[Al Balison]

Thanks again. Looking at this refurbished Mac Pro: https://store.apple.com/ca/product/FB535LL/A?mco=MTM5NTg5MTI

Yeah, it definitely looks cheaper on line (memory and hard drive)… https://eshop.macsales.com/shop/memory/Mac-Pro-Memory

Question: this refurbed mac is definitely a 2009 right? They didn’t make 2.26 ghz quads in 2008 did they?

Also – because this refurbed mac comes with 6×1 gb ram, macsales.com doesn’t sell ram in 1 gb (I’d want to add an additional 2 gb of ram to have 8 gb). Stupid question I know, but could I just buy a 2 gb stick of ram to add to the already installed 6×1 gbs?

I would also want to upgrade the video card to ATI Radeon HD 4870 (419.00 Apple sells at).

You can’t upgrade anything from Apple when you buy refurbished can you?

Anyway, thanks again for all your advices…..

AL

[Al Balison]

Wow!! Thanks for all your responses. Being a newbie in all this, I really just need to get my feet much wetter in order to understand my needs better. The bottom line is I don’t want any regrets (as Alan mentioned) in my initial purchase of a mac. I now understand what Walter speaks of with the ethernet connectivity and how, at this point, I would not require it, but at what point in the future might I need it.

My definition of semi-pro (Chi-Ho) is: to create film projects (documentaries, shorts, full-length) which will have enough of a professional look for broadcasting, film festivals and sale.

The dilemma that I’ll have to answer myself (dang it all) is as Michael mentioned, to identify the limitations of the imac and can I live with them. External hard drive, raid, firewire 800 etc..

So here is what I need to make a decision on:

Option 1) iMac 7: 2.8 ghz (quad core), 8gb ram, ATI Radeon HD 4850 (512 mb) with something like a Promise Smartstar DS4600 extenal hard drive raid system https://store.apple.com/us_smb_78313/product/TX711VC/A?fnode=MTY1NDA0Nw&mco=MTMzNzkyMTc&s=topSellers

Total: 2,399.00 plus 799.99 for Promise (comes with 4×1 tb drives)

***as Walter mentioned (no ethernet connectivity)

Option 2) iMac 27″ 3.33 ghz (dual core), 8 gb ram, ATI Radeon HD 4850 (512 mb) ***which supports high speed ethernet transport
plus again something like the above mentioned external hard drive

Total 2,249.00 plus 799.99 = 3048.00

Or….which I’m kinda leaning toward…

Option 3) The Big Daddy Mac Pro (2) 2.26 ghz Quad core, 8 gb ram, 2×1 TB Hard drives, ATI Radeon HD 4870 (512 mb)

24″ Apple Cinema Display

Total: 4898.00

Any further feedback would still be very much appreciated….

Thanks,

Al

[Al Balison]

Thanks Walter for this starting point to your thread. I did indeed read the whole thread prior to posting my question. I hate to bring these forums down with my lack of knowledge and experience. When you speak of ethernet connectivity (and the lack thereof re: iMac 5 and 7), would this be a connection that I would need or desire if I wasn’t sharing anything over a network? I probably shoud save my money for film school to learn the basics…

Al