I'd rather an "ipad" talk to the computer than actually touching the screen itself. A touch screen imac would just be...
1) dirty (too many fingerprints and grease; ewww; our workstation are dirt enough and skeeve me out when I think about the germs, really bad in multiuser environments in terms of hygiene) and
2) not ergonomic at all. Unless they have a really cool stylus in the works my "pad/ tablet" suggestion would really only work for navigation and manipulation, but not useful to artists without pressure sensitivity. Hmmm
Yup, them Mac Pro prices are pretty insane, huh? Just WHY AFTER 10 YEARS CAN ANYONE NOT MAKE A PC CASE ANYWHERE CLOSE TO AS GOOD LOOKING AS A MAC TOWER??? SOMEONE PLEASE TELL ME WHY? Other than that, your specs there are sweeet. Nvidia 460 yeahhhhh Fermi finally delivers.
I'd say that PC cases in general suffer from too much expandability. It's hard to find something 'lean' and classy. I don't even need a built-in optical drive. But PCs have 2-7 drive bays on the front, even though nobody needs more than 1.
Also, the best airflow cases are catered towards gamers, so blue LED fans (ugh) and plexiglass windows. There are nice cases out there, though.
I like the FT02 because the air moves vertically up (convection on steroids), and the MB is rotated 90 degrees so the ports/slots are all on top. Having ports on the back of a machine is irritating to me. And it is sound-proofed.
...and the i7 is till BTO? Cheap ass dual core i3s right up to £1400!!! And the gpus are just rebadged, years old tech'.
Apple. Go f*ck yourself. With your bargain basement specs and rip off prices.
Lemon Bon Bon.
I understand your sentiments, but I have to step in to defend AMD/ATI a little. 5670 and 5750 are not rebadged stuff, it's based on the excellent 5800 series which actually were the best GPUs around (and still are, to a decent extent) until Nvidia finally salvaged something out of Fermi with their new 460.
As to whether Apple is charging the right price for those... Heh
This is so biased it's ridiculous. A comparison to Dell, HP, etc. would be an actual comparison. Comparing the price to a perceived parts breakdown to determine profit margin isn't really accurate, and you didn't build yours with a xeon setup. That being said they really seem to be relying heavily on a semi-captive market that is already invested in hardware and software for OSX. I'm disappointed in the changes they've made on their Mac Pro line and the way they've advertised them. It's been a significant price hike every year for comparable configurations. Considering the high point of entry for the pro/prosumer market, it should be a better value than it currently is.
Mac Pros, Starting at $2500 USD for a Quad core. F^%$ you too, Apple.
On the upside, the base graphics card is a 5770 with 1GB GDDR5.
My next computer:
NVidia 460 1GB: $250
12GB 4GBx3 1600mhz DDR3: $360
700W OCZ power supply $100
Seagate 7200RPM 1TB: $80
MSI mATX X58 mobo: $180
Noctua CPU cooler silent (dual fans) $80
Intel Core i7 920 "D0" stepping (easily overclocks way beyond 4ghz, with very little heat/power): $350
Pioneer DVD RAM $30
Silverstone Fortress FT02 thick aluminum silent case (industry best cooling/aesthetics/silent/dust free): $230
PC Assembly and Testing with 1 Year Limited NCIX System Warranty: $50
Shipping to my house: $0
A system that positively shit-stomps the Mac quad in every way, bought at retail component prices: $1,724 Canadian Dollars.
Bailing on Mac Pro hardware: priceless.
I don't doubt you can get roughly equivalent parts, but some of the specs aren't necessarily comparable.
Are you going to pirate your OS? If you're not going to count the basic software you need to run it, then the comparison is moot.
The base Mac Pro Quad is 2.8GHz, not 2.66GHz. 2.66GHz is for the 6-core chips.
Your specified RAM probably isn't ECC, and your chosen board probably doesn't appear to support ECC.
Mac Pro's power supply is rated at or above 1kW.
The cheapest Xeon board is $240 US. I don't understand why you'd limit yourself to microATX, the other MSI boards look interesting, you might as well have some closer feature parity, your chosen board doesn't have Firewire 800 or optical audio.
mATX: because I don't need more than 1 PCIE slot. Maya doesn't use SLI/Crossfire. This board has two slots, which is one more than I need.
