I recently picked up a Mac Pro as a new system to use here in the office. The Mac Pro is Apple’s enterprise class computer. The specs of this machine, direct from Apple, are:

• Two 2.66GHz Dual-Core Intel Xeon
• 1GB (2 x 512MB)
• 250GB 7200-rpm Serial ATA 3Gb/s
• NVIDIA GeForce 7300 GT 256MB (single-link DVI/dual-link DVI)
• One 16x SuperDrive
• Apple Keyboard and Mighty Mouse
• Mac OS X

Setup

It is said that you are supposed to fall in love with your Mac the moment you open the box. So, I snapped a few photos of the experience:

Essentially, its a computer in a box. I didn’t feel my heart skip a beat or anything. Was I supposed to?

Setup was easy. I took the tower out of the box. It is quite heavy and very solid. I set it up next to my Windows machine. I attached one of my spare LCD monitors to it using the included DVI-to-VGA adapter (the Mac Pro does not have any VGA outputs – only DVI). I attached the Apple keyboard and the Mighty Mouse. The cords on the keyboard and Mighty Mouse are short. Apple does include a USB extension cord, but I think the cord really needs to be longer. It is fine that the mouse cord is short because it is designed to plug into the keyboard (the Apple keyboard functions as a USB hub as well). But, they really need to extend the keyboard cord. I plugged it in and powered her up.

The phrase “It Just Works” is the popular Apple mantra, and I can report that it worked fine the moment I cranked it up. The machine came with OS X Tiger pre-installed. I simply answered a few quick questions and it booted right up to the desktop. It did not quite set my monitor’s screen resolution at the native resolution, but that was a quick adjustment. I then popped in the upgrade DVD for Leopard. Again, answered a few questions and let it do the upgrade. When it was done, the Mac was running Leopard. No problems.

Quirks & Surprises

I am a long-time Windows user, so my look at the Mac Pro is coming from that viewpoint. While I can tell this is a quality machine, there are some things that I found to be odd. These are not shortcomings of the Mac Pro, mind you. It’s just different. For example, I found it really odd that there is no button on the optical drive on the Mac Pro in order to eject it. There are just slots. You’re left pulling your hair out just to do something as simple as put a CD into the drive. After looking at the manual, I find that you have to hit the Eject button on the Apple keyboard. I do so and it doesn’t open. What?! Then, I try again and hold it down. This time it opens. I guess it works, but it leaves me wondering if I’ll be able to open it if I decide to use another keyboard. I’m not too fond of this Apple keyboard and would like to use my big Microsoft natural keyboard if I can. I know I can always right-click to Eject a disc. Speaking of which…

Using the Mighty Mouse is not difficult, but very different. The entire top of the mouse clicks down to give you the function of the left mouse button. There are two little pressure areas on the sides which, when pressed, activates Expose and shows you all active applications. The little roller button on the top is very small, but functions as the roller present on many mice. Most notable to me is that there seems to be no right click capability. I am used to being able to use the right-click button to bring up contextual menus. Is there no way to do this in OSX? No right click? I look up on the Apple site this issue and it says the Might Mouse is supposed to detect which finger I am using to press it and allow right click that way. But, it simply doesn’t work. I cannot get a right-click contextual menu no matter what I do. So, basically, I decide the Mighty Mouse is a piece of crap and I attach a REAL mouse to the Mac. Using a normal USB mouse, I get both left and right click. Pressing the scroll wheel (or F12) activates the Dashboard. So, no loss of capability and I gain a working right-click. Mighty Mouse goes back in the box – screw it.

The only thing you might miss by not using the Might Mouse is the quick access to Expose. The alternative is to use the F9 button to bring up Expose. F11 will minimize all windows.

So, I’m not incredibly fond of the peripherals that come with the Mac. The computer, though, is great.

The Box

The Mac Pro itself is the reason I bought this thing. I don’t care about the peripherals. The box, though, is rock solid. It is very heavy and it takes some muscle to move it around. In true Mac Pro style, the exterior design is very minimalistic (and judging from the lack of a CD eject button, perhaps a little too minimal). When running, the box is very quiet. Apple has obviously done a good job of packing two processors into this box without the need for loud cooling units. The system fans are likewise very quiet under normal operation. The only thing that is loud is the optical drive. It makes quite a bit of noise when in use.

The interior of the box is clean and tidy. The main guts of the unit (motherboard and processor) are buried and are not meant to get to. The memory cards are easy to remove so as to install additional memory. The system comes with a single SATA drive mounted in the first of four drive bays for hard drives. The style in which SATA drives are mounted is really easy to use. No SATA cables. You simply remove the caddy, insert the drive, and re-insert the caddy. Hard drive installation is truly a pain-free experience. The system board comes with 4 PCI Express slots, with one in use for the included video card.

Powerful, but Limited

When you pack four processor cores into a single box, you expect everything in that computer to be stellar. So, I was surprised when I first found that the system only comes with 1 gigabyte of memory. To me, that seems like throwing 87-octane fuel into an Indy car. Now, I fully realize that OS X is very efficient with it’s memory. When you are using OS X using only the stock 1 gigabyte of included RAM, the system is snappy and you do not feel limited. However, most of us with Intel-based Macs are probably going to not only load up OS X, but we’re probably going to run Windows. That is a lot of load for 1 gig of memory, and yes, my experience with trying out VMWare Fusion and several Mac apps is that the Mac Pro is going to crawl for you at times with only 1 gigabyte. It does for me.

I definitely recommend installing more memory, and I plan to do so on my Mac Pro. I do not recommend buying the memory from Apple. They GROSSLY overcharge for memory and it is borderline shameful if you ask me. To illustrate, a look at the Mac Pro in the Apple Store shows that you can upgrade the system to 4 gigabytes of RAM for a whopping $699. Ouch! However, head on over to Newegg and you will see that you can buy Mac Pro compatible memory in 2 GB sticks for $126.99 each. So, I can upgrade the Mac Pro to 4 gigabytes for only $253.98 as opposed to $699.

The same goes for hard drives, and probably any other hardware you want to add to your Mac Pro. Apple will charge you $329 for a second hard drive. Needless to say, you can buy a SATA drive for much cheaper than that almost anywhere else you go. So, if you are going to get a Mac Pro, I highly recommend you purchase the stock model with no upgrades (unless you desire more than four processor cores). As easy as they make it to upgrade the box, there is simply no reason not to buy the hardware at a fraction of the price and simply install it yourself.

And to those of you Mac lovers who claim Apple is not more expensive, give me a damn break. I own a Mac now and still say you guys are smoking crack. You just can’t argue with those kinds of numbers. If you blindly trust Apple to do everything for you, you will get screwed. Period. However, if you buy an Apple and then do whatever you can on your own, you are OK. You’re still paying a lot, but at least it is somewhat justifiable at that point.

Conclusion

I am happy with the Mac Pro. It is a solid, fast box and is definitely going to be a workhorse computer for me. I think Apple definitely cut a few corners with this unit, but the underlying system is fast and rock solid.

Is the box worth $2,499? My answer is going to come at you in two versions:

• The Mac Pro is a quality system and is very fast. It is definitely an enterprise level computer. Considering what you can do with it and its core specs, I would say it is worth the money.
• On the other hand, just know going into it that you are paying for the piece of fruit on the side of the machine, and the fact that it allows you to run OS X. Aside from the Apple-specific design choices, a box of similar specs to this can be built for cheaper. You’re paying more for the Apple logo, the ability to run OS X, and the quality of the machine. As long as you understand that, you’re good to go. If you only look at the system specs, Apple is going to look really overpriced.