2009 quad 2.66 or Octo 2.8 for iMovie + Photoshop?

Definitely go for the current Quad. I just can't recommend anyone buy dated technology... FB-DIMMS, FSB, (greek to you I'm sure) = DEAD!

Honestly, buy a quad... if you can afford the extra $500 go for the 2.93GHz Quad... you probably won't regret it... but even the 2.66GHz is a very nice machine!

 

Yeah, go for the 2.93GHz Quad. The new 2.66 will be same or slower than the 2.8 and more expensive I guess too.

 

I second the 2.93 Quad. I was using iMovie last night and even with the fastest processor available you can still feel that the machine is working when moving clips around and applying transitions/effects. More cores do not help that kind of thing at all, processor speed does. When I exported the movie to h.264 the most I saw the processor jump was about 250-300% CPU (800% is available on the quad). I don't think iMovie would run any faster on an 8 core machine.

The only problem is the RAM limitation. But you can up it to 16GB if you have the money, or for now 8 GB. If you are working with lots of photoshop files, you probably want to grab as much RAM as you can.

Getting the fastest quad will give you the same kind of performance as the ridiculously expensive octo 2.93 in 90% of the applications you use on a daily basis. The octo is only useful if you need 32GB of RAM or do heavy rendering or use other programs that make use of more than 4 cores, and the job would otherwise take more than 5 minutes on the quad.

 

Where is the 2008 Mac Pro selling for $2200?

 

'09 Quad.

 

'09 4-core

 

Get the 09 Quad. I have the 2.66 and it is very quick. You will not regret it. iMovie and Photoshop run lovely on the machine. Just get some more memory for it and get some fast HDD's.

 

Hey dnadrifter...

I'm currently deciding on the same thing. 2009 2.6 Quad vs. 2008 2.8 Octo.

The 8GB ram limit on the 2009 quad is sort of a bummer... I'm not sure if I will need more down the road???

My uses: CS4, web/print design, maybe some video editing and after effects.

 

There is NO 8GB RAM limit for the quad at all !!!

 

OIC why now. Thanks.

 

I'm a web professional and I've ordered:

MacPro 2.66/Quad
6 GB RAM
640 MB
4870
Wireless card
and
2x 1TB Spinpoints HD
24" Samsung 2443BW monitor

There is no need for the 2.93 model, nor the 8-cores for this kind of work. I hope all of it will arrived tomorrow...

 

Buy. The. Octo. Why is this even a question around here? I wouldn't hesitate to recommend a refurb octo over any of the 2009 models to anyone. They're a fantastic deal.

 

no, but there is a 16GB ram limit (if you are willing to pay that much for 4x4 gb.)

 

This is VERY true! And right now (with Snow Leopard) is when we start seeing 64-bit apps. And I do believe 8GB in Snow Leopard will be about like 4GB in Leopard. And that's just barely enough.

It's true that you don't 8-cores for most web work unless you're rendering 3D sequences for making flash animations and banners of course. iMovie too. When iMovie is working it's VERY hardest I see ~13% on each of all 8 cores. And that's about %100. So nothing I do (so far) in iMovie is multi-threaded.

But I can tell you from vast experience that iMovie is NOT a very good tool and iMovie 09 is additionally unstable as well. It's not suitable for actual work of any kind really. ​

For Photoshop about 20% of the application is multithreaded. So if you happen to use those specific tools and filters often then the 8-core will be better. 3rd party plug-ins are also a mixed bag.

For iMovie and Photoshop you won't be (honestly) able to tell any difference in speed between the '09 2.66 and the '08 2.8 except where PS is treaded and then the '08 2.8 will be 50% faster. If you're adjusting many large images at once in CameraRAW the '08 2.8 will also be faster at that too.

 

Get the 09 octo. Spend once than wishing you had when applications can take advantage of the power later this year. Stuff will catch up. Thank your professional users for their making sure stuff is working on a timely basis as time is money for them.

 

I was mistaken on the initial thread. If you already have the octo then stick with that. I thought it was a "what to buy" situation.
I did buy the 2.66 Quad Nehalem but because I got a smokin price on the computer plus 24" LED. If I didn't then I would of gone for the Octo 2.8.
If you already have that machine, then buy 16GB of OWC RAM and enjoy it because it is a great computer. I am sure the 8 core will be worth more than the 4 Core Nehalem in re-sales anyway so use it for now and then sell it later to get a new Mac Pro later when/if they redesign the case. You got it or a great price anyways so enjoy your productivity now.

 

I believe one of the goals of Snow Leopard is to *reduce* the memory footprint of the OS, not increase it... therefore you'll actually get more bang for your 4GB with Snow Leopard than you're getting right now.

http://news.cnet.com/8301-13579_3-9975602-37.html

Cliff

 

EDIT Everybody already beat me to it.