ECC Ram... specious at best? Does it mean no crashing software? In my experience, my MBP has no stability issues, and it has no ECC. Does your iMac/Mini/Macbook crash all the time? Even if it did, the Ram is likely not the reason, but rather the app coding. So what value does ECC Ram even offer, exactly? Why is my computing life incomplete without it?
Xeon? A marketing gimmick IMHO that only makes sense with multi-processor machines. The only tangible advantage of Xeon (as opposed to the numerous disadvantages) versus mainstream CPUs is the ability to use more than one; a false limitation created by Intel to increase their profit margins. Why Apple would even think of making a single processor Xeon "workstation" is beyond me. Especially the three generations old Xeon, as is found in the single CPU Mac pros.
Quote:
This is so biased it's ridiculous. A comparison to Dell, HP, etc. would be an actual comparison. Comparing the price to a perceived parts breakdown to determine profit margin isn't really accurate, and you didn't build yours with a xeon setup.
I'm not sure what you are getting at, but I can build these machines for $1000USD less than Apple's 'entry' Mac Pro, and they'd truly stomp the Pro. With parts bought at retail prices.
Throw in a 4ghz rock-solid overclock with almost no difference in heat/power consumption ("D0 stepping"), and it is the Mac Pro Apple might offer in another 500 days. For another $2500+. Because you can't upgrade.
Me? I'll buy another future 12GB ram for less than today's $360, another CPU for $300+, and have a current machine for my 3D work.
In terms of work accomplished in a set amount of time, this works for me. I'll give Hackintoshing a good effort. While OS X is far from perfect, I prefer it. Hackintoshing doesn't look difficult to me at all, as someone who is intimately familiar with Linux on obscure hardware platforms.
Of course, I could just ditch Mac OS after 15 years and go with Windows 7; then I'll at least have fast, bug-free OpenGL/Direct X 3D. Which is more than OS X can claim.
If you see value in Apple's Mac Pros, great. I don't. It's time I shut up and do something about it. My career isn't going to be held back by Apple's neglect of its Macs.
I'm a fringe case. I recognize that. But Apple does not offer a compelling 3D workstation anymore (if they ever did). And let's face it; they aren't going to.
ECC Ram... specious at best? Does it mean no crashing software? In my experience, my MBP has no stability issues, and it has no ECC. Maybe your iMac/Mini/Macbook crashes all the time? Even if it did, the Ram is likely not the reason, but rather the app coding. So what value does ECC Ram even offer, exactly? Why is my computing life incomplete without it?
Memory tends to experience maybe a bit flip every gigabyte per week. ECC can detect and correct that. Maybe consumers don't need it, but this is not a consumer computer. If you have a lot of data that's in memory, there is less likelyhood that data is going to get corrupted.
Quote:
Xeon? A marketing gimmick IMHO that only makes sense with multi-processor machines. The only tangible advantage of Xeon versus mainstream CPUs is the ability to use more than one; a false limitation created by Intel to increase their profit margins. Why Apple would even think of making a single processor Xeon "workstation" is beyond me. Especially the three generations old Xeon, as is found in the single CPU Mac pros.
I understand your thinking, but I don't know if it's true, the chips seem to go another round of testing from what I can tell on the spec sheets, and they have tighter power margins and broader thermal margins. I don't see anything that shows it's a three generation old CPU.
I've had single and dual processor workstations for maybe 12-13 years now (Alpha (Windows NT), PPC (Mac OS X) and Intel (Windows NT, 2000, XP, OS X), and I've yet to regret getting any of them. They're better built and have better reliability than what I've seen in consumer systems.
mATX: because I don't need more than 1 PCIE slot. Maya doesn't use SLI/Crossfire. This board has two slots, which is one more than I need.
ECC Ram... specious at best? Does it mean no crashing software? In my experience, my MBP has no stability issues, and it has no ECC. Does your iMac/Mini/Macbook crash all the time? Even if it did, the Ram is likely not the reason, but rather the app coding. So what value does ECC Ram even offer, exactly? Why is my computing life incomplete without it?
Xeon? A marketing gimmick IMHO that only makes sense with multi-processor machines. The only tangible advantage of Xeon (as opposed to the numerous disadvantages) versus mainstream CPUs is the ability to use more than one; a false limitation created by Intel to increase their profit margins. Why Apple would even think of making a single processor Xeon "workstation" is beyond me. Especially the three generations old Xeon, as is found in the single CPU Mac pros.
