Macs are such a ripoff

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c.g._eads

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So I said to myself, "I want Final Cut Pro". I like the software and I want to make the leap to the mac editing suite.

So I went to their site and started configuring a G4 (or G5 or whatever the latest generation is). The thing STARTED at $2500. That was bare bones. With 1 gig of ram and like a 250GB hard drive (are you kidding me???). As I started putting this thing together (bigger hard drives, more ram), I started to realize that to even get it to reasonable editing shape (2 gigs of ram and 1 terabytes hard drive space) I was going to pay $4500.

4500!!!!!!!!

That's without a monitor!

I said "screw this" and exited their site for good. I understand you're paying for apple's style and their slicker OS, but give me a break! $4500??? I could get the same (and probably better) setup on a PC for $1500. That's a 3000 dollar savings. It's not even close. There'll be no jumping on the mac ship for me (unless I become a billionaire).
 
You don't need to customize with the most expensive components. Here's a little tip. Buy the cheapest version of what you want, and then buy harddrives and ram for cheaper elsewhere.

Just a preemptive warning, no mac vs pc wars please.
 
Go to Dell, spec out a similar computer and the costs are nearly even (sometimes Dell is more, sometimes Apple is more). Oh, and never upgrade your RAM or HDD from manufacturers like Apple or Dell because you can always get those parts cheaper else where (like newegg.com or crucial.com).


-A
 
Yep, go with what Isaac said. I had to spec one for a client a year or so ago and it was WAAAY more expensive to option it out through Apple. We just went with the processor we wanted and baseline on everything else. Buying hard drive and ram aftermarket saved a boatload. The total cost ended up being comparable to a comparably powerful pc.
 
One major benefit I see with owning a mac is bootcamp. I don't have much experience with the current beta version out but I hear Apple's new OS will have bootcamp already installed. This will allow you to run Windows on a mac.

So in essence for the price of 1 machine you get both operating systems. That means you can run pretty much any software on one machine. I know some people have gotten the Mac OS to run on windows but Apple's bootcamp, from what I read, looks much simpler.

Anyone here have first hand experience with bootcamp? Are there any windows programs that do not run smoothly?
 
c.g._eads said:
So I said to myself, "I want Final Cut Pro". I like the software and I want to make the leap to the mac editing suite.

So I went to their site and started configuring a G4 (or G5 or whatever the latest generation is). The thing STARTED at $2500. That was bare bones. With 1 gig of ram and like a 250GB hard drive (are you kidding me???). As I started putting this thing together (bigger hard drives, more ram), I started to realize that to even get it to reasonable editing shape (2 gigs of ram and 1 terabytes hard drive space) I was going to pay $4500.

4500!!!!!!!!

That's without a monitor!

I said "screw this" and exited their site for good. I understand you're paying for apple's style and their slicker OS, but give me a break! $4500??? I could get the same (and probably better) setup on a PC for $1500. That's a 3000 dollar savings. It's not even close. There'll be no jumping on the mac ship for me (unless I become a billionaire).
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No you can't. You can get similar, but definitely not the same. A Mac Pro is a WORKSTATION, and Dell's Workstations tend to cost more.

You can build a Desktop PC for less, but the Mac Pros are in no way over priced.

The Xeon chip and the Server board alone will cost you 1200+ at NewEgg.
 
First thing everyone learns about Apple is to never buy RAM through them. With hard drives being so cheap elsewhere (especially with afforable 750gb options) there's no reason not to buy those elsewhere as well.

edit: I just learned about this company http://www.ramjet.com/ and from what an Apple employee told me, it's the best place to buy RAM, it's "center-cut certified" and made specifically to work with Apple. I've never bought there, but might give them a try.

Also, www.memorytogo.com is good too.
 
oneinfiniteloop said:
First thing everyone learns about Apple is to never buy RAM through them. With hard drives being so cheap elsewhere (especially with afforable 750gb options) there's no reason not to buy those elsewhere as well.ß
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While that's accurate, it's slightly innacurate at the same time. Mac Pro's have ECC server ram, and should only be fed ECC ram. It's cheaper on NewEgg, but not that much cheaper on NewEgg.

Mac Pros are VERY specific machines, as most/all workstations are. I know it seems like a lot, but when you break down the components and prices to build the hardware you'll see that it's not that overpriced. Very costly, but not really over priced.
 
Macs are not expensive for there price point so please don't make this a pc vs mac war. If you can afford it and want a os that does not crash on you every 5 minutes and you do not want to fix the damn thing before you start work then do not ***** otherwise get a pc and spend your time fixing and repairing it. CASE CLOSED!:bath:
 
please don't make this a pc vs mac war
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Agreed!

If you can afford it and want a os that does not crash on you every 5 minutes and you do not want to fix the damn thing before you start work then do not ***** otherwise get a pc and spend your time fixing and repairing it.
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The next sentence looks like the start of the war lol

BTW My pc, excellent since building it 3 years ago!! My G5 so far a few lock ups, a bit more sluggish, but nothing to whine about. They are both just computers.

I dont believe the hype matches the product for the mac, dont get me wrong, I like it, its very compatable with everything. But I have been looking at newegg lately, pricing the quad core processors. It appears you can really get a smokin computer for less than $2000. If anyone has built a pc lately, with a quadcore cpu I want to know if it is worth it. If so I would like to build me a new one.
 
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nicholasraeburn said:
Macs are not expensive for there price point so please don't make this a pc vs mac war. If you can afford it and want a os that does not crash on you every 5 minutes and you do not want to fix the damn thing before you start work then do not ***** otherwise get a pc and spend your time fixing and repairing it. CASE CLOSED!:bath:
Click to expand...


And thus begins the war...
 
It's worth it if you do things that can utilize the processor.

I just sold my Quad, waiting for new revisions and releases to hit.
 
What does that mean, it's a "workstation"? If it's the only desktop computer they have, and it's my only option to buy a mac desktop, then it doesn't matter if it's a workstation or a regular computer, right? Unless they have another desktop. I don't know. I admit I didn't do too much research on that.

I can get a 2ghz or higher PC desktop with 2 gigs of ram and a terabyte harddrive for $1500 easy.

I know apple has this XEON 2 dual-processor core (paraphrasing) but I've been keeping track of the dual processors since their inception and from what I've read, over and over, unless you're performing very specific tasks under absolutely ideal conditions, processor speeds are pretty much equal with macs and PCs in real world application.

Not saying PCs are better than macs. They're just a lot cheaper. And yes, I've seen those mac powerbooks and I'd die to have one. But again, they're just out of my price range. I feel like Apple rips the consumer off. We all know how much these components in their systems cost, so why are they charging so much for them? Aren't they gazillionaires enough after the ipod???
 
mac "desktops" come in imac and mac mini as well. Those are going to be more on par with a cheap pc desktop. If you wanna be fair go price a dell precision like the 690. Just bought one last december and tried to save a few bucks by getting comparable components and reliability from newegg and only saved maybe $300. Ended up letting Dell build it for the extra $300. It was a work computer anyways and their warranties have always done well for us if a problem arises.
 
Exactly. Jdajda has it right. Mac Pro is the worksation, iMac is the Desktop.

Obviously, a workstation setup isn't for you or your budget. An iMac or Dell Desktop sounds about what you'd want to invest in. iMac's are known to slice in Final Cut Pro just fine when more ram is applied and costs half (I believe) of what Pro's cost.

You lose the ability to really upgrade, however Apple Hardware retains it's value over years. So upgrading is as simple as selling your system for a few hundred less and paying the difference.
 
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