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Yeah, Macs are sooo expensive.

#1 User is offline   mdawson Icon

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Posted 10 August 2006 - 06:58 PM

Well I configured a pro system from Dell, the king of cheap, comparable to a top tier Mac Pro. So much for Macs costing more than PCs:
Apple Mac Pro

    [*]Two 3 GHz dual-core Intel Xeon (Core2) processors
    [*]4 MB shared L2 cache per processor
    [*]1.33 GHz frontside Bus per processor
    [*]1 GB RAM
    [*]nVidia GeForce 7300 GT 256 MB (single-link DVI/dual-link DVI)
    [*]250 GB 7200 rpm SATA II HDD
    [*]16x SuperDrive
    [*]Bluetooth 2.0EDR

    [*]AirPort Extreme wireless

    [*]$3,378.00
    [/list]
    Dell Precision Workstation 690

      [*]Two 3 GHz dual-core Intel Xeon (Core2) processors

      [*]4 MB shared L2 cache per processor

      [*]1.33 GHz frontside Bus per processor

      [*]1 GB RAM

      [*]nVidia Quadro FX 3450 256 MB (Dual DVI or Dual VGA or DVI       VGA)
      [*]250 GB 7200 rpm SATA II HDD
      [*]16x DVD+/-RW w/ Cyberlink PowerDVD and Roxio Creator Dell Ed
      [*]Dell Wireless 1450 (802.11 b/g) WLAN USB 2.0 DT Adapter
      [*]$5,058.00
      [/list]
      That is a huge price difference in the Mac Pros favor. This is similar to the type of comparable system comparisons that the PC mags did against the Power Mac G5 that forced them to eat crow. Given similar specs, Macs are very competitively priced against equivalent Wintel PCs. The comparison above does not even consider the fact that all Macs have a substantial software bundle with usable software instead of trial versions and demos, that the purchase of anti-malware software will be mandatory for the Dell and the fact that the Dell does not have Bluetooth; I did not even see Bluetooth as an option on the configuration page.
      Despite being the low price king for Wintel PCs, a similarly configured Dell costs 1.5x as much as a similarly configured Mac Pro. Just getting the first processor to the same specification of the Mac Pro (4 MB cache) increased the price from the base price of $2,358 to $3, 288 and adding a second processor increased the price to $4,567. That is impressive, especially given that the Mac Pro is a custom buildApple designs their machines from scratchand that the Mac Pro is on the same platform.
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#2 User is offline   macnuke Icon

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Posted 10 August 2006 - 07:16 PM

your math sux md....
if you want that Dell to run for more than 20 minutes, you have to add the $40 bucks for NAV /forums/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/wink.gif
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#3 User is offline   mdawson Icon

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Posted 10 August 2006 - 07:27 PM

Well, I did mention that anti-malware software will be mandatory for the Dell. /forums/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/wink.gif
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#4 User is offline   macnuke Icon

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Posted 10 August 2006 - 07:29 PM

+ points for realism in jounalism /forums/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/wink.gif
/forums/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif
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#5 User is offline   mdawson Icon

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Posted 10 August 2006 - 07:37 PM

I remember seeing articles in PC Magazine and PC World about a year or so ago comparing the Power Mac G5 to various pro-level Wintel PCs, like Alienware. They concluded that when a Wintel PC is similarly configured to the Power Mac G5 the Power Mac was typically priced equal or less than the Wintel systems. John Dvorak must have soiled his shorts when his mag published its article. Now seeing this price discrepency between the Mac Pro and comparable Dell will make the Wintel camp eat more crow. The IT guys in my college could hardly believe that Apple was offering dual processor/dual-core Xeon-based systems for about $3K or less.
Of course, the PC weenies will still find something to bash Apple about.
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#6 User is offline   Philbert Icon

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Posted 10 August 2006 - 07:37 PM

I did the exact same thing a couple of days ago - only I used the Precision 490 (lower end). I didn't get too far before the price exceeded the (standard config), MacPro - simply adding the two 2.66 GHz chips drove the price over $2700!
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#7 User is offline   macnuke Icon

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Posted 10 August 2006 - 07:42 PM

yup.
and remember, we all used to say "it's the OS" /forums/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/wink.gif
now a box is a box is a box.
they just don't have uniforms.
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#8 User is offline   Nobody Icon

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Posted 10 August 2006 - 09:51 PM

