Would You Buy A Thicker MacBook Pro With a Better Video Card?

thats the same lame argument too many people try to make... then why do people buy $10,000 Dell workstations that won't play a game as fast as a $1500 gaming desktop? They are just stupid? or maybe it's you don't understand the differences

 

When you get a Desktop everyone who knows their hardware ABCS go DIY any other way is silly.
DIY is competition since the final product is the same.

 

There is no difference they reason is they don't go DIY is because of deployment and accountability (warranty?).
Your assumption is moot.
Are you gonna tell your boss you will help him DIY 40 workstation?!
He will laugh and you will cry.

 

No, it isn't "silly" for a business to buy Mac Pros or Dell workstations. These companies don't have the time to set up and maintain their own machines. Not everyone wants to save a few hundred bucks like you and me. You can't impose your own situation on everyone else in the world who is not like you.

 

What are the benefits of Xeon processors, anyway? You can get a 2.66GHz Core i7 for a quarter of the price.

 

Check the topic "Will YOU buy?" not "will your company?" buy.
Although the subject is not the same.

 

Xeon sounds so much cooler.

 

But you said "any other way is silly." This implies that this is silly for everyone.

 

Hot for your wallet and not so hot considering your hot wallent and not so hot performance.

 

For me, it would depend on how much thicker...I don't want a heavy notebook, but at the same time it wouldn't hurt to see an even-more-powerful MBP exist .

 

Plus those Dell Workstation comes with Quadro Open GL Cards supposed to be better for CAD applications however uses the same chip architecture.
If you customize a Dell Precision you can get it cheaper than a Mac Pro.

 

Stop talking about workstations and Mac Pros. It has already been stated that the purpose of Mac Pros and workstation/servers are NOT FOR GAMING, so anyone who continues comparing a $999999 Dell Precision to their $500 Playstation will receive disciplinary action on their forum accounts.

 

yeah, because people now know that its simple to build a pc.

 

I lol'd

Dude server cpu's are different than that desktop cpu you have in your tower. You can scale up multiple cpu's with Xeons, you cant do this with Core i7's. Also Xeons are made to be much more stable, which adds to costs.

Anyway, back on topic. I would not buy a thicker macbook because at those dimensions it would be just like every other laptop out there. I think the macbook's .95" is the main draw for me and its graphics is decently powerful.

I think we are getting too caught up in having the ultimate powerful laptop, when in fact this is not possible. A desktop should provide you with the power you need.

 

My whole point is Xeon is almost the same as Core i7 for CAD applications.
They are based on the same architecture anyways.
Also Dell Precison don't cost $999999 check Dell Website for more info.

Xeon are better for servers not workstations
Benchmark
Model / Score / Ranking
Intel Xeon X5365 @ 3.00GHz 3294 43
Intel Xeon X5450 @ 3.00GHz 4270 24
Intel Xeon X5460 @ 3.16GHz 5105 13
Intel Xeon X5472 @ 3.00GHz 4870 15
Intel Xeon X5482 @ 3.20GHz 5387 9
Intel Xeon X5492 @ 3.40GHz 5223 11
Intel Xeon X5560 @ 2.80GHz 4378 21
Intel Core i7 920 @ 2.67GHz 5445 8
Intel Core i7 940 @ 2.93GHz 6072 6
Intel Core i7 950 @ 3.07GHz 6520 4
Intel Core i7 965 @ 3.20GHz 6783 3
Intel Core i7 975 @ 3.33GHz 7249 1
Intel Core i7 @ 9200 @ 2.67GHz 5368 10

The score are based on PassMark (google)
CPU tests Mathematical operations, compression, encryption, SSE, 3DNow! instructions and more

I hope this is convincing enough.

 

True on a chip for chip basis, but you put 4 Xeon Cpu's on a single motherboard, add 128 or 256 GB of ram and then you have a machine that can cluster with another machine or a few thousand more machines and all those" by the numbers slower Cpu's" will be much more stable and a darn sight faster in mathimatical functions than any desktop or mobile CPU operate with no issues for their designed lifecycle ( in the current generation Xeons 12 years)

Desktop cpu's and mobile cpu's are useless for high end servers or clusters ... and a Server Cpu isnt made for gaming or working alone in most cases, 2 TOTALLY different applications

 

You are right BUT on a workstation (not highload server) you don't have 4 CPU sockets or don't need to because you don't need multithreading as much.
(Open 10 CAD Application and switching between them in a one-tenth of a second??!! )
The point of Xeon is scalability which you don't need on workstation hence you get more money saved and same raw performance if you stick to Core i7.

 

in CAD, never tried it with the Xeons but using a pair of Opterions on a board is EASILY 2.5 times faster rendering than an i7 besides the stability is nice. So cant knock them too badly as a Workstation. Benchamrks are NO substitute for real world applications with the variety of boards and chipsets .... I'll try a comparison with a stopwatch later

 

A pair of them greatly increase the price.
The benchmark I provided is single cored.
If you look at the dual core benchmark it is consistent with what you felt.

 

as for Xeons and desktops, some of you bashing them don't have a clue, and think Workstation and Desktop is the same thing... get over yourself, you don't know everything like you think you do.

As for the actual topic of this post, I think it might be nice if they add an additional model, but not replace anything. They made the Air, so maybe make the Beast the opposite way and make it double thick with a quad core and a high end GPU... as long as they dont mess with the normal Pro line.

 

Please go back and read the thread... you are putting words in my mouth.
(and it seems getting insulted that macs could possibly not be perfect in every way)

"Comfort" is not always about keyboard size.

I have one user who is particularly tall and has large hands who has already destroyed TWO 17" macbooks. (admittedly he is not the most graceful person, but he is a usually careful user)
He prefers MacOS... and the 17" Dell we gave him as a replacement hasn't had a single issue other than "not being able to run MacOS".

15" laptops are too small for him to comfortably use, and ultra-thin (and ultra breakable unibody macs) are not working out for him.

He could use a more standard (not overly huge, just standard 17" chassis) mac with a enthusiast GPU and some better cooling.

Why is variety a bad thing?

 

Since when does what you "need" determines the cost of something being overpriced? You may be happy with a single Core i7, but others may need more power, such has multiple Xeon's. Xeon's don't cost $200 - $300 like i7's plus you need server ram and a server board.

You are comparing two completely different platforms to get your point across, and its not working.

I don't think you have a clue what a workstation is compared to a desktop.