This post originated from an RSS feed registered with Java Buzz by Elliotte Rusty Harold. Original Post: A New Mac Pro Feed Title: Mokka mit Schlag Feed URL: http://www.elharo.com/blog/feed/atom/? Feed Description: Ranting and Raving Latest Java Buzz Posts Latest Java Buzz Posts by Elliotte Rusty Harold Latest Posts From Mokka mit Schlag

A new Mac Pro is long overdue, and I need one. Lightroom’s too slow on my vintage 2007 MacBook, and more importantly Warcraft is only giving me about 5 FPS. :-) Maybe Apple will release new models tomorrow? If it does, I want to compare it to today’s prices, so if I bought today behind door #1 we have:

Specifications
One 2.66GHz Quad-Core Intel Xeon
8GB (4×2GB)
640GB 7200-rpm Serial ATA 3Gb/s
ATI Radeon HD 4870 512MB
One 18x SuperDrive
Apple Magic Mouse
Apple Keyboard with Numeric Keypad (English) and User’s Guide
AirPort Extreme Wi-Fi Card with 802.11n
$3,019 before taxes and discounts

I would likely add at least two more third party hard drives to this, one 2 TB internal and one smallish SSD drive. Do I need more memory? 4GB is not cutting it. Will 8GB be enough? Should I just configure with the minimum and then buy 3rd party RAM? RamJet has 16GB for $575.99, way below Apple’s price.

Behind door #2, we have the same system but with eight 2.26GHz cores instead of 4 2.66GHz cores. Which is likely to perform better, especially for Lightroom?

Behind door #3, we have the same system but with eight 2.66GHz cores for $5,069.00. This is over my budget, but maybe tomorrow it won’t be?

Behind door #4, we have the same system but with eight 2.93GHz cores for $6,269.00. This is way over my budget.

Behind door #5 is a quad core 3.33GHz system for $4,219.00. If raw CPU speed is what I need, this is the best I can do.

Finally, behind door #6 is something completely different, a 15″ MacBook Pro:

2.66GHz Intel Core i7
8GB 1066MHz DDR3 SDRAM – 2×4GB
512GB Solid State Drive
SuperDrive 8x (DVD±R DL/DVD±RW/CD-RW)
MacBook Pro 15-inch Hi-Res Glossy Widescreen Display
Backlit Keyboard (English) & User’s Guide

The big advantage here is that I could then sell my MacBook to offset some of the cost since I don’t need two laptops. On the other hand, I do prefer a smaller laptop when travelling. I could even drop down to the 13″ model but I really want to max out the CPU. Would this system be fast enough to suit me? I don’t know. Certainly it should be faster than the 2007 vintage MacBook I’m using now. But I really want a system that has as close to zero delay as possible when moving between images in Lightroom. Are today’s MacBook Pros fast enough to deliver that? Even when the images are stored on an external Firewire drive? If not, then I’d be happier with a Mac Pro. Still I have a feeling that even if I go with a Mac Pro tomorrow, it may be the last desktop I ever buy.