Which is best

It might also depend on your uses.

Yeah, buddeh, give us the rundown of your day-to-day tasks.

Photo editing? Can you be a weency bit more specific?

nusynergy said:

Well i do perform Photo editing on my current imac which is a little lame. That and World of Warcraft are about the 2 most intence uses.

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What kind of photos? 10MP JPEGs or more like 21MP RAWs, and with what software?

Maybe the iMac i7 would suffice...

In that case, the Core-i iMacs would suit you just swell, it's now just a question of whether you want to go i5 or i7.

The hard drive and memory can be upgraded in an iMac. The only thing that can be so easily upgraded in the Mac Pro but NOT the iMac is the graphics card.

The iMac is a better value by far.

nusynergy said:

Well i do perform Photo editing on my current imac which is a little lame. That and World of Warcraft are about the 2 most intence uses.

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I think you need a MacBook Pro at the most. A Mac Pro just seems like overkill. Remember, a Mac Pro is considered a professional workstation. If you were doing video editing with some intense rendering, then I would consider a Mac Pro.

The Mac Pros are the most powerful Macs on the market. However, I wouldn't be worried about the iMac at all, it's pretty substantial.

World of Warcraft isn't really that intense. I have the new iMac 21.5" with ATI card, and I run it 1920x1080 with graphics set to ultra, and have a dizzying smooth frame rate. (outside of major towns)

If you're considering a Mac Pro, I think they are going to be "refreshed" soon, so maybe wait for that before making a decision. Though, the Mac Pro sounds like overkill for what you described. Personally, I'd go with the 27" iMac. I'm currently waiting for the Mac Pro refresh.

As things currently stand, it seems like the only hold Mac Pros have over the iMacs is multiple internal HDDs. I could be missing something, though.

Ravich said:

As things currently stand, it seems like the only hold Mac Pros have over the iMacs is multiple internal HDDs. I could be missing something, though.

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Expandability, which translates into HDD's/SSD's, RAID, memory capacity beyond what can be placed in the iMacs, and of course PCIe cards (particularly graphics).

It's hard to determine in some cases which is the better choice sometimes though.

But for the cost difference between the i7 iMac and the base Quad MP, it might be worth it for some, as it can extend the life of the system, and more importantly, allow tasks to be completed faster. Which is especially important if the system is used to earn a living.

pros&cons (just replace dell with mac pro in mind):
(http://img55.imageshack.us/img55/9531/macvsdellfz5.jpg)

You know, I laugh every time somebody pretends that's a valid point.

You have to do the same if your LAPTOP has a problem too! Effing morons!

Windows people can be so ignorant.

MrCheeto said:

You know, I laugh every time somebody pretends that's a valid point.

You have to do the same if your LAPTOP has a problem too! Effing morons!

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It is a valid point. The fact that laptops have the same problem as iMacs
in this regard, does not make it invalid.

No, but they like to pretend and forget that the iMac is not the only machine with such an issue.

What if your monitor busts and you don't have another? Oops.