iMac 27 inch i7 or wait for the new Mac Pro Quad Core!

All depends on what you have in the way of parts?

Once you go iMac and get rid of your tower components, you'll find it hard to go back.

If you got a really good display now, the Mac Pro with the updated graphics card is nifty. Even the low end graphics card is decent now compared to the old GT120.

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If you plan on keeping the machine awhile, you'd likely be able to do 1 CPU upgrade on the Mac Pro (at worst a GHz update or move to a consumer CPU), and a GPU upgrade or two down the line.

The iMac is simply an update by selling it an buying a new machine, which isn't all bad with the high used Mac prices.

go iMac. the performance of the 5850m is WONDERFUL! beats the 4870 in the MP by far.

DoFoT9 said:

go iMac. the performance of the 5850m is WONDERFUL! beats the 4870 in the MP by far.

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But the new Mac Pro (which im sure OP was referring to) has a 5770 or 5870

Vylen said:

But the new Mac Pro (which im sure OP was referring to) has a 5770 or 5870

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thats true, good point. the 5850m is nearly on par with a 5770 - and given the OC'ability of the 5850m from previous results, it might exceed the performance from it. depending i guess.

in any manner, results will be nearly similar.

DoFoT9 said:

thats true, good point. the 5850m is nearly on par with a 5770 - and given the OC'ability of the 5850m from previous results, it might exceed the performance from it. depending i guess.

in any manner, results will be nearly similar.

Click to expand...

Then the OP should go for a Mac Pro with a 5870 😛

Vylen said:

Then the OP should go for a Mac Pro with a 5870 😛

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depends if he wants good $vsFPS performance, or good FPS vs bad $ performance 😉

Foray said:

Well the thing i want to do is having a pretty good speed when doing some Editing and also having good performance while im gaming like ->
(Starcraft2 - WOW - Steam's CS when its comming to mac)

But i guess the Mac pro Quad core will be better than the iMac i7 ?


But the only problem is then is where i can get a good display that are pretty good as the display in the new iMac for a low prize or so..

ps : I'm meaning the new upcomming Mac pro in August 🙂

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in WoW at 2560x1440 you will get 42 fps (can get to 49 fps from the latest drivers that arent released yet) on the 2009 i7 iMacs, vs 52 fps on 2010. this is under high settings.

for editing, what do you use? are they GPU intensive?

and also, to get a quality screen identical to the iMac - you are looking at around $1000. which is why the iMac is SUCH a good purchase.

Used displays should be numerous, there should be some really good quality matte pre-LED screens.

And during Christmas there will be a lot of sales.

Then people usually trade info on Dell coupon codes that swing some of those into smoking deal range.

If it's purely for gaming, most likely the mac pro with 5870. If you plan to just play both games, then both computers can run them just fine. Both computers also have powerful enough cpus to handle anything. It all comes down to rather or not you wanna spend the extra money for the mac pro, which gives you a little bit of customization options further down the line, but you won't have the sleek all-in-one formfactor.

I just pulled the trigger on a 27" iMac core i7.

I've got a 2006 Mac Pro now, and it's actually running quite well. No speed complaints. But I'm really keen on 'simplifying my life' and eliminating the spaghetti of cables, drives, tower, monitor, etc. that I've got going on here.

One unit - the iMac itself, silent and alone on my desk. Will bring quite a relief.

For overflow storage space & Time Machine backups, I also just bought a Drobo FS network storage device which I'll fill with the drives I'm pulling out of the old Mac Pro. It'll sit happily next to my wireless router and network switch, nicely tucked out of the way.

Can't wait.

xraydoc said:

I just pulled the trigger on a 27" iMac core i7.

I've got a 2006 Mac Pro now, and it's actually running quite well. No speed complaints. But I'm really keen on 'simplifying my life' and eliminating the spaghetti of cables, drives, tower, monitor, etc. that I've got going on here.

One unit - the iMac itself, silent and alone on my desk. Will bring quite a relief.

For overflow storage space & Time Machine backups, I also just bought a Drobo FS network storage device which I'll fill with the drives I'm pulling out of the old Mac Pro. It'll sit happily next to my wireless router and network switch, nicely tucked out of the way.

Can't wait.

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I'm just behind you on that trigger. I'm going to replace the same machine with the same iMac you ordered, for the same reasons AND my Drobo FS shows up tomorrow.

Your post kinda freaked me out. This is the first iMac for the rest of us. 😀

Foray said:

For editing im using - Final cut pro - Adobe After Effects - then trying to get the Autodesk Flame if its called that way i dno.

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FCP doesnt use any GPU from what i know, so that wont see any advances there. but it all depends, all i know is the thing FLIES.

If you're really into gaming and are willing to pay extra then the MP with the 5870 is without question the better option. If you're not willing to pay for the 5770 and don't plan on upgrading in the future then go for the iMac as it's the better package.

From a pure gaming perspective (not worrying about cost)
The 5870 will destroy a Mobile 5850. This has been beaten to death in the PC world and has become an accepted given. Thus MP > iMac
The MP with a 5770 is about equal to a Mobile 5850. MP = iMac

The problem with the iMac and gaming is that you're trying to drive 2560 x 1440 pixels with a mobile card that is limited by a 128bit bus. (From a gaming perspective ) --> Apple did good by using 1gig of DDR5 but when push comes to shove the card doesn't have the bandwidth to access that ram fast enough to push 2560 x 1440. Of course you can run at non-native resolution and turn down AA but then you're sacrificing on the primary reason you bought the machine.

The best thing you get from an iMac in my opinion is the screen. Right now you won't find a 27inch ips screen for under $800. This adds value to the iMac proposition.

Other things to think about:
Pro MP
Ability to add extra hard drives that are not limited by firewire or USB
Ability to add PCI cards ... USB 3.0, eSata.
Ability to drive 3 or more screens.
Ability to add blueray
Upgradeable processor
Upgradeable graphics card

Pro iMac
Ram is cheaper
Smaller footprint
(kick ass screen)

Thus my personal logic would be buy the MP if you're willing to pay for the 5870 and an external screen. If the cost of the external screen and 5870 cause you to opt for a 5770 then ditch the MP and go with the iMac.

I had this exact dilemma 3 months ago and chose a different route. I went the hackintosh direction and haven't regretted it. I didn't want to be limited by mobile gpu's/lac of expandability and didn't want to pay a premium for a MP that was super out of date (only to be forced to spend more to have it upgraded right away).

Good luck. Once you make a decision don't look back.

P.S. Apple GPU drivers notoriously stink. The more power you have to drive graphics the better. You won't regret the 5870. 🙂

DoFoT9 said:

thats true, good point. the 5850m is nearly on par with a 5770 - and given the OC'ability of the 5850m from previous results, it might exceed the performance from it. depending i guess.
in any manner, results will be nearly similar.

Click to expand...

Point of clarification.

In my experience the 5850m is really only overclockable when running windows. I don't know of any tools that allow you to OC a GPU or CPU under OSX. IMHO i would hesitate before OCing a GPU or CPU in an iMac because of the lack of thermal control and space in the machine.

To your point the GPU of a 5850m and a 5770 will be nearly similar.