New Mac is heading my way

Gary · Mar 16, 2010, 16:53:02

After waiting a month, to make sure things were less hectic with the Apple screens and realising only people who complain post, I took the offer of an upgrade, they offered me a i5 quad core, 27" with 8GB ram and 1TB drive with a ATI Radeon HD 4850 graphics card with 512MB DDR3 as a "we are sorry" but for an extra £163 I get to have the 2.8GHz Quad-Core Intel Core i7 which when using one or two cores uses turbo boost to hit 3.46ghz and also has hyperthreading, I could not resist it

Justina will just shake her head. I'll post some pics when it arrives, Apple also let me keep my 21.5" till the new one comes so I can just swap my information over the same day from one machine to the other, without asking for me to pay extra, very trusting and helpful.

Rik · Mar 16, 2010, 16:54:06

I'm drooling...

Simon · Mar 16, 2010, 16:54:52

I think that was a good move, Gary.

Glenn · Mar 16, 2010, 16:55:08

They know where you live.

Gary · Mar 16, 2010, 17:02:58

Quote from: Glenn on Mar 16, 2010, 16:55:08
They know where you live.

But do I Glenn

Gary · Mar 16, 2010, 17:06:53

Quote from: Simon on Mar 16, 2010, 16:54:52
I think that was a good move, Gary.

It makes sense Simon, its a small amount of cash for an almost 30% increase in performance with some apps, and as I seriously do not want to buy another machine for years, its the safest way to try as much as you can to future proof your machines CPU for as long as you can.

Simon · Mar 16, 2010, 17:08:46

Hope you enjoy it, Gary.

Gary · Mar 16, 2010, 17:09:39

Quote from: Simon on Mar 16, 2010, 17:08:46
Hope you enjoy it, Gary.

Think I may need sunglasses to sit in front of it, Simon

Rik · Mar 16, 2010, 17:12:13

No problem, Garry, just send it to me.

Simon · Mar 16, 2010, 17:43:40

Quote from: Gary on Mar 16, 2010, 17:09:39
Think I may need sunglasses to sit in front of it, Simon

You'll save on the central heating.

Gary · Mar 16, 2010, 17:55:14

Quote from: Rik on Mar 16, 2010, 17:12:13
No problem, Garry, just send it to me.

I think I could sail it to you

Rik · Mar 16, 2010, 17:56:28

You want a good southerly breeze.

Unless you were letting me have it on tack, that is.

Gary · Mar 16, 2010, 17:57:17

Quote from: Simon on Mar 16, 2010, 17:43:40
You'll save on the central heating.

True and have a nice tan all year round, and need Mr Magoo glasses because I bet the text is very small on that machine, 2560 x 1440 is going to make even a large font text look tiny.

Gary · Mar 16, 2010, 17:57:48

Quote from: Rik on Mar 16, 2010, 17:56:28
You want a good southerly breeze. Unless you were letting me have it on tack, that is.

Glenn · Mar 16, 2010, 17:58:00

Quote from: Rik on Mar 16, 2010, 17:56:28
You want a good southerly breeze. Unless you were letting me have it on tack, that is.

He'll need to pull a few sheets off of you

Rik · Mar 16, 2010, 18:00:58

I like the cut of your jib, but then I'm biased.

Gary · Mar 16, 2010, 18:02:48

Quote from: Rik on Mar 16, 2010, 18:00:58

I like the cut of your jib, but then I'm biased.

I never knew you steered that way, Rik

Rik · Mar 16, 2010, 18:04:00

Normally I use a sextant, but the sun was too bright today, so I went to GPS instead.

Gary · Mar 16, 2010, 18:06:10

Quote from: Rik on Mar 16, 2010, 18:04:00
Normally I use a sextant, but the sun was too bright today, so I went to GPS instead.

I would use a sextant but the neighbours would talk

Glenn · Mar 16, 2010, 18:09:25

You can't trust the stars, Hollywood is always killing them off

Rik · Mar 16, 2010, 18:09:53

Quote from: Gary on Mar 16, 2010, 18:06:10
I would use a sextant but the neighbours would talk

Not if you wore a kilt they wouldn't.

Rik · Mar 16, 2010, 18:10:15

Quote from: Glenn on Mar 16, 2010, 18:09:25
You can't trust the stars, Hollywood is always killing them off

Or making them into a black hole...

Gary · Mar 16, 2010, 18:20:04

Quote from: Rik on Mar 16, 2010, 18:10:15
Or making them into a black hole...

I can think of a few Hollywood stars who could do with going into one

Rik · Mar 16, 2010, 18:21:39

We used to be satisfied with stars, now we have to have super stars and mega stars, one wonders what will happen when they run out of adjectives.

