Mac Pro or iMac?

[Sir Loin Steak]

Totally noob question about Macs...

Until about 30 seconds ago, I was focussed on the idea of getting an iMac - the only one I have seen in a shop.

It's only 30 seconds ago that I stumbled on the Mac Pro on the Apple site. Looks pretty cool, spec etc.

Anyway, the basic question to you experts is...

iMac or Mac Pro?

(Assume existing models/specs, discounting any idea about 'updates' to the iMac.)

Thanks.

[Tallest Skil]

Neither. They're both hopelessly outdated. Wait for the update to both, then make a decision.

[claimed4all]

Depends very much on intended use.

[Sir Loin Steak]

Current use is surfing, speadsheets for work, written documents for work (letters mainly).

Projected use is going to involve a little boy and girl wanting to surf, game, muck about, chat look at photos, editing.

I'm particularly keen to see ome great gaming going on - on the web and between computers in the house maybe.

I also want wireless networking/printing.

[Tallest Skil]

Current use is surfing, speadsheets for work, written documents for work (letters mainly).

Projected use is going to involve a little boy and girl wanting to surf, game, muck about, chat look at photos, editing.

I'm particularly keen to see ome great gaming going on - on the web and between computers in the house maybe.

I also want wireless networking/printing.

You could get away with a Mac Mini for six years with that kind of use.

Seriously. Don't waste your money.

Wait for the Mac Mini update, then buy it.

[claimed4all]

Perfect candidate for the iMac. A MacPro is complete and total overkill. I would even say a MacMini would work for you.

[The Hammer]

Depends very much on intended use.And your wallet. $$$$:D

[indiochano]

Current use is surfing, speadsheets for work, written documents for work (letters mainly).

Projected use is going to involve a little boy and girl wanting to surf, game, muck about, chat look at photos, editing.

I'm particularly keen to see ome great gaming going on - on the web and between computers in the house maybe.

I also want wireless networking/printing.

with that projected use you might as well just buy a mac mini....

seriously, theres no need for you to get a mac pro... just get an imac

[Chaos123x]

I would say Imac or Mac Mini.

But wait for the updates.

The Mac Pro is more for people who need lots of power.

[Sir Loin Steak]

Chaos, what would they use that power for? Industrial use?

[Dale Gribble]

Professional video editors, 3d rendering, music production, medical professionals, architects etc.

For general usage it's all a bit unnecessary. but when you run programs that eat computers it's a god send.

[RemarkabLee]

Totally noob question about Macs...

Until about 30 seconds ago, I was focussed on the idea of getting an iMac - the only one I have seen in a shop.

It's only 30 seconds ago that I stumbled on the Mac Pro on the Apple site. Looks pretty cool, spec etc.

Anyway, the basic question to you experts is...

iMac or Mac Pro?

(Assume existing models/specs, discounting any idea about 'updates' to the iMac.)

Thanks.

If you can wait a few weeks (hopefully) for the iMac refresh I recommend you do so, but the current iMacs are also very capable. Check the special deals area at the Apple Store online for refurbished models.

The mini would suffice, but you'll grow out of it quickly as most people do.

[Sir Loin Steak]

Sounds like I need to go back to plan A - an iMac, but the updated one... even if noone knows when that'll be!

Thanks for the ideas, guys.

Sir Loin.

[kudukudu]

Hey, who have you ever heard someone complain that their computer had too much power? Here are some reasons why an ordinary home user might want to get a mac pro (I include myself in this category) even though some will argue that the mac pro should be seen as more of a truck than a sports car:

1. You want a 30" monitor.

2. You want to do some relatively serious gaming. Right now the mac pro is the only machine that offers a decent card like the 8800gt since the imacs are not designed to take a desktop GPU (see point 3).

