Filed under: Hardware, Mac Pro
System Shootouts: Mac Pro vs Dell Precision 690
System Shootouts has pit a Mac Pro against a Dell Precision 690 workstation in an in-depth feature-for-feature comparison to see who gets to go home with the prom queen. This match is of particular interest in part because of how detailed the feature criteria is (it included extra drive/bays like a floppy or memory card readers, as well as any included backup solutions and even web authoring software), but also because of how ultimately mismatched these two machines are. One machine is so overpriced that System Shootouts opted to break traditional policy and include a display and/or extended warranty program in the name of mercy for the losing contender.In case you can't tell, I'm trying not to spoil this particular match because I think it's such an interesting upset, especially in light of how Apple did their own hardware match-up on stage at WWDC 2006. Check out the shootout for yourself to see whether the Mac Pro or the Dell wound up spending prom night home alone.
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 2)
Liquidmark said 3:00PM on 8-13-2006
Muahahahahaha!
Oh, how the mighty have fallen.
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Connor Stuart said 3:12PM on 8-13-2006
That's so stupid. The Dull was overmatched in a lot of ways. Who wants a PS2 mouse? Why did they put a display with the Mac???
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G said 2:46PM on 9-02-2006
Incredible piece of machinery they have put together, as usual. Cannot agree with OSX winning Multimedia over windows though... not when without flip4mac you can barely watch a video on the web. Hope comparisons like this help get Apple deeper into the enterprise.
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Travis Bell said 3:20PM on 8-13-2006
That-a-boy Apple! Kick em' where it counts.
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Joey S. said 3:38PM on 8-13-2006
This "shootout" is mostly worthless. Don't get me wrong, I love to hear praise for Apple (and bad news for Dell). However, the "shootout" is really just a comparison of specs. And although the price difference with a screen for the Dell is significant, it doesn't make much sense to compare two computers and give an advantage to one because it has a screen and the other doesn't. Instead he should of just had a screen for each, compared the screens, and then noted that the price difference as a determining factor in Apple's victory.
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Tony said 4:20PM on 8-13-2006
@Joey S.
The shootout was called the $3200 shootout, so he needed to add the monitor to get the Apple closer to the target price.
Both computers use the same processor, ram, hard drive, etc. There as close as possible on the main specs. The fact that the Apple is still less expensive, even with a $700 monitor, is astounding.
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Liquidmark said 4:29PM on 8-13-2006
Agreed. Tho, it feels ever so good to be able to best a PC machine in it's best category. Tower configuration price.
But I think the point of this is that Apple is FINALLY giving more bang for the buck. Sure, you can still get a PC on a budget. But Apple is going for the higer end of things.
Aside from some whining on rather small points that may or may not make a difference on the Mac Pro. Anti-Mac, naysayers have pretty much shut up about bashing the Mac since WWDC. Their consternated silence is the most beautiful sound that I have heard in a long, long time. ^_^
I can't wait to see some cross-platform bechmark comparisons. Let's not forget to include price points there too.
New swithcers on a daily basis, Best in category pricing across the board, A REAL choice in OS and software, as well as hardware designed to weather the storm. Looks like Apple is on it's way to recovering it's lost territory and then some.
Is there seriously a reason to choose a Windows Only box over A Macintosh now?
If there is, I can't see it. O_o
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artist-illustrator said 4:37PM on 8-13-2006
anyone fancy buying me a Mac Pro?
pleeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeease!!
i'll be your best friend for life! ;n)
my father always told me "you don't get, if you don't ask"
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Fritz Laurel said 4:41PM on 8-13-2006
I don't like Dell or Windows or PCs as much as the next Apple freak, but honestly I don't know where these mookies are coming up with these prices.
I go to both the Dell and Apple sites, configure comparable systems and Dell has the lowest price every time. The Dell site doesn't let you pick "no monitor" so I don't know where he's getting that from.