I'm not sure what you are getting at, but I can build these machines for $1000USD less than Apple's 'entry' Mac Pro, and they'd truly stomp the Pro. With parts bought at retail prices.
Throw in a 4ghz rock-solid overclock with almost no difference in heat/power consumption ("D0 stepping"), and it is the Mac Pro Apple might offer in another 500 days. For another $2500+. Because you can't upgrade.
Me? I'll buy another future 12GB ram for less than today's $360, another CPU for $300+, and have a current machine for my 3D work.
In terms of work accomplished in a set amount of time, this works for me. I'll give Hackintoshing a good effort. While OS X is far from perfect, I prefer it. Hackintoshing doesn't look difficult to me at all, as someone who is intimately familiar with Linux on obscure hardware platforms.
Of course, I could just ditch Mac OS after 15 years and go with Windows 7; then I'll at least have fast, bug-free OpenGL/Direct X 3D. Which is more than OS X can claim.
If you see value in Apple's Mac Pros, great. I don't. It's time I shut up and do something about it. My career isn't going to be held back by Apple's neglect of its Macs.
I'm a fringe case. I recognize that. But Apple does not offer a compelling 3D workstation anymore (if they ever did). And let's face it; they aren't going to.
I'm a 'Mac' guy. But I don't blame your decision.
Apple are so 'up' themselves re: the Mac. They're sitting on 40 billion plus.
They're using rebadged cpus and gpus. They're forcing an BTO option for an i7. They're still charging a premium for quad core chips... And the price bands to get access to low end to middle performing hardware is pure, out and out greed.
I'm just sickened by it.
If it wasn't for Os X, I'd 'f*ck' Apple off and buy my hardware elsewhere. You can get twice the Mac 'pro' for half the money from many PC vendors.
I mean, you seriously can't get an entry 6 core 'pro' for 2k? The entry dual is now £2700? With medicore gpu as standard? What crack is Jobs on?
Comments
OK, that's it. European stores are already down.
US Store down.
- Jasen.
Mac Pro and Apple Cinema 27" is mah predikshen.
No antiglare, for the record.
Currently there are 24" and 30" displays,
is this going to change to:
?24 & 27 or
?27 & 30 or
?24, 27 & 30?
looks like apple tv sets are coming one day soon.
new iMacs, minor speed bump, $1200+
Trackpad, $70
Mac Pros, Starting at $2500 USD for a Quad core. F^%$ you too, Apple.
On the upside, the base graphics card is a 5770 with 1GB GDDR5.
My next computer:
NVidia 460 1GB: $250
12GB 4GBx3 1600mhz DDR3: $360
700W OCZ power supply $100
Seagate 7200RPM 1TB: $80
MSI mATX X58 mobo: $180
Noctua CPU cooler silent (dual fans) $80
Intel Core i7 920 "D0" stepping (easily overclocks way beyond 4ghz, with very little heat/power): $350
Pioneer DVD RAM $30
Silverstone Fortress FT02 thick aluminum silent case (industry best cooling/aesthetics/silent/dust free): $230
PC Assembly and Testing with 1 Year Limited NCIX System Warranty: $50
Shipping to my house: $0
A system that positively shit-stomps the Mac quad in every way, bought at retail component prices: $1,724 Canadian Dollars.
Bailing on Mac Pro hardware: priceless.
alternate (black) 3/4 view internal side rear views.
I'd rather an "ipad" talk to the computer than actually touching the screen itself. A touch screen imac would just be...
1) dirty (too many fingerprints and grease; ewww; our workstation are dirt enough and skeeve me out when I think about the germs, really bad in multiuser environments in terms of hygiene) and
2) not ergonomic at all. Unless they have a really cool stylus in the works my "pad/ tablet" suggestion would really only work for navigation and manipulation, but not useful to artists without pressure sensitivity. Hmmm
Agreed on all counts!!!!!
Yup, good times, Store is down...
Mac Pro and Apple Cinema 27" is mah predikshen.
No antiglare, for the record.
Hah! I was right. Except for the rest of the stuff that was also announced...
But I was right about NO ANTIGLARE... Glossy is here to stay. Sigh. (Using an antiglare film on my iPad and MacBook Aluminium 13")
Announced: 27" screen, $1000
new iMacs, minor speed bump, $1200+
Trackpad, $70
Mac Pros, Starting at $2500 USD for a Quad core. F^%$ you too, Apple.
