I am looking at these desktops, like apple products, since I got a macbook pro, & have considered a desktop, they do seem powerful, I am little concerned about power in my home, it is a 1950's era home with older outlets, I have a surge suppressor, but would it be able to power one of these beasts of a machine? or would it trip my breaker?
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will mac pro run off old wiring
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I dont know, & dont know where to look for that, but my wiring is old, some of the outlets in my home have been redone, but others have not & are just 2 prong. All I know is that is old, 1950's, & the breakers have tripped on us, especially in the summer when fans, microwaves or other things are going at once. I now have a macbook pro hooked up in my room with hard drives & peripherals, & so far no power problems.
there are no ratings above each switch, we had an old diagram that showed our washer & dryer as 220 volt, but I have no idea what the rest of our house is, maybe 120 volt? all I know is that it is over 50 years old.
Any amperage rating on the breakers/diagram? With an amperage rating we'd be able to access the total power load that the breaker can handle compared to the Mac Pro...
Honestly though, fans and microwaves (even though microwaves are very high power) tripping the breaker doesn't sound promising. A Macbook Pro is... 80 watts iirc? And a Mac Pro is at least 400-500 watts in a basic configuration.... So a Mac Pro is a significantly higher load than your Macbook.
the breaker tripping does not happen that often, only when there is a mocrowave,fridge, lights on in all the house & a vacum cleaner all at once going on.
I have used a hair dryer in my bedroom with no problems.
Right, but having a Mac Pro on means one less device required to trip the breaker, especially if you're upgrading the machine to higher specs...
Might be a good idea to invest in a UPS, just so there aren't power accidents resulting in lost work.
Right, but having a Mac Pro on means one less device required to trip the breaker, especially if you're upgrading the machine to higher specs...
Might be a good idea to invest in a UPS, just so there aren't power accidents resulting in lost work.
can you link me to some inexpensive ones?
right now all my computers are plugged into Belkin multioutlet power strips/surge suppressors.
http://www.vanns.com/shop/servlet/item/features/753163336/apc-s15?s_c=site_search
this is 300 bucks. does not sound low cost does it. the problem is it is low cost for the mac pro 's needs
here is the normal price for it this is a black one price 800 the silver one above is 300
http://www.vanns.com/shop/servlet/item/features/753858785/apc-s15?s_c=site_search
there are some 150 dollar units from other companies that may or may not be good enough. others may post them. my question to you is why do you want a beast of a machine like a mac pro?
this is 300 bucks. does not sound low cost does it. the problem is it is low cost for the mac pro 's needs
here is the normal price for it this is a black one price 800 the silver one above is 300
http://www.vanns.com/shop/servlet/item/features/753858785/apc-s15?s_c=site_search
there are some 150 dollar units from other companies that may or may not be good enough. others may post them. my question to you is why do you want a beast of a machine like a mac pro?
A hair dryer is typically around 1KW. The MP will top out around ~400 Watts. Add a couple hundred watts for peripherals any can see that the total is WAY less than the hair dryer.
JohnG
I'm no expert, but I think that he should definitely find out what his breaker limit is before proceeding. Running the Mac Pro while having everything else off in the house will get reaaaaaal old come summertime..
mac pro takes about the same juice as a vacuum starting up so you should be alright. just don't run the microwave with the vacuum probably when the computer's on
I can't answer your question. I will say however, if you are going to live there a long time it's probably worth your time to add a couple of grounded circuits. Have a pro do the install to the circuit breaker. You can save money if you do the in-house wiring. If you have a 1950 house with a basement it's probably easy because there's no insulation anywhere, LOL. I'd also be suspicious of any 3-prong outlets in the house, you might want to check the ground. I've seen many 3-prong outlets in older houses are really only wired for two-prong behind the scenes. Not safe.
Have you considered an iMac? Even the 27" iMac will use considerably less power than a Mac Pro + similar monitor, and the performance is comparable for many users' needs.
Right now my 2.93GHz Quad Mac Pro with 4 HDDs (1 SSD + 3 standard) and 4870 GPU is hooked up to a UPS along with my 24" LED Cinema Display and an Airport Extreme (dual band), and the power consumption is 180W at idle. Doing something trivial like opening Keynote bumps that up to 225W while it's loading. Rendering an animation in Cheetah 3D pushes it to 260W sustained during the render (and it would go higher if the render lasted long enough to make the fans speed up).
Before this computer I had a 27" iMac with a 2.8GHz i7 and I don't recall the exact wattage it used, but my inclination is to say no more than 80 or 90W at idle, including a 2 drive FW800 raid enclosure that I had attached to it.
Right now my 2.93GHz Quad Mac Pro with 4 HDDs (1 SSD + 3 standard) and 4870 GPU is hooked up to a UPS along with my 24" LED Cinema Display and an Airport Extreme (dual band), and the power consumption is 180W at idle. Doing something trivial like opening Keynote bumps that up to 225W while it's loading. Rendering an animation in Cheetah 3D pushes it to 260W sustained during the render (and it would go higher if the render lasted long enough to make the fans speed up).
Before this computer I had a 27" iMac with a 2.8GHz i7 and I don't recall the exact wattage it used, but my inclination is to say no more than 80 or 90W at idle, including a 2 drive FW800 raid enclosure that I had attached to it.
Well it seems an imac might work for me as well, can one upgrade RAM etc?
what would be the minimum specs to get for an imac?
I will be using photoshop CS5, maybe Adobe's primere video editor, & final cut pro, edting standard & hig def movie content. photo files will consist of .PSD & Nikon raw files with layers.
what would be the minimum specs to get for an imac?
I will be using photoshop CS5, maybe Adobe's primere video editor, & final cut pro, edting standard & hig def movie content. photo files will consist of .PSD & Nikon raw files with layers.
Yes, one can add RAM to the iMac oneself, up to 16GB. iFixIt and Apple explain how to do it.
I would go with an i5 or i7 quadcore, especially if you need to transcode lots of HD video to be able to properly edit it.
Btw, it is called "Premiere".
He may also want to wait until the next iMac update, which is likely to bring some nice speed improvements.
Reminds me of this Green Acres episode.
Is there no way to have the house re-wired or at least a dedicated circuit installed for the computer?
If not, a decent UPS does sound like a good investment.
Is there no way to have the house re-wired or at least a dedicated circuit installed for the computer?
If not, a decent UPS does sound like a good investment.
