5 Responses for "Apple Mac Pro MB535LL/A Desktop"

1. Neurasthenic June 5th, 2010 at 3:36 pm 1

   I bought this Mac Pro to replace a PowerMac that was over seven years old, and which had fallen inadequate to handle my increasingly demanding digital image processing, and which was all but worthless at running Microsoft Windows.

   This Mac Pro is probably 8x faster than the PowerMac at most tasks, and its case design is lovely. The way PCI cards snap into and out of place without screws, the easy accessibility of the DIMM slots on a pull-out card, and the ability to add and remove drives without cables, all reflect Apple’s obsession with details.

   Despite having at least one massive fan in the case, it is much quieter than the PowerMac. In another advantage over the older machine, it has ports on both the front and back. As with previous Mac Pros and PowerMacs, RAM, disk, connectivity, and optical drives are all very expandable.

   The Mac Pro runs Windows Vista faster than any dedicated Windows box I’ve ever used, and with VMware Fusion, I can even run Windows applications within the Mac environment. The Mac Pro comes with all sorts of Apple software, though I use mostly third party alternatives (my first three installations were Microsoft Office, Adobe CS4, and Mathematica). The latter two run much better on this than they, or their predecessors, had ever run on the PowerMac. I’m keeping the old box around only to run some much older software, which by virtue of needing Mac OS9 or some other quirk, won’t run on the new box. In general, software compatibility is excellent. I had no trouble with drivers for my tablet or printer or any of my scanners (Nikon, Canon, and Fujitsu).

   What’s not to love? Some will complain about the price, but I’m not going to bother; if you want a cheaper machine, iMacs and Mac Minis are available. The absence of Firewire 400 was a disappointment for me, though adapter cables and PCI cards are readily available. I bought a Sonnet card that adds two firewire 400 ports for about $50. This box is PCI-Express only, so you won’t be able to use standard PCI or PCI-x cards. Some may grouse about Apple’s standard keyboard and/or mouse, but I use third party solutions there too.

   I got 7+ years out of my last computer, and I would not be surprised to get the same out of this one.
   Rating: 5 / 5

2. Mark Cutler June 5th, 2010 at 4:46 pm 2

   I bought this to replace a 4-year-old G5 (dual 2. 7 Ghz). I push my Macs to the limit – the new one now has three video cards to support 5 monitors (way cheaper than even just 1 30 inch monitor), 16 Gb of memory, and 3 hard drives for a total of 2+ TB of space. I typically run 15 or more programs simultaneously (Word, Excel, Safari, Mail, Quicken, iTunes, a calendar program, a database, Crossover (to run a Windows based legal research engine), and more).

   The new MacPro has been running for a week now, without a single freeze or unexpected quit, or even a spinning beachball. It is the quietest Mac I have owned since my original 128k Mac. It is so quiet I often am surprised to see it is still running. It is much faster in every respect.

   I was hoping for improved stability and speed, but I never expected it to be this stable right out of the box – I thought it would take a few updates to the system software to get rid of new strangeness in a new architecture, but this is already as close to flawless as I ever expected to see in a Mac that is pushed beyond normal usage. Also, the migration assistant easily moved everything I needed from my old Mac to my new one.

   Be alert – there is no wireless card in the standard configuration. To my knowledge, the only way to get one is at an Apple store for $49. But installation is free and wireless internet is a breeze once the card is installed.
   Rating: 5 / 5

