08 Mac Pro vs New 09 Imac i5

[kmchi]

Hi everyone, been looking at these forums for some time and would appreciate some comments and advice.

I've finally decided to upgrade my old 24" Imac (model 7,1 (2.8 Core 2 Extreme)) and am torn between the following 2 options:

1. Refurbished 2008 Mac Pro Octad 2.8 (model 3,1 standard configuration); plan on getting a Crucial 256GB SSD, a GeForce GTX285 graphics card and an extra 8GB ram to upgrade the system. Total cost is around US$3800.

2. New 27" Imac i5 with 2Tb hard disk and an extra 4Gb of Ram. Cost would be around US$2400.

I have to admit I'm not a power user; I use my mac mainly for web usage, itunes (have a big music and video collection), photo work (personal not business), video watching (I already have a Dell 27 inch monitor) and some office work (mainly MS Word, Excel and Powerpoint). I do use a fair bit of Handbrake and other video conversion programmes for converting my DVDs to Apple TV format for watching in other rooms (i've converted my collection once but that was a while ago and did not pick good handbrake settings so plan on doing it again to improve quality).

I'm aware that my current system is fine for what I use it for and the above represents some degree of overkill. However, I've worked hard and saved up my pennies so feel I want to treat myself. As such, what I wish to get is a system that for my current uses, will feel amazingly fast and should continue to serve me in good stead for the next 3 - 5 years (as my current Imac has). I've read about the problems with the new Imac and the pricing issues with the current Mac Pro (and the potential / impending 6 core mac pro) so I'm leaning towards the Mac Pro option since it will give me some degree of expandability without needing me to be a computer wiz (plus I do have a lot of files so the 4 HDD bays would be great - but not critical as i have a 8TB NAS for storage and backup already). I've decided to buy something soon as I've got the money now and would absolutely love having something to play with around X'mas and New Year.

All constructive advice and comments would be gratefully received.

Happy thanksgiving!!!

Kind regards,
KM

PS: I'm located in Asia and would be buying the refurb Mac Pro from the Apple Store and so would be able to take advantage of Applecare.