How to buy a Mac (finally made the leap)

[pnosko]

I thought Apple dealers followed Apple's online "no haggle" pricing scheme. In fact, I didn't learn until a few days ago that there were local Apple corporate stores and also independent but authorized Apple dealers (VARs). And even after I learned this, I didn't intend to haggle. But here's what happened.

While inquiring about the pros/cons of buying local vs. online, I was told by the local independent dealer that they have better prices on memory than Apple. I was surprised by this since I actually expected Apple to take the position of voiding a warranty if any non-Apple-branded (read: substandard) components would come into physical contact with a Mac.

So, after deciding on a Mac Pro instead of iMac, I asked them for a quote on a box with 8gb memory. Apple's memory price for 8gb is $2099. The store discounted it by $1000, or more accurately offered another brand {gasp} for $1099.

They had inadvertently quoted the wrong CPUs, so I emailed them for an updated quote with the correct CPUs and told them I'd only be getting the standard 1gb. What I got-- I'd like to show you, but that violates netiquette. Suffice it to say I got a screaming (ALL CAPS) reply from the store owner written like I heard of computers only for the first time yesterday telling me how poorly my Mac would perform with only 1gb of memory (OK, he said "IT WILL BE A THOROUGHBRED CHAINED TO THE STARTING GATE...").

My reply:

There is no need to scream, or assume I would attempt to run two quad-core xeons on 1GB memory. I appreciated the discount [salesperson] offered on Apple's obscene memory prices. However, it is still overpriced. For 8GB (4x2MB), Apple wants $2099, you discounted it to $1099, and I can find it on the web (Micron w/lifetime warranty and Mac Pro heat sinks) for $365 shipped. In fact, I can max it out at 16GB for $675.

Another reply followed, apologizing for the "screaming" (explaining he has aging vision and used a PDA and types in caps so he can read what he types), and dropped the price of the memory to within about $30 of the web price, and then threw in another $150 "preferred customer" discount which more than made up for the added tax for buying local. I was blown away.

So, here's what I should have in my possession by the end of the week.

Mac Pro
Two 3.0GHz Quad-Core Intel Xeon
667MHz DDR2 fully buffered ECC RAM 16GB (8x2GB)
250GB 7200-rpm Serial ATA 3Gb/s
ATI Radeon X1900 XT 512MB (2 x dual-link DVI)
Apple Cinema 30" HD Display
Bluetooth 2.0+EDR module
AppleCare Protection Plan for Mac Pro & Display
VMware Fusion
Apple Might Mouse Wireless BT
Snow Leopard (stuffed animal)

I'll be adding two additional drives-- Hitachi Ultrastar A7K1000 1TB 7200 32MB SATA II, since Apple's HD offerings are also obscenely priced. And although I'd rather have the NVIDIA 8800, I'm not sure that video is a component I could switch out without ending up with driver issues.

So as much as I'd like to say "So long Windows!" (edited for RC), I will be installing XP Pro on this Mac for Windows apps I can't do without.

Comments? Criticisms?

[racksteris]

Mac's are the way to go. You will never look back..

[woodycb]

Thats a nice comp. Ati still makes a pretty good video card, atleast they run good against nvidia. The TB HD is a nice option, think you will ever fill that up? With that kind of comp you have there you should try and top it off with a 10,000rpm spin Raptor HD, that thing would be smokin then.

[BrianD]

Obviously you didn't want a "bare bones" system.

[pnosko]

Originally posted by woodycb
The TB HD is a nice option, think you will ever fill that up?

I may mirror the two 1tb drives since I'm very bad about backing up.

[pnosko]

Originally posted by BrianD
Obviously you didn't want a "bare bones" system.

I don't want something that will be technically obsolete in six months. I bought my current Dell 8250 on 12/29/2002. If it wasn't for making a mistake in getting a Rambus-based motherboard, I'd upgrade it. But then I'd still have only Windows.

Besides, 2gb of Rambus memory (4 x PC1066 512mb) costs more than the 16gb of memory for the Mac.

[MarkS]

Originally posted by BrianD
Obviously you didn't want a "bare bones" system.

