[geeks] Replacing a Mac Pro 2006

[Mark Benson]

On 4 Dec 2012, at 18:57, Andrew Jones wrote:

> The problem with the demands for a modular mac mini, a midtower "xMac" is
that people mysteriously expect the price to come down, and it won't.
> The original Cube was a failure in part because it was priced exactly in
lockstep with the top-end desktop systems, but was less capable.

Flawed logic. The Cube bombed because it used the same hardware as the
full-size desktop (literally, same RAM, same CPU modules, same CPUs, same
chipset, even the same gfx card) but was MORE expensive (because it was a PITA
to make) and was less expandable and capable.

A proposed mid-range system in this Apple era would use consumer level i5/i7
hardware (same as the iMac). The Mac Pro uses server/workstation grade Xeon
hardware. The price difference is huge. Even while keeping Apple's markups it
could easily be sold for $899 (base spec) and $1495 (top spec) which is half
what the Mac Pro sells for.

> If Apple ever did do another SFF PC with fancy graphics, or a mid-tower with
expansion options, you can count on it preserving their margins.

Yep. So it wouldn't be as cheap as a Dell or a HP shitbox PC, but it'd be a
good deal less than a full-size Mac Pro and Apple would still be able to cream
a ton off it, more than off the iMac in fact as it'd need less specialist
tooling.

> Any meaningfully expandable computer will cost as much or more than a mac
pro.

Bullshit. I can buy a workstation-class Xeon machine from Dell or HP for much
less than a Mac Pro with all the same features but maybe only 1 CPU. When I
bought my Mac Pro in Feb 2007 it was by far the LEAST expensive workstation
class PC around of it's calibre. Now the Mac Pro is at the upper end of the
cost range.

Dip into the consumer market and you can build a 'meaningfully expandable' i7
system for $1100. That'll include a $120 case with room for 6 hard drives at
least and the SATA 6Gbps sockets to back it up. 2 16x PCIe slots plus a bunch
of 4x slots, USB 3.0 and all the other things you get on a modern PC
motherboard.

> Any performance-oriented mac-mini will cost as much or more than an iMac.

Yes. It probably will. The point is you get the choice, then, of wether you
use a separate LCD panel, and swap the swish LCD panel for a itty bit of extra
expandability, or you want one built-in and your pretty razor-thin desktop.
After all, Apple sell their own LCD panels (like anyone buys them) so they
wouldn't necessarily be shooting themselves in the foot.

--
Mark Benson

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