Price Comparison: PC, MAC

S

Shaw

Veteran
Hey guys,

I recently researched this for a post elsewhere and thought someone here might find it interesting/worthwhile. Feedback and comments would be great. What I wanted to do was compare the cost of building a PC vs buying a new Mac Pro. The only real issue and discrepency is that the Intel Woodcrest processors aren't available to purchase by the public yet (so far as I can tell... if anyone knows of a place let me know!). We've all seen the price comparisons between Apple and Dell (and that Apple is lower!) but I wanted to see to compare home built vs Apple.

Naturally choice of Mac or PC is highly personal and very much related the what software you choose to use. My goal isn't to convince people that they should go PC or Mac but provide some insight stimulated by curiosity.

Please bear in mind that this is not a 100% fair comparison since the woodcrest server chips aren't available to purchase individually yet (supply issues methinks) so I'll be using the equivalent dual core Intel Conroe processor instead ('desktop' vs 'server' chip). Once these chips are available a more accurate assessment can be made. Now on to the good stuff:


The baseline 2500 USD Mac Pro consists of the Following Parts:

2 Dual-Core Intel Xeon 2.66Ghz processors
Western Digital 250GB Hard Drive
GeForce 7300 GT
Apple SuperDrive
Case
Power Supply (PSU)

Total: 2500 USD

------

Equivalent PC (besides specific chip)

2 Core 2.67 Ghz E6700 w/ Motherboard - $800 (http://tinyurl.com/nyg65)
1 GB 677Mhz memory - $95 (http://tinyurl.com/rbo7e)
WD 250GB HD - $75 (http://tinyurl.com/9cfve)
GeForce 7300 GT 256MB - $70 (http://tinyurl.com/rdvzq)
CD/DVD Reader/Burner DL - $31 (http://tinyurl.com/rmma2)
Case and quality 550watt PSU - $100* (http://tinyurl.com/puazx)

* with rebate, otherwise 130

Total: $1171

Now, granted this is with 1 CPU (2 cores) not 2 (4 cores) but even if you factor that in (add another $600) you're still way below the mac. Now, server boards (and sometimes the chips) can cost a bit more than desktop stuff. Still, we're not going to see a $1300 increase just from that! The motherboard/CPU combo includes a high end motherboard so I don't see there being much difference in motherboard price. Both cost a premium.

Do note that the hardware I've quoted are good components with good reviews. I'm not cutting cost by using lower end components.

You're really not getting that much for 2.5K with the Mac (nor would you by having someone else build you a PC- ie Dell - you need to go hand built). Basically just 2 high end processors with a skeleton! I have a system I'm designing for myself that has a whole lot better components and comes in just under 2K.

Is the Mac worth it? Certainly if you like Apple software! Shake is great stuff I might say! Still, there's no getting around the fact that building a PC is a lot cheaper (note: this does not mean having a PC built FOR you will be cheaper). And since there really isn't any software out there right now that can take advantage of 4 cores I do wonder at the usefulness of the feature... With the market going the way it is these days I suspect your GPU will be a whole lot more important (and a whole lot more powerful) than 4 cores in the next year or so! It seems like a better idea to spend money on the best possible GPU rather than 2 CPUs.

Anyway, FWIW.

That said I still like Macs and would love to have one
biggrin.gif
 
Shaw, it's true that a high end prebuilt Mac is cheaper than a high end prebuilt Dell, and also that you can build your own for less than either.

What you need to look at though is what you are using it for. If you are using it for editing, then you need to take a look at the recommended configuration specified by your editing app of choice. If you want to take advantage of tech support for your NLE, you may be forced to buy a preconfigured system whether it's Mac OR PC.

Alot of times software manufacturers will not support home builds as there are just too many variables that could effect the performance of their products and no economical way to provide support for every possible hardware configuration.
 
A very good point and I certainly agree. I was simply curious how much I could build a comparable system for by doing it all myself and thought it might be interesting to someone else too. :)
 
I think there is a lot of differences. In favor of the Mac:

- XEON processors.
- 1 extra dual core processor.
- 2 Firewire 800.
- 1 extra PCI express slot
- 4 extra Dimm ram slots.
- 1 extra 1000mbps LAN.
- ECC RAM.
- 1.33 GHZ FSB.
- Mac OS X license and bundled iLife software
- Aluminum cabinet
- Optical Mouse and keyboard.

