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Hi, I'm a PC and want to be a Mac and need your help!

C

cydspal

macrumors member
Original poster
Can you help me? I am trying to pull the trigger on buying a Mac that will mostly be used for home video editing work. As I put together a top of the line Imac (see below) the price ramped up to around $3500 and made me wonder if the you all would suggest that I go ahead and look at Mac Pro instead of the highend Imacs? Will my Imac be frozen in time, lose value, etc., whereas if I went the Mac Pro way I could keep adding on? Thanks!

Specifications
2.8GHz Intel Core 2 Extreme - 4GB 667MHz DDR2 SDRAM - 2x2GB
500GB Serial ATA Drive - (thinking of buying an external drive for the files)
SuperDrive 8x (DVD±R DL/DVD±RW/CD-RW)
Apple wireless Mighty Mouse
Apple Wireless Keyboard (English) + Mac OS X
Final Cut Express preinstalled
AppleCare Protection Plan for iMac - Auto-enroll
Accessory kit
ATI Radeon HD 2600 PRO with 256MB memory
24-inch glossy widescreen LCD
AirPort Extreme
Bluetooth 2.0 + EDR
 
if you can wait a few weeks until macworld there is a chance your choice becomes different. Maybe more difficult, maybe a lot easier. I am waiting for a new line of mac pro's...
 
cydspal said:
Can you help me? I am trying to pull the trigger on buying a Mac that will mostly be used for home video editing work. As I put together a top of the line Imac (see below) the price ramped up to around $3500 and made me wonder if the you all would suggest that I go ahead and look at Mac Pro instead of the highend Imacs? Will my Imac be frozen in time, lose value, etc., whereas if I went the Mac Pro way I could keep adding on? Thanks!

Specifications
2.8GHz Intel Core 2 Extreme - 4GB 667MHz DDR2 SDRAM - 2x2GB
500GB Serial ATA Drive - (thinking of buying an external drive for the files)
SuperDrive 8x (DVD±R DL/DVD±RW/CD-RW)
Apple wireless Mighty Mouse
Apple Wireless Keyboard (English) + Mac OS X
Final Cut Express preinstalled
AppleCare Protection Plan for iMac - Auto-enroll
Accessory kit
ATI Radeon HD 2600 PRO with 256MB memory
24-inch glossy widescreen LCD
AirPort Extreme
Bluetooth 2.0 + EDR
Click to expand...

All of that suggests Mac Pro. Once they update it in January you can spend your $2500 on a mid ranged Mac Pro and $1000 on upgrading the RAM, HDDs, Monitors, etc. third party.

Go for the Mac Pro if you have the cash and are doing video editing, and don't buy RAM or other hardware parts from Apple other than the base machine.
 
The Mac Pro will be more upgradeable and flexible. Updates are expected by many here to be announced at MWSF in January, so you may get a modest speed bump for the same price if you wait. The actual nature of the update is up in the air, if one occurs at all, however it's likely that they'll go to all 8-core machines. Maybe Penryn processors, maybe new chipset, maybe new video card (Nvidea 8800?). Those things all seem logical. It's possible there may be a whole new case and major redesign. Prices for upgrade would likely be about the same as current models, maybe a little higher if there's a major redesign.

Frankly, I don't quite get the iMac for serious video work. It's a nice looking machine, certainly, but it's hard to beat the Mac Pro with a large flat panel display or two as a professional-level tool.
 
You've received some good advice, thus far. Let me suggest you consider getting the wired keyboard. My only experience with pro apps is with Logic (for all of 5 days—I LOVE it!), but even in that short time I've realized that keyboard shortcuts are THE WAY, and much easier with a full keyboard (the bluetooth version has no keypad and fewer modifier keys).

I would imagine that you'd find the same to be the case with Final Cut. Perhaps someone with direct experience here would concur.
 
Wow, great advice on the keyboard I was going to get the wireless!

It just seems so easy to go with the Imac, I was in a store and fell in love with the presentation and large 24" Monitor!!! Its so compact and sleek!!!

I guess my concern remains the inability to upgrade it in a few years and
and perhaps the Imac's possible inferior performance, video card, etc. in comparsion to what I could build and add on to with a Mac Pro.

Agree or Disagree?😱
 
cydspal said:
Wow, great advice on the keyboard I was going to get the wireless!

It just seems so easy to go with the Imac, I was in a store and fell in love with the presentation and large 24" Monitor!!! Its so compact and sleek!!!

I guess my concern remains the inability to upgrade it in a few years and
and perhaps the Imac's possible inferior performance, video card, etc. in comparsion to what I could build and add on to with a Mac Pro.

Agree or Disagree?😱
Click to expand...

By the time you want to upgrade, you can sell your current mac and buy a faster one for just hundreds more, as macs retain their value, and price of new technology will come down.

If you want the MacPro (seems like what you need), wait for MacWorld SF, Keynote by Steve Jobs on Jan 15, 2008.

If you want all in one, get iMac. The 24" can be mounted, and is really nice.
 
Wow, I did not know that I could resell an Imac and upgrade for hundreds more, if that is the case then I might just pull the trigger on a loaded Imac now, get to know it for the next few years and then go for the Mac Pro?