And the lowest clock speed for the Dell is 3GHz, with the highest being 3.7! So, to be comparable, for both configs, you pick dual 3.0 CPUs and pick the same on the Apple. You pick a 20-in widescreen Dell monitor (a great monitor, IMHO, and about $200 cheaper than the Apple), 1 or 2 GB RAM (depending on Dell config), a 160GB hard drive (lowest common denomintor for each), 16x DVD burner on the Dell, sound blaster card on the Dell, pretty much any 256MB graphics card on the Dell, and the Dell is always when I do it.
Am I right, or am I the mookie here? What gives?
Cheers,
FL
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Calle said 5:05PM on 8-13-2006
I wonder how they get to the conclusion that the Dell only supports 4GB of RAM, when it can take 32GB...
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Hygglo said 5:07PM on 8-13-2006
FL:
You are not looking at a machine with the Woodcrest (Core 2 architecture) Xeons. You are obviously looking at some old junk with Netburst (Pentium 4 architecture) Xeons.
Those are utterly inferior to the Woodcrest based Xeons used in the Mac Pro and the Dell workstation in the comparison.
Fact is, the Mac Pro is significatly cheaper than anything Dell has to come up with, despite the fact that it is beautifuly designed and comes preloaded with the worlds bets operating system. Accept and move on please.
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ryan said 5:49PM on 8-13-2006
liquidmark,
the best reason for purchasing a windows only box is that you get more than two or three choices
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Brian Peat said 6:37PM on 8-13-2006
One reason many people go to the Dell site and configure something that's Cheaper than the Mac Pro is they forget to change the processor bus speed (and sometimes the Ram bus speed too). Change the Processors to the 1333 versions and you'll see the price go WAY up on the Dell.
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Liquidmark said 7:29PM on 8-13-2006
Ryan,
Who needs more than two or three choices when all of your options are great?
Let's see what choices one gets from Apple, Shall we?
You have the Mini (Starting at $600, a best in market price for a mini computer)
There are two basic versions to choose from. Both suit very well for a mini computer by ANY manufacturer.
There's the Macbook (Statring at around $1000, A respectable price for a Notebook computer)
There are basically two configs of this. Three if you count the "Black" config, I don't. But both suit a users needs remarkably well, IMO.
There's the iMac (Starting at around $1300, Best in market price for an All-In-One configuration AND a better deal than even the higher end Mini when one really cares to look at what one gets)
There are two versions of this one as well, BOTH options, Once again, are excellent. I should know, I own a "17 model.
Then there is the Macbook Pro (Starting at $2000)
This is the Macbook's big brother. There are THREE basic configurations for that as well.
Finally, there is the Mac Pro (Starting at $2,500 or $2000 if you go for the 2.0 Ghz option. Best in category pricing for what you get).
This machine has a more BTO options, over the other Macs, from the get-go. Processors, HD, Graphics card, Display, Ram. Plenty of options there.
Way I count it, there are plenty of choices with Apple.
Mini (Low cost-starter Mac)=2
Macbook (Economy Macintosh Notebook)=2
iMac (All in one Mac)=2
Macbook Pro (Pro-level Notebook)=3
Mac Pro Multiple config options! but for the sake of arguement (Pro-Level Workstation-Tower Configuration)= 1
Total=10+
Dell has a variety of options, but most are in the low end and are rehashes of the exact same thing elsewhere in their product line. Same is true of many PC manufacturers. Plus, You have very little options as far as what OS you want to use. It's either Windows or Linux. Linux is multiplatform, so that cancels it out. Windows can run on Macs smoothly so that is no longer something that is PC exclusive.
The only thing that MAY be construed as missing would be a single-processor tower configuration model, For much less, powered by a single dual core Core 2 processor. That would not be a very wise decision as it would gut the Mac Pro line much like the Perfoma Line Gutted Apple's workstation lines in the 90's.
I'm just sayin'.
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Nate said 7:36PM on 8-13-2006
I think he meant precision 390, I found that has the exact same specs as the 690 he shows on the comparison, and the 690 i could not configure the way he has it...
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Sam said 8:38PM on 8-13-2006
Nice to see Apple so competitive on the high-end. Would be nicer to see Apple more competitive on the mid to low-end, though. I can't justify a $3000 machine, but want a little upgradability, especially with respect to the video card (which Apple always skimps on). Of course, I'm not going to run out and buy a Windows machine. Instead, I'll just hold on to my dollars until my Mac gets too old to use or Apple comes out with the machine I want. If the former happens first, we'll see what happens...