Trying a similar exercise once a while ago, I came up with similar numbers but then a win user colleague reminded me that there is a flaw in this exercise and that has to with the fact that only fool pays the list price at the likes of Dells... 25% to as much as 50% discounts are not uncommon.
But of course, Xeon is quit new at this point...
Quote:

and remember, we all used to say "it's the OS

And the PPC being superior at lower MHz etc... /forums/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/wink.gif
But that's PR garbage... just as now ~7-10% improvement over G5 is 2-times improvement in Apple-speak! /forums/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/wink.gif
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#9 User is offline   macnuke Icon

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Posted 10 August 2006 - 09:59 PM

true
give it a week at most.
you should be able to coupon that Dell for about 1500 or so.
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#10 User is offline   cyberhazard Icon

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Posted 12 August 2006 - 02:22 PM

Built these today.
Apple Mac Pro
Two 3 GHz dual-core Intel Xeon (Core2) processors
4 MB shared L2 cache per processor
1.33 GHz frontside Bus per processor
2 GB RAM
nVidia Quadro FX 4500 512MB, 2 x dual-link DVI
250 GB 7200 rpm SATA II HDD
16x SuperDrive
$5,249.00 with no display!
Dell Precision Workstation 690 (1KW - 64bit)
Two 3 GHz dual-core Intel Xeon (Core2) processors
4 MB shared L2 cache per processor
1.33 GHz frontside Bus per processor
2 GB RAM
nVidia Quadro FX 4500 512MB, Dual DVI or Dual VGA or DVI VGA
250 GB 7200 rpm SATA II HDD
16x DVD/-RW w/ Cyberlink PowerDVD and Roxio Creator Dell Ed
$4,316.00 with a Dell 19 inch UltraSharp 1907FP Flat Panel.
What happened?
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#11 User is offline   macnuke Icon

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Posted 12 August 2006 - 02:58 PM

Quote:

Built these today.
Apple Mac Pro
Two 3 GHz dual-core Intel Xeon (Core2) processors
4 MB shared L2 cache per processor
1.33 GHz frontside Bus per processor
2 GB RAM
nVidia Quadro FX 4500 512MB, 2 x dual-link DVI
250 GB 7200 rpm SATA II HDD
16x SuperDrive
$5,249.00 with no display!
Dell Precision Workstation 690 (1KW - 64bit)
Two 3 GHz dual-core Intel Xeon (Core2) processors
4 MB shared L2 cache per processor
1.33 GHz frontside Bus per processor
2 GB RAM
nVidia Quadro FX 4500 512MB, Dual DVI or Dual VGA or DVI VGA
250 GB 7200 rpm SATA II HDD
16x DVD/-RW w/ Cyberlink PowerDVD and Roxio Creator Dell Ed
$4,316.00 with a Dell 19 inch UltraSharp 1907FP Flat Panel.
What happened?

coupons were printed.
still nothing but trial software.
and have you seen the "ultrasharp" against the Apple display? no wonder they give them away. /forums/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/tongue.gif
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#12 User is offline   Philbert Icon

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Posted 12 August 2006 - 03:46 PM

Quote:

Dell Precision Workstation 690 (1KW - 64bit)
Two 3 GHz dual-core Intel Xeon (Core2) processors
4 MB shared L2 cache per processor
1.33 GHz frontside Bus per processor
2 GB RAM
nVidia Quadro FX 4500 512MB, Dual DVI or Dual VGA or DVI VGA
250 GB 7200 rpm SATA II HDD
16x DVD/-RW w/ Cyberlink PowerDVD and Roxio Creator Dell Ed
$4,316.00 with a Dell 19 inch UltraSharp 1907FP Flat Panel.


You sure they were the Woodcrest 5160 processors? Where did you obtain the discount? Just going to the Dell site and configuring this machine shows a price of $6027. ($50 off)
(One of the things that drives me crazy about Dell is that you never know if you're getting the best price.)
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#13 User is offline   polendo Icon

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Posted 12 August 2006 - 05:08 PM

Since the very beginning it was quite clear the comparison was not quite precise. The difference is the Quadro!!
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#14 User is offline   braindoc Icon

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Posted 12 August 2006 - 05:31 PM

I tried the build and it's definitely not with the Woodcrest CPUs. Rather for that price it's for the Dempsey CPUs.
CyberHZ, try to build it again with the Xeon 5160 box selected. Then look at the price.
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