- Tested and installed components

Is that worth $1330? I think so....
 
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You bet :) I can see the benefit and definitely understand. Again, this wasn't meant as a 'buy PCs Macs suck!' post but an experiment I did out of curiosity. To go through the list though:

1) Xeon processors aren't any more spectacular or professional in nature than Intels desktop line. They allow you to use two CPUs which is why the current crop of Macs use them. This is, of course, a benefit to be sure but there's nothing inherently better about Xeons. The only real benefit comes in the slightly high FSB (though this can be matched on the Conroe without much trouble)

2) I'm just not sure that 4 cores is really important. Yeah, it looks great on paper (and I'm a sucker for specs myself - hence why I want one of these things!) but does it really provide much over two? Most software these days are just beginning to handle two cores much less 4! As I mentioned above, they may be more use in the near future but even then I see them being eclipsed by the GPU (or two, or four!). For the things we do GPUs provide a lot more power than a CPU.

3) ECC ram - ah yes! Definitely worth while when doing pro work.

forgot the price of windows.
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Ah crap! Thanks for the heads up!

Anyway, an interesting comparison I thought. Worthwhile for some, not for others. One of these days I plan to get my hands on a Mac Pro! It's really great that we can all do so much on relatively inexpensive hardware these days!
 
Anders Holck said:
I think there is a lot of differences. In favor of the Mac:

- XEON processors.
- 1 extra dual core processor.
- 2 Firewire 800.
- 1 extra PCI express slot
- 4 extra Dimm ram slots.
- 1 extra 1000mbps LAN.
- ECC RAM.
- 1.33 GHZ FSB.
- Mac OS X license and bundled iLife software
- Aluminum cabinet
- Optical Mouse and keyboard.

- Tested and installed components

Is that worth $1330? I think so....
Click to expand...

I have XEONS in my PC
3.2 Gigs Ram
250 MB Nividia GC
80 Gig Hard Drive

$3000.00 (The Nvidia alone was $1000.00)

My machine is smoking hot

I use Vegas to Edit

-

And I did not have to do anything but order it (Dell)

And it has a 24/7 warranty from Haiti that I used recently 2 years after I bought it.
 
Hi Shaw.

I think if you were starting out; no software, lot's of time on your hands, the ability and desire to build it yourself, then what you are putting forward is a possible and maybe worthwhile consideration. Some people seem to enjoy building things while others hate it. Personally I would rather spend the time it takes to go to the trouble of searching the net, ordering the products, assembling, configuring and testing, doing my paid job and then use that money to pay someone else to do it. But for the cash starved, time rich noob, you make a valid point.
 
Shaw said:
You bet :)
2) I'm just not sure that 4 cores is really important. Yeah, it looks great on paper (and I'm a sucker for specs myself - hence why I want one of these things!) but does it really provide much over two? Most software these days are just beginning to handle two cores much less 4! As I mentioned above, they may be more use in the near future but even then I see them being eclipsed by the GPU (or two, or four!). For the things we do GPUs provide a lot more power than a CPU.

Actually a lot of Mac Os X apps utilize all 4 cores, at lease in the PPC builds.
Here are some tests from barefeats.com:
quad-mp2.gif

quad-ae.gif


I believe The Apple Pro apps are likewise in performance jumps.
Click to expand...
 
peter orland said:
I would rather spend the time it takes to go to the trouble of searching the net, ordering the products, assembling, configuring and testing, doing my paid job and then use that money to pay someone else to do it. But for the cash starved, time rich noob, you make a valid point.
Click to expand...

Nice points Peter

For me; it's go online and order and be done and have a computer 3 days later
 
Actually a lot of Mac Os X apps utilize all 4 cores, at lease in the PPC builds.
Click to expand...

Well, I'll be damned :) Thanks for the info!

For me, I enjoy building things. This isn't for everyone but hey, it wasn't meant to be.

I would rather spend the time it takes to go to the trouble of searching the net, ordering the products, assembling, configuring and testing, doing my paid job and then use that money to pay someone else to do it. But for the cash starved, time rich noob, you make a valid point.
Click to expand...

Absolutely! I just know that there are a bunch of hobbyists out there are and plenty of people just starting. Then of course there are people who just like to build things. :)

Anyway, just thought it would be interesting to compare DIY with Mac. I've seen plenty of DIY vs pre-built PC stuff but not really anything compared to Mac.
 
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