On the upside, the base graphics card is a 5770 with 1GB GDDR5.
My next computer:
NVidia 460 1GB: $250
12GB 4GBx3 1600mhz DDR3: $360
700W OCZ power supply $100
Seagate 7200RPM 1TB: $80
MSI mATX X58 mobo: $180
Noctua CPU cooler silent (dual fans) $80
Intel Core i7 920 "D0" stepping (easily overclocks way beyond 4ghz, with very little heat/power): $350
Pioneer DVD RAM $30
Silverstone Fortress FT02 thick aluminum silent case (industry best cooling/aesthetics/silent/dust free): $230
PC Assembly and Testing with 1 Year Limited NCIX System Warranty: $50
Shipping to my house: $0
A system that positively shit-stomps the Mac quad in every way, bought at retail component prices: $1,724 Canadian Dollars.
Bailing on Mac Pro hardware: priceless.
alternate (black) 3/4 view internal side rear views.
Also, the best airflow cases are catered towards gamers, so blue LED fans (ugh) and plexiglass windows. There are nice cases out there, though.
I like the FT02 because the air moves vertically up (convection on steroids), and the MB is rotated 90 degrees so the ports/slots are all on top. Having ports on the back of a machine is irritating to me. And it is sound-proofed.
I'd pay extra to have no logo on the front.
Announced: 27" screen, $1000
new iMacs, minor speed bump, $1200+
Trackpad, $70
Mac Pros, Starting at $2500 USD for a Quad core. F^%$ you too, Apple.
On the upside, the base graphics card is a 5770 with 1GB GDDR5.
My next computer:
NVidia 460 1GB: $250
12GB 4GBx3 1600mhz DDR3: $360
700W OCZ power supply $100
Seagate 7200RPM 1TB: $80
MSI mATX X58 mobo: $180
Noctua CPU cooler silent (dual fans) $80
Intel Core i7 920 "D0" stepping (easily overclocks way beyond 4ghz, with very little heat/power): $350
Pioneer DVD RAM $30
Silverstone Fortress FT02 thick aluminum silent case (industry best cooling/aesthetics/silent/dust free): $230
PC Assembly and Testing with 1 Year Limited NCIX System Warranty: $50
Shipping to my house: $0
A system that positively shit-stomps the Mac quad in every way, bought at retail component prices: $1,724 Canadian Dollars.
Bailing on Mac Pro hardware: priceless.
alternate (black) 3/4 view internal side rear views.
For everything else?
There's Mastercard.
Lemon Bon Bon.
Apple. Go f*ck yourself. With your bargain basement specs and rip off prices.
Lemon Bon Bon.
...and the i7 is till BTO? Cheap ass dual core i3s right up to £1400!!! And the gpus are just rebadged, years old tech'.
Apple. Go f*ck yourself. With your bargain basement specs and rip off prices.
Lemon Bon Bon.
I understand your sentiments, but I have to step in to defend AMD/ATI a little. 5670 and 5750 are not rebadged stuff, it's based on the excellent 5800 series which actually were the best GPUs around (and still are, to a decent extent) until Nvidia finally salvaged something out of Fermi with their new 460.
As to whether Apple is charging the right price for those... Heh
Announced: 27" screen, $1000
new iMacs, minor speed bump, $1200+
Trackpad, $70
Mac Pros, Starting at $2500 USD for a Quad core. F^%$ you too, Apple.
On the upside, the base graphics card is a 5770 with 1GB GDDR5.
My next computer:
NVidia 460 1GB: $250
12GB 4GBx3 1600mhz DDR3: $360
700W OCZ power supply $100
Seagate 7200RPM 1TB: $80
MSI mATX X58 mobo: $180
Noctua CPU cooler silent (dual fans) $80
Intel Core i7 920 "D0" stepping (easily overclocks way beyond 4ghz, with very little heat/power): $350
Pioneer DVD RAM $30
Silverstone Fortress FT02 thick aluminum silent case (industry best cooling/aesthetics/silent/dust free): $230
PC Assembly and Testing with 1 Year Limited NCIX System Warranty: $50
Shipping to my house: $0
A system that positively shit-stomps the Mac quad in every way, bought at retail component prices: $1,724 Canadian Dollars.
Bailing on Mac Pro hardware: priceless.
alternate (black) 3/4 view internal side rear views.
