Just ordered my Mac Pro!

[Mark K.]

Argh! feeling kinda funny, haven't spent this much money on one thing since I bought my car!

Just ordered:

Mac Pro - Quad 2.66GHz processors, ATI x1900xt graphics card, 1gb RAM, 250gb HDD, 3yr Applecare, 20" Apple Display (the monitor's not for me though )


...all for the spare-change price of $5,000 AUD! and I haven't even ordered the extra RAM i'm gonna need.


I'm about to pop over to Apple.com to order Final Cut Studio 2 as well (thank god for student discounts!) still, another $1,050 AUD isn't small change either.

At least when I eventually get my hands on a Red I'll be already to make me some 4k magic! Wish me luck, at least I've got no excuses to stop me from creating zero-budget masterpieces anymore!





....oh yeah, Photoshop and After Effects.... *SIGH*......goodbye bank account, it was nice knowing you.

[Curran Giddens]

congrats on your new purchase! Good luck on your masterpieces.

In case you didn't realize, that 20" Apple Display can be covered by the 3yr Applecare in addition to your Mac Pro at no extra charge. Or maybe that's why you included the monitor for your friend in the first place.

I can't afford a new Mac Pro right now. I just got FCS 2 and the rest is going to RED and View Factor Studios by the end of the year.

[dalemccready]

Yeah should we all just set up debits to View Factor & Red now and be done with it?

;)

[Mark K.]

In case you didn't realize, that 20" Apple Display can be covered by the 3yr Applecare in addition to your Mac Pro at no extra charge. Or maybe that's why you included the monitor for your friend in the first place.

Yeah, that's why I'm buying it alongside the mac pro. Plus there's a sale on - when you buy a display with your mac pro you get about $600 off the RRP! So I've got them for less than the education discount price! (only $40 less but it's still beating the Apple.com system!)

Plan at the moment is to borrow/rent different prosumer HD cameras for a weekend at a time to shoot short films, edit them on my shiny new mac - and figure out from there whether I need to just buy a smaller camera to build up my skills (probably an hvx or xdcam ex, can't quite make myself like tape anymore) or whether I just forget saving up a deposit for an apartment of my own and get me a Red One eventually.

[Gunleik Groven]

Be aware that the Student version of FCS is NOT upgradeable to FCS3, when it arrives.

I|ve seen tons of complaints about this, but if you buy the student-version, you will have to cash out fulltime for the next upgrade.

Gunleik

[Scott Webster]

Yeah, that's why I'm buying it alongside the mac pro. Plus there's a sale on - when you buy a display with your mac pro you get about $600 off the RRP! So I've got them for less than the education discount price! (only $40 less but it's still beating the Apple.com system!)

They're running the same promotion in New Zealand but it has me spooked with the offer expiring on 9 June and WWDC starting the 11th...

Take the deal or hold out for WWDC announcements?

[Mark K.]

Well I'm buying through my old man's business, so I'll get the GST on the whole lot back on June 1st - which brings the cost down by a solid $500 for me.

Though now that you mention it, for the sake of just $40 savings over buying it at education prices, perhaps I should cancel the order and hold off for another two weeks - if there are no important changes to the Mac Pro/Display, then I'll pick it up for $40 more with my education discount.

What'd you guys think?

[Scott Webster]

Well I'm buying through my old man's business, so I'll get the GST on the whole lot back on June 1st - which brings the cost down by a solid $500 for me.

Though now that you mention it, for the sake of just $40 savings over buying it at education prices, perhaps I should cancel the order and hold off for another two weeks - if there are no important changes to the Mac Pro/Display, then I'll pick it up for $40 more with my education discount.

What'd you guys think?

It's a tough call. I'm not overly familiar with Apples product cycle but an offer prior to a major event like WWDC does get the spidey sense tingling.

The other downside is we still don't know the minimum specs and transcode time for RedCine. So we don't know what the sweet spot will be for a Macpro system.

Maybe Mike Curtis (or someone else) can chime in with some Apple background or lead up to WWDC rumours?

[Chris Kenny]

The Mac Pro probably won't see an update. It was just updated two months ago (right before NAB). It's possible that Apple will take advantage of recent Intel price cuts to move the entire Mac Pro line (or more of it, anyway) to dual quad-core chips, but IMO this is unlikely before fall, if even then. Other than that, there isn't really anything at the moment Apple could upgrade to. The 3 GHz quad core chips Apple offers at the high-end are the best Intel has at the moment, and they're so new they're still not generally available, so I doubt Intel is going to release something faster in the next few weeks.

The MacBook Pro laptops, on the other hand, probably will see an update either at WWDC or around that time. They haven't been updated since October.

Mind you, this is Apple, so anything is possible. But these are my guesses based on watching the company pretty closely for the last decade or so.

[Thom Steinhoff]

The thing that is likey to get bumped up is the display. If you care about that then I would cancel and wait (that is why I am waiting). But since you are getting it for someone else then...

But I would seriously not get ed discounts on fcp as they are not upgradable. Don't know how much you save but a new upgrade comes around faster than you think and you'll be out of luck.