3. you want a machine built using desktop components and not laptop components. Unfortunately mac pro is the only computer that uses non-laptop CPU/GPU. Imac is really a laptop in a desktop form factor. It has most of the cons of a laptop with none of the benefits which is why I am not a fan. mac pro is overkill since it uses expensive workstation components, but Apple for whatever reason has decided not to make a machine using standard desktop components which is the sweet spot for price/performance.

4. You need a lot of disk space for songs, photos, videos and you don't want your desk to be cluttered with a ridiculous number of external hard drives for both primary data and backup data. Besides fw800 external drives are not going to be as fast as an internal drive and you can easily load the mac pro up with 4 internal drives.

5. You would like to have OS X and Windows running at the same time using vmware fusion or parallels and never suffer from swapping. I have 8 GB of memory on my mac pro and don't find this excessive for non-professional use. Leopard (10.5) is a bit of a pig when it comes to memory utilization, but this should be rectified with the next release of the apple OS: snow leopard (10.6).

6. You would like to do some home movie editing or use heavyweight photo programs like Aperture or Lightroom or Photoshop.

[Tallest Skil]

1. Any of the MacBook family, as well as the next Mac Mini and iMac.
2. The 8800 GT is not a good card. At all.
3. Okay, but there are PCs and Hackintoshes that do this.
4. Multi-bay hard drive tower. eSATA ports.
5. Up to 6GB in any of the current line and 8GB in the 17" unibody.
6. MacBook Pro or iMac (current model, even) can handle that.

The need of the Mac Pro is being superseded. Yes, if you're doing serious editing, get one. Yes, if you want two internal ODDs, get one. Yes, if you need PCIe slots, get one. Other than that, the highest-end iMac is rapidly taking over as Apple's "professional" solution.

[dukebound85]

if you have to ask, then you dont need a macpro

[EmperorDarius]

6. MacBook Pro or iMac (current model, even) can handle that.

Yes, if you're doing serious editing, get one.


Agree, the power needed to video edit is overrated. Unless you render some 'Hyper' high quality movies (and the only reason to make them would be to sell them, since they're too big to be downloaded with slow/medium speed connections), you don't really need a Mac Pro. MBPs and iMacs are very good even for making 3D animations.

[bozz2006]

I have a 2.66GHz 4 core mac pro. I don't need it. my wife makes money on the side with photography, and uses this computer to edit her photos. I spend a lot of my free time editing home movies. Right now I don't need a mac pro. an imac would suffice. but, I don't see myself upgrading this computer for another 4 years at least. so, I already had monitor, keyboard, mouse, misc peripherals and the price difference between the imac and mac pro wasn't huge. so i went with a mac pro. i'm very glad i did.

[Chaos123x]

The Mac Pro has server parts not desktop.

[Tallest Skil]

The Mac Pro has server parts not desktop.

And by parts you mean CPU and RAM, because the rest is standard desktop fare.

[dukebound85]

And by parts you mean CPU and RAM, because the rest is standard desktop fare.

is the hard drive also server grade? do you know?

[Tallest Skil]

is the hard drive also server grade? do you know?

Not even the "server-grade" hard drive in Time Capsule is server-grade... :rolleyes:

[zer0tails]

I'll say for your needs the iMac will be amply sufficient. :)

[Sir Loin Steak]

Looking like it. That said, I like the idea of being able to swap out parts, but only because that's what I've done for years on PCs.

Yet in some ways I want to get away from being so hands on with a pc.

Ya can't win!

[kudukudu]

1. Any of the MacBook family, as well as the next Mac Mini and iMac.
2. The 8800 GT is not a good card. At all.
3. Okay, but there are PCs and Hackintoshes that do this.
4. Multi-bay hard drive tower. eSATA ports.
5. Up to 6GB in any of the current line and 8GB in the 17" unibody.
6. MacBook Pro or iMac (current model, even) can handle that.

The need of the Mac Pro is being superseded. Yes, if you're doing serious editing, get one. Yes, if you want two internal ODDs, get one. Yes, if you need PCIe slots, get one. Other than that, the highest-end iMac is rapidly taking over as Apple's "professional" solution.

hmmm. sounds lie imac is maybe better than when I was looking a year ago, but....

