Mac Pro & 30″ ACD Pre-Review Thoughts

While you wait for my full reviews on the Mac Pro, 30″ Apple Cinema Display, and the Canon PowerShot TX1, I decided to post a little “First Looks” post on how I’m finding these new toys due to many requests.

Please keep in mind that my full reviews with complete performance testing are around two weeks away, I want to do as much testing as possible before I publish anything. If you have any questions you’d like to see answered in the review regarding system performance, feel free to drop them in the comments below. Enough with the chit-chat, on with the first looks.

Mac Pro & Ease Of Use

This machine really is a beauty, installing the RAM and hard-drive upgrades was a very simple process which only took a matter of minutes. I expected the tower to be much louder than it is, I have it sitting under the desk and can barely hear anything apart from the occasional disk noise. It’s whisper quiet even under heavy usage.

It has been very handy to have so many ports on the machine, the front USB and Firewire ports are lifesavers, I’ve used these constantly over the past 48 hours of data transfer and Skype calls.

Overall, I’m very impressed with this machine. It will be put to good use over the next few years (yes, it’s going to last me a long time).

Having 3GB Of RAM

I was a little skeptical if 3GB would be enough for a machine with 4 cores, since then my skepticism has been wiped - 3GB is plenty for general multitasking I’m doing. I have around 12 apps open at the moment, and still have 2.06GB of RAM free for the taking. This is a much appreciated improvement from my iMac, which is now sitting in the family room acting as a web browsing machine for the family.

Having 4 Processor Cores

One of the main factors which make the Mac Pro so fast is not its 2.66Ghz processor, but the fact that the machine has two, dual core processors.

When I’m doing general work, which includes having the regular applications open such as Safari, Mail, Skype, iPhoto, iTunes, NewsFire, iChat, etc, the machine barely eats up 3-5% of the processor load. When I launch into heavier applications like Aperture and Final Cut, I can still operate all my other programs smoothly without a hitch, even when exporting video (which is super fast).

30″ Apple Cinema Display

The first time I saw the box, I was wowed. When I opened the box, I was wowed. When I placed it on my desk, I was wowed. When I turned it on, I was blown away - literally.

Now I’m rather accustomed to the size and resolution of this display. It’s really nice to be able to scan applications, rather than switch to them. If I get a new email while browsing in Safari, I can scan with my eyes to the left to view it rather than going down to the dock, clicking the app, reading the email, then clicking back to Safari which is what I had to do when I was using the iMac as a primary machine.

This screen has already saved me so much time, I highly recommend a 30″ display if you love multitasking. I couldn’t go back to anything smaller. For those interested, here is a little video tour of the office.

On a final note, if you have any questions for the final reviews, please let me know and I’ll do my best to incorporate them into the articles.

Comments

  1. #1

    Nick Danforth → nickdanforth.blogspot.com

    Gaah! I want a Mac Pro, but need mobility for the next school year. Unless I can raise enough for MacBook and Mac Pro . . .

    Great review anyhow!

    Are you ever planning to purchase MacBook or other Apple notebook for mobility, or are you just sticking with the Mac Pro?

  2. #2

    Conner Downey → connerdowney.com

    Nice. I have a 13 inch screen, so it’s even harder to multi-task. I need some cash to buy at least a 20″ widescreen dell.

  3. #3

    Jack Cory → swainnet.zapto.org/sbbath

    I would get a 30″ if it didn’t cost as much as a computer, it’s just so much money. Maybe in the future, maybe

  4. #4

    Glenn Wolsey → www.glennwolsey.com

    Are you ever planning to purchase MacBook or other Apple notebook for mobility, or are you just sticking with the Mac Pro?

    Honestly, I don’t see it happening. I’ll purchase an iPhone when it reaches New Zealand. The iPhone will make for a perfect device to answer email while on the go. As it is, I’d like holidays to be holidays (without a computer).

    Nice. I have a 13 inch screen, so it’s even harder to multi-task. I need some cash to buy at least a 20″ widescreen dell.

