[sparkys dad]

This is my first post here and I don't know if I should be even asking this here but here it goes anyway.
I have been interested in ordering a Mac Pro when it's released but a couple of weeks ago I ordered a new Dell XPS 700 for what I think is a good price considering its specs.
(http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vmyYx...elated&search=
I originally purchased it with a Pentium D 950 3.4GHz processor but Dell is upgrading it to a mid range Core 2 Duo E6600 chip since it won’t be shipping until after Conroe processors are released (this is the reason kept the order). Some of the other major components are as follows:
Intel Core 2 Duo E6600 @ 2.4GHz
2GB DDR2 SDRAM at 667MHz
1GB NVIDIA GeForce 7950 GX2 Dual-GPU Graphics Card
250GB Serial ATA Hard Drive (7200RPM) w/ DataBurst Cache
Microsoft Windows XP Media Center Edition 2005
48X Combo and 16X DVD+/-RW
3 Year Limited Warrant
Windows Vista Capable
Motherboard 7-slot BTX
750-watt Power Supply
Copper Heat Sink
Two 120mm x 38mm front fans
Dell Wireless 1450 WLAN USB 2.0 DT Adapter
This system comes to a total price of $1,570 including tax, shipping and 3 year warranty. I’m figuring a Mac Pro with similar specs and probably less will be about $2,499 before tax and with a one year warranty which would make it more than $1000 more than this Dell system.
Of course comes the question, is the ability to run OSX Tiger and Leopard worth the admission price of an extra $1000? I realize on a Mac Pro I will be able to run both OS X Leopard and Vista but I don’t think the hardware of a similarly priced Mac Pro will compare to this XPS 700. I’m still not sure myself and I do have time to cancel this order. It’s impossible to get it for anywhere near this price again, it was a deal that very rarely comes around and the current
price of this system is now way over $2600. So in your opinion is a Mac Pro worth the extra funds?

[Scotttheking]

Originally Posted by sparkys dad

So in your opinion is a Mac Pro worth the extra funds?

No.

[sparkys dad]

I think after reading my post back I've asked the wrong question. I think the better question would be is if it would be worth going for the lowest priced Mac Pro which I assume would have lower specs but still run both OS X and Vista. I think the lowest priced Mac Pro will probably be around $2000 but I'm not sure. I guess I'll just have to wait and see and hope this Dell doesn't ship until the Mac Pro is released to see what I should do.

[imitchellg5]

I would get the Mac Pro. If you think about it, why buy a PC when you can dual boot a Mac into Mac OS X and Vista and have the best of both worlds?

[mduell]

Since it sounds like you're a gamer (buying Dell's premier gaming rig with the fastest graphics card on the market), I'd stick with the Dell. I doubt Apple is going to have a video card anywhere close to that available and I haven't seen any rumors of SLI support in OSX.
Pick up a ~$1200 MacBook or iMac for your OSX needs, and the total price comes out to about the same as a mid-range Mac Pro.

[sparkys dad]

Originally Posted by imitchellg5

I would get the Mac Pro. If you think about it, why buy a PC when you can dual boot a Mac into Mac OS X and Vista and have the best of both worlds?

That's the dilemma, go for the Mac Pro with lesser specs and be able to run both OS X and Vista or go for the Dell with pretty high end specs and forget about running OS X.

[sparkys dad]

Originally Posted by mduell

Since it sounds like you're a gamer (buying Dell's premier gaming rig with the fastest graphics card on the market), I'd stick with the Dell. I doubt Apple is going to have a video card anywhere close to that available and I haven't seen any rumors of SLI support in OSX.
Pick up a ~$1200 MacBook or iMac for your OSX needs, and the total price comes out to about the same as a mid-range Mac Pro.

H'mm, have to think about this.

[imitchellg5]

I wouldn't do that, what is wrong with a 512mb graphics card for the Mac Pro? I can't imagine using a 1 gig graphics card's full potential.

[Scotttheking]

Take the $1k you saved, spend some to get a mini, and run OSX on it.

