The Beast

It has been many years since I've purchased a new desktop computer.  I get new laptops every other year and swap out my backup laptop more often than that, but desktops tend to last a lot longer.  My last desktop Mac was made in late 1999, and with judicious upgrades over the years remains a fast and capable system that runs modern software without any issue.

So now we come to my latest desktop computer purchase, a brand new 8 core Mac Pro.  This thing is big, heavy, and was very expensive, but with the way I use a desktop and how long I tend to keep them, I actually see this machine as a raging bargain.

First off, I don't come close to needing the full capabilities of the Mac Pro.  Its dual quad-core Xeon processors are capable of rendering HD video in real time, running the back office server OS of a large corporation, or a dozen or so virtual machines concurrently.  My needs are quite a bit more modest.

I run the standard version of OS X Leopard, and occasionally use Boot Camp to boot into 64 Bit Windows Vista Business to play games or use PC only applications.  I have 32-bit Windows Vista set up in a virtual machine using Parallels Desktop 4, which is fast enough for anything except games, and is set to use 2 of my 8 cores and 2GB of my 6GB of RAM.  So configured, it is faster than my CoreDuo desktop PC for everything except accelerated graphics.  When running the VM, the Mac side doesn't even seem to notice the load and continues do everything at lightning speed, including video (non HD) editing, audio mixing, PhotShop (version 7 using Rosetta) and office work (MS Office 2008 and Adobe Acrobat Pro 8).  Even with the VM running and Handbrake encoding a DVD movie to MP4 at the same time, OS and application tasks are still faster than my MacBook Pro.  Impressive.

What attracted me most to the Mac Pro was its expandability and the likelihood that it will, like my Power Mac G4 before it, still be useful after nearly a decade of use.  First you can immediately tell that this thing was built for heavy use.  The G4 was a very well made machine, with quality construction and a sturdy case.  The Mac Pro is on a whole other level, with strong metal construction throughout and everything designed for easy access and frequent configuration changes.  Hard drives and memory get dedicated trays and like the G4, no tools are required to open the case.  Good design is evidenced throughout, right down to the pair of large fans visible through the "cheese-grater" front.  These fans are huge, but spin slowly, ensuring adequate airflow with almost no noise.  The G4 was never quiet, but the Mac Pro is quieter than any laptop I've ever owned, let alone desktop.  I cannot hear it at all under the desk, unless I crawl down next to it and listen carefully, and I have excellent hearing.

While the interior case design speaks volumes about how this machine was made, the exterior case design is even better.  There are ample USB, Firewire and audio ports front AND rear, not to mention a level of fit and finish that even makes my expensive Dell PowerEdge server look cheep.  Who cares that it looks identical to the Power Mac G5, it is a good look that remains current, modern and attractive, backed by function that exceeds the form.

Of course, nobody spends almost $3000 for a computer based on looks, but rather for function.  My Mac Pro delivers in spades.  It sits in my office and spends most of its time acting as a regular desktop workstation and file server.  File server?  You bet.  While I have that Dell Small Business Server 2003, I moved all of the files to the Mac Pro which shares one of its four hard drives over the network, while Time Machine completely automates what used to be a tedious backup strategy.  All files are backed up automatically to a Time Capsule backup drive, but a full backup is also maintained using Chronsync on my MacBook Pro, which itself backs up to another Time Capsule at home, so I have 4X redundancy for all of my business data and 2X for the operating system itself.
Even with heavy file server access, the Mac Pro isn't even breathing hard, so I get to enjoy the dual 20" widescreen monitors for research, writing, forms and even audio and video work.  With 6GB of RAM (soon to be upgraded to 10GB) and 8 processor cores, I honestly don't even think about resources and just open and do whatever I want, whenever I want, with no hint of slowdown or instability.
The only time I do shut down is on the occasional after-hours gaming session when I use Boot Camp and load up 64 bit Vista.  Now my MacBook Pro is more than up to most games, but there is just nothing like playing Mass Effect on a 20" high-resolution LCD with powerful speakers and all graphics settings at maximum.  Even with the base ATI HD2600XT video card, an underwhelming spec for gaming, the game is cinema-like in its smoothness and far better than the nVidia GeForce 8800GT in my MacBook Pro.  Actually the laptop's video card is more powerful, but I believe the raw processing power and the increased bus speed of the Mac Pro allow it run the game at higher settings.

