Mac Pro looks like a bargain vs Dell's Nehalem workstation
Dell's new workstations are out, and I priced a stripped down T5500 dual 2.93 system with 12GB RAM - with the intention that my company may move all our Adobe workstations over to PCs. While the PC has a lot more options (Blu-ray, professional graphics cards), the price came to $8800 for the Dell vs $6399 for the Mac Pro. Dell requires some premium hardware choices (10K drives), but nothing that made me think it was worth $2500.
So this just seems to be the price of doing heavy data crunching in the Nehalem world. I'm no hardware expert (our purchases are generally driven by significant decreases in render time), so if someone would shed some light on this (in my opinion) massive discrepancy, I would love to hear it. I'm actually stunned.
So this just seems to be the price of doing heavy data crunching in the Nehalem world. I'm no hardware expert (our purchases are generally driven by significant decreases in render time), so if someone would shed some light on this (in my opinion) massive discrepancy, I would love to hear it. I'm actually stunned.
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Plus the Dell is ugly, I would get the Lenovo over the Dell for sure.
Dell's new workstations are out, and I priced a stripped down T5500 dual 2.93 system with 12GB RAM - with the intention that my company may move all our Adobe workstations over to PCs. While the PC has a lot more options (Blu-ray, professional graphics cards), the price came to $8800 for the Dell vs $6399 for the Mac Pro. Dell requires some premium hardware choices (10K drives), but nothing that made me think it was worth $2500.
So this just seems to be the price of doing heavy data crunching in the Nehalem world. I'm no hardware expert (our purchases are generally driven by significant decreases in render time), so if someone would shed some light on this (in my opinion) massive discrepancy, I would love to hear it. I'm actually stunned.
Why the move over to PC? Let me guess...it's IT related.
Why the move over to PC? Let me guess...it's IT related.
I convinced the money man to invest heavily in Xserve RAIDs a few years back. That hasn't worked out so well. We're reduced to scrounging for used parts. Our consultants said not to even bother looking at Xsan/FCServer configurations with our hardware. Long story short, there's a bit of an Apple backlash. Adobe workstations are now fair game for PC replacement.
I convinced the money man to invest heavily in Xserve RAIDs a few years back. That hasn't worked out so well. We're reduced to scrounging for used parts. Our consultants said not to even bother looking at Xsan/FCServer configurations with our hardware. Long story short, there's a bit of an Apple backlash. Adobe workstations are now fair game for PC replacement.
Ouch. It's understandable though...when Apple decided to cancel the lineup and pointed users to a Promise RAID I figured there'd be fallout.
I guess it's the reason why I get a bit snarky when the "Apple's going to take on the Enterprise" articles continue to be written. They couldn't even manage to keep their storage array current.
No one sees the backlash but your company isn't the only one thinking
"It'd be a hell of a lot easier to toss these Macs and run CS4 on PC"
In many ways i'm happy to see Apple's success but they are excessively leveraged against consumer tech and that's "here today ..gone tomorrow"
the new Mac Pros aren't cheap. overall, I still say the macs are better built overall, but they've had a bad run at times on parts. not always their fault, unless it's a design flaw by apple...
I'm on my 3rd MacBook Pro (first machine was a Powerbook) because I'm the black sheep of repairs in town. If not for the OS, I likely would have went back to "cheaper" PC hardware - most people wouldn't have put up with what I had, but those machines have their problems too & don't seem very well made.
when Apple decided to cancel the lineup and pointed users to a Promise RAID I figured there'd be fallout.
They didn't just point to the Promise RAID, btw. Look closely at Promise's FAQ:
Q: What?s so special about these limited configurations?
A: The configurations listed on the Apple Store have a different firmware version that has been well tuned for Apple hardware, Mac OS X Server, Xsan 2 and Final Cut 2 professional applications software and rigorously tested by Apple and Promise for performance, compatibility and outstanding reliability.
Q: Are there any other configurations or models of VTrak RAID storage subsystems supported for Apple applications by Promise or Apple?
A: No
Q: Where can I buy these specific configurations?
A: These specific configurations can ONLY be purchased through Apple and Apple approved sales channels worldwide. Promise does not sell these specific configurations through any other channels. http://store.apple.com/Apple/WebObje...sories/promise
It's the Xserve RAID all over again. Apple specific hardware, embedded with Apple specific firmware, sold exclusively through Apple. Xsan is only qualified with this Apple specific Vtrak model. As soon as Apple doesn't want to support it anymore-you're stuck. OK, I'm OT, still a little sensitive on the issue.
or just get out of the server / enterprise business. They have caught fire the last year or so with desktops / laptops in business & the iPhone is starting to catch on... great way to shoot themselves in the foot again.