3. D. Amini June 5th, 2010 at 6:38 pm 3

   I have a PowerMac Dual G5 2. 0 GHz before the v?deo card est?died. I can use two screens of cinema and cards HD AGP are dif?ciles to find for the models m?s old. I am not so rare a super advanced user that she codifies a great source. I am a user of light of Aperture and Photoshop. Trying to shed light and of v?deo of edici? ? n of photos in my G5 has not been very slow, but the equipment ten?a its age. The duties llev? ? algún time and, sometimes I walk again one hour m?s takes. The G5 was strong and warms up. ATI X800 XT is a sound and a buggy v?deo card. When abr? my new Mac Pro, asked to me if me compré the último dual processor quad año (2. 8 GHz) instead of new Nehalem single (2. 6 GHz). The prices were rather close. Model 2009 has m?s ram memory and a hard disk m?great s. It has the security of this new m?Peruvian bark is not one excepci? ? n. Not sé cu?ntos usuary professionals of Mac with Mac Pro and c? ? mo to get to work with MacBook Pro, but I believe that if the professional of high range can use a computer port?til with a processor of double núcleo as? that deber?a to be with the processor quad único well. Ordené m?a with one second card of v?deo NVIDIA GT 120. This way, I have two ports of double bond DVI and two mini DisplayPort. It remembers, the equipment comes from series with a video card that offers a único to us port dual-Link DVI. The other Mini port DisplayPort de Apple is that s? works ? it with the new screen shining of Apple of 24 inches. The adapter necessary to connect another monitor (that of 30 inches Cinema HD) in the Mini DisplayPort is rid?culo $ 100. Después to buy this adapter, there is no garant?a of which works! Therefore, I finish buying an additional video card. The case is very f?cil to work with them. Me deslicé in the video card without screwdrivers or tools. My old hard disk was in the tray of second groove (I need a screwdriver to fix the hard disk to the tray). The plates of the hard disk est?n side to side and to throw like caj? ? n. Nonson, uñas broken not them, not them blood-stained fingers. Ram can be added and changed with too much facility. Después to connect each monitor with an independent video card, and empecé to concern all my configuraci? previous ? n. m?Peruvian bark was made creaci? ready ? n and to roll in 25 minutes. The noise of the ventilator of the video card is hardly perceivable. My MacBook is three times m?strong s. Not sé what people speak of when they say that the ventilator of the v?deo card is noisy? I suppose that if you put in the part superior of its writing-desk next to its monitor, can be sensible, but no longer m?strong s that any computer port?til. I have not seen the feared beach ball turning. This he is m?quiet s and m?s r?I request m?Peruvian bark that I have used. I have tried 17 inches (2. 6 GHz) MacBook Pro in the store of Apple and was m? muchnoisy s and much m?slow s. It is possible that port?til the control of ventilator SMC is executed not quejar?of the computer port?til of the ventilator. If you are one of that they put his computers port?tiles in the part superior of refrigeraci? ? n/ventilators, can be appreciated the amount of things can arrive much noise. For m?, the reliability and f?cil access to the Mac jurisprudence Pro in one inversi? ? n in the long term. I believe that deber?a f?cilmente últimos 5 años. 4 S? ? are slots of ram memory and est? can pass meto ndar of 3 GB to 8 GB by 150 d? ? lares. If it needs m?s of 8 GB of ram memory, reason why to decide on the model of dual núcleo and quad two grooves available. If you need as much ram as est?probably m? is not going to be happy with thisPeruvian bark with único processor anyway. I believe that some of the truth on the Ghz and the número of processors have made the speed of crazy people. There are people who do not estar?an in agreement with me and say that never it is possible to be had too much of CPU and ram memory también. Gustar?a consequently to see the basic l?nea and the budget me. It remembers that the model that comes ser?año that comes! He is honest with same you and it remembers to take into account the costs from the improvements like HD, ram, AppleCare, video cards, ports, etc a última observaci? ? n, does not lose the port FireWire 400. OWC sells 400 FireWire and FireWire 800 adapters that adjust on corks. This is an adjustment by $ 5. I believe that you estar?satisfied with this m?Peruvian bark if you do not need several processors and does not add m?s of 16 GB of ram memory. He is very r?I ask and very calm. If you are a doméstico user and it is not necessary abrir the chassis to improve the parts, she considers iMac like an alternative. It comes with a screen shining of 24 inches and is almost so r?pido.& #13; Calificaci? ? n: 5/5

4. S. Jacobs June 5th, 2010 at 7:47 pm 4

   I’ve been a Mac user for many years and recently began doing a lot of 3D rendering and heavy duty graphics work. My current Macbook Pro has been great in every respect, but it falls short when doing any sort of heavy graphics work and I was using a quad-core windows (yes, I know) system to take on that job.

   I finally decided to make a clean break from windows and purchased the dual quad core 2. 26 Ghz Mac Pro. Since the stock 6 GB of RAM wasn’t enough, I dropped in 12 GB of aftermarket RAM and Apples 4870 card plus 3 1 TB drives. FINALLY!! A system that I could get stuff done with!

