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bizanlst · Jun 22, 2007, 01:24 PM

I have a 3 year old HP PC and have decided to get a MacPro. Is now a good time to buy or is it prudent to wait a little while to see if there is an update? A friend of mine who has a MacPro says the current version has been out for quite a while and he said I should inqure here if an update is expected in the near future. On one hand I think the dual 2.66GHz will be powerful enough for my needs but if something quite a bit more powerful is expected soon I have no problem being patient a little while longer. Hopefully some of you can enlighten me!

ninahagen · Jun 23, 2007, 06:44 AM

What will you be using it for?

nina

art_director · Jun 23, 2007, 09:08 AM

i recently faced the same question. some research revealed that i could get a dual 3.0 mac pro refurb direct from apple w 2gb ram, 250gb 7200rpm drive and ati x1900 video card w 512mb for a mere $3,299 shipped. that sold me.

as nina said, the 2.6 might fit the bill depending upon your needs. i can tell you that the 3.0 laughs at large files in all adobe cs3 applications, quark and other professional design software.

shinji · Jun 23, 2007, 11:06 AM

I went through the same thing back in Feb/March...had a 3 year old Dell and decided to get a Mac Pro, but was worried there was gonna be an update soon. The only update since then was to 8 core which I wouldn't have bought anyway- that was a few months ago. It's hard to predict Apple, on another board I was following there were threads like "new mac pro in october??" "new mac pro in november???" etc. and people would get excited every Tuesday only to be disappointed. Look what happened to people waiting for Leopard in June to upgrade, now it's been delayed.

I ended up buying a quad 3 ghz, 2 gig ram, x1900xt from the Apple Store, and I'm very happy with the purchase.

bizanlst · Jun 23, 2007, 12:15 PM

Originally Posted by shinji

I went through the same thing back in Feb/March...had a 3 year old Dell and decided to get a Mac Pro, but was worried there was gonna be an update soon. The only update since then was to 8 core which I wouldn't have bought anyway- that was a few months ago. It's hard to predict Apple, on another board I was following there were threads like "new mac pro in october??" "new mac pro in november???" etc. and people would get excited every Tuesday only to be disappointed. Look what happened to people waiting for Leopard in June to upgrade, now it's been delayed.

I ended up buying a quad 3 ghz, 2 gig ram, x1900xt from the Apple Store, and I'm very happy with the purchase.

Intriguing. I hadn't thought of a refurb. What condition was your refurb in, were there any cosmetic blemishes to the case? I After reading your post I did a little follow up and noticed that some people who purchased refurbished machines from Apple actually got more than they bargained for meaning extra memory or other hardware upgrades that they did not expect. Did this happen to you too?

shinji · Jun 23, 2007, 12:18 PM

I didn't buy a refurb

Goddard11 · Jun 23, 2007, 09:19 PM

I recommend waiting, I am waiting until they release the newest revisions, The instant they do, I'm a buyer.

Googer-Giger · Jun 23, 2007, 10:29 PM

The answer is almost always the same, wait as long as you can.

wyatt · Jun 23, 2007, 11:03 PM

Buy what you need, when you need it.

There will always be something better around the corner, you can never catch up.

If you need, or could really use, the computer now, then buy it now. If it's just sitting in the back of your head, then wait...when it is time to buy, there may very well be a better computer or better deal waiting. But if you are losing productivity by waiting, then that's cash out of hand.

Goddard11 · Jun 24, 2007, 12:29 AM

I find that is best to buy the instant of the NEXT revision, that way when you purchase it, you get the most for your money, you will have the best for that particular price for a longer period of time, for example, I purchased the first 17" MBP when they were first announced, I have now had mine for almost a year, and I can tell you it has been a long year, and well worth the money.

02gtstang · Jun 24, 2007, 07:18 AM

clubmac has a dual 3.0 intel with 500gb HDD for $2749, open box. they will sell it for $2700. they have ONE left. I thought long and hard
about it, but decided the 2.66 was a better bang for the buck.

Lava Lamp Freak · Jun 24, 2007, 06:31 PM

I just bought a 2.66 at Compusa. They had a 5% off sale, so I got it for $2374. When the new video cards come out, I'll buy whatever the $399 on is, and it'll end up costing me the same thing as if I had ordered with the current X1900XT CTO from Apple now, except I'll have a better card. Plus I'll have the 7300GT to throw on eBay.

One of the fans died on my MBP, and it is gonna be in the shop for 3 days minimum, so I figured this was as good a time as any to buy.

Bad thing is I have to take the Pro to the Apple Store tomorrow to install Airport and Bluetooth. I can't believe stuff like that isn't standard now on the Pro machine.