Which Mac Pro to get...nehalem vs harpertown

[tdblanchard]

So my partner and I are finally going to make the plunge and get an Intel Mac Pro. We have a G5 Quad 2.5 that just isn't cutting it and I've read that Digidesign is abandoning support for them (super-lame).
The question is..
Which one?
The new 8-core Nehalems start at $3299 for the 2.26ghz, so we'd be looking at a budget buster there. (We can't spend more than $3500...$4k max)
What's the big difference between those and the refurbished 8-core 3.2ghz ones that they're selling for $3299??
All I can see is that the refurb more than likely has the Harpertown chips and the newer ones have the Nehalem.
Will one smoke the other running PT 8??
I gotta know!

Also, since Apple's making big announcements this week with regard to new products, should we wait until after that?
The dilemma's killing me!

[barry1]

Wait n see....it might be worth it...and anyhow u get to think it over more.

[Gothboy]

Originally Posted by tdblanchard

So my partner and I are finally going to make the plunge and get an Intel Mac Pro. We have a G5 Quad 2.5 that just isn't cutting it and I've read that Digidesign is abandoning support for them (super-lame).

Ummm....Apple dropped support for PPCs so this is nothing surprising....... Don't let it kill you dude it's just a computer. See what Apple comes up with but if it's a newer Pro It'll be more expensive. Just get what you can budget for.

[tdblanchard]

Yeah.
As much as it pains me to do, I think I'll wait until Steve Jobs drops whatever bomb he's gonna drop.
I'm the guy who when he decides to get something, has to get it NOW.
But this is something I would probably benefit from waiting a little bit on...

[tdblanchard]

Okay. So as you all know. The hype was solely about the iPad. Whatever.
Anyways.
So I can get a new 8-core 2.26Ghz Nehalem for the same price as that refurbished 8-core Harpertown 3.2Ghz.
The RAM upgrade on the Refurbished one would cost a little bit more, but only a cpl hundred bux.

Does the Nehalem 2.26 run PT8 faster/better than the Harpertown 3.2?

Of course the "Geniuses" at Apple say the new ones are better but...

[Sonny in London]

Wait wait wait!

The Mac Pros are way overdue for a refresh. We should be seeing new machines by next month by my estimation, which will mean more power, more up-to-date and even, potentially, cheaper.

Right now they are massively overpriced. You'll be kicking yourself if you get one now. Be patient, get the next smoking fast machine and be happy you won't have to upgrade again for years.

[nst7]

Generally speaking, Apple almost never goes more than 1 year in updating their Mac Pros (They've been very consistent on this). The current ones came out last March. Being that we're just about into Febuary, you may only have to wait about 3-6 more weeks, if you can hold out.

It's in their interest to come out with new models soon. The new Imac 27" I7 is virtually equal to the current quad core mac pro in performance. They need to hurry up and get new models out to make it appealing (performance wise) for people to jump up to a Mac pro.

[CME]

Just to try and answer the initial question. The biggest difference in the Mac Pro's you're comparing is the chips. The new ones Hyperthread. So an 8-core new one would actually show up as 16 procs in the audio engine. So I would guess the new ones, even at a slower clock speed, would be faster. However I don't have any way to confirm this. Another thing the new ones do is vary the processor speed. If you are doing something that is not designed for multiple threads it will actually speed up the core that is being used. At least that's my understanding of it.

[barry1]

so you guys are saying that maybe apple will have a new lineup of mac book pro (laptop)..maybe with the I5 or I7 processor..come this march if they stand how they do things?

[nst7]

I was referring to the Mac Pro towers. There have been rumors about the macbook pros also, but they may not be quite as soon. They do tend to update those about once a year also. They did something weird last year, though. They came out with new ones in March (along with the Mac Pros), then updated them in June again, and lowered the cost. This was unusual and may have been a response to the economy.

Since it was June, though, they may not be updated in March as we might have expected.