Effective with the latest Apple tower, the MacPro, Apple is stressing its new Build To Order sales approach. Instead of multiple configurations, there’s a standard configuration and everything else is custom.
If you’re buying a new computer for the sake of running an Aperture workstation, take heed. The standard configuration MacPro may not satisfy you. Here are my suggestions for building the best system you can at the lowest cost.
1) Buy the machine running two 2.66 Ghz Dual Core processors. This is the standard configuration and the upgraded processors won’t add that much power to the Aperture system. Since Aperture relies primarily on the GPU - not the CPU, the upgrade to 3.0 Ghz is largely wasted. In fact, if you’re really trying to save money, you can get away with downgrading to the 2.00 Ghz processors, but I don’t recommend it unless it’s an emergency.
2) Buy the computer with 1GB from Apple and then upgrade it yourself to five gigs of RAM. This would cost an additional $1100 for four gigs if you did it through Apple. If you go to a third party RAM supplier, you should be able to shave a few hundred dollars off that price and get an additional gig for your trouble. That’s five gigs for around $900 based on today’s prices. At a minimum, expect to get best results by running AT LEAST two gigs of RAM. Check out DealRam.com for the best RAM prices.
3) Buy the computer with one 160 GB drive (saves you $75 from Apple) and add third party drives, either external or internal. Make sure you’re using 7200 RPM drives.
4) Upgrade the graphics card. This is crucial. In fact, if you ignore all my other advice, at least pay attention here. You want to add the ATI Radeon X1900 XT 512MB (2 x dual-link DVI) card. It will be the best $250 you spend. My experience with other cards like the standard GeForce 7300 is not good. Even in the MacPro, the 7300 offers sluggish performance. It’s important to do this when you order the computer because availability of third party cards at this point is virtually non-existent.
From there it’s up to you. Displays and other add-ons can be ordered as you see fit. But pay close attention to the graphics card and RAM, and you’ll end up with a superb computer for Aperture.
Does anyone a specific drive manufacturer you'd recommend using? I'm Raid my drives in Bays 3 and 4, but I want to make sure they have the screw holes in the correct area for the mounting plate. I'm looking at Seagate 7200rpm 750 gig drives.....see link below. will these work? Thanks
http://www.xpcgear.com/st37506.html
Thanks for this article. I used your exact recommendations for purchasing my new Mac Pro.
I LOVE MAC AND WANT TO BUY A NEW COMPUTER. WHICH ONE WOULD YOU SUGGEST THAT WOULD BE THE EASIEST TO GROW. AND OUTSIDE OF THE GRAPHIC CARD FOR FOR APERTURE, SHOULD I JUST GET THE MIN. AND PURCHASE THE REST FROM 3RD PARTY? DO I NEED TO GET THE ORIGINAL DISPLAY THAT IS MAC OR CAN I BUY A THIRD PARTY DISPLAY THAT IS JUST AS GOOD THAT WOULD WORK WITH THE MAC PRO. MAYBE EVEN ONE WITH A GREAT CAMERA? SPEAKING OF CAMERA WHAT CAMERA SHOULD I GET FOR THE COMPUTER?
ALSO WHAT WOULD SUGGEST IS THE BEST BACK UP SOFTWARE AND BACKUP DVD/CD AND ON THE SYS 10.4+ WHAT EXACTLY NEEDS TO BE BACKED UP AND WHERE DO I BACK MY THING TO. THE SAME DRIVE OR A DIFFERENT DRIVE. YOU SEE I HAVE BEEN USING SYS 9.04 WHERE I WOULD JUST DRAG AND DROP THE SYSTEM FOLDR VIA TOAST TO ANOTHER INTERNAL HARD DRIVE. WHAT EXACTLY DO I NEED TO KEEP UP TO DATE AND BACKUP AND WITH WHAT SOFTWARE. PLEASE HELP ME WITH THESE QUESTIONS? I WOULD BE VERY APPRECIATIVE. SINCERELY YOURS. MARK KORNGUTE
I am considering upgrading my current work environment for the processing and storage of my digital photos and have some questions on the best path in your opion. I would like to centralize data to make it available from any mac or pc on the network. I would also like to access the system remotely from anywhere in the world for possible uploads or downloads.
1) When purchasing a new Mac Pro, should I only purchase the standard hard drive for the system and apps and then a 3rd party internal hd for a backup using the upcoming time machine. Or maybe setup the 2 drives in a RAID fashion.
2) What is your recommendation on using XServe and configuration for a professional photographer setup with large amount of storage in a RAID environment for use with Aperature and Photoshop?
So, I would like to see more discussion on the ultimate system with using a MacBook Pro in the field with digital photos stored in Aperature's library and then transfering those to your desktop system in your studio where Aperature just references the files maybe stored on an XServer or RAID box.
Hey Josh,
How does your MacBook Pro compare to your MacPro 2.66 though in terms of performance?
Regarding Allan's question about the MacBook Pro as an Aperture machine, I can speak from experience.
I have run Aperture on a 17" Powerbook 1.5Ghz, a PowerMac G5 Dual 2, a 17" MacBook Pro 2.16, and a MacPro 2.66.
Aperture runs better on my MacBook Pro than it ever did on my massively upgraded PowerMac. Aperture was sluggish on my PowerMac with 5GB of RAM, an ATI x800, and a high speed 1.2TB storage array. The MacBook Pro runs circles around the G5 with just 2GB of RAM and a 7200RPM hard drive.
If you don't need mobility all the time, get a MacPro. If you do, get a MacBook Pro.
The statement that Aperture relies largely on the GPU for processing is misleading. While it is very important, a lot of things bottleneck at the processor, even on a 3Ghz MacPro. For example, watch your processor meter when exporting or building albums.
2.66 is the sweetspot since the 3Ghz upgrade does not add much speed for the money, but jumping down to 2.0 only saves you $300 (Nov 06). Remember you are buying a $2500 computer (at least). Don't quibble about $300. Unless you are planning on trading in with the next year, more speed means the computer will last you longer.
And remember to get AppleCare!
One point on the RAID setup: make sure you have a separate boot drive (at least 3 total), or you're doubling the chance of losing data due to a drive failure. The only time I'd recommend booting off of an array is when there's a redundant setup, such as RAID 0+1 or 5 (I think that's right).
For serious storage, consider an attached SATA array with SATA card. You can get up to 200mb/sec that way if it's properly set up. There's some nice 4-drive bays out there with SATA, USB and FW800 ports.
Q: Can Aperture utilize up to 5 GB of RAM?
Apple seems to be pushing the MacBook Pro as a good system for an Aperture workflow. Any thoughts on the ATI Mobility Radeon X1600 graphics processor that ships in the MacBook Pros?
Oh my, I completely forgot about the MacBook in my generalization. At any rate, they don't merge "Mac" and "Pro".
Helpful article. Thanks! This is nitpicking, but the name of the computer is "Mac Pro" (with a space). Apple avoids merging "Mac" with other words in its product names.
Just actually bought this exact config.
Note though that if you don't go with the X1900 to start with (I did), you can still upgrade one later though. Apple does sell them separately:
http://store.apple.com/Apple/WebObjects/dkstore.woa/6304041/wa/PSLID?find=ATI+X1900&btn.x=0&btn.y=0&wosid=3b1KjIJm2XVr2mXSEz02EkLf9en
Good advice, but I would add that setting up the system on a RAID-0 stripe delivers a noticeable speedup on even this machine setup. Order the 160GB drive from Apple, then purchase a similar drive from a third-party vendor with the $75 you saved.
The Mac Pro w/ ATI card is an amazing machine with Aperture.