1. the starter of this thread said his choice was between an imac and mac pro, not mini, macbook, etc. It doesn't make a lot of sense to me to purchase a 24" imac and then dish out the cash for a 30" monitor. My preference would be a macbook pro + 30" monitor over an imac.

2. 8800gt may be outdated, but I highly doubt apple has anything faster on offer in the imac. desktop video cards require desktop form factors for cooling. If you don't like the 8800gt, get the ati card.

3. I personally wouldn't want to screw around with a hackintosh, but each to his own. if you want to have an apple with the opportunity to swap in newer video cards down the line then mac pro is the only choice.

4. again, if you want your desktop culttered with a ton of external drives imac is fine if you need lots of storage.

5. I agree 6 gb is probably enough for now.

6. I like the option of having fast internal hard drives for this kind of stuff (e.g. thumbnail generation in itunes, aperture), but you are probably right that imac has enoigh cores and max memory.

[Tallest Skil]

1. the starter of this thread said his choice was between an imac and mac pro, not mini, macbook, etc.

Except he absolutely does not need a Mac Pro and can get away with a Mac Mini.

2. 8800gt may be outdated, but I highly doubt apple has anything faster on offer in the imac. desktop video cards require desktop form factors for cooling. If you don't like the 8800gt, get the ati card.

But he doesn't need the power at all... The laptop cards in the iMacs would be fine.

if you want to have an apple with the opportunity to swap in newer video cards down the line then mac pro is the only choice.

Provided they actually work.

4. again, if you want your desktop culttered with a ton of external drives imac is fine if you need lots of storage.

What's the difference between a Mac Pro tower and screen sitting on your desk and an iMac with an 8-bay hard drive enclosure?

He's using it for making documents and surfing the Internet. He doesn't need more than a Mac Mini or iMac.

[Horst]

Except he absolutely does not need a Mac Pro and can get away with a Mac Mini.


So, what apps are you using that require MP power ?
Judging by your postings, the Mini is right up your alley, too. ;)

[Tallest Skil]

So, what apps are you using that require MP power ?
Judging by your postings, the Mini is right up your alley, too. ;)

I'll be using AutoCAD (or Rhinoceros/Blender), CS4, XCode (not particularly intensive, but...), KICAD PCBNew, and Logic Studio (because I like to make music).

Among others. I might try out some other software or play a game or two.

[petvas]

I believe that computing power is never enough! If the OP has the money, he should get a Mac Pro. Everything else is just inferior in performance. I admit I haven't read all the posts because there are numerous threads like this one here in MacRumors, but nothing compares to the expandability and power of a Mac Pro. I use the 1st generation Mac Pro and it still beats all current iMacs...The Xeon processor is just much better than the Core 2 Duo.

[bozz2006]

agreed petvas. the expandability is what did it for me.

[zer0tails]

Looking like it. That said, I like the idea of being able to swap out parts, but only because that's what I've done for years on PCs.

Yet in some ways I want to get away from being so hands on with a pc.

Ya can't win!

if you like the idea of expandability then go with the mac pro. The initial investment is costlier but in the long run you'll be able to prolong its life 4 years from now by switching its graphics card or adding more ram all the way up to 32GB :p It's more ram than you'll ever need plus the 4 hard drive bays will let you expand your storage to your heart's content if and when needed.

This expandability is what led me to get a mac pro. I had an iMac before and it was a great all in one. Only problems: a few years later, it did not have enough ram and neither could i upgrade it to take more. Worst case scenario: the LCD display died out of warranty. I couldn't use it anymore unless i connected an external display to it. But really disappointing because the iMac was great as an all in one and with a dead lcd its pretty much pointless since I have to connect another display again.

my advice: if you plan on selling the imac and buying a new mac in 3 years then go with the imac. If you plan on keeping your mac for awhile 5-6 years then get the mac pro.

just my 2 cents ;)

[Horst]

I'll be using AutoCAD (or Rhinoceros/Blender), CS4, XCode (not particularly intensive, but...), KICAD PCBNew, and Logic Studio (because I like to make music).

