Mac users, need your opinion please.

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if I were in your shoes I would get the refurbished MacPro preferably with SL on it, actually. I like the ideas of Lion but I personally wouldn't want a change for all sorts of reasons.

refurbished bare bones and filling it up with RAM yourself will be far far far less expensive than allowing Apple to gouge you on that RAM.
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If you're buying a MacPro wouldn't it be worth paying for the upgrade to Logic 9 also.

Awesome machine so run a 64-Bit DAW on it.
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Thanks again everyone! I believe I am going with the refurb tower as I feel I do have to think in the short term somewhat so I can finish some existing projects. :)

qube123 wrote:If you're buying a MacPro wouldn't it be worth paying for the upgrade to Logic 9 also.

Awesome machine so run a 64-Bit DAW on it.
well, a refurb for less than half the price with a 3 yr warranty from a reputable local dealer I have dealt with for repairs for several years. i don't have the money for a new one, and actually it will be even less $$ than the Mac Mini server. plus when you consider i will need a new interface and possibly Logic 9 if I went the Mac mini route, this makes sense for me in the here and now.

plus, i have no need for 64 bit yet and this need for a new machine could have come a little later which would have worked out better. but hey, that's the breaks. just need a machine that i can open existing Logic Express 8 projects so I can finish them. I know I will get that by getting the refurb tower.

after that i can worry about a longer term solution and Lion will probably be more stable, there will be more (and hopefully cheaper) thunderbolt devices, etc. :)

If the mods would like to lock this for janitorial purposes, no problem. Or people can keep posting. Either way. :shrug:
But I have my mind made up at this point, just needed KVR's input so I'd have someone else to blame in case it blows up in my face. :P :hihi:

Srsly, thanks to all who participated for your feedback and input. :D
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Where can you get a refurb Pro for less than a new Mini Server? I'll upgrade my 2008 Pro if so.
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qube123 wrote:Where can you get a refurb Pro for less than a new Mini Server? I'll upgrade my 2008 Pro if so.
Well, it IS in the US, so it may not be such a great deal for those outside the US... ymmv. :)

http://www.lacomputercompany.com/cgi-bi ... group=clst

the refurb Mac Pros are listed about half way down the page.
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The refurb tower is a solid choice IMHO. Mainly because, although you can't upgrade the processors, it's a piece of cake to upgrade the RAM and the disk drives, which is often all you need to extend the life of an old machine. You can slap a new hard drive into the tower in about two minutes and the memory upgrade doesn't take much longer.
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can't see what year those Pro's are. guessing 2006 - 2008

that right?
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qube123 wrote:can't see what year those Pro's are. guessing 2006 - 2008

that right?
yes, that's what the sales guy said.
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Gamma-UT wrote:The refurb tower is a solid choice IMHO. Mainly because, although you can't upgrade the processors, it's a piece of cake to upgrade the RAM and the disk drives, which is often all you need to extend the life of an old machine. You can slap a new hard drive into the tower in about two minutes and the memory upgrade doesn't take much longer.
actually the guy I talked to said you could upgrade the processor, but it's somewhat cost prohibitive and done as a third party/underground market type thing. probably not a consideration though, even a 2.0 Ghz quad core would represent a pretty fair jump in performance for me over the 2 Ghz Gore Duo in my old Mac Book. :)
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debra1rlo wrote:
Gamma-UT wrote:The refurb tower is a solid choice IMHO. Mainly because, although you can't upgrade the processors, it's a piece of cake to upgrade the RAM and the disk drives, which is often all you need to extend the life of an old machine. You can slap a new hard drive into the tower in about two minutes and the memory upgrade doesn't take much longer.
actually the guy I talked to said you could upgrade the processor, but it's somewhat cost prohibitive and done as a third party/underground market type thing. probably not a consideration though, even a 2.0 Ghz quad core would represent a pretty fair jump in performance for me over the 2 Ghz Gore Duo in my old Mac Book. :)
I didn't realise that had started up again. It used to be quite common in the 90s when Apple was really in trouble and very slow to update their machines. But I thought it had all died out since then. If the rumours are true and Apple kills off the Mac Pro line, it'll probably get a lot more commonplace.
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debra1rlo wrote:
qube123 wrote:can't see what year those Pro's are. guessing 2006 - 2008

that right?
yes, that's what the sales guy said.
It's a good price. I have a 2008 2xquad 2.8GHz machine. 10GB RAM.

With RAID or SSD drives it's still quite fast.
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8)
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update: took a month of waiting for my tax return but I got the refurb Mac Pro and I am happy with my choice so far. save for a couple of reauthorization issues on plug ins, I'm back up and running and faster than before. did some recording yesterday and i purposefully used a bunch of plugs that gave me cpu issues in the past and the cpu meters didn't move much on this machine. nice. 8)

thanks again everyone for your input :)
and yes, i got the 3 yr warranty too so consider this topic closed until 2015. :hihi:
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