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  4. Planning on purchasing a Mac Pro

  • Planning on purchasing a Mac Pro

    M
    M

    Hi guys,

    Was wondering if you could help me out- I am currently using the Horizon Series Opus bundle samples with Exs24, and am about to buy a new Mac Pro but am not sure which processor to get. Now I have been contemplating the 8 core 3Ghz processor but some people have told me (such as a music specialist in an Apple store) that I would not by any means require that much processing power, even with the VSL samples. I have so far been using the samples on a single 1.8Ghz G5, and have had no end of problems such as audio overload errors. I am aware that RAM is just as important if not more than the processing power when running samples in Logic, so if I were to buy the Mac Pro quad core 2.66 or 3Ghz processor would that do me fine? What spec would you recommend?

    Thanks,

    Matt
  • S
    S
    If it's possible for you to wait a little, I would suggest holding off for a bit as it appears very likely that Apple will announce updates for the MacPro desktop systems to coincide with the release of Leopard in October. Also Leopard reportedly will make much better use of 8 cores systems than is currently possible with OS 10.4
  • J
    J
    I was going to say the exact same as stevesong. Mac Pro updates really must be right around the corner, considering the advances made by Intel in the past few months, in both processors and chipsets (Bearlake - DDR3, PCIe 2.0). It's 99% likely that Apple will try to be on the bleeding edge with all this stuff, so I'm sure they'll release soon. I've been waiting for this, as well. ---J.
  • M
    M

    Yeah I am definitely going to wait for Leopard to come out, and I have heard rumours about a new Intel 'Penryn' processor being released soon also..perhaps this will coincide with a release of a new Mac Pro...?

    With regards to the actual processing power, do you think quad core 2.66 would be sufficient enough to cope with my horizon samples?

    Cheers,

    Matt
  • J
    J
    Yes, there's a very good chance Apple will release a Mac Pro with Penryns. In fact, it's even possible that they'll release a Penryn-based machine before the official Penryn launch, but that's hard to say... They jumped the gun on Intel with the last iMac, I believe. ---J.
  • N
    N
    Unfortunately it's impossible to predict when Apple is going to release new models. You can look at the link below for an average of the time between updates, but that doesn't necessarily mean anything. It's a little easier now that they're using Intel processors, but it's still a shot in the dark. Apple could just as easily switch to AMD as far as I can tell. http://buyersguide.macrumors.com/
  • C
    C

    See these articles:  http://buyersguide.macrumors.com/#Mac_Pro and http://www.macrumors.com/2007/10/05/apple-buying-up-high-end-penryn-processors/. 

    MacRumors' Summary:  buy a current-version Mac Pro only if you need it.  It's approaching the end of its production cycle.  It sounds as though there are likely to be numerous advantages to the newer Mac Pro, including faster clock speed, faster bus speed, lower power consumption and cooler running, and various other small updates, and those would be worth waiting a month or two for, along with Leopard being pre-installed.

    --Chuck
  • M
    M
    Yep...I'm going to have to wait otherwise I'll kill myself for giving in and buying a current model...all the signs point towards an update very soon, possibly in conjunction with Leopard's release or soon after. Another thing- Intel are releasing their 'harpertown' processors on November 14th I think...I'm sure Apple will be first in the queue to show them off! Thanks for your posts guys