... to the dark side

or maybe I've seen the light!

I placed an order for an 8-core Mac Pro tonight along with some upgrade parts from newegg.com. It should be a fun transition although I don't relish the thought of aquiring and installing mac versions of my licensed software and getting everything transfered and configured. But I'm sure it will be worth it.

I've been contemplating a computer upgrade for months. I've been impressed with what I've seen from Apple but the hardware prices stymied me. I could have built a faster, more up-to-date PC for almost half the price. But it came down to wanting 64-bit processing without Vista and other value factors for the Mac. Still the sticker shock is high.

So I may be spending my weekend installing, transfering, configuring, tweaking, and learning to speak mac.

I'm sure some of you will find that amusing

Could have went with 64 bit windows xp...

I've been debating that for some time myself, tired of the 4gig limits of 32 bit, but it sounds like there are some driver issues with 64 bit xp, not a fan of vista, and the sticker shock of the Mac Pro is just too much for me.
We do have many of the Mac Pro's here where I work, and they are impressive machines, I'm sure you will be happy once you move everything over.

Interesting.
Coincidentally, I finally upgraded my 6 year old computer a couple of weekends ago.
After tons of research, I decided on an HP d5000t with a Quad Core processor, Vista 64 bit OS, 8GB RAM, BluRay DVD and two 500GB HDs for around $800 during a Labor Day sale and using online coupons.
Everything works like a charm and PS is blazing fast compared to my old machine.
Photoshop doesn't care about what OS I use, and I saved enough $$$ to finally get a decent monitor.

I bought to a Vista Ultimate-64bit laptop 6 months ago. So far, no complaints, but I'm not a computer geek.

Congrats on the sweet setup. I tried that switch from PC about a two years ago and actually had to return the Mac setup because it kept blowing the 15A breakers in my office. Similar to John, I put together a very nice PC system for a fraction of what the Mac setup cost. I do wish I had more than 4GB RAM though, especially when working with stitched images in PS.

For what it's worth, it didn't take long for me to get setup on the Mac with my licensed software. The only trouble was with (no surprise) Adobe. I tried to transfer my PC license to my Mac; they wouldn't let me do a straight conversion on CS. They required me to pay the upgrade fee to CS2, but before they'd ship the software, they had me fill out a "destruction of software" form stating that I destroyed my full CS discs. I sent it in and never heard back from them. They never charged my card, and since I switched back to PC, it was all moot anyway. I hope you have better luck.

Congrats Kalin. It sounds like a nice setup.

Mel-

Congrats Kalin, it's a nice setup. I worked for HP in their workstation division for about 6 years and I learned one thing. There is a difference between the computer you can buy for $1200 and the one that costs $5000. Even though the specs are similar they are not the same quality of machine.

A Mac Pro is the equivalent of a HP workstation not a standard desktop. Go price out a XW8600 vs a Mac Pro. When you find the prices are fairly close for the same specs you will feel better about your purchase.

I have had several desktop machines and all are inferior and slower (even though specs are close) than my workstation. My workstation was originally $10,000 5 years ago and it is still considered a good box vs a $500-$1200 machine. Even in the case of Mac's you get what you pay for.

Welcome.
Feel free to call if you have any questions.

Thanks guys. I've built my own machines for years and usually love the geekdom and tinkering. I considered building a hackintosh but the appeal of chasing down hacks and patches and hardware incompatibilities has waned. I'm kinda tired of Windows and didn't want to mess with vista-64, although I'll keep a windows machine for non-business and gaming. I'm optimistic about the 'It just works" claims!

Once you are used to OSX you'll never go back!!! Congrats.

Have fun with your new toy Kalin.

Although I will say that I built a machine earlier this year with Vista x64 and haven't really had any issues at all. I build my own PCs and it was a pretty painless process. All of my peripherals had 64bit drivers and it's not all brand new gear by any means. Now if you have something that's really old, you might be out of luck... But seems that is more an issue with manufacturers not spending the time and effort to re-write drivers for old gear?

I've been running my new machine with Vista64 and have no complaints so far. There were some compatibility issues (specifically the 64 bit thing) that were resolved within a few days after I got it but It's running like a champ...so far.
I'm wondering what issues other people are running into?

I did have to buy a new monitor profiler as the old Spider wasn't being supported for Vista - as per Michael's post.

What Jack said. Be sure to take advantage of the 4 hard drive bays and the built-in and painless RAID setup.