    I couldn’t even imagine going back to my old MacBook now. Get saving! ;-)

  5. #5

    Dumitru Tira → www.static-13.deviantart.com

    I’m still drooling, someday, someday, I’ll have a machine like that with a 31inch display and 12 gb of ram :D

  6. #6

    Glenn Wolsey → www.glennwolsey.com

    I’m still drooling, someday, someday, I’ll have a machine like that with a 31inch display and 12 gb of ram :D

    Haha, 31″ display? You just want to one up all the 30″ display owners ;-)

  7. #7

    Tom

    Glenn,

    Thanks for posting this pre-review information. I am glad I have my new MacBook Pro, but I would not mind a MacPro too to go along with it–haha :)

    Congrats again on the new system! I am curious to see how it perfroms for you under some heavy photo editing, etc.

    Just watched your video of the setup. Cool stuff!!

    Take Care,

    Tom

  8. #8

    Chris Marshall → chrismarshall.ws

    Glad your enjoying it so much - you waited long enough!

  9. #9

    Peter

    Glenn, were you really “literally” blown away? I would hope not! Haha. Congrats on the new system. Looks amazing.

  10. #10

    Stefaan → www.novoblog.be

    I’m saving for a 24″ iMac. I have a 12″ iBook so the iMac is going to be a huge difference. Glad you are enjoying your new toys.

  11. #11

    Kristiano → www.kristianoang.com

    You can’t wipe skeptics away, but you can wipe skepticism away. ;)

    On another note, congratulations ^_^

  12. #12

    Glenn Wolsey → www.glennwolsey.com

    You can’t wipe skeptics away, but you can wipe skepticism away. ;)

    On another note, congratulations ^_^

    Thanks for helping me on that, I’ve edited the article to reflect the change ;-)

  13. #13

    Pierre Lourens → honestchaos.com

    I’m jealous. I think my ideal setup would be a Macbook Pro + 30 inch screen. I’m addicted to the mobility of my Macbook, especially since I can bring it to work everyday.

  14. #14

    Heyoka Happiness

    Have you processed any RAW files yet in Aperture?

    that would be interesting to see how fast it takes.

    I have the imac intel 2 core with 3 gigs of ram and with about 85 RAW files it takes about 20 minuts. Although I have never sat here and actualy timed it. I have always impoted them and and left the computer to do something else while it processed so I am just guessing.

    I am happy for you that you have your machine. Enjoy it!!!

  15. #15

    Patrick → www.schreiblogade.de

    Hi Glenn,

    you wrote that you have around 12 programs open but they only use around 1Gig of RAM in total.

    May I ask you how many tabs you usually have open in Safari? I’m asking because my Safari eats up my RAM all the time with just a few tabs open.

    I have 3Gigs of RAM in my MacBook and normally Skype, Safari and NetNewsWire consume over 400Megs of RAM.

    Thanks in advance

  16. #16

    Glenn Wolsey → www.glennwolsey.com

    Hi Glenn,

    you wrote that you have around 12 programs open but they only use around 1Gig of RAM in total.

    May I ask you how many tabs you usually have open in Safari? I’m asking because my Safari eats up my RAM all the time with just a few tabs open.

    I have 3Gigs of RAM in my MacBook and normally Skype, Safari and NetNewsWire consume over 400Megs of RAM.

    Thanks in advance

    I currently have seven tabs open in Safari, and it’s consuming 339MB of real memory, quite a hefty amount. I’ll do some more thorough testing in my review in a few weeks.

  17. #17

    Tony Crockford → www.boldfish.co.uk

    Be interested in your longer review.

    I recently switched 100% to a Mac Pro, from a multi screen Mac Mini, PC with windows XP and Linux (using synergy2 to handle kvm)

    I bought the dell 30″ from ebuyer.com as it was drastically cheaper (yet the same screen) and has the bonus of 4 on board USB ports and multi card reader.

    the pixel space is greater than my previous three 17″ screens and multi-tasking is indeed easier.

    still getting used to moving about to see all corners of the screen! Multi screens meant I could angle the left and right screens so that my glasses were giving me the same focal length no matter which screen I was looking at. one big screen means physically moving my head, or moving the window center stage. something to think about if you wear glasses.

    I also found the dell just too bright! (and found brightness control by splasm software a life saver.)

    that said, the Mac Pro and a big screen have made work fun again!

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