   The Nehalam processors are a gigantic leap forward over the older architecture. AMD has been putting the memory controller on the CPU die for a few years and Intel finally followed suit with incredible results. Memory bandwidth is substantially increased and if you add RAM in “threes”, you’ll be able to use all three memory channels for each core. If you need more RAM, you can always add a fourth module, but you’ll fall back to dual-channel operation. This won’t be an issue usually unless you run applications that saturate the memory bus.

   The Mac Pro has three available drive bays that are extremely easy to add drives into. It’s a matter of just positioning the drive sled on the bottom of the SATA drive and attaching the four captive screws. There’s a nice rubber washer there to help reduce vibration and transmitted noise. A very nice touch. There are no cables between the drive and motherboard. They simply slide into a socket on the motherboard and the inside of the system remains very clean looking.

   Upgrading memory was simple. After powering down the system and opening the case, there are two clips to flip and the CPU and memory tray at the bottom of the system slides out for simple replacement. No more busted knuckles!

   The video card that came with the system was fine for nearly any use, but I needed to have something faster for the 3D work I do, so I found out that replacing the stock card was also very easy. There is a retention bar that slides out of the way by pushing a button on the card guide and a couple of thumb screws to remove, but it’s far easier to replace the card on this system than any PC I’ve ever worked on before.

   After all of my upgrades, I was astonished to find how quiet the Mac Pro is. I’d gotten used to the loud whine of my Windows systems and for a few days, I’d have to look down at the Mac to see if it was running. It’s pleasant to be able to listen to music again and not fans and hard drives.

   Apple’s included sufficient ports for USB and Firewire, but you’ll have to use have to use FW800-400 adapters if you want to attach FW 400 devices to the Mac.

   This was a substantial investment, but the rewards are also substantial. My render times are greatly reduced and when Snow Leopard is released, I expect to see even bigger improvements in system performance.
   Rating: 5 / 5

5. David Garth June 5th, 2010 at 8:46 pm 5

   I have been a heavy user of personal computers since the original IBM PC came out in 1982. My needs gradually increased as the technology advanced and the capabilities of PCs improved. Lately, I’ve needed to switch from standard definition video editing to high definition. The dual Xeon processor HP workstation (X4000) that I had used for years was getting long in the tooth and couldn’t handle the demands of high definition. So I purchased a new Dell XPS 435T with the newest quad core i7 processor and 6gb of DDR3 memory. Even though the machine specs far exceeded the published minimums for high definition editing, I suffered through about two months of agony. The Dell would crash about every five minutes of editing, and countless hours on the phone with Dell technical service and replacing the machine with another of the same model, could not solve the problem. Dell graciously refunded my purchase price. But now I was two months behind on a very critical project.

   Two of my friends who are also professional editors pleaded with me to try a Mac Pro. I was reluctant, partially because I wasn’t at all familiar with Macs, and partially because I wasn’t sure I wanted to learn a new operating system. But, I did decide to take a risk and bought a quad-core Mac Pro with 8gb of memory and an additional WD Veciloraptor 10,000 rpm hard drive. It was the best decision I ever made. The operating system was incredibly easy to learn. And the stability of the machine even under great stress is unbelievable. I never knew anything this good was available. And even with the learning curve, I’m well on my way to finishing my project.

   Are Macs more expensive? Yes and no. If you compare them to consumer-grade PCs, they are. (I spent more than $1,000 more on my Mac Pro than I had on the DEel 435T. ) But they aren’t consumer-grade. The construction of my Mac Pro is unlike any consumer product you’re likely to have seen. The case is beautifully machined, with no internal wires. It takes about a minute to swap hard drives. Overall, it exudes quality and actually exceeds the quality of Dell or HP pro workstations, and it’s priced about the same. Additional software costs about the same, but the programs that are included with the Mac are mostly better than included with Windows. Conclusion: if you use your computer for serious work and can’t afford to fight your computer, the additional cost, if any, is certainly worth it.

   Is it perfect? No. I wish it came with more USB ports and a multi-card reader and an illuminated keyboard. (All are available as accessories. ) I also wish it had six memory slots (it has four. )

   Bottom line: I love this computer and I can’t imagine ever buying another Windows machine.
   Rating: 5 / 5