[mduell]

Originally Posted by imitchellg5

I wouldn't do that, what is wrong with a 512mb graphics card for the Mac Pro? I can't imagine using a 1 gig graphics card's full potential.

It's not the VRAM, it's the GPU. The 7950 has two top-end GPUs on the card.

[imitchellg5]

Oh ok. I get confused by numbers sometimes and graphics card stuff.

[hldan]

That Dell has some great specs especially the GPU and I know given Apple's history they don't give the best graphics cards from the factory, you generally have to upgrade and the Radeon X800XT is currently the best solution for PowerMac G5.

Now, here's where you could be potentially making a mistake jumping into the Dell pool-of-love so fast, it's obvious you want a Mac so buying the Dell rules you out from having an all-in-one desktop that offers mutiple bootable OS's.
Also since Apple has not yet released the Mac Pro we don't know what they have in store especially since the Mac Pro is their final transition machine into the Intel world and since it's being released at the Worldwide developers conference it will probably be a show piece that will offer substantial gaming capabilities as well as a possible new design with exclusive features. Remember Apple is trying to grab all the Windows switchers and the home market so this machine is gonna be a hottie!

So many people on this forum get highly upset when they buy a new Apple Macintosh and then shortly thereafter Apple releases a new model with far better specs. If you really want an all-in-one powerhouse desktop machine and you do really want a Mac I would wait especially since WWDC is just 3 weeks away.

One good thing, since you are getting such a great deal on this Dell machine you should go ahead and have it shipped to you and if you end up liking the Mac Pro you can sell your Dell for far more than you bought it for. I'm certain the Intel based Mac Pro's will have a lot more swapable GPU options. Good luck man. I wish I had your problem.

[harrisjamieh]

I hate to say it, but at $1500, that Dell is a steal! OK, OK, its a Dell, but with that config, that is mighty good value!

If games are important for you (which, I assume they are, looking at your choice of machine), then stick wih the Dell.

If you have the extra cash to buy a Mac Pro, then use it to buy a Core Duo Mini, which will certainly surffice for all your OS X needs minus games.

[sparkys dad]

Actually I am not a gamer at all. The reason I ordered the XPS 700 system with this video card is because the difference in price between it and a less powerful video card was pretty small. I guess I might have gotten a little carried away thinking this was such a good deal I might as well go for some upgrades thinking I would be sorry afterwards if I didn't. Also the XPS 700 looks more substantial than most Dell PC's which typically have plastic cases, it has an aluminum case that looks a little like a Powermac.
In any case I really hope the new Mac Pro's are released before this system is ready to ship so I can see the configurations available. As mentioned if I decide to keep this system I can pick up a Mac mini to run OS X, but of course it would be nice to have one system that runs both. I'll see what happens, thanks for all of your feedback.

[jamil5454]

If you're not a gamer at all then who gives a crap about the graphics card? The difference in GPU speed is completely negligible if you stay in 2d all the time, and I'm sure the Mac Pro will have decent specs.

What are you going to be using it for?

[sparkys dad]

Originally Posted by jamil5454

If you're not a gamer at all then who gives a crap about the graphics card? The difference in GPU speed is completely negligible if you stay in 2d all the time, and I'm sure the Mac Pro will have decent specs.

What are you going to be using it for?

Well like I said the upgrade to the 7950 X2 video card was not a big jump in price. I also thought that since Vista is graphic intensive it certainly can't hurt to have a powerful video card. I was also thinking ahead of possibly getting a 30" display, either a Cinema Display or Dell 30" display but thats just a possibility and the 7950 card is dual dvi and should power either fine. I will be using it for Photoshop and Video editing for both business and personal use. Had the video card been a lot more expensive I wouldn't have gone for it but the price was right so I did.

[Leonard]

Originally Posted by hldan

That Dell has some great specs especially the GPU and I know given Apple's history they don't give the best graphics cards from the factory, you generally have to upgrade and the Radeon X800XT is currently the best solution for PowerMac G5.

