New Mac Pro

[Zero Liability]

You don't need a PC for games if you've got any modern Macbook Pro or iMac, many games have Mac versions available and you can easily bootcamp the thing for other games. You could use VMs but only really for older games.

The iMac looks pretty good, and it's a plus that you can get a Nvidia GeForce GTX 780M 4GB GDDR5 on it. I guess its chief advantage is its portability and slimness. You could still get better value for a desktop if you are aiming at gaming (GeForce GTX780ti and SSD hard drive for OS), but not from the likes of Dell, and it'd have a much bigger office footprint.

How upgradeable are iMacs, though? Are they like laptops where it's pretty difficult to upgrade the CPU/GPU?

 

[AtW]

they only have 16gb of memory which is just not enough for some of the software I have, so no go...

640kb of RAM ought to be be enough for everybody

 

[d000hg]

They're quite nice and I even contemplated one when buying a new work system but...they only have 16gb of memory which is just not enough for some of the software I have, so no go...

It supports up to 64Gb. Apple - Mac Pro - Technical Specifications

 

[darmstadt]

Anyone know about this stuff reckon it's with it for general dev purposes? Looks a bit like overkill, but then is my only Mac alternative another more powerful MacBook pro? Seems daft to have 2 laptops.

Are the iMacs any good for developer work? I know nothing about them - only got my mbp for its size and build quality, and discovered that it's brilliant.

It supports up to 64Gb. Apple - Mac Pro - Technical Specifications

Although the title of the thread is Mac Pro I think the OP and the majority of responses were primarily about the Macbook Pro which is a laptop versus the Mac Pro which you're not really going to lug around:

MacBook Pro - Buy MacBook Pro with Retina display - Apple Store (U.S.)

 

[SpontaneousOrder]

Although the title of the thread is Mac Pro I think the OP and the majority of responses were primarily about the Macbook Pro which is a laptop versus the Mac Pro which you're not really going to lug around:

MacBook Pro - Buy MacBook Pro with Retina display - Apple Store (U.S.)

I already have he 13inch retina MBP which is awesome for portability and is decently powered too. I want something else a little meatier, but a bigger MBP seems like a waste (having 2 laptops), and the Mac pro also seems like a waste (overkill).

An i7 iMac might be a good call. I need to find out if you can hijack the screen - i've an MBP and I got my other half a macbook air for her birthday so it would be good if we can attach the to a screen/keyboard/mouse.


Thanks for the responses guys, btw.

 

[NickFitz]

They're quite nice and I even contemplated one when buying a new work system but...they only have 16gb of memory which is just not enough for some of the software I have, so no go...

They can take up to 64GB, user-upgradable: Mac Pro (Late 2013): Installing or replacing memory

 

[NickFitz]

Although the title of the thread is Mac Pro I think the OP and the majority of responses were primarily about the Macbook Pro which is a laptop versus the Mac Pro which you're not really going to lug around:

MacBook Pro - Buy MacBook Pro with Retina display - Apple Store (U.S.)

The OP was very clearly asking about the Mac Pro, and explicitly stated that they didn't think buying a second MacBook Pro was a suitable alternative for their requirements.

 

[darmstadt]

The OP was very clearly asking about the Mac Pro, and explicitly stated that they didn't think buying a second MacBook Pro was a suitable alternative for their requirements.

But does it run OS/2? Actually some of the software I use isn't available for Mac OS or isn't particularly good running on Macs which is also one of the reasons, plus the price, otherwise I would have bought one. Instead I bought a Lenovo which is a damn good workstation laptop and having used them for years I know of their toughness and reliability. I do have an original iPod but the battery is ****ed and I can't replace it so I now have an iPod touch which is reasonably good. Many years ago I had one of these and was quite impressed at the time:

 

[darmstadt]

what would be really nice is to be able to get a copy of the Mac OS, maybe with a 30 day license and install it either in a VM or other system so that I could see if I liked using it. Having used Windows and Linux (even OS/2, BeOS and Geoworks) for many years, the learning curve of another OS and UI might just be too much...

 

[NickFitz]

what would be really nice is to be able to get a copy of the Mac OS, maybe with a 30 day license and install it either in a VM or other system so that I could see if I liked using it. Having used Windows and Linux (even OS/2, BeOS and Geoworks) for many years, the learning curve of another OS and UI might just be too much...

Because Apple make both hardware and software, they can tailor the latter to the former, greatly increasing both reliability and performance, but meaning you can't just throw it on anything and expect it to run.

Yes, they still screw up now and again, but nobody ever said systems engineering was easy

That said, there's the Hackintosh stuff, which would let you run OS X on a VM if you borrowed the installer off somebody. Remember, there's never been an Apple Genuine Advantage programme for any version of Mac OS