Mac Pro - Quad Core or 8 Core?

[EricW]

I was thinking about getting a MacBook for use as a shipping / shop computer, but now I'm thinking I might get a Mac Pro tower for office use and use the MacBookPro in the shop.

I want to run CAD / solid modeling eventually and possibly some Matlab, but I'm not sure how to invest in the technology. The 8 core is an $800 to $1600 option and I don't want to invest in technology that won't get used. At the same time, I HATE waiting on computers and $800 to $1600 is a small price to pay to not want to kill my computer.

Will I notice the 8-core performance all around, or are 8-cores really only going to help video editing and gaming (neither of which I do, or have any remote intention of doing). A second reason for the tower is so that I can have a mirrored network drive for data security.

Thoughts? I like the MacBook pro. I get occasional slowdowns, but it still blows any PC's doors off, particularly in Windows mode.

Thanks in advance!

E

[outerlimits]

eric-according to the experts, the 8 core is plain nasty fast-in those apps that have been designed to deal with that premium (i.e. photoshop, etc). if money ain't a big deal, i'd do it. i have a quad core and it's just sick fast.

[joelhilgy]

The Apple ram is very pricey so don't max it out, buy it configured with the minimum amount of ram then purchase third party ram from OWC to get to the total amount of ram you want. You will save a lot of money.

[edwin garcia]

+ 1 to the third party RAM(as long as it's reputable).

Also consider faster HD disk speed(or RAID) if you are running apps that uses the more than RAM can handle(like Maya and FCP when rendering).

It does get expensive but if speed is a priority, adn budget is not an issue,this should speed your rig.

[Nik Habicht]

Eric,

even though I'm mostly out of the photo game, I've never regretted money spent on better processors, more RAM, or especially faster hard drives. I'm typing this on a system with two WD Raptors, and my laptops have had 7200 rpm drives since about 2005. (My Dell 8100 was rejuvenated for the last year and a half due to the hard drive upgrade from 4200 to 7200 rpm.)

[eerw]

Eric..

we sent a pair of the MacBook Pros over to Iraq..mainly to deal with video editing.

we configured with the 2.6 duo core, 4 gigs ram and the 200gig drive because it had the highest spin rate.

it seemed to deal well with the video work that had to be done in Final Cut Pro..and easily dealt with the Nikon D3 files we worked.

nice computer..the 17" is a little big for a laptop though..

[EricW]

With the right laptop backpack, the 17" is a pretty mobile machine.

What I'm vacillating over is that I know if I buy a MacBook, I'm going to buy a big monitor to go with it. By that time, I'm over halfway to a Quad Core with a 24" Viewsonic. I have this dream of taking off for a couple weeks this summer to do some photography and articles for Front Sight, but I'm not sure if I'd want to use a 13" Mac Book as a field "darkroom," which would be another motivating factor to get it.

Oh hell....somebody take my credit card and go buy something for me. I'm going to go get a beer and go pack grip tape.

[XRe]

8 cores will smoke on anything that can use them - and that includes lots of interactive use on the desktop while apps are running. But, those cores need to be "fed" - and that takes RAM. So, buying a 8 core machine and skimping on RAM is sort of a waste. I'd want at least 8 GB RAM with that sucker. Crucial is another place to go to for memory - but its not all that much cheaper than Apple RAM there ('bout $100/GB less, last I looked).

I agree with Stu - my 17" MB Pro w/ 4GB RAM is a pretty cookin' little machine, even at 2.4. Mine has the 160GB 7200-rpm drive (I bought a re-furb, and it has the previous generation drive in it). I find times I could still use horsepower, though, even with this so... Quad core with 4GB would be a tasty upgrade to this machine, I imagine. Anything less than 4GB of RAM would be punishment for that machine, IMO....

I've done some photo stuff w/ my wife's MacBook - it works fine, but I do miss some of the real estate. Even though my 17" is 1920x1200 (hi-def, did I mention?), the size of the surface of the monitor still means I'm using Photoshop with collapsed palettes and such so that I can view the photo larger.

[EricW]

8 cores will smoke on anything that can use them - and that includes lots of interactive use on the desktop while apps are running. But, those cores need to be "fed" - and that takes RAM. So, buying a 8 core machine and skimping on RAM is sort of a waste. I'd want at least 8 GB RAM with that sucker. Crucial is another place to go to for memory - but its not all that much cheaper than Apple RAM there ('bout $100/GB less, last I looked).

Arriba! They don't give that memory away, do they?

http://www.memorysuppliers.com/4gbpc66dd240.html

Four banks of 2GB is the cheapest way to go. The 8 GB banks are, $800 a pop. 1/2 Apple's price, but still breathtaking. I'm hip to the 1GB per core idea. Maybe I'll think about a quad core, but chuck it full of RAM and RAID it for speed.