I.NFECTIO.US: Full time Apple Mac OS X

Full time Apple Mac OS X

Bob Silva — Tue, 15 Aug 2006 16:45:00 -0700

I've had my MacBook Pro for a couple months now and I've really enjoyed using it. I keep finding out that "things just work", like the time I was rebuiling my PC and Mac laptops and my Linux server had an emergency. I was working on the PC at the time, and...well crap, wheres my ssh program?!? Okay, swivel on over to the Mac, load up Terminal and fix the problem. Or the time I wanted to burn a DVD, gosh darn it, which Burning software do I want to download? Swivel over to the Mac, stick the disc in and click a few times and I have my DVD burned.

Now the MBP hasn't been without problems. I ran into the (now admitted) battery problem during Rails Conf. Couldn't use my MBP unless I had a plug to give it some juice. Also, when it's hooked to the 30" cinema, occasionally, the output gets corrupted and I see little aquagreen dots all over my desktop, a reboot usually clears it up thankfully. Back to my story, I haven't totally swapped to the Mac because I still have a (rather new) desktop PC at home. AMD 64-bit X2 3800+ with a couple terabytes of disk space, 4 gigs of ram and 3 21" CRT's hooked to it. I really enjoy this setup with three monitors and didn't really want to give it up just to use the MBP at home.

Out with the new, in with the newer. I figure I wouldn't ever move to Mac all the way if I wasn't forced to use it both at home and at work, so I bit the bullet and ordered a shiny new MacPro for home. I had a limited budget so I had to scale back for now but I got the essentials. I went with the 2.66 duos, left memory at 1G, cut the hard drive to 160GB (I'll pull the 4 Hitachis out of my current desktop), added the extra SuperDrive and Bluetooth (got my free 2GB iPod Nano after rebate) and best of all, 3 20" cinemas. I'll post some pics when I get it all setup. It's gonna be sweet!! I hope they don't wait too long to get PC drivers out for the new hardware just in case I need the occasional native PC app. (I use Parrallels at work already and it's OK, but not for gaming.)

The trade off? Gotta sell my '90 GMC 3/4 ton pickup to pay for it. That's the only way I could get the wife to reluctantly agree to it. That and a few dinners followed up by **censored** should smooth things over pretty well. A new Mac *and* more sex? I think you know who's getting the better deal here! Update

The monitors arrived today, MacPro still hasn't shipped so I can only drool over this picture.

"Full time Apple Mac OS X" by Audra

Thu, 24 Aug 2006 18:08:41 -0700

Over your dead body? Hmmmm...Nah...I'll steal it and keep your body alive - for now. ;)

"Full time Apple Mac OS X" by Farhan Ahmad

Sat, 19 Aug 2006 15:40:22 -0700

I have never thought about a three monitor setup (mainly because of the cost), I know dual monitors increase productivity by a lot. The trio does look awesome, but how much productivity gain do you really get going from two monitors to three?

"Full time Apple Mac OS X" by Bob Silva

Thu, 17 Aug 2006 21:06:17 -0700

The MacPro can be ordered with up to 4 video cards. I ordered mine with 3. Don't confuse this with the MacBookPro.

"Full time Apple Mac OS X" by Andy Shen

Thu, 17 Aug 2006 20:22:56 -0700

How do you drive 3 monitors at the same time?

"Full time Apple Mac OS X" by Bob Silva

Thu, 17 Aug 2006 16:46:46 -0700

Over my dead body!

"Full time Apple Mac OS X" by Audra

Thu, 17 Aug 2006 13:40:46 -0700

Hmmmm....I'm thinking the 2GB iPod Nano should be given to the wife.

"Full time Apple Mac OS X" by atmos

Thu, 17 Aug 2006 06:52:32 -0700

Ok we're all officially jealous of your new setup, shame you have to get rid of the vehicle to pay for it though. :(

"Full time Apple Mac OS X" by Bob Silva

Wed, 16 Aug 2006 16:22:35 -0700

I'll add the memory separately. I learned with my MBP not to buy extra memory from Apple. Ditto with the hard drives. $340 from Apple, $229 from newegg.com. Bob

"Full time Apple Mac OS X" by Audra

Wed, 16 Aug 2006 13:18:48 -0700

The wife says it will take more than dinner and lovin'. We're talking MAJOR sucking up needed here. I'm sure I can come up with a sucking-up-to-the-wife list. ;) I'm sure fulfilling that list will still benefit you some.

"Full time Apple Mac OS X" by Peter Cooper

Wed, 16 Aug 2006 06:07:53 -0700

A limited budget so you bought /three/ screens? Oh man :) 2GB of memory and 2 screens would have been a little cheaper and you'll be aching for that second gigabyte once you get going anyway.. sorry! ;-)

"Full time Apple Mac OS X" by Ryan Heneise

Wed, 16 Aug 2006 05:37:23 -0700

Dad-gum, that's freaking sweet. I don't know if my wife would be ok with the 3 monitors though. You must be pretty persuasive.