Keep the Retina and/or build the Hackintosh... A newb's remorse...

Like 18,000 other Facebook petitioners, I was waiting for a new Mac Pro. Then WWDC came and went, and we we're left with that shiny, thin, super high res, beast of a..... laptop. After many trips to the Apple store, and hours online, I pulled the Retina trigger. After a month of waiting, it is scheduled to arrive on July 26th. It had a price tag of $3000! I'm having a little pre buyer's remorse. It seems that I could make a faster, definitely more upgradable, and more future proof computer for about $1000 less. I'll have 14 days once I receive the RMBP to return it. A little advice would be much appreciated.

Reasons I got it the RMBP:

VIDEO EDITING: HD video and 2.5k footage, maybe 4k and beyond. Programs: FCPX, Premiere, After Effects, Resolve, Apple Color
PHOTO EDITING: Raw files. Programs: Photoshop, Aperature
3D Compositing: special effects for the video editing. Programs: Maya, zbrush, 3DS Max (via Windows boot camp)
THUNDERBOLT: The size of those video files are huge. I need large interchangable lightning fast storage.

Hackintosh was out cause the lack of Thunderbolt. Then, low and behold, Asus and Gigabyte came through with Thunderbolt certified boards. Gigabyte especially with the Dual Thunderbolt. I was also worried about the stability, but it seems a lot of the kinks have been ironed out over the last couple years and stability is almost non-issue. Is that right?

My main goal (besides Thunderbolt) is power, I made a hardware list below:

Please advise.

Motherboard: Gigabyte GA-Z77x-5up TH (just released, so it hasn't been tested by the Hackintosh-ers yet, so this might be the wild card)
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813128559

CPU: i7 3770k (I'd prefer the six-core i7 3930k, but it doesn't look compatible with the MB)
http://www.amazon.com/Intel-Core-3770K-Processor-1155/dp/B007SZ0EOW

Memory: CORSAIR Vengeance 32GB (4 x 8GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1600
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820233232

Case: Corsair CC600TWM-WHT (I kinda like sleeker looking case, but this one has great reviews.)
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/B004O0PAKW

GPU: EVGA GTX 570 2.5g (this one is certified by Adobe for After Effects and hackintosh tested!)
http://www.amazon.com/EVGA-GeForce-GTX570-Graphics-025-P3-1579-AR/dp/B005AY5N9O

Boot drive: 256g or 512g Crucial m4 SSD
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/B004W2JL2A

Storage: Seagate Barracuda 7200 3 TB
http://www.amazon.com/Seagate-Barracuda-3-5-Inch-Internal-ST3000DM001/dp/B005T3GRLY

Optical Drive: Asus BluRay Burner
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/B004ZMG55I

Power Supply: Corsair Professional Series Gold 750-Watt 80 Plus Gold Certified
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/B00539M628

Fan/cooling: PHANTEKS PH-TC14PE_BL ( I don't much about overclocking, but a quiet cool running rig is a must)
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/B005OQJVP0

OS: Mountain Lion if it'll possible, do I need to buy a snow leopard disk first and then upgrade? Or can I go straight to Lion.... I can figure out this part later.
http://www.amazon.com/Mac-OS-Snow-Leopard-10-6/dp/B002KG02QO

Thanks for any help. I really appreciate it.

Beware of those huge aftermarket coolers that hang over the RAM slots. You would need low profile RAM or a different cooler like the Hyper212+.

Next, if you have a friend or relative with a mac/hack you can install a clean Lion installation. SL does not work with Ivy chips so buying the SL disc is useless.

If you live near a MicroCenter and they have that same board and CPU in stock you can get a great deal.

Thanks, I've never heard of microcenter! I googled it, and there's one about 30mi! I can't believe that their prices are less than amazon and newegg!

Thanks for the help! You saved me some dinero!

Oh great.... I just found out the Santa Clara store closed yesterday.... My luck.

Well, the only thing you can not have in a hack right now is that hi-res display.
According to Intel we should see hi-res desktop monitors only next year the earliest. Intel: super-dense notebook, desktop displays common by 2013 | Electronista

So the choice is simple. Either you go with RMBP for your production needs or stick to hack and current ~100ppi displays.

Well, the only thing you can not have in a hack right now is that hi-res display.
According to Intel we should see hi-res desktop monitors only next year the earliest. Intel: super-dense notebook, desktop displays common by 2013 | Electronista

So the choice is simple. Either you go with RMBP for your production needs or stick to hack and current ~100ppi displays.

Click to expand...

Unless you buy the IPS monitors from Korea.

Budget Korean 27

@dr_image

Yeah, a pity for people in that area. In-store deals are so good.

jester969 said:

Unless you buy the IPS monitors from Korea.

Budget Korean 27

@dr_image

Yeah, a pity for people in that area. In-store deals are so good.

Click to expand...

FYI, those Catleaps are the same LG panels as an iMac. They work and ship insanely fast from Korea. My friend purchased his on a Friday, shipped from Korea on Sunday, arrived next day on Monday to his doorstep.