I was just over on SlipperyBrick.com reading about the new Nehalem based Mac Pro and was astonished at the price versus what you actually get for the money! You also have to wonder how Apple can justify selling 4GB of RAM for $1,000. First, I’ll show you what they offer and then show what I can price together at NewEgg.com for much less! I am, by no means, an expert PC builder, but maybe I can help someone out there who is in the market for a new computer save a little money in these hard economic times…
Mac Pro, $2,499:
- one 2.66 GHz Quad-Core Intel Xeon 3500 series processor with 8MB of L3 cache;
- 3GB of 1066 MHz DDR3 ECC SDRAM memory, expandable up to 8GB;
- NVIDIA GeForce GT 120 graphics with 512MB of GDDR3 memory;
- 640GB Serial ATA 3Gb/s hard drive running at 7200 rpm
- 18x SuperDrive with double-layer support (DVD±R DL/DVD±RW/CD-RW);
- Mini DisplayPort and DVI (dual-link) for video output (adapters sold separately);
- four PCI Express 2.0 slots;
- five USB 2.0 ports and four FireWire 800 ports;
- Bluetooth 2.1+EDR; and
- ships with Apple Keyboard with numerical keypad and Mighty Mouse.
Home Built PC from NewEgg.com, <$600:
- Intel Pentium E5200 Wolfdale 2.5GHz LGA 775 65W Dual-Core Processor (a 2.83GHz Core 2 Quad is $200 more)
- G.SKILL 4GB (2 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 1066
- EVGA 01G-P3-N959-TR GeForce 9500 GT 1GB 128-bit GDDR2 PCI Express 2.0 x16 HDCP Ready SLI Supported Video Card
- Western Digital Caviar SE16 WD6400AAKS 640GB 7200 RPM SATA 3.0Gb/s Hard Drive
- LG 22X DVD±R DVD Burner Black SATA Model GH22NS30
- Microsoft Windows XP Professional SP2C 64-bit for System Builders
- Rosewill TU-155 Black 0.8mm SGCC Steel ATX Mid Tower Computer Case 400W ATX12V Version 2.2 Power Supply
- GIGABYTE GA-EP45-UD3P LGA 775 Intel P45 ATX Intel Motherboard
- Memory Supported: 16GB SDRAM
- 8 USB ports on Motherboard, 2 USB ports on case
Total before tax: $592.92 with free shipping on everything except the Motherboard. For a couple/few hundred dollars more more, you could easily beat the Mac Pro in every category. Keep in mind that the list I created above is based on prices as of this week. Some discounts and rebates may no longer be available, but you can check NewEgg’s Daily Deals for the latest! Also, check out their clearance section for more good buys.
