No Macbook Air but.....

Back from Macworld Expo 2008 and still feeling the effects of the jet lag.

Good to be home!

As your probably aware if you've been following my blog, I've been waiting and waiting for Apple to release an update to the Mac Pro as my existing dual G5 system just wasn't cutting it for me. With the show, I do a lot of HD resolution video editing and video encoding and frequently get bogged down in post production work. So I've been planning to upgrade my production kit to at least a quad Intel machine. With the advent of the new 8 core machines, it was a done deal!

But then of course, the new machines were released the week before Macworld!

So I had to wait until after Macworld to take the plunge....just in case!

Luckily, the updates to the Apple TV and the iPhone didn't cost me any cash and although the Macbook Air is a lovely machine, it's priced just out of what I would expect to pay for such a machine - and when you add the UK premium it's weighing in at £1200 GBP or $2338 USD.

So with the decks cleared, the day after the keynote, I fired up the laptop and placed an online order for a new Mac Pro. For those that are interested, this is the spec I went for:

• Two 2.8GHz Quad-Core Intel Xeon
• 2GB (2x1GB)
• 2xATI Radeon HD 2600 XT 256MB
• 500GB 7200-rpm Serial ATA 3Gb
• One 16x SuperDrive
• AIRPORT EXTREME-INT
• APPLE MIGHTY MOUSE
• WIRELESS KEYBD/ OS X-GBR.
• Applecare

Rather than pay Apples rather high price for memory and disks, I also ordered an extra 8GB RAM from OWC and another 3x500GB drives from eBuyer.

Thanks to Apples Developer Connection, whereby members get a hardware discount to help pay for development kit, the cost of the base unit was extremely reasonable. So I placed the order and was given an estimated delivery time of 27th January.

Much to my delight, the Mac Pro has arrived a week early and I'm in the process of configuring everything (except for the extra RAM which hasn't shown up yet). The obligatory un-boxing photos are here if you're that way inclined!

Initial experiences are amazing with the machine feeling super responsive in virtually everything I do!

I've created a three disk RAID 0 volume giving me 1.36TB of drive space and the throughput is 290MB per second! I'll get more of a feel as I start to install more applications and put it through its paces when video encoding.

But suffice to say, I'm pleased as punch and looking forward to generating more content, more quickly with this beast of a machine.

The only problem is after using it for less than half a day, I can't really see myself using the Macbook Pro very much now. I wonder how much I'd get for it on eBay and then perhaps that Macbook Air..........

Comments

[Ralph in Colorado]

All I can say is Enjoy, Enjoy and have fun. Now we want to see even more videos per week. (just kidding) I am playing on a new machine too. A iMac Core 2 Duo with standard config. I am having speeder fun too. Later

Ralph

[Henrik S.]

"I wonder how much I’d get for it on eBay and then perhaps that Macbook Air………." - yes, Apple is a cruel lover :-)

[Rob Reighter]

Congratulations Don! It is fun to upgrade. I'd be curious to know why you choose the smaller keyboard. Won't you find that a bit limiting?

[Don]

Hi Rob,

I'm still using the standard keyboard on the Mac Pro. The smaller wireless keyboard is for when Apple release the bluetooth dongle for the Apple TV ;-)