April 5th, 2007
Dwight Silverman really wants an 8-core Mac Pro desktop
If you're not already a regular reader of Dwight Silverman's TechBlog (if you don't, I highly recommend you add it to your RSS reader), you really should check out his latest post. Gadget lust has hit him hard and he really "needs" an 8-core Mac Pro desktop. His plan for getting one - get his wife to buy him one!
He begins:
Dearest Lovely Wife:
Good start!
Apple today announced that it is now offering an 8-core version of its Mac Pro desktop. You're not a techie, Lovely Wife, so let me explain — 8-core means it has eight processors in it. In this case, it's two Intel Xeon Quad-Core processors. 2 x 4 = 8, but since you do the finances in our happy home, I don't need to tell you that (I hope).
Flattery will get you everywhere! It doesn't take long for Dwight to get down to the finances:
Total price, according to Apple's configurator: A mere $5,541!
He did soften the blow though by not adding the screen!
That doesn't include a monitor, such as the $899 23-inch Cinema HD Display . I figured I'd cut you a break. We can negotiate on this point later.
My recommendations Dwight - get two of those babies!
I think his payment plan needs work though:
Really, this would not require much financial sacrifice. Perhaps if we don't buy clothing for a few years, or not pay the electric bill for a couple of Houston summers, or maybe sell our first-born into slavery . . . we could easily afford it.
Ohhh, you should have added on the end there "after all, it does have 8 cores!" You could have also mentioned that 8 cores means that you'll get 8 times as much work done in an eighth of the time!
And if all that isn't enough, there's the classy close:
Anyway, I'll leave it up to you, of course. I know you'll do the right thing.
And if not, well, I'm sure my third wife will.
Thanks for sharing your moves with us Dwight! Alternatively, you could have bought the rig and when your wife spotted it casually say "what, this old thing, had it for ages …" That also works a treat!
Let us know how you get on! ;-)
Adrian is a technology journalist and author who has devoted over a decade to helping users get the most from technology. He also runs a popular blog called The PC Doctor. See his full profile and disclosure of his industry affiliations
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