Woah! Who are you and what did you do with BrianD?!? The real BrianD would have no clue as to what pnosko is talking about.

[MandM]

Boy, when you win Solitare, think how fast those cards will fly!


Sweet deal, I'm preparing to take the Mac plunge this spring.

[beerguy]

The wireless mighty mouse blows.

I also prefer Parallels to fusion. The vmware offering has potential but it's not there yet.

[BrianD]

Originally posted by MarkS
Woah! Who are you and what did you do with BrianD?!? The real BrianD would have no clue as to what pnosko is talking about.

You are incredilby wrong once again.

[pnosko]

Originally posted by beerguy
The wireless mighty mouse blows.

I didn't even like the feel of the wired mouse. But I relied on the salesman when he said he tried a few 3rd-party wireless mice and they had issues after the system wakes from sleep/suspend. I'm open to suggestions.

I also prefer Parallels to fusion. The vmware offering has potential but it's not there yet. [/B]

I did a lot of web searching on this and played with Fusion in the store. VMware has been in this business before Parallels existed and in playing with Fusion in the store, the only issue I noticed was some visual residue when moving windows that overlapped, but it clears up almost immediately. The Unity feature seems to offer everything I was expecting. What advantages does Parallels still have over Fusion?

[beerguy]

You can use virtually any usb, wireless or bluetooth mouse so don't think that it has to say apple.

VMware may have been doing virtualization longer than Parallels but not on Mac. Parallels is more mature. My "desktop" is laptop. When I'm in the office I plug in to local USB devices, firewire devices, have a bluetooth keyboard, a wired mouse and a graphics tablet. Fusion was completely flummoxed by that. It was unable to share the keyboard with OS X because it wanted to take control of the bluetooth device.

It's just cleaner. Parallels is at version 3, Fusion feels like it's at 0.5. I have no emotional attachment to Parallels. In fact it's the opposite. I had a licensing headache with them that left me wanting to find an alternative. Fusion just didn't cut it.

[pnosko]

Well, I won't be lugging my Mac Pro around, so I won't hit that scenario. I have a MS wireless keyboard/mouse combo that is decent; I do hate that the function keys are grouped in 3s instead of 4s (always hitting F3 instead of F4). I'll see if they will refund the mouse since I didn't take possession of it yet, but the store has an all sales final/no refunds policy.

This sounds like what you're saying, but it's almost a year old.

http://www.macworld.com/news/2007/02...lels/index.php

Reading this leaves one with a 50/50 chance of picking the better package.

http://forums.macrumors.com/showthread.php?t=315591

And these market share numbers seem surprising...

http://www.bootcamppoker.com/the-par...fusion-debate/

[beerguy]

I've not read any reviews. I have used both in a business setting.

When fusion hits version 2 I might try it again but right now it's not ready.

[pnosko]

Well, I appreciate your insight, but I think I will stick with Fusion and bet that they will lap Parallels in short order.

Any suggestions for a webcam? There appears to be no standalone isight camera.

Also, how useful is the AirPort Extreme card in a desktop? The store apparently found a machine that came very close to the configuration I wanted, and already has that card in it. I figured it's not too useful since I have a hub where this box will go. If it can serve other devices, it may be useful down the line since my wire/less router is in the basement.

[pnosko]

Picked it up tonight. It's still in the box. It'll probably be a few days before I have time to open it.

[Scuba_Dave]

Originally posted by pnosko
Picked it up tonight. It's still in the box. It'll probably be a few days before I have time to open it.

Won't it be cold by then?
The fries soggy?
The soda warm

[pnosko]

I bought the Apple Care warranty, so I'll just return it if that happens.

[pnosko]

Something's not working right. Do I need to be wearing a black T-Shirt to get it working?

[pnosko]

How NOT to buy one

A month before new ones are rolled-out.

[AcroSteve]

Oh. They didn't tell you that?

[Altpers0na]

ya, the new ones... hmm fresh apples

,

you should run linux on it

[jpfelix]

[Random Aquarist]

Why isn't anyone talking about the stuffed snow leopard?

I'd take the snow leopard any day.

[jpfelix]