If anyone is reading this who knew me in high school, you're probably going to ask, "Who are you, and what did you do with Kevin?" That's OK. It's been many moons, and people are allowed to change their mind, right?
A few weeks ago, Apple released the new Mac Pro, the Intel-based replacement for the PowerMac G5. As always, the machine itself looks slick, but it wasn't until I started reading the reviews that I realized how amazing this machine really is. Aside from just a new Intel brain, the inside of the computer has been completely revamped. I particularly like the cable-less SATA drive cages. Just load the drive and slide it in -- no cables necessary. A plethora of ports on the front and back of the case provide ample connections for peripherals. Overall, a very elegant design.
I have been critical of Apple's pricing in the past, sometimes citing blatant overcharging or outright stratospheric pricing. Imagine my shock when one reviewer pointed out that a comparably priced Dell cost almost $1,000 more. Incredulous, I went over to Dell's site and configured a similar computer. It ended up being only $700 more, and came with a free 19" LCD monitor. Not too bad--but for $700 I could buy a pair of 20-21" LCDs. [I'm sure if you try this today, you'll get some other deal from Dell's wheel of specials.] So, not only is the Apple machine elegant and tremendously fast, but it's one of the cheapest dual-WoodCrests you can buy. I never thought I'd see the day.
Now, before anyone thinks I've totally given up all scruples and started drinking the Apple Kool-Aid, I do have a few quibbles with their new system. First, the 7300 GT video card is pretty wimpy for a high-end $2,500 computer. They could have at least used a 7600 GT. The memory used in the Mac Pro is also a new type of memory called the FB-DIMM, and it's more expensive (though also faster). Also, a dual-processor system is admittedly overkill, still leaving a gap in Apple's line-up for a mid-range system without a monitor. It would also be nice if Mac Pro had built-in wireless capability, since every other current Mac system has it.
These gaps aside, the Mac Pro is a very tempting system. Let's also consider the potential of the Mac Pro and Apple's Boot Camp software, or the recently released Parallels for Mac VM that allows you to run Windows, Linux or almost any other OS as a window within OS X. Depending on the situation with Vista, come next year, I may very well be looking at the Mac Pro as my new system. With the ability to run Mac OS X, Windows and Linux on one system, what else would you need? With more and more applications becoming available for OS X, making the jump is looking more and more possible, and more and more tempting.
What does your ghost of computing future look like?
when I know what I can build and the cost of that £1500+ seems a awful lot still for the Mac. I guess if you need all 3 OS's then sure, it is the best choice. But you would have to change the graphic card, which addds yet more £$£$.
Even prebuilds (from other companies than Dell-hell) work out way more bang for buck...
As far as looks, well its nothing special, in my humble, at least its not white...on hang on...
That's cool and all but I don't see why I wouldn't be able to do this on my Windows machine via, say, Parallels or Virtual PC (legal B.S. aside)
Moreover, I'm not quite sure how viable the "all-in-one" idea is. Call me crazy but playing Half-Life 2 through a hypervisor (complete with all of the limitations of Parallels) just doesn't seem like a winner.
All in all the Mac Pro seems like a pretty cool package, for what it is. Still, it makes jumping to the Apple ship about as easy as Cedega makes jumping to the Linux ship...which is just about nil, for me.