -- but it doesnt sound like gaming or video. So a faster video card does crap for you, get a cheaper one.
Quad core ≠ quad core -- unless you believe the "mhz myth". Its like saying the V8 in a corvette is the same as the V8 in a Silverado. 2 totally different things.
6 GB of ram is nothing, tripling that would help with your multiple threads more than the video card.
And you mean a crappy $150 23" TN panel display @ 1900 X 1080 resolution.
At least if you are going to compare, compare like to like.
Im not sure what kind of responses you were expecting here. What would happen if I posted the opposite statement on PC world forums?
Get the PC.
Mac Pro has triple channel RAM as well.
mrfoof - Mac Pro hasn't had to use FB-DIMMs in a while. It's just standard DDR3 1333MHz ECC RAM.
Processor - if you can get the same from the Alienware, then the only thing different would be the use of the Xeon vs. consumer Core i7 chip
ECC RAM - no big deal. One RAM note is that you'll need Win7 Pro/Ent/Ult to use more than 16GB of RAM, even in 64 bit.
Video card - better on the Alienware, unless you pay more on the Mac Pro for the 5870, but I'm sure Alienware would allow you to upgrade to a better card, for cheaper than Apple offers one to you. Mind you, for what you're doing, a bigger better video card won't do much for you, save for more video outputs.
With a Mac Pro, you're going to get the little things, like Bluetooth, WiFi, nicer case (that Alienware is pretty tacky looking) and proper use of OS X (not that it'd matter.)
Thing that really confuses me is why you'd get a gaming machine for your work?
Funny cuz given $2500, I could build a machine that'd run much faster than your Alienware and not look like a sore chrome thumb. You're buying a machine from Alienware that still uses an X58 based architecture. Z68/P55/H55 Sandy Bridge Socket 1155 is faster clock for clock. I'll take a quad core i7-2600K SB Proc vs. a Nehalem i7-9x0 hexa-core chip anyday, price performance wise.
I'm going to stop feeding the troll now.
One more tidbit for the troll.
Add your own monitor, keyboard, speakers, webcam, etc.
This machine I specced out is fairly good. It'll run circles around your Alienware and not look like crap, case wise.
Core i7 2600K, 16GB RAM, 256GB SSD SATA 6Gb/s, 2x2.0TB WD Caviar Black HD, Radeon 6870, Win7 Ultimate x64. Pretty decent.
Add your own monitor, keyboard, speakers, webcam, etc.
This machine I specced out is fairly good. It'll run circles around your Alienware and not look like crap, case wise.
Core i7 2600K, 16GB RAM, 256GB SSD SATA 6Gb/s, 2x2.0TB WD Caviar Black HD, Radeon 6870, Win7 Ultimate x64. Pretty decent.
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It all works so smooth, barely no problems and no wasting time on drivers or anything else.. it all just WORKS.
Now, i have 3 macs at home and 3 pc's, two of my PC's are dead, they stopped working, only thing i did to them was surfing, messenger and occasionally some gaming here and there, but that was a 10 year old game (CS 1.6) so nothing that would kill the computer over time, they all got blue screen of death, programs stopped answering and i just got ****ing pissed, i hate when computers don't work.
the only PC i have working right now, is sooooo anoying, programs begin to not answer and it's all just pain.. i only use it when i have to play Counter Strike, i can't do that on my Mac.
Actually, windows on mac works better than windows on Pc, IMO.
Now, i have 3 macs at home and 3 pc's, two of my PC's are dead, they stopped working, only thing i did to them was surfing, messenger and occasionally some gaming here and there, but that was a 10 year old game (CS 1.6) so nothing that would kill the computer over time, they all got blue screen of death, programs stopped answering and i just got ****ing pissed, i hate when computers don't work.
the only PC i have working right now, is sooooo anoying, programs begin to not answer and it's all just pain.. i only use it when i have to play Counter Strike, i can't do that on my Mac.
Actually, windows on mac works better than windows on Pc, IMO.
Choosing between Alienware and Mac Pro is like choosing between Olive Garden and some fine dining place. If I was going to put 2 systems against each other, it would be BOXX vs. Mac Pro. Not some crappy gaming PC that doesn't even rank high among other gaming PCs.
Besides, I question the original person's need for a powerful workstation, because a real professional wouldn't say: "much less compatible operating system", coz WTF does that mean anyway?
Besides, I question the original person's need for a powerful workstation, because a real professional wouldn't say: "much less compatible operating system", coz WTF does that mean anyway?
In most parts of the country Olive Garden is a fine dining place. There are a lot more small and mid sized towns and cities than there are big cities that can support fine dining places.
In my city Olive Garden is a huge step up compared to Fazoli's and Joe's Italian Grill. How many Italians do you know named Joe? The next city over smaller than mine has Jake's Chinese Restuarant. How many Chinese are named Jake?
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Alienware has always been an interesting concept for me. It's a brand designed for hardcore gamers. A lot of the price goes into the extra labor they use for testing and certifying your system after assembly. My issue is that most hardcore gamers I know (lots) build their own computers and would possibly only consider buying an Alienware laptop.
The bottom line is that you're paying a price premium with Alienware just for them to benchmark your system and to throw it in that over-branded case.
Really for what you do, Mac Pro is the be-all, end-all.
Terrible analogy. Any Italian will secretly tell you (you may have to use pliers) that Olive Garden is actually pretty good.
Alienware used to be a great choice for high end gamers and was a well respected company, then Dell bought them out.
Now they are a joke amongst most gamers as they are horrendously over priced (and some may say under spec'd). If you want to go the PC route then shop around, yo can find far cheaper then Alienware, if you want to go the Mac route then a high end i7 iMac sounds like it would fit the bill for you.
Now they are a joke amongst most gamers as they are horrendously over priced (and some may say under spec'd). If you want to go the PC route then shop around, yo can find far cheaper then Alienware, if you want to go the Mac route then a high end i7 iMac sounds like it would fit the bill for you.