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Tony said 8:42PM on 8-13-2006
@Nate,
Not sure what you're looking at, but I just confitured the 690 just as in the comparison. The only difference I found was that he had a typo on the CDRW (whould be 48X.)
The 390 does not have the dual core Xeon as an option. It uses Core Duo (like the iMac and Mac Mini.)
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Tony C said 10:49PM on 8-13-2006
Fact: The 390 is the only Dell Precision workstation that *currently* supports the Core 2 Duo "Woodcrest" Xeon CPUs. Look it up on Dell's website if you don't believe me -- I did.
http://www.dell.com/content/products/compare.aspx/precn?c=us&cs=04&l=en&s=bsd
One thing I don't understand is why the reviewer said that the Precision had (4) 5-1/4" optical drive bays (and two available) when there are only *two* and they're both taken up by drives in a dual optical configuation, which is clearly visible from the photo on Dell's website. There are two 3-1/2" external bays below the two 5-1/4", but one is taken up by that wonderous memory card reader they he seems so enamored with.
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Tony C said 11:00PM on 8-13-2006
Also of great importance to note -- the Precision 390 also only has ONE CPU socket, meaning two cores on the die, but only one physical processor. The Mac Pro has TWO sockets and both come populated with Core 2 Duo (hence the "quad" mentioned in all the marketing).
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Charles Gaba said 11:07PM on 8-13-2006
Hi there, I'm the author of the System Shootouts site :)
First, thanks to TUAW for the props, and for the kudos from some of you.
As for those confused by how I ended up with the Dell Precision 690 configuration, here's step-by-step instructions (bear in mind that Dell changes their specials/discounts daily, so you may end up with a slightly different configuration):
1. Go to http://www.dell.com/
2. Click on Desktops -> Home/Business
3. Click Dell Precision
4. Click Dell Precision WorkStations
5. Click Dell Precision 690
6. Now, here's the first point of confusion--the lowest option settings on the first page are a 3.0 GHz Xeon, Windows XP, and a 750 W power supply. THIS XEON IS *NOT* THE NEW DUAL CORE WOODCREST MODEL. Leave these as is and click Continue.
7. Now you're at the main configuration page. Notice that in order to get the same Woodcrest Dual Core processor as the Mac Pro (the 2.66 GHz 5150), you have to add $520.
8. Next you have to add a *second* dual core 2.66 5150 Xeon--under "Second Processor". It's another $869.
9. The default video card that comes with the Dell is better than the Mac Pro card--except that it only has VGA ports. Add $10 to change those to DVI *or* VGA, like the Mac Pro (which includes a VGA adapter).
10. The Dell includes 1.0 GB of RAM by default just like the Mac Pro--but it's the slower 533 MHz type. Add $40 to bring it up to the same 667 MHz memory.
11. The default Dell hard drive is 80 GB. Upgrade it to match the Mac Pro's 250 GB drive for $90.
12. The default Dell optical drive is just a CD-Rom. Upgrade it to the same 16x DVD burner (with DVD/CD authoring software) for $79.
13. One thing I do give Dell and other PC makers credit for is including a built-in multi-format card reader. Since the Dell has a few bucks more elbow room, add a 13-in-one card reader for $19.
13. The Mac Pro has a very simple mono speaker inside the chassis. Add $5 to stick one in the Dell (just for completeness).
At the time I configured it, I ended up with a final price of $3,211 without any display.
When I went back to re-configure it just now, the exact same config ended up running $3,361, which is $150 MORE than the other day--except that it also now includes a "free" 19" LCD, so it's actually a better deal than it was just a few days earlier.
Even with this better, new deal, the Mac Pro is still $163 less--with a larger LCD included.
Dell is notorious for constantly switching these specials/bundles/deals around all the time--by the time you read this, the "free" monitor may be gone, replaced by a free RAM upgrade, or something else. Hard to say.
Hope this clears things up?
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