Help needed with Mac Pro spec

Flashman

Flashman

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I've finally seen the light and am about to move from PC to Mac.

I'm finalising a spec for a Mac Pro on the Apple Store, but have a couple of questions... hope they're not silly ones!

1. I want two 24" Apple Cinema displays but am not sure what graphics cards I need to drive them.
On the 'Graphics' options, it says "You can attach multiple Apple flat panels with DVI connectors to your Mac Pro graphics card, one directly to the Dual-Link DVI port the other via a Mini DisplayPort to Dual-Link DVI Adapter (sold separately)."
Yet on the 'Displays' options, it says: "Note: Connecting two 24-inch Apple LED Cinema Displays requires an additional NVIDIA GeForce GT 120 graphics card."
So which is right... Do I need One Graphics card or two? If the answer is that I only need one, is there any performance benefit to Photoshop in adding a second card anyway (considering that CS4 now uses GPU's to accelerate performance)?

2. I'm kind of reliant on Microsoft Office. Should I get Office for Mac or is iwork a good alternative? If I opted for iwork then what can I use to replace Outlook (for email client, calendar & contacts)?

TIA folks! :)

 
I'm not too sure on the hardware questions as I use a Macbook.

Office software - I've tried Office for Mac (2004 and 2008 versions), iWork, Neo Office and Open Office, the last two being free. TBH I prefer the freebies, with Neo Office just edging ahead, there are trial versions of both Office and iWork available, possibly already installed on your Mac, have a play when you get it and see what you prefer.

For Outlook features I use the tools built into the operating system, Mail/Address book/iCal, they all do the job perfectly.
 
Craikeybaby said:
I'm not too sure on the hardware questions as I use a Macbook.

Office software - I've tried Office for Mac (2004 and 2008 versions), iWork, Neo Office and Open Office, the last two being free. TBH I prefer the freebies, with Neo Office just edging ahead, there are trial versions of both Office and iWork available, possibly already installed on your Mac, have a play when you get it and see what you prefer.

For Outlook features I use the tools built into the operating system, Mail/Address book/iCal, they all do the job perfectly.
Click to expand...

Thanks, Craikeybaby, that helps.

neil_g said:
isnt the mini display port only on the macbooks? i thought the towers came with regular size DVI or mini DVI?
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Well, on the spec page HERE, under the graphics card options it says: "The GeForce GT 120 includes both a Mini DisplayPort and a dual-link DVI port", so I would guess enough ports to run two monitors, yet under 'second display' it says 'To connect two 24-inch Apple LED Cinema Displays, an additional NVIDIA GeForce GT 120 graphics card is required.' . These two statements seem contradictory... or am I missing something? :thinking:

 
Don't know about the display question, I'd call Apple on the 0800 number.

As above, Open Office is very good for free, and works with all the standard document formats. It doesn't include a PIM solution though.

On the Mac, Mail, Address Book and iCal all work really well, and although treated as separate apps, they're integrated. Snow Leopard (next release of OS X) adds exchange support if you need it, and eliminates the need to run Entourage (the Outlook for Mac client). I've tried the WWDC release of Snow Leopard, and it works great with Exchange, I'll be buying it on release (You'll get it for free as you bought a Mac after 9 June)

The irony of the latest release to Mac OS is that you get MS Exchange support built in, to get the same functionality for Windows, you have to buy another application!
 
JasonRS said:
Don't know about the display question, I'd call Apple on the 0800 number.
Click to expand...

Now why didn't I think of that! :bonk:

Just called them and apparently I do need two cards because the 24" monitor has mini DVI ports and not DVI ports!
 
To be more precise the 24 inch LED monitors only have mini display port connetcors, and each graphics card only has one mini display port connector so you need two.

Personally I have both Office for Mac and iWork. I prefur the Office more, but then maybe that is just cause I am use to it. To replace outlook, you can use iMail or Enterage (part of Office for Mac). To transfure your emails and contacts over, you need to use Thunderbird (import all your outlook stuff over to thunderbird, copy the windows thunderbird folder over to the mac version of thunderbird, then export to iMail), though I just use Thunderbird for Mac now as my email client.
 
Whilst I'd not crticise you for wanting 2 24" Apple monitors, there may be a better option available to you and save some money.

Have a look at the Eizo range and see if anything grabs your attention.

Also if the second monitor is just for handling palettes etc and is not going to be used for Colour Critical work then a cheaper monitor maybe better
You may then get away with one Video cards, one driving the Apple via Mini port, the other via the conventional port
 
Thanks, FrancisJuan, for the input... useful stuff!

Chappers, my second moniotor is not colour critical and is usually just for the convenience of the extra screen real estate for open explorer windows, browser etc. Quite handy for the second monitor facility in LR2 aswell. You've set me thinking about another alternative though... a 30" Apple monitor and keeping one of my existing Dell monitors, I'd only need the one graphics card and I'd save about £200 over buying the two 24" Apple monitors. I've never worked on a 30" monitor though... is it overkill?
 
Overkill yes! but once you've gone that route you may never go back.

Check though that the card in the Mac will support the 30" and a second 24"

As far as Office is concerned, I opted for iWork when I transferred to Mac as it's similar to the old Lotus office suite which I much prefered over Office, but died years ago. ( It also supports Microsoft formats as well ). However if you are proficient in Office, I'd go for that as it saves learning a new package. The price isn't much different anyway.

If you have any external hard drives that are NTFS formatted, the Mac will read them but not write to them. Get a copy of NTFS for OSX ( £25 from Apple Store) and it'll read and write with no problems

I
 
Chappers said:
If you have any external hard drives that are NTFS formatted, the Mac will read them but not write to them. Get a copy of NTFS for OSX ( £25 from Apple Store) and it'll read and write with no problems
Click to expand...

I'll second that.

There's a free route using MacFuse and NTFS-3G, but the amount of fiddling needed it's worth spending £25 for the ease of use. However, there has been a bundle created by another dev to merge the two, I've not tried it, but you can see it here

http://www.macupdate.com/info.php/id/30449
 
Well after resisting the change from PC for too many years I finally took the plunge! 8 core Mac Pro with 30" of monitory goodness now on order and should be arriving towards the end of next week... :woot:
 
Congratulations! That is one massive screen!
 
I think you can drive 2 displays with one graphic card.
But to have better performance 2 graphic cards would be better!
Nvidia GeForce GT 120 would be fine i think!
 
Flashman said:
Well after resisting the change from PC for too many years I finally took the plunge! 8 core Mac Pro with 30" of monitory goodness now on order and should be arriving towards the end of next week... :woot:
Click to expand...

Git! ;)
 
I can't comment about Mac Pro, but M$ Office is not worth a penny (can't do VB scripting, doesn't support equation editor, other minor formatting incompatibilities). Openoffice.org / Neooffice are free alternatives and in fact do a much better job. So I wouldn't feed the sharks if I were you.
 
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