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What Would It Cost To Build a Windows Version of the Pricey New Mac Pro?
zacharye writes "The new Mac Pro is the most powerful and flexible computer Apple has ever created, and it's also extremely expensive — or is it? With a price tag that can climb up around $10,000, Apple's latest enterprise workhorse clearly isn't cheap. For businesses with a need for all that muscle, however, is that steep price justifiable or is there a premium 'Apple tax' that companies will have to pay? Shortly after the new Mac Pro was finally made available for purchase last week, one PC enthusiast set out to answer that question and in order to do so, he asked another one: How much would it cost to build a comparable Windows 8 machine?"
Can you explain how a $500 per hour attorney is more productive with a $10,000 computer vs. a $5,000 system? Does Wordperfect open that much faster? Is ACT faster? Is s/he accessing the Cloud faster? Does it have greater uptime?
It's just eye candy, that's all.
I said it's not hard for a vendor to shove underclocked components into a small space. They do this for laptops all the time. That is a fact. I don't need to prove it.
You are building up a strawman for DIY builds as these loud, hot, 30 fan monstrosities and attacking it. It is possible to configure ultra quiet builds, if you know what you're doing. Those D700s are essentially 6GB 7970s with non crippled drivers. Their thermals aren't any different than their radeon counterparts. An ultraquiet build would not use the stock coolers and would also allow higher clockspeeds than cramped designs. Apple sacrifices performance and standard upgrade/expansion paths for quirky formfactors and then charges a ton for it.. what a shock. Show me the value inherent in paying thousands of dollars extra for bizarre trashcan-like aesthetics. People using workstations generally value reliability, performance, and upgradeability, over frivolous nonsense.
Those audio pros are probably using studio headphones which block out huge percentages of the noise in the mixing room, while the musicians play in a separate, acoustically sealed sound stage. The tiny noise coming from a fan is hardly an issue. The mac pro has a fan too btw.
You sound like one of those 'professional' people who think they know everything about the hardware they use, but really don't, and cover it up by spending wads of cash they don't necessarily need to for appearances sake.
See? I can stereotype too.
No adult should ever make their own computer.
That's something high-school dropouts do for fun.
Anyone that proposes to build workstations for their job should immediately be fired.
Right now Apple makes the finest workstations in the world, nothing else even comes close. Everything else is broken and unreliable.
A good way to determine who's hirable in IT, is if they pick Apple workstations.
I good naturedly rib my Apple/iToy owning friends whenever we pass an Apple store:
"Oh wow, that store is packed. I wonder what drink special they're having at the Genius Bar tonight?"
In reality, the stores are always full of people waiting to get their Apple products looked at in the Genius Bar.
Apple's product issues are glossed over with slick marketing, great customer service, and a healthy zap of the reality distortion field...
Which is why Apple's consumer perception index is significantly higher than the next closest mfg & the industry average.
[Fuck Beta]
o0t!
... unless you have no other choice because you're buying a Mac...
Ah, an anti mac bigot. Been there, done that, moved on... I tried to move to Linux when I saw the Windows 8 debacle forming. Too many issues making everything work & I got tired of spending my time supporting Linux instead of working. I then moved to Mac & OS/X & haven't regretted it. Your prejudice against Macs is probably dated & ignorant, like the "mac tax" that hasn't existed in years.
Yes, the new Mac Pro is ahead of the curve & application support for everything it does isn't there for everything, but at least Apple is solving the chicken/egg problem by making this new machine expose insufficient multi-core/multi-GPU coding in applications. The new Mac Pro looks to be a success & no longer will the debs be able to say: "well, even if we code it to use multi-X, (almost) nobody will be able to use it".
Democracy is a sheep and two wolves deciding what to have for lunch. Freedom is a well armed sheep contesting the issue