Mac Core Pro 8
Intel 3.0 Ghz, 16GB Ram. 3TB hard drive.
Figured I'd do a gear review of this computer since I just bought one.
What can ya say. Holy crap is about the first words that come to mind.
The desktop case itself is built like a tank and it couldn't be easier to access the insides. To replace any component like the hard drives, you just flip open the latch cover and pull the drive out.
I started with just one 320GB hard drive and 2GB Ram, mainly cause Apple's prices are way out of line compared to after market stuff. I grabbed 4 750GB hard drives off eBay and right now I'm still waiting for the 16GB of ram to arrive since it's not available in Canada yet. I figured 2GB would be enough but I'm already struggling when I have a browser, email client, Cubase and a couple of other programs running at the same time.
Other than that...Compared to the old Beige G3 Mac I've been using for 12 years, it's fast as all hell. The cinema display is crisp and clear and the unit is almost completely silent. I turned on my old G3 the other day and I couldn't believe how noisy and dull looking it was.
Only draw back is the price. Mine was about 7 grand with a 23" display and a second 30" display for later this year will be about another 2 grand.
On top of that it's about $150 per 750GB hard drive and a couple more grand for 16GB of Ram.
The operating system is a pleasure to use. I bought a brand new Pentium with Windows Vista about 6 months ago and to put it mildly, it's a piece of crap compared to this. In fact it's already been in for repair twice already.
Right now the Pentium monitor is still at Future Shop.
3TB of hard drive space is hard to get used to as well. I took about 1000 of my backup CDRW's and transferred them onto the Mac. Now I never have to go searching for old files anymore.
What can I say...Even the screen savers are hard to believe. There's one with fish in an aquarium that you'd swear was the real thing.
Since I got the Core 8, I've totally loaded it up with as much software as possible like Dreamweaver, Cubase, iWeb, Photoshop, Acrobat, Flash, Illustrator, InCopy, InDesign, Lightroom, Portfolio, Logic Pro, iMovie, Carrara, Finale, Sibellius, etc etc..
Time Machine comes in handy too. Just designate one of the hard drives as your backup and once an our it backs up everything. If you ever need to retrieve anything, it keeps a dated screen shot of everything you've done going back a couple of weeks. So if you delete something accidentally or screw up, you just load time machine and reset your Mac back by a few days.
Last but not least I guess, is Cubase. I'm still getting used to it...But just being able to time stretch any audio file and transpose them on the fly is making things so simple I no longer have to go searching for loops in the right key anymore.
Anyhoo..If you have the money, I'd definitely recommend getting a Mac Pro...Even one of the lower 2.1 Ghz models. Just using Leopard is worth the money.