This is so biased it's ridiculous. A comparison to Dell, HP, etc. would be an actual comparison. Comparing the price to a perceived parts breakdown to determine profit margin isn't really accurate, and you didn't build yours with a xeon setup. That being said they really seem to be relying heavily on a semi-captive market that is already invested in hardware and software for OSX. I'm disappointed in the changes they've made on their Mac Pro line and the way they've advertised them. It's been a significant price hike every year for comparable configurations. Considering the high point of entry for the pro/prosumer market, it should be a better value than it currently is.
Announced: 27" screen, $1000
new iMacs, minor speed bump, $1200+
Trackpad, $70
Mac Pros, Starting at $2500 USD for a Quad core. F^%$ you too, Apple.
On the upside, the base graphics card is a 5770 with 1GB GDDR5.
My next computer:
NVidia 460 1GB: $250
12GB 4GBx3 1600mhz DDR3: $360
700W OCZ power supply $100
Seagate 7200RPM 1TB: $80
MSI mATX X58 mobo: $180
Noctua CPU cooler silent (dual fans) $80
Intel Core i7 920 "D0" stepping (easily overclocks way beyond 4ghz, with very little heat/power): $350
Pioneer DVD RAM $30
Silverstone Fortress FT02 thick aluminum silent case (industry best cooling/aesthetics/silent/dust free): $230
PC Assembly and Testing with 1 Year Limited NCIX System Warranty: $50
Shipping to my house: $0
A system that positively shit-stomps the Mac quad in every way, bought at retail component prices: $1,724 Canadian Dollars.
Bailing on Mac Pro hardware: priceless.
I don't doubt you can get roughly equivalent parts, but some of the specs aren't necessarily comparable.
Are you going to pirate your OS? If you're not going to count the basic software you need to run it, then the comparison is moot.
The base Mac Pro Quad is 2.8GHz, not 2.66GHz. 2.66GHz is for the 6-core chips.
Your specified RAM probably isn't ECC, and your chosen board probably doesn't appear to support ECC.
Mac Pro's power supply is rated at or above 1kW.
The cheapest Xeon board is $240 US. I don't understand why you'd limit yourself to microATX, the other MSI boards look interesting, you might as well have some closer feature parity, your chosen board doesn't have Firewire 800 or optical audio.
ECC Ram... specious at best? Does it mean no crashing software? In my experience, my MBP has no stability issues, and it has no ECC. Does your iMac/Mini/Macbook crash all the time? Even if it did, the Ram is likely not the reason, but rather the app coding. So what value does ECC Ram even offer, exactly? Why is my computing life incomplete without it?
Xeon? A marketing gimmick IMHO that only makes sense with multi-processor machines. The only tangible advantage of Xeon (as opposed to the numerous disadvantages) versus mainstream CPUs is the ability to use more than one; a false limitation created by Intel to increase their profit margins. Why Apple would even think of making a single processor Xeon "workstation" is beyond me. Especially the three generations old Xeon, as is found in the single CPU Mac pros.
This is so biased it's ridiculous. A comparison to Dell, HP, etc. would be an actual comparison. Comparing the price to a perceived parts breakdown to determine profit margin isn't really accurate, and you didn't build yours with a xeon setup.
I'm not sure what you are getting at, but I can build these machines for $1000USD less than Apple's 'entry' Mac Pro, and they'd truly stomp the Pro. With parts bought at retail prices.
Throw in a 4ghz rock-solid overclock with almost no difference in heat/power consumption ("D0 stepping"), and it is the Mac Pro Apple might offer in another 500 days. For another $2500+. Because you can't upgrade.
Me? I'll buy another future 12GB ram for less than today's $360, another CPU for $300+, and have a current machine for my 3D work.
In terms of work accomplished in a set amount of time, this works for me. I'll give Hackintoshing a good effort. While OS X is far from perfect, I prefer it. Hackintoshing doesn't look difficult to me at all, as someone who is intimately familiar with Linux on obscure hardware platforms.
Of course, I could just ditch Mac OS after 15 years and go with Windows 7; then I'll at least have fast, bug-free OpenGL/Direct X 3D. Which is more than OS X can claim.
If you see value in Apple's Mac Pros, great. I don't. It's time I shut up and do something about it. My career isn't going to be held back by Apple's neglect of its Macs.
I'm a fringe case. I recognize that. But Apple does not offer a compelling 3D workstation anymore (if they ever did). And let's face it; they aren't going to.
