[X4U] Re: Expandable Mac's (Holy shit! Here comes an S!)

[Stroller]

On 20 Jan 2008, at 18:11, Zane H. Healy wrote:
>
> Actually this brings up an interesting point.  What I've really  
> been hoping Apple would release.  I need a system like the "Mac  
> Pro", however, I really don't need a 8-core Xeon system capable of  
> holding 32Gb of RAM.  I'd like one, but I *really* do not need  
> one.  My dual 2Ghz G5 is still capable of doing most everything I  
> need, but I would like a newer faster system.
>
> A nice Core 2 Duo, or quad-core Core 2 is enough CPU power for what  
> I need.
> ...
>
> Why is it that Apple doesn't offer something like this?  I know for  
> a fact I'm not the only one that wants a system like this.  Of  
> course I can tell you why, so they can force those of us that need  
> such a system into buying a "Mac Pro".  I'm not sure if this makes  
> good business sense or not, as a lot of us would likely replace our  
> systems more often if we could buy something [cheaper]

I can tell you that I feel exactly the same way, and am in exactly  
the same position as far as buying a MacPro is concerned.

I like good-quality computers, I can't bring myself to buy a machine  
without PCI slots or enough space for a second hard-drive or extra  
RAM. I won't buy a machine with a built-in monitor on the principle  
that I already have two perfectly good monitors here. I am probably  
only just in the class of people for whom an iMac seems a little  
inadequate - I'd love an Intel Mac on my desktop and my G5 is  
starting to feel a little slow for just one or two activities, but  
the price of a MacPro is prohibitive and I can live with my G5 for  
the present.

If you order a MacPro you don't HAVE to have 2 x quad-cores. There's  
a build-to-order option that allows you to elect only a single quad- 
core processor and - here in the UK - it shaves about £300 off the  
price. This brings the MacPro into the realms of affordable, about  
what I've paid for Power Macs in the past, when the cheaper options  
have been available.

>  OTOH, I need plenty of disk space, and more than 4Gb RAM.  
> Basically I need a Sun Ultra 24 running Mac OS X.
> http://www.sun.com/desktop/workstation/ultra24/index.xml

That is a very appealing price & specification. I've never really  
used Sun, but it looks like they've hit a sweet spot for Unix  
workstations.

Finally: on the subject of your subject line. The apostrophe does not  
mean "Holy shit! Here comes an S!", the plural of "Mac" is "Macs" and  
"Mac's" means "belonging to the Mac", so it was unnecessary to  
apostrophise "Macs" in this instance.

Stroller.