Among others. I might try out some other software or play a game or two.

That doesn't answer my question; what is your experience with the applications you have mentioned, how long have you been using them, and how do they run on your Mac tower ?

[Tallest Skil]

That doesn't answer my question; what is your experience with the applications you have mentioned, how long have you been using them, and how do they run on your Mac tower ?

What tower? I don't have a Mac Pro yet.

[JasO]

I'll be using AutoCAD (or Rhinoceros/Blender), CS4, XCode (not particularly intensive, but...), KICAD PCBNew, and Logic Studio (because I like to make music).

Among others. I might try out some other software or play a game or two.

Do you really need a MacPro to run them? What is stopping the iMac from running them.

[Digital Skunk]

if you have to ask, then you dont need a macpro

Nuff said!

Do you really need a MacPro to run them? What is stopping the iMac from running them.

Nothing is stopping the iMac from running them at all. It's just a matter of what the user wants and needs.

Tallest is doing a lot of work that will require graphics updates and scratch disks. He can get by with the iMac, but the Mac Pro will get him more use over time, and get his work done faster.

The OP needs a machine that has a screen, HDD, and USB ports for peripherals, the iMac or Mac Mini with monitor serve his/her needs very well. Over time, it will still be able to run what they need with no problem.

I used to cut footage on an iBook G4, worked just fine even with the AMAZING amount of dropped frames and long render times. When it came time for me to upgrade, I considered the iMac G5, but was told to splurge on a Power Mac G5 (late October at the time). The G5 tower is still with me four years later and is still holding it's own, while my mothers G5 iMac can't even run the new software, but is doing just fine running MS Office and Safari. I can also stick two 2TB disk inside as well as up to 16GB of RAM for under $600 (for all parts).

It's all based on use now and in the future, I can get a 3.06GHz iMac to replace my tower and it would be wicked faster, but I want to be able to keep my machine for years like I have done with the tower AND run the latest high end video/graphics software.

[nanofrog]

I'll be using AutoCAD (or Rhinoceros/Blender), CS4, XCode (not particularly intensive, but...), KICAD PCBNew, and Logic Studio (because I like to make music).

Among others. I might try out some other software or play a game or two.
For the electronics side, you need to be looking for an EDA package.
Something like National Instruments MultiSIM, and LabView. There's others, but the NI stuff offers a Student Edition of MultiSIM that's very affordable. MultiSIM includes Ultiboard, which is the PCB Trace program, and it works well. There's also some free stuff available, such as Eagle. The various packages (full versions, far fewer limits), are not cheap, but are a good value when compared to the competition. LabView is 64 bit, and they make a version that runs under OS X, but I don't know if this version is available to you at a discount. :confused:

There's others, some even run under OS X. :)

[Tallest Skil]

For the electronics side, you need to be looking for an EDA package.
Something like National Instruments MultiSIM, and LabView. There's others, but the NI stuff offers a Student Edition of MultiSIM that's very affordable. MultiSIM includes Ultiboard, which is the PCB Trace program, and it works well. There's also some free stuff available, such as Eagle. The various packages (full versions, far fewer limits), are not cheap, but are a good value when compared to the competition. LabView is 64 bit, and they make a version that runs under OS X, but I don't know if this version is available to you at a discount. :confused:

There's others, some even run under OS X. :)

I'll remember that; thank you! :cool:

[Sir Loin Steak]

Wow!, this has really covered a load of stuff I never even considered.

Despite what some have said, I think I am drawn to the machine that has expandability, even if I wouldn't use the capacity 100% of the time.

The other thing is that if I found a new app I wanted use/get into, then the MacPro would seem to be able to handle it. Like video editing/music. Who knows what the kids, when they grow a little, get into themsleves - could be that I regret not going for gold.

