Mac Pro (Early 2008) - How does it compare to today?
I'm wondering how my Mac Pro compares to computers of today. I'm still using an old Samsung monitor (1280x1024 resolution) that I plan on upgrading asap. I'm also considering upgrading the RAM, and adding another internal hard drive. Otherwise, my question is this: Do you have any upgrade suggestions for my Mac Pro? What value is it worth today? (In other words, if I were to sell it today, how much do you think I would get out of it?) Finally, if you could, would you exchange it for a different Mac that's on the market today?
I love this Mac. I use Logic Studio all the time, and play games from time to time. It has given me very little trouble, apart from system overloads in Logic (probably my fault or the lack of RAM), and the corrupt Mac partition at the moment (just trying to figure out how to back the data up in its current state, then I will reformat it).
Thanks in advance. I suppose I'm asking all of this simply out of curiosity.
Specs
Processor: 2.8 GHz Quad-Core Intel Xeon
Memory: 2GB 800 MHz DDR2 RAM - 2x1GB
Graphics: nVidia GeForce 8800 GT 512 MB
Hard Drive: 750GB Serial ATA 3Gb/s; 7200 rpm; 16MB cache
Optical Drive: Two 16x SuperDrive optical drives
Wireless: Bluetooth+Airport Extreme Wireless
I love this Mac. I use Logic Studio all the time, and play games from time to time. It has given me very little trouble, apart from system overloads in Logic (probably my fault or the lack of RAM), and the corrupt Mac partition at the moment (just trying to figure out how to back the data up in its current state, then I will reformat it).
Thanks in advance. I suppose I'm asking all of this simply out of curiosity.
Specs
Processor: 2.8 GHz Quad-Core Intel Xeon
Memory: 2GB 800 MHz DDR2 RAM - 2x1GB
Graphics: nVidia GeForce 8800 GT 512 MB
Hard Drive: 750GB Serial ATA 3Gb/s; 7200 rpm; 16MB cache
Optical Drive: Two 16x SuperDrive optical drives
Wireless: Bluetooth+Airport Extreme Wireless
Comments
I'm wondering how my Mac Pro compares to computers of today.
If it's a single quad, it's on par with the entry 3.06GHz i3 iMac. The dual quad 2.8GHz model would still exceed the i7 iMac.
Do you have any upgrade suggestions for my Mac Pro? What value is it worth today?
It's worth about $1500-1700. Without Applecare, $1500 is probably the best you'll get.
Finally, if you could, would you exchange it for a different Mac that's on the market today?
The 3.6GHz i5 iMac would be the best option because you would get higher performance for close to the same amount of money you'd make on the Mac Pro and get an IPS display with it. You do however lose the ability to change your hard drive should you need to upgrade but the 1TB or 2TB upgrade may be enough.
Ideally, it would be good if Apple either:
- sold the machine a lot of people round here would like, i.e a machine with the processors in the iMac but without the screen sold with it
or
- allowed you to change the hard drives in the iMac by making them 2.5" and accessible like the RAM. If they allowed 12.5mm drives, you'd still get 2 x 1TB and you could easily slot in a 3rd party SSD like an Intel X-25M.
Even if they still made a $1999 Mac Pro so you had an upgrade path but no, they pushed it so far up that you'd have to spend an extra $1000 to have the ability to change your hard drive yourself, have 2 matching displays and upgrade your GPU.
The interesting thing is that the i5 CPU they use in the iMacs cost $294, the CPU in the entry Mac Pro costs $284 and they perform around the same (obviously the new Mac Pros coming this month will be different but not hugely). And the iMac comes with an LED backlit IPS display, which would cost between $300-1000 depending on if you go with the 21" or 27". This means you pay a minimum of $1100 premium to get the Mac Pro to achieve the same performance and quality as an iMac.
Long story short, Apple wants you to buy iMacs and they are making the other desktop models as unattractive as they can so you buy one. The Mini is now at a point where it costs $650 with 2GB RAM and a Core 2 Duo. You add an IPS screen for $300 and you are at $950. Increase the RAM to 4GB for $70 and you get very close to the entry iMac price point, which has a much faster i3 CPU (at least twice as fast) and you get a dedicated GPU.
Though to come back on my statement, I heard that I should go with the quad-core CPU, which also comes with an improved GPU, all for $100. That dual core sure goes fast, but I've also heard the TurboCharge will help the quad-core catch up to the fast dual-core CPU.
My biggest question though, is this: Should I just stick with my current Mac Pro? It hasn't done me wrong yet. The RAM upgrade for it is still surprisingly pricey at the moment. From Other World Computing, it's $149.99 for an extra 4GB of RAM (this is 800MHz DDR2 RAM mind). Plus, I think I'd prefer to wait for the iMac to add a Blu-Ray drive to the options. Mind, I might be waiting for a long time for that...
I'm wondering how my Mac Pro compares to computers of today. ...
Read and be wise.
Read and be wise.
Thanks. That's a very interesting site. Though it doesn't really help due to the other factors involved that aren't considered, such as the GPU and RAM. Plus, it doesn't have the latest iMac on there as far as I can tell. I suppose they'll be on there soon.