Reply to: New Mac Pro

[minestrone]

I collected an iMac this morning.
27inch, i7 16gb ram (ill buy the other 16 separately from crucial) 1TB fusion drive.
Plenty enough for me - about £1900 after deducting VAT and CT.

Waaaay too much money for what you get.

[d000hg]

Get a KVM-type switch?

[SpontaneousOrder]

Is this not what I want?

Target Display Mode: Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)

As an update to this - it works great with a caveat. Because the iMac remains running while the other computer uses it;s screen and you switch between targeted display mode and normal mode using the keyboard, you either need to use the laptop open as usual but with 2 screens now or or you need an extra keyboard and ideally an extra mouse too.

[SpontaneousOrder]

I collected an iMac this morning.
27inch, i7 16gb ram (ill buy the other 16 separately from crucial) 1TB fusion drive.
Plenty enough for me - about £1900 after deducting VAT and CT.

[SpontaneousOrder]

I have a mbp in a dock but you can't use the iMac as an external screen. I have a thunder bolt screen instead.

You can control the iMac remotely as has been said, but you can't use it as an external monitor for the mac book.

Is this not what I want?

Target Display Mode: Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)

[DaveB]

That sounds about right. By docking i mean i'll get one of those stands which holds the mbp up on its side, and presumably tidies any cables, etc. Wasn;t sure if i can use the screen built into the iMac, or whether id have to buy another.

I have a mbp in a dock but you can't use the iMac as an external screen. I have a thunder bolt screen instead.

You can control the iMac remotely as has been said, but you can't use it as an external monitor for the mac book.

[SpontaneousOrder]

Not sure what you mean by "hijack the screen" here. Would the following do what you want?

Preferences -> Sharing -> Screen Sharing - "Allows users of other computers to remotely view and control this computer"

i.e. control an iMac from an mbp or control the mbp from an iMac. Not quite the same as docking but close.

That sounds about right. By docking i mean i'll get one of those stands which holds the mbp up on its side, and presumably tidies any cables, etc. Wasn;t sure if i can use the screen built into the iMac, or whether id have to buy another.

[stek]

Not sure what you mean by "hijack the screen" here. Would the following do what you want?

Preferences -> Sharing -> Screen Sharing - "Allows users of other computers to remotely view and control this computer"

i.e. control an iMac from an mbp or control the mbp from an iMac. Not quite the same as docking but close.

Think he means use the iMac screen as an external for a MBP lappy...

[Sysman]

IMac might be a good option. I was planning on getting a thunderbolt screen so that I can 'dock' my mbp though, and I'm guessing i can't hijack the screen from the IMac.

Not sure what you mean by "hijack the screen" here. Would the following do what you want?

Preferences -> Sharing -> Screen Sharing - "Allows users of other computers to remotely view and control this computer"

i.e. control an iMac from an mbp or control the mbp from an iMac. Not quite the same as docking but close.

[darmstadt]

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

Not too dissimilar to the OS'es I use, they only run on the hardware that is made by the same manufacturer although some years ago there were PCMs. There is also emulation...

[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

[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...

[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:

[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.

[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