Mac Pro

[willrob]

My G4 died and I was forced to sell my soul to the devil and buy a Mac Pro. It's a beautiful machine, very fast, but it has some peculiarities I hadn't expected. First it shipped with 1G of RAM, which in the modern world is nowhere enough. So I bought more (Mac Pro ram is expensive— $199 for 1G). Installing the RAM is a piece of cake, due to the beautifully designed interior. I also added a second SATA drive—also easy, using the drive drawers.

But when I tried to add a second DVD drive (Pioneer DVR-111D, which I had flashed to write RAM discs) I struggled with it for over an hour and finally had to post a message on the Apple support discussion. The manual for the Mac Pro says all I need to do is pull the Bay drawer out and screw in the drive. But a heads up: the optical bay is very very hard to pull out the first time. I'm not sure why, but others have reported similar experiences. A lot of force is require, and a lot of jiggling from side to side, and a fearlessness when facing the feeling that you are bound to break something. When I finally did remove the bay and install the drive, the drawer slid back in easily, and removing it again was very easy. So, as with many things in life, it's the first time that's the hardest.

The optical drive that shipped in the machine was a Sony, although I've heard that some Mac Pros ship with a Pioneer 111D (renamed?). It turns out that one can cross flash the Sony to the NEC it really is, and turn on region free and RAM writing. I haven't done it yet, but it can be done in the Mac, unlike the Pioneer which needs to be put in a PC for flashing. (I'll report back once I've done it).

Once the Pioneer was installed, I was immediately aware of how quiet it is compared to the Sony. Place a disk in the Sony and it's like a fan has been turned on (but it's only the drive spinning). The higher sound level continued throughout the process, and is there even when watching a DVD. Place a disk in the Pioneer and even when writing it's very quiet. I guess this is the Pioneer Quiet Drive function at work. Both drives burn at the 16x speed, and I can assign each a different task: burning on one while ripping on the other. Or duplicate Toast and burn to both at the same time.

So back to the oddities about the Mac Pro. No one told me that in the Intel world none of my Contextual Menu Items would work. And there seems to be no upgraded for them on the horizon. I knew I was not going to have Classic anymore, but I didn't realize that many PPC apps wouldn't work any more. They launch, and then quit. For some I was able to find a Universal version, but for others, I'll have to learn to do without. I'm still in the process of hunting for Universal or Intel versions and hope the developers of the contextual menu items I liked will update them—although it has been almost a year now of Intel machines, so the likelihood is slim.

In general I'm happy with the Mac Pro. Aside from the SONY drive's sound when working, the machine is very quiet, and very cool running. The dual processors don't even require a heat sink. The RAM does, but I don't think I've heard the Mac Pro's fans turn on at all yet. Its internal temp is around 86°F. My G4 was usually 134°F.

[terryj]

will rob, that is cool.
Sorry you had to sel your soul for it,
perhaps you should have looked at Apple's
Refurbed page, and saved a few pennies?

Anyhow, there are tips on the Apple discussions
boards about forcing apps to open in Rosetta.
You can try those steps.

And as for an alternative to Contextual menus,
I use a combination of Default Folder (unibi)
and Finder Pop. Both get me around the Mac in a
few clicks, bam,bam,bam. ( that and my logitech mouse).

[willrob]

I did check out the refurb page, but there were only more expensive 3Ghz models. I got the 2.66 from Amazon which has a $200 rebate, which makes it the same price as educational price. Of course no build to order option.

I do use FinderPop (and have for years, all the way back to System 7 I think) and also Default Folder (for even longer). The CM items I miss are QuickImage and QuickPlay, both from the same Japanese developer. The first creates icons for graphics, the other plays movies without launching any app. There's a shareware called IconToImage which will add the icons to photos, etc, but it's $25. So instead I use Pic2Icon, which is not Universal but still works well. So far there no alternative for QuickPlay, but while looking I discovered the freeware PicturePopPro2, which will create various ways of looking at a folder of images, and is much faster than Preview.

I also miss FinderIcon CM which copies and pastes icons without having to Get Info, copy, Get Info, paste. And also PhotoToolCM which did lossless rotations of JPEGs, gave access to EXIF data, etc.

I have to assume it's much harder to create Universal versions of CMs. Even FinderPop's author, who works for Apple Ireland, took a long time to update; although that may have a lot to do with the amount of Guinness he drinks.

I haven't tried doing anything with either iDVD or DVDStudio Pro, but I'm hoping there's a dramatic improvement in multiplexing speed.

Of course the universal rule apply whenever I buy a new Mac. Within a month or so, a faster and cheaper model will come on the market, and the one I bought will drop around $500 in price. Rumor mill is talking about faster Intel processors, smaller form factor, and Blu-Ray drives. But I couldn't wait for some mythical machine of the future; I was feeling pretty naked without my G4. I was using a first generation iBook to e-mail and surf, and it was like trying to run along the bottom of a swimming pool.

[terryj]

you were limping along with a clamshell iBook?
Man, that's why those things looked like toilet seat covers..
they were craptacular...most of the ones I have
here at the shop are in various pieces for the dump heap.

Yes, Apple wil introduce something new always..that is just the nature of things.