Steve · Mar 16, 2010, 19:02:40

Probably the right time to swap as things seem to have settled down,however the Apple UK store been very slow tonight I wonder if something new is on the way.

Rik · Mar 16, 2010, 19:03:04

Bigger and better?

Steve · Mar 16, 2010, 19:08:38

The new Mac Pro is out if you've got plenty of dosh.

Gary · Mar 17, 2010, 08:55:10

Quote from: Steve on Mar 16, 2010, 19:08:38
The new Mac Pro is out if you've got plenty of dosh.

Id love one, they are built so beautifully, a real engineering masterpiece. Alas not at that price

Tacitus · Mar 17, 2010, 11:29:00

Quote from: Gary on Mar 17, 2010, 08:55:10
Id love one, they are built so beautifully, a real engineering masterpiece. Alas not at that price

Even with Higher Ed discount an 8-core would come in at around £2250. Much as I would like one for doing video, I could build an 8-core PC for probably not much more than half that. The downside is that it would most likely have Windows on it (cough, spit), although an increasing variety of tools are now available on Linux.

Rik · Mar 17, 2010, 11:30:35

You know you want it, Tac.

Tacitus · Mar 17, 2010, 11:44:32

Quote from: Rik on Mar 17, 2010, 11:30:35
You know you want it, Tac.

I do, I do! The price is rather too much though, even with the discount

I suspect they will be even more expensive as the pound sinks further....

Rik · Mar 17, 2010, 11:48:54

A bit like petrol you mean.

Gary · Mar 17, 2010, 13:42:24

Its a shame they are so pricey but when you look inside at how they are built and how easy changing drives is and ram etc, well you can kind of see why, If I ever get rich from vlogging i'll by one, but my i7 iMac should do almost all I need tbh.

Tacitus · Mar 17, 2010, 14:54:02

Quote from: Gary on Mar 17, 2010, 13:42:24
Its a shame they are so pricey but when you look inside at how they are built and how easy changing drives is and ram etc, well you can kind of see why, ........

I must admit they are beautifully engineered. Reminds me of Leica and Hasselblad cameras - quality and craftsmanship simply oozes out of them.

Changing the drives is simple, much easier than on the iMac I had to do at the weekend.

Rik · Mar 17, 2010, 16:12:22

Things like that are just a pleasure to use.

Tacitus · Mar 17, 2010, 17:35:24

Quote from: Rik on Mar 17, 2010, 16:12:22
Things like that are just a pleasure to use.

I have a couple of M6 Leicas with the Leicavit style rapid winder bases. Beautiful cameras, but sadly it will not be long before film is unobtainable. Not sure whether you can still get Tri-X which used to be the staple for photojournalists and sports photographers.

Rik · Mar 17, 2010, 17:39:38

I haven't seen any in a while, Tac, I tended to use that or FP4, depending on subject. I still think film has a better feel, a bit like the vinyl vs CD debate.

Gary · Mar 17, 2010, 17:45:17

Quote from: Rik on Mar 17, 2010, 17:39:38
I haven't seen any in a while, Tac, I tended to use that or FP4, depending on subject. I still think film has a better feel, a bit like the vinyl vs CD debate.

A good turntable, amp and speakers quality vinyl sounds so much better compared with its digital cousin, Rik.

Rik · Mar 17, 2010, 17:48:15

Ultimately, we are analogue, and any digital medium suffers from errors. Luckily, for the most part these are small enough not to be a worry.

Gary · Mar 17, 2010, 17:50:15

Quote from: Rik on Mar 17, 2010, 17:48:15
Ultimately, we are analogue, and any digital medium suffers from errors. Luckily, for the most part these are small enough not to be a worry.

Some music just somehow never sounds right in digital formats though, its has less depth almost, and digital can sound sterile.

Rik · Mar 17, 2010, 17:51:54

It can look sterile too, Gary. Film carried far more of an emotive/evocative sense in its images. Digital is good but somehow sterile to my eyes. Not that I have let that get in my way, some of the advantages make it irresistible.

Gary · Mar 17, 2010, 18:01:35

Quote from: Rik on Mar 17, 2010, 17:51:54
It can look sterile too, Gary. Film carried far more of an emotive/evocative sense in its images. Digital is good but somehow sterile to my eyes. Not that I have let that get in my way, some of the advantages make it irresistible.

Very true, we move with the times and sadly vinyl and celluloid decay and have to become digital to survive in the end, there is an irony there.

Rik · Mar 17, 2010, 18:12:16

Which goes back to the 'we are analogue' point.