Quad-Core Intel Xeon Powerhouse… in da house.
This is kind of funny, after my last post. :)
Work just got me a new Mac Pro quad-core (2 X dual-core Intel Xeons @ 3 GHz each). This sucker is rocking 3TB storage (3,000 Gigs to folks who don’t know/care what that is), and 8 GB RAM. Yeah… sweet Jesus, what’s all that for?
So work needed to hook me up with a computing powerhouse quickly - like within 48 hours - for a big project that needed immediate attention. When my work asked PC or Mac, I gave it a bit of thought, and decided PC. Then they came back and asked if I wanted to try a Mac that ran both OS X and Windows (via Bootcamp).
“..uh. Yeah, I guess that could work.”
It was kind of our only option at that point, as we needed a bitchin’ system so quickly… and this was ready to buy at the Apple Store. Any decent PC would have taken longer to have built and shipped. Or, I’d have to have enough time to overnight the parts and build my own machine (like I did with my Shuttle PC, which I still adore to no end).
So I’ve got Adobe Everything for both Mac and Windows, and even this little ol’ thing called Final Cut Studio.
There really isn’t anything more annoying than a mac fanboy. I used to by one myself, and eventually switched to Windows years ago. Doing graphic and UI work in the software world, I’d rather be involved in the PC platform. I’d use the *same* applications on either end.
To me, using a Mac is like sitting in an empty V.I.P. room. It’s great and nice and all, but the real party is out there on the messy dancefloor.
So for the most part, I’m using the Windows side of this machine. A bloody shame, because bootcamp currently only supports 32 bit windows (meaning the 64 bit processors and 6 of the 8 GB of ram sit idle). Hopefully the final version will support Vista 64.
But why?? Why would I boot up Vista on my G5 to edit video? Am I insane?
Currently, After Effects renders at the same speed on both sides, even with windows capping off far earlier on the hardware. I know - what the hell. And don’t this beat all - I get nagging RAM errors in After Effects and then it crashes…. on the Apple side! Don’t that just beat all.
I’m hoping I get to the root of this and other issues I’m having on the Mac side (who knew Macs were so difficult to deal with?). I’ll chalk a lot of my initial displeasure to OS X just being plain different. A sample of my initial reactions:
“Jesus Christ. Why can’t the back button on my mouse be mapped to back in Firefox / Safari?”
“Do I have to hover over everything to see the titles of what I have minimized?”
“But I WANT to remove preferences that aren’t in the application folder. Who do I have to sleep with to get a real uninstallation around here?”
“No wonder fanboys are so angry.”
I’ll give it some time, and I’ll try to split my work and personal life between the two and see if I adjust at all. Considering that nothing worked on OS X at all when it first came out, Apple has no room to talk about any Vista software challenges - all the important stuff works. I used OS X right when it first came out - not a single Adobe design application I needed, ran on it. That’s when I jumped back to Windows for a second time.
I’m hoping for a better relationship with OS X this time around. Unfortunately, we’re already off to a slightly rocky start.
HOLLY CRAP! That mutha has some power! This is clearly something they only sell for commercial use. What in the world do you do for a living? Here I am trying to upgrade my computers RAM memory to 1GB and your at 8??? Is that considered Memory Envy?
“But I WANT to remove preferences that aren’t in the application folder. Who do I have to sleep with to get a real uninstallation around here?”
Yup, AppZapper (http://www.appzapper.com)
Nice! I was kinda hoping people might throw some helpful apps in my direction… thanks!
Andy
“Quad-Core Xeon G5 Powerhouse… in da house”
Correction, its a Quad-Core Intel Xeon. The G5 has been dead for a little over a year now. Congrats on the Mac Pro, very nicely equipped though. I deal with them everyday, very impressive machine. If anyone wants one, let me know. Enjoy!
Nice specs on the Mac Pro. And yeah, LostRat is correct, it’s an Intel Xeon, not PowerPC G5… But nice nonetheless. I’m waiting for the Eight-Core Mac Pro, which is rumored to be in the works for 2Q 2007… Let cross our fingers now… Have you tried running Parallels for Mac??? And you’re right, Bootcamp and Parallels currently do not support 64 bit… C’est la vie.
I can’t imagine anyone needing that big a beast!
I can’t imagine anyone needing that big a beast!
Aloha Andrew,
Have you tried using a mouse like a Logitech MX/VX Resolution in combination with the Control Center driver that comes with it? You can map the mouse buttons to back/forward navigation in Safari.
Logitech MX/VX:
http://www.logitech.com/index.cfm/products/details/US/EN,CONTENTID=12134
http://www.logitech.com/index.cfm/products/details/US/EN,CONTENTID=12140
Regarding 64bit support in Boot Camp, there are ways to wrangle 64bit version of Vista onto the Mac Pro. Hands down, Vista 64bit is pretty good.
I prefer to not use Boot Camp to partition my drive, but instead opted for a separate hard drive. Boot Camp is too restrictive in the type of partition. If adding an additional drive is not an option, you can use diskutil to resize your hard drive without losing data and make room for Windows on a new partition.
diskutil resizeVolume:
http://www.macgeekery.com/tips/cli/nondestructively_resizing_volumes
John Robbin’s blog has some pointers that might help you out with Windows and Mac Pro setup.
http://www.wintellect.com/cs/blogs/jrobbins/archive/2007/02/15/vista-x64-on-a-mac-pro-totally-awesome-dude.aspx
dude, get a brain. someone drops the hottest personal computer on the planet in your lap and you complain about petty stuff. if we’re ‘fanboys’ (who started that lingo?.. tired) you’re a microsoft apologist in disguise. just cause you live in seattle doesn’t mean you need to rag on apple and brownnose bill’s ass. get parallels (http://www.parallels.com/en/products/workstation/mac/) so you can run windows in OS X with no speed penalty. increase your dock size so you can actually see the minimized files or forget the minimization, leave all the files open and use F9 to toggle between apps. buy the logitech mouse referred to above.. and get the missing manual by david pogue so you can actually learn how to use it.
ball routine, notional.