Mac Pro - going large

I was on Ebay recently and up popped a PowerMac G5 with 5GB of RAM for under a hundred pounds. Wow. I had a real love affair from afar with G5s for a while. Scarily expensive though.

I don't need a G5. I've a 2006 Intel iMac, described elsewhere. Okay, it can only use 3GB of RAM. But it's newer, runs Lion and I'm very fond of it. Admittedly, it's nearing retirement. It's a shame I can't put 8GB of RAM into it, but it's a well-known limitation on that model. Core2duo and 8GB would be a great combination.

I had another look at the G5. 5GB of RAM. It would only run Leopard... But Leopard only needs half a gig to run. So 5GB would be 10x the basic ram. Leopard would probably run like a rocket on that machine.

And then I had a brainwave. If G5s are selling for under a hundred, how much are early Mac Pros going for? And I had a shock. You can buy them for two hundred pounds. I saw a very nice 2006 model with half a terabyte of storage and 8GB of RAM for two hundred and fifty. I've an unused 23" HP screen upstairs. Hm...

Long story short, there's a large Mac lurking under the desk upstairs now. Its sheer size is causing problems, as I've described elsewhere on this blog but I can solve those.

Findings so far:

• The original aluminium iSight webcam works very nicely on it (although I haven't checked the sound input on Facetime or Skype yet).
• There was no Bluetooth in the machine, so I need a dongle. I've read that Bluetooth 2.1 dongles should still work. More on that later. I need Bluetooth for my Trackpad. 
• The brightness controls on the keyboard don't control the screen. Shame.
• And as you might expect, I can load as many apps as I like and it doesn't slow down. In fact, I haven't seen it use all the RAM yet. I love a challenge… 

The Pro will supposedly only run operating systems up to Lion. As it turns out, changing the graphics card and hacking around with the firmware enables unsupported upgrades to Mountain Lion and Mavericks. Maybe even Yosemite. But I want to get used to it first. No rush.

I may sell the iMac. Or I may not. Still incredibly fond of it. I might wipe it and put Snow Leopard back on it. Don't know yet.

Mac Pros: A warning to you all...

I recently bought an original 2006 Mac Pro online. When it arrived, something became immediately obvious.

The Mac Pro is a big, fast monster of a Mac. Most people focus on the fast part. I'm focussing on the big. The Mac doesn't fit my desk. It's too tall. 

It doesn't fit under my wife's desk either - it's too long. It hangs out in an ominous sort of way. It didn't look that big in the photos and I didn't think to measure it. Previous tower systems just…Well, fitted. 

We have a small house, so our desks are small. I have some real changes to make at home. At the moment, the Pro is under an old desk and sticking out like a 1970s minicomputer. 

So be warned, folks: do your measurements before buying the Mac of your dreams.