I thought I would lose all my value (see, you can tell I'm a pc guy now).
 
Wow, I did not know that I could resell an Imac and upgrade for hundreds more, if that is the case then I might just pull the trigger on a loaded Imac now, get to know it for the next few years and then go for the Mac Pro?

I thought I would lose all my value (see, you can tell I'm a pc guy now).
Click to expand...

Whatever you do, do NOT load your Apple computer purchase with Apple RAM. Get it for much much cheaper from a 3rd party.
 
Don't buy now...I'm *so* ready to get a Mac Pro and get away from windows...sure I *could* buy now and have a seriously powerful machine - but if I wait another 3 weeks or so, the $2500 I'll be spending will get me a lot more for my money 🙂

I'll be loading up my Pro with 8 gigs of RAM from OWC for $320 - that'll keep Photoshop purring for a LONG time...

And by the way, if you have a CompUSA near you, you can buy the appropriate Applecare from them - it's 20% off due to the company shutting down. That's where I'll be buying mine! 🙂

Hold out, you can do it!

-Bryan
 
Do not pull the trigger. Wait and get a mac pro. I know it is soooo tempting but you may have been misled about the resale value of your old mac. True, Macs hold value a bit better than PC but this isn't some dream deal we're talking about. While people will pay decent money for used Macs, old tech is still old tech. You would be wrong to let the resale price factor guide your current purchase considering your needs.

Wait for the Mac Pro update.
 
Ya, I agree with what everyones saying, Its almost guaranteed there will be mac pros released at Mac World which likely will considerably outperform the current imacs.
 
Rats!! You all are going to make me wait!! Ugh!!😡

Well, I asked for it!! Ok, so now I just need to understand what I am waiting for! So, the jest here is that there will be new Mac Pro releases over the next month? Such as what, processers, ram, video cards? Not OS since they just came out with one right?

Do you all think its a total new mac pro coming out?
 
Death, taxes and nothing new coming out until MacWorld. That's how it works, basically. Apple releases stuff throughout the world, but almost always on a Tuesday, and once the holidays come around, there's nothing new until MacWorld. Once that comes along, it's anybody's guess as to what new products there will be.

Edit: Misread your post, but still something worth mentioning 🙂. There might be an upgrade to 10.5.2 by MacWorld, and there might be a new Mac Pro revision. Or there might not be.
 
its also important to figure the cost of a good screen... that would add nice couple hundred to the cost. I like the idea of an all in one, but the expansion is such a deal breaker, i think you can have 3TB! that's just awsome
 
lord patton said:
You've received some good advice, thus far. Let me suggest you consider getting the wired keyboard. My only experience with pro apps is with Logic (for all of 5 days—I LOVE it!), but even in that short time I've realized that keyboard shortcuts are THE WAY, and much easier with a full keyboard (the bluetooth version has no keypad and fewer modifier keys).

I would imagine that you'd find the same to be the case with Final Cut. Perhaps someone with direct experience here would concur.
Click to expand...

YES! I am here. And yes you want to have a wired keyboard when using any Pro application. If you are going to be doing any serious work for more than 4 hours at a time you don't want to worry about the keyboard's batteries going dead.

cydspal said:
Wow, great advice on the keyboard I was going to get the wireless!

It just seems so easy to go with the Imac, I was in a store and fell in love with the presentation and large 24" Monitor!!! Its so compact and sleek!!!

I guess my concern remains the inability to upgrade it in a few years and
and perhaps the Imac's possible inferior performance, video card, etc. in comparsion to what I could build and add on to with a Mac Pro.

Agree or Disagree?😱
Click to expand...

Agreed. Even though the performance of the iMac is wonderful now, and it can do things better than I have ever seen any previous model of the iMac do, I wouldn't trade it for a Pro machine if I am doing anything Pro oriented. And if you feel that a maxed out iMac would be better than a mid ranged Mac Pro remember that you can always upgrade that Mac Pro in the future, and a quad core machine isn't going to be outdated anytime soon, not even in 3 years.

cydspal said:
Wow, I did not know that I could resell an Imac and upgrade for hundreds more, if that is the case then I might just pull the trigger on a loaded Imac now, get to know it for the next few years and then go for the Mac Pro?

I thought I would lose all my value (see, you can tell I'm a pc guy now).
Click to expand...

The resale value will stay high because it is a Mac, but don't get suckered into buying an iMac with the intentions of selling it in a few months or a year. Make a good investment in a machine that you won't have to worry about selling for a number of years down the road, then when you are ready to upgrade in 3 or 4 years time you can use the Mac Pro as a server or sell it to get your better machine.

If you get an iMac and decide to sell it in a year you would essentially be wasting your time and money.
 
So any idea how long I will have to wait? Does the new stuff get rolled out right after Mac World or is it that they just announce what "they are working on", etc?

Thanks everyone, this forum has really been a big help. Now I will just have to start over I guess and find out what kind of Mac Pro box to start building for about $3500? But I sure want one of those beautiful Mac screens!!!

Merry Christmas everyone!
 
If new stuff is announced at MacWorld, it'll probably be ready to order that day or the next one. However, shipping time may get pushed back into the next month.
 
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