If you have a PowerMac G5 with AGP Graphics the Radeon X800XT is the best. If you have a PowerMac G5 with PCI-express graphics, the best card is the BTO option of a Geforce 7800GT.

[lookmark]

It's unknown whether Apple will offer their lowest priced Mac Pro at $2000 or cut the price to something a little less.

We'll know more in two weeks.

Either way, if you're interested purely in specs and like using Windows, the Dell will always be cheaper, so go for it. OTOH, if you're intrigued by OS X, you might want to wait two weeks to see (a) how much a Mac Pro costs and (b) what Leopard will bring to the table.

[BikerJonTN]

If you don't play games, and have no real need for Microsoft Windows, then sell the Dell XPS 700 for $100 off the current price (you quoted $2,600) on eBay. Use that to purchase a Mac Pro.

The price you're paying for that Dell is a steal. The video card in it alone costs $500 or more.

[appliancesex]

while i'd never buy a dell, i certainly would not go with the mac book either. while the following opinion might be the most unpopular thing to state in a mac forum (somewhere along the same lines of "mac's drool, pc's rule!"), apple went the way of dell by figuring out a way to assemble cheap parts and sell their product for a fortune.

how can i say this? half the parts they create for macs are pc parts to begin with. i think it's erroneous to suggest that you can't run intel based osx on a pc, because half the stuff that is 'made for mac' requires a patch in the first place.

in fact part of the problem i have for mac is the whole idea that they continue to overcharge users for oddly oriented pcs. back in the day, jobs was all about delivering a quality product to the rich, but they have recently began targeting students and people who are terrified of opening their computers when there is a problem with their machines. the prices, however, have remained the same. to a lesser degree, dell has done the same thing.

a long time ago, graphics were synonomous with macs, but now you can get a pc for a third if not a fifth of the cost that can handle two or three times the amount of information required to run multiple graphic intensive programs in the first place.

since you went the route of the dell, you probably will end up buying a macbook anyway. just note, that there have been rumors of the dual core running kind of hot.

[Dark_Lotus]

How did you get a XPS 700 for $1500? They start at $2,270. http://www.dell.com/content/products...=19&l=en&s=dhs

[Apfhex]

Originally Posted by sparkys dad

I will be using it for Photoshop and Video editing for both business and personal use.

Well then by all means get a Mac Pro when they come out, I think you'll love it. Raw specs aren't everything.

[SierraDragon]

Originally Posted by sparkys dad

...I will be using it for Photoshop and Video editing for both business and personal use...

Hold up on the Dell purchase if you can! Buying immediately prior to when the new (PC as well as Mac) stuff comes out is not IMO logical. Wait to see the MacIntel towers and PC offerings during the week of August 7.

Any price comparison being made today is nothing but conjecture since we have not yet seen the new MacIntel towers. And when you do compare, very carefully address all features; the PC world, especially Dell, is very good at not telling you what you do not get.

Overall, doing graphics work using Macs and OS X over the course of a workday is infinitely nicer than using Windows. And Total Cost of Ownership is actually lower for similarly equipped Macs. Just think about the time cost of dealing with security issues on Win boxes vs. Mac boxes (I manage approx. 7 Mac and 7 Win boxes).

I do not want to insult anyone, but there is a huge amount of bad and/or simply outdated information in many of the earlier posts in this thread.

Even though the towers are not out yet, graphics power is given a great deal of emphasis on pro MacIntels already, and the MacIntel towers will be very strong in graphics. Future Macs will emphasize graphics power, and future Mac OSs and apps will look for such power. E.g. Apple's Aperture image management app already demands graphics power beyond that provided by stock G5 Quads, but easily provided by pro MacIntel laptops.

Because last year Photoshop on a G4/5 box and OS 10.2 did not utilize the GPU much is NOT a reason to suggest that future OSs, apps and hardware will do the same. The exact opposite is true: just check out the graphics side of the new towers on August 7th.

-Allen Wicks