Home > Consumer Reviews > Apple Mac Pro MA356LL/A Desktop (Two 2.66 GHz Dual-Core Intel Xeon Processors, 1 GB RAM, 250 GB Hard Drive, SuperDrive)

This desktop is everything I imagined it would be, and more... Pretty much the perfect desktop for a programmer / gadget freak. I'll not bother repeating what others have already said about it, but I'll add - get Parallels for it if you want to try out virtualization. With 2Gb of memory, and Windows XP under Parallels, I am remoting into my work computers (with Aventail Client) and enjoying the fact I don't have to power down OS X to do this. Also, turns out Garmin doesn't have their NuviWebUpdater application for Mac, but no problem. It runs in Parallels. Same goes for the occasional website that requires some kind of ActiveX plugin (such as watching movies online at NetFlix). Also am running Fedora Core 6. I can't wait till Parallels supports 64-bit guest OS's. If this sounds like a review for Parallels, whoops. Anyway, like a few other people have mentioned, 1Gb of memory isn't quite enough if you're going to be running lots of concurrent apps, so you'll want at least 2Gb. The 250Gb hard drive is okay, but I think I'll be running out of space soon, so that's the next item on my list. Yes, it'd be nice if Amazon offered more than the base unit. Anyway, this desktop helps ease the pain of having to work with Windows for the past 15 years...

Excelente producto, absulatemente veloz y confiable. Para aprovechar realmente su desempeño incrementè en 8GB la memoria.. la mejor compra por su dinero

Disclaimer: The following explanations based on my experience, and others may have a different model/version that works adequately. If you can relate to these problems, they are not unique to me alone.

Mac Pro really isn't any better than machines running Windows. No computer can multitask well regardless how new they may be (especially when opening a program, even the smallest application, i.e. Text Edit or Firefox will take several seconds longer to finish loading).

Mac does far better reading damaged CDs than on Windows. Even iTunes and QuickTime can handle corrupt movie clips from a digital camera and damaged audio files that any version of Windows will reject or crash Explorer! However, there is a serious flaw in the OS where certain folders appear not to contain files when you can access them on Windows. Opti-Arc SuperDrives write and burn discs with much better accuracy than with any PC's DVD writer I have tested. Too bad you can't plug earphones into the drive or eject from the drive.

Seagate is far from Western Digital. I bought a 500 GB hard drive from them and is defective (electrical calibration issue causing noise and erratic read/write access). Avoid buying a secondary hard drive if the primary drive has enough space, unless you can find a compatible Western Digital or other brand. (Generally, higher capacity drives may have a greater chance of failure, as with the larger the capacity flash memory the laws of physics can become an issue.)

VMWare Fusion 2 comes nowhere close to Parallels Desktop, but Parallels 4 had compatibility issues on Windows XP. I (currently) use Tiger running Parallels Desktop 3 and everything will work without much trouble. However, it severely slows everything down on your Mac unless you have more than 2 GB of RAM, and RAM does not come cheap like flash memory. Still, cheaper than it was eons ago.

Overall, if you don't open more than one program at once and have at least 4 GB of RAM, your Mac will perform very well (even better with Leopard, and that system is awesome, but on the secondary Seagate that gives me trouble, so good for manual backup).

You can't properly access recordings on the newest Sansa on Mac without Parallels (read my review on the Sansa Fuze player for the technical details).

For a system less likely to be infected, but with mimimal sound card features and no video capturing on-board (e.g. analog video from a VCR, tuner, or video game outputs), and you are happy with what a Mac Pro can do, I highly recommend it.

My late 2007 Mac pro is working very well, and all updated.

Hope this helps. Probably anyone claiming Mac is very fast and can multitask may have a different experience from what I had.

Personally, Windows Vista is more attractive than Leopard is.

I have the iPod Nano 4 GB 2nd Gen, and has worked perfectly (except Micro Memo's recording accessory I'd rate 3/5 stars for locking up the iPod on playback and its microphone attachment records as poorly as a telephone receiver might.)

It's the best and the most expensive desktop I ever have. It should come with more RAM on it. RAM is too expensive, 1 gb is $300 plus tax with 10% discount for student. Now I got 2 gb of RAM on it.

"Zareck" is truly misinformed or works for Apple. Proof? "(It retails 1000$ cheaper that a similar Dell)" he writes.

So I went to the Dell site and configured a system with the same processor, TWICE the memory, TWICE the DVD burners (2), TWICE the storage space (500 GB SATA 7200, 8 GB cache), a SUPERIOR (approx. 80% faster) graphics card: (256 MB nVidia 7900GS), a TV tuner (for XP Media Edition), and a 13-in-1 media card reader. It's true the Mac has (2) firewire 800 connections and I configured the Dell for just 2 firewire 400 connections. Oh yeah, I forgot: it also INCLUDES a 19 inch LCD monitor.

$1000 cheaper? Not even CLOSE. Here's what you'll have to do to upgrade the Mac Pro in order to meet the Dell configured specs:

Try $300 more for upgrading to 2 GB memory. Try $200 more to upgrade to a 500 GB hard drive. Try at least $150 to match the performance of the 7900 GS (using the 7300 in an SLI configuration). Try $79.00 for an iWorks. Apple gives no option for ONE WHOLE YEAR of onsite service. You get (no onsite) service for 90 days. Whoop. The TV tuner? That'll set you back $100. Oh yeah. The 19 inch LCD? Dell sells it for $203, so we'll add that as well. It's that or add ALMOST $500 ($496.99) for one inch more in the Apple Cinema Display. Which might be well worth it for you, but let's use the Dell cost for keeping price comparisons equivalent.

In order to MATCH (except for onsite service and service length) the Dell, it will cost you an additional $1032.00, bringing the equivalent Mac Pro price to $3531.99.

Let's do the math, shall we? $3531.99 (MacPro)- $2134.00 (Dell) = $1397.99 Rounded up, the Mac will cost you $1400 MORE than the equivalent Dell. Some of you will say it's well worth it. And it might very well be. My point? I just wish people who support Apple would confine themselves to what is- not what they want it to be.

Final point: I own various PC's, a mini and an iMac 20 inch which I wish I had bought after the core 2 duos were introduced. I run non-Dell (cheaper, better quality) Directron built PC's for some of my production work. I deal primarily with photography processing and archiving, web design and post-production audio. 9/9/06