[ndriver182]

For whatever this may be worth...

A couple of weeks back I sold my 2.0ghz Mini that I'd been using for just over a year. Although it did most everything I needed without any major issues (surfing the web, iTunes, some video encoding, dvd burning, office apps, etc.) it just didn't feel as fast as I'd like. My two year old MBP was outperforming it. I had the Mini as well as a decent quad core PC just for games that I hardly ever used.

I decided to sell my Windows gaming rig and Mini with the intent to get a new 24" iMac of some variety. I liked the screen and knew that with the high-end model I'd get some serious performance out of it for my needs. But all of that being said, I ended up going with an Apple refurb 2.8ghz 8-core Mac Pro. I ultimately ended up deciding on the Mac Pro because I already had a monitor I was using for my Mini/PC and a 10k RPM hard drive I could pop into the Pro to use as a Bootcamp drive. I also liked the expandability options and the fact that the system I got would last me for a very long time for just a couple hundred bucks more than a top-end iMac would cost me. Is it overkill for what I need now? Yes, but it gives me options and for the money it cost me I'm happier with this purchase.

[phatmuther]

For what you're gonna be using it for an imac would be perfectly fine, theres no need to get a mac pro unless your doing hard core work on it, industry stuff really.

[Digital Skunk]

Wow!, this has really covered a load of stuff I never even considered.

Despite what some have said, I think I am drawn to the machine that has expandability, even if I wouldn't use the capacity 100% of the time.

The other thing is that if I found a new app I wanted use/get into, then the MacPro would seem to be able to handle it. Like video editing/music. Who knows what the kids, when they grow a little, get into themsleves - could be that I regret not going for gold.

Or you can get what you need now, save the money you didn't spend for going for gold later, when you need it, and when the Gold is better than the gold of yore.

Trust me, go for the iMac, even the highest end iMac will be overkill for you three years from now. Getting a Mac Pro to use MS Office is a d0ucheb@g thing to do when you DON'T need it. Don't let other convince you to spend your money on things that you may or may not be doing in the not to distant future.

Cuz when you do want to edit videos, and that 16 core Mac Pro calls your name, you may just spend the money AGAIN to get another tower.

[needhelpguy]

What is a good Mac Pro setup (~$5,000-$7,000) to run Final Cut Pro well? By setup, I mean, everything. What are all the specs I want to get?

2.8 vs 3.0?
8 gigs of memory?
what video card?

I couldn't find a thread that specifically listed what was needed for Final Cut Pro. If this isn't the right place to ask this question, then I apologize. Any link to the correct place would be appreciated.

[Digital Skunk]

What is a good Mac Pro setup (~$5,000-$7,000) to run Final Cut Pro well? By setup, I mean, everything. What are all the specs I want to get?

2.8 vs 3.0?
8 gigs of memory?
what video card?

I couldn't find a thread that specifically listed what was needed for Final Cut Pro. If this isn't the right place to ask this question, then I apologize. Any link to the correct place would be appreciated.

Anything really. Final Cut runs just fine on a Macbook.

Now when it comes to running everything, including Color and Motion, then you need to get at least a MBP or iMac. The Mac Pro just gets the job done faster and smoother.

I wouldn't want to derail the thread, so searching in this forum (http://forums.macrumors.com/forumdisplay.php?f=80) will help you get more answers.

[bumzo1]

or you could do What im doing and convince yourself that the mac pro is the only machine that can do what you want it to do because im sure you want the mac pro you just want someone to back you up and tell you its a good idea or else you wouldn't have posted this thread

[ndriver182]

or you could do What im doing and convince yourself that the mac pro is the only machine that can do what you want it to do because im sure you want the mac pro you just want someone to back you up and tell you its a good idea or else you wouldn't have posted this thread

Lol. A little reassurance couldn't hurt :D

[bumzo1]

^^^^^^^^^ thats how I felt a few days ago but now I've decided to go with the MacPro