An iMac or even a Mac Mini would likely do everything I sue the Mac Pro, even games in the case of the iMac, but for how long?  I got 9 years out of the Power Mac G4, and its still going strong as a standard desktop Mac even if no longer up to video and audio work and probably stuck forever at Leopard.  An iMac or Mac Mini will likely be good for three years of front line service, while the Mac Pro, in all likelihood, will give me the same 9 years as the Power Mac G4.  Unlike a laptop, an iMac or a Mac Mini, its easy to open the case and install a better graphics card, faster processors, more memory (up to 32GB now, perhaps as much as 64GB when higher density modules come online) and up to four of the biggest, fastest SATA drives available.  If SATA goes the way of ATA, no big deal, I have a slew of empty PCI-E slots to install a controller for whatever interface comes down the line.

I didn't bother with wireless networking on my Mac Pro as I use wired gigabit Ethernet in the office.  If you order a Mac Pro directly from Apple you can Airport Extreme N on the logic board, otherwise you must use a PCI-E card and take up one of the four slots, or use a USB WiFi solution.  Since gigabit Ethernet is many times faster and more secure than wireless, I saved my money and left it off.

Another option you have when custom configuring a new Mac Pro is the graphics card.  Mine came with the stock ATI card which is the cheapest, least powerful card available for this computer.  As that card still has two dual-link DVI ports each capable of driving a 30" studio display at full resolution, I chose not to spend money for upgraded graphics at this time.  If I ever more this machine to my house and use it more for games I can make the upgrade, but for the work I do the stock card was more than adequate, and the games I play all run very well.

Finally, when you order from Apple you can add memory and configure hard and optical drives or even a RAID card and server OS.  Again, I bought the stock configuration and did the upgrades myself, at a far cheaper price than through Apple.  The computer came with a 320GB SATA drive, to which I added a second 320GB drive that I had in a PC, and a pair of 500GB hard drives purchased separately.  I also added a pair of 2GB DIMMs bringing the RAM total to 6GB, with another pair of 2GB modules in next month's budget to bring it up to 10GB, enough that I can ignore it for the foreseeable future.  As configured, I have 6GB of RAM driving 8 2.8GHz processor cores with a total of 1.64 TB (Terabytes) of storage.  Finally, I took an older Pioneer DVDRW Dual Layer drive and installed it into the second optical drive bay, joining the newer and faster Pioneer DVDRW Dual Layer drive that came standard.  The older drive does have one huge advantage over the new one, and that is that I had long-ago flashed its firmware to RPC-1 Region Free.  Now I can work with my Region 3 DVDs from Korea in the old drive and my region 1 USA DVDs without any worry about counters or locks.  I just have to use the Region X utility if the OS itself ever locks its own counter, which shouldn't happen when switching drives.

I did buy Apple Care for the Mac Pro, even though a desktop tends to take far less abuse than a laptop.  I just figured that on an almost $3000 machine, another $250 was a fair price for peace of mind, especially since those Xeons and the video card can run hot and component failures are not unheard of.  Still, it is a mature design with the bugs long ago worked out, so I am not anticipating any trouble whatsoever and hopefully, Apple Care will turn out to be a complete waste of money.  That would be nice.

In conclusion, the Mac Pro is everything I expected it to be.  I have never used a more powerful, better built or more versatile computer in my life.  It is so good, that I see little reason to believe that I won't remain happy with it for the next 9 years, as I'm still quite happy with my Power Mac G4.  Unlike laptops, which by their very nature you interact with on a far more personal level, a desktop tends to just sit on the floor and go about its business without drawing any attention to itself.  Perhaps 9 years from now I will notice that the Mac Pro is getting sluggish, at which time I will happily buy its descendant.