ECC Ram... specious at best? Does it mean no crashing software? In my experience, my MBP has no stability issues, and it has no ECC. Maybe your iMac/Mini/Macbook crashes all the time? Even if it did, the Ram is likely not the reason, but rather the app coding. So what value does ECC Ram even offer, exactly? Why is my computing life incomplete without it?
Memory tends to experience maybe a bit flip every gigabyte per week. ECC can detect and correct that. Maybe consumers don't need it, but this is not a consumer computer. If you have a lot of data that's in memory, there is less likelyhood that data is going to get corrupted.
Xeon? A marketing gimmick IMHO that only makes sense with multi-processor machines. The only tangible advantage of Xeon versus mainstream CPUs is the ability to use more than one; a false limitation created by Intel to increase their profit margins. Why Apple would even think of making a single processor Xeon "workstation" is beyond me. Especially the three generations old Xeon, as is found in the single CPU Mac pros.
I understand your thinking, but I don't know if it's true, the chips seem to go another round of testing from what I can tell on the spec sheets, and they have tighter power margins and broader thermal margins. I don't see anything that shows it's a three generation old CPU.
I've had single and dual processor workstations for maybe 12-13 years now (Alpha (Windows NT), PPC (Mac OS X) and Intel (Windows NT, 2000, XP, OS X), and I've yet to regret getting any of them. They're better built and have better reliability than what I've seen in consumer systems.
PS: Just checked, I'm wrong on the W3530 being three generations old. It's a higher binned i7 930.
(So I could get a $350 Xeon instead of a $350 i7, if I felt so inclined).
mATX: because I don't need more than 1 PCIE slot. Maya doesn't use SLI/Crossfire. This board has two slots, which is one more than I need.
ECC Ram... specious at best? Does it mean no crashing software? In my experience, my MBP has no stability issues, and it has no ECC. Does your iMac/Mini/Macbook crash all the time? Even if it did, the Ram is likely not the reason, but rather the app coding. So what value does ECC Ram even offer, exactly? Why is my computing life incomplete without it?
Xeon? A marketing gimmick IMHO that only makes sense with multi-processor machines. The only tangible advantage of Xeon (as opposed to the numerous disadvantages) versus mainstream CPUs is the ability to use more than one; a false limitation created by Intel to increase their profit margins. Why Apple would even think of making a single processor Xeon "workstation" is beyond me. Especially the three generations old Xeon, as is found in the single CPU Mac pros.
I'm not sure what you are getting at, but I can build these machines for $1000USD less than Apple's 'entry' Mac Pro, and they'd truly stomp the Pro. With parts bought at retail prices.
Throw in a 4ghz rock-solid overclock with almost no difference in heat/power consumption ("D0 stepping"), and it is the Mac Pro Apple might offer in another 500 days. For another $2500+. Because you can't upgrade.
Me? I'll buy another future 12GB ram for less than today's $360, another CPU for $300+, and have a current machine for my 3D work.
In terms of work accomplished in a set amount of time, this works for me. I'll give Hackintoshing a good effort. While OS X is far from perfect, I prefer it. Hackintoshing doesn't look difficult to me at all, as someone who is intimately familiar with Linux on obscure hardware platforms.
Of course, I could just ditch Mac OS after 15 years and go with Windows 7; then I'll at least have fast, bug-free OpenGL/Direct X 3D. Which is more than OS X can claim.
If you see value in Apple's Mac Pros, great. I don't. It's time I shut up and do something about it. My career isn't going to be held back by Apple's neglect of its Macs.
I'm a fringe case. I recognize that. But Apple does not offer a compelling 3D workstation anymore (if they ever did). And let's face it; they aren't going to.
I'm a 'Mac' guy. But I don't blame your decision.
Apple are so 'up' themselves re: the Mac. They're sitting on 40 billion plus.
They're using rebadged cpus and gpus. They're forcing an BTO option for an i7. They're still charging a premium for quad core chips... And the price bands to get access to low end to middle performing hardware is pure, out and out greed.
I'm just sickened by it.
If it wasn't for Os X, I'd 'f*ck' Apple off and buy my hardware elsewhere. You can get twice the Mac 'pro' for half the money from many PC vendors.
I mean, you seriously can't get an entry 6 core 'pro' for 2k? The entry dual is now £2700? With medicore gpu as standard? What crack is Jobs on?
Lemon Bon Bon.