My Mac Pro finally arrived! (with pictures!)

Grug

Grug

Veteran
Well... technically it got here a week and half ago (after 2 weeks and 5 missed deliveries), but I left for a week's holiday the day after it arrived, and the process of getting windows running through Bootcamp and transferring the files I needed from my old PC to the Mac has been a long and painful one.

So here it is, for your viewing pleasure I present my desk's transformation from zero to hero:

1) The Old:
- Athlon XP 3000
- 1.5Gb RAM (512Mb of which doesn't work)
- GeForce 6600GT
- 80Gb HDD
- 17" LCD monitor
- $30 swap/meet speakers (using state-of-the-art cardboard box for bass isolation)

outwiththeoldrl9.jpg



2) Some exciting new goodies FINALLY arrive:

lotsagoodiesjw7.jpg



3) I do a little bit of this:

lilbitofthisjz1.jpg




4) And Viola! It's in with the new:
- Mac Pro, Quad 2.66Ghz
- 5Gb RAM
- 512Mb x1900xt
- 250Gb HDD (for OSX), 320Gb HDD (for Vista)
- 21" LCD monitor, 17" LCD monitor
- Creative M2600 2.1 Speakers

...oh and in case you didn't notice it:

- 1x ABSOLUTELY MASSIVE scanner (Epson V700 Photo Scanner)

inwiththenewan0.jpg



It's been a long and painful process getting this new setup... setup, but I'm stoked that I finally have! The room looks serious and professional now, where before it was just kinda ugly. I'm still waiting on Adobe CS3 Production Premium to arrive, but I have FCS2 installed (52Gb ?!), I'm running Vista Home Premium via Bootcamp (I know most people don't - but I like it)...

...and if I can just get hold of a bloody video camera I can actually start testing all these savings-account-draining things out!
 
What's an "uninterruptible power supply" exactly Noah? For the moment I've got the two monitors running off one powerpoint, the Mac Pro and speakers off another, and the scanner and my printer off a third one (no surges yeah!)

Sadly the screen was never mine to keep, it was bought for my dad's new MacBook Pro. :( It's quite funny actually, after years of talking about spurning PCs in favour of Mac we've both decided to make the switch within about a month of each other.

We both felt that, for the first time, the Macs really are the better machines to buy (plus I had to get FCP, and I finish uni in a few months - don't want to waste those student discounts!).

But I did get to "test" the Apple Display for a week whilst my dad was interstate. I used to wonder how anyone could justify the extra cost of the Apple displays - but when it's sitting there on your desk... it's just gorgeous. Not worth THAT much extra, but it certainly counts for something.

For myself I got a Samsung 215TW 21" monitor, quite expensive for an LCD, but a definite step up from all those AUD$300-400 LCDs, I'd highly recommend it. It also matches my old 17" Samsung, and the black mouse/keyboard/speakers on my desk - so visually, although the monitor itself isn't as pretty as the Apple one, it looks better on my desk. The Apple was almost too pretty, it made all of my peripherals look like junk!
 
haha that bass isolation device is the future for sure!
but seriously, thats such a sick setup, congrats for that.
 
An uninterruptible power supply (UPS), also known as an uninterruptible power source or a battery backup is a device which maintains a continuous supply of electric power to connected equipment by supplying power from a separate source when utility power is not available. APS makes the best. Nothing like a power failure when you're just finishing a project.

Noah
 
Glad you got it all going grug. I like the APS Noah. At my house the trip switch is always going.
 
Glad you like it guys! I feel a little ashamed though, without a camera to capture some of my old footage to play around with FCS2 or Photoshop to play around with the scanner I've been using the computer mostly for running... *gulp* ...windows vista! :(

I know, it's just not right! But I just bought Adobe CS3 Production Premium so I'm going to have a play around with the scanner, and hopefully in a few weeks I'll have things sorted with JVC to borrow an GY-HD251E to review - so I can finally see how this beast handles HD!
 
Have to ask though mate. Why Adobe CS3 and FCS? Could have plunged the money into something to beef your pefromance. A HD monitor etc.
 
All my old software only runs on Windows - so I needed a copy of Photoshop that I could run on the Mac alongside FCP (I didn't really care for the idea of rebooting between Vista and OSX every time I wanted to do either image or video work). And on the basis that getting the full Adobe production suite was only $200 more than getting just Photoshop by itself, I figured After Effects was worth it (Illustrator, Flash, and the other bits are added bonuses).

I'm only a student for another six months or so and the discounts that provides me with puts me (for the first time) I'm in a position to actually afford this kind of software. And now that I've started writing about and reviewing video kit professionally I felt the outlay was justified.

Now I just need to get my grubby little hands on a nice camera (maybe an XDCAM EX if they turn out well, or more-likely an XHA1 with all the trimmings) and I'll be laughing!
 
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