Mac Pro - which model to choose?

Lets face it, the new Mac Pros are hot property. The 2 million choices in the "Configure now" page start with 3 different processor speeds.

Lets start by looking at the price per GHz across these 3 different models.

As you can see the middle range is the best value option.

But, it's not that simple. The higher the overall speed the longer the machine will last. So, we need to look at the life span of each machine. For this we'll first look at the percentage increase in the speed of each machine.

Then we can apply this difference to a base value of 3 years which we'll apply to the low end model. Remember, these are relative values so that actual life span is fictional and depends on what software you are using and how often you upgrade.

Then it's just a simple calculation to work out the cost per year of each machine.

So, from all these graphs we can now say the best value machine would be the middle spec model. The only thing to bare in mind is that buying the middle spec machine will mean you will never be able to appreciate the latest software to its full potential. However, the speed difference between the middle and top end Mac Pro’s is fairly negligible so it's unlikely to make a huge difference in performance. Hopefully this article has helped make up your mind, enjoy your new Mac!