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27" iMac i9 vs 1st Gen Mac Pro
- Thread starter Starflyer
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Unless you are talking about 8-core Mac Pro, iMac beats 1st gen MP easily. Mac Pro has more and better GPU options plus multiple internal HDs as well as SSDs
i'd say they're probably comparable. the imac will be a bit faster for certain tasks, but your video card is decent enough. Whether or not their will be a discernible speed difference is up for discussion, i think.
Say you sell the mac pro for $1400, and buy the i5 imac for $2000... is it worth $600? If you want to get the i7, which allows for hyper-threading, that will cost you another $200. Is that worth $800? On speed alone, i'd say no. but, because of hardware limitations, the 2006 mac pro is a sinking ship. you will probably never get more money for it than what you could get for it now. If you think you can get another year or so out of your mac pro, i would hang on to it. From what i've read around here, i'm probably in the minority in regards to that opinion though.
Say you sell the mac pro for $1400, and buy the i5 imac for $2000... is it worth $600? If you want to get the i7, which allows for hyper-threading, that will cost you another $200. Is that worth $800? On speed alone, i'd say no. but, because of hardware limitations, the 2006 mac pro is a sinking ship. you will probably never get more money for it than what you could get for it now. If you think you can get another year or so out of your mac pro, i would hang on to it. From what i've read around here, i'm probably in the minority in regards to that opinion though.
I would hang on the Mac Pro and increase performance through higher speed storage and additional RAM. If your video work takes you into 3D, you could consider a GPU upgrade too, but something that will make a real performance dent will be over $1k. If your $$ is burning a hole in your wallet, you could always move to a larger display and add a professional 1920x1080 editing monitor on an HD/SDI board.
You can stretch your Mac Pro a couple more years now without a huge investment, then look into what the iMacs are like in the future if you want one. One of the advantages of the professional desktops is expandability and it's an advantage you paid for when you bought the computer. Unless you are doing heavy, high res video editing, effects, or lots of transcoding, you won't experience a $2k performance difference on the iMac. If you really have these needs, the iMac wouldn't cut it anyway. I'd also be surprised if you notice any real difference in Photoshop, Lightroom, Dreamweaver, etc.
You can stretch your Mac Pro a couple more years now without a huge investment, then look into what the iMacs are like in the future if you want one. One of the advantages of the professional desktops is expandability and it's an advantage you paid for when you bought the computer. Unless you are doing heavy, high res video editing, effects, or lots of transcoding, you won't experience a $2k performance difference on the iMac. If you really have these needs, the iMac wouldn't cut it anyway. I'd also be surprised if you notice any real difference in Photoshop, Lightroom, Dreamweaver, etc.
I'm holding on to my MP 1,1 for at least couple more years. Why not? It's not any slower than it was when I bought it (I started out with 2GB or RAM, now I have 12), and with the brand new 4870 I expect it to be faster on certain GPU intensive tasks. I honestly think I'll ride this baby past the end of time (2012, that is).
I'm in the same situation, honestly if I didn't already have a sweet monitor, I'd probably upgrade to the new iMac, but I threw some more RAM and a 4870 in and it'll be good for a few more years.
An "iMac i9"?!? You might be waiting a while for Apple to release one of those ... and by then it'll probably have a 40" display. 
And yeah, I will be getting an SSD in the next 6-12 months, once SSDs can be had for under $1 per GB. With that my 2006 MP will leave the 2010 i7 iMac in the dust
my main concern with holding onto this mac pro is future releases of OSX. Whether or not Apple will axe their support for EFI32 machines is debatable, and I wouldn't be surprised either way. I would hope they continue to support EFI32 intel machines. moving to a 64 bit operating system isn't as crucial on a mac as on a windows machine, since the 32 bit versions of OSX are capable of running 64 bit applications. However, this gives apple a great reason to discontinue support for EFI32 machines for future OSX releases, forcing users, like all of us in this discussion, to upgrade to new machines if we want to utilize their newest OS.
I doubt we'll see an OS from Apple in the next 2 years that will exclude our MPs the way G5s were excluded in SL. Anyway, I think getting 5 years+ out of a computer is a damn good deal. I plan to turn my MP into a web server when I get a new one in 2012-13.
I agree with the concern that Apple will not support kernel64 on MP1,1 and MP2,1 machines. It means that everything under 2008 will be cut off at some time in the future. The sad thing is that the 2008 hardware is essentially not much different. The amount of modifications and testing to be done to release EFI64 retrospectively to the MP1,1 and MP2,1 would not be huge. In PC boards it is routinely done. The main difference is the die shrink of the CPUs. The chipset is the same.
I think some us might be forgetting that the 1st gen MPs only had 4 physical cores shared between two chips. Not only will the i7 (not i9?) iMac blow it out of the water in single threaded performance because of architecture upgrades, but hyperthreading and better core efficiency means it will also destroy the Mac Pro with 8 virtual cores available to software.
In addition to this, the original Mac Pro used horribly ****** 667 MHz RAM, and there is no comparison in latency with the faster clocked DDR3 variant.
Oh, and the MP 1,1 can only support PCIe 1.0 cards (according to Apple), and the special legacy cards you are forced to buy to get any decent GPU performance are still not as good as the iMac's.
The only reason I'd buy the MP 1,1 over the iMac is if I wanted a large metal box with some SATA slots for storage
In addition to this, the original Mac Pro used horribly ****** 667 MHz RAM, and there is no comparison in latency with the faster clocked DDR3 variant.
Oh, and the MP 1,1 can only support PCIe 1.0 cards (according to Apple), and the special legacy cards you are forced to buy to get any decent GPU performance are still not as good as the iMac's.
The only reason I'd buy the MP 1,1 over the iMac is if I wanted a large metal box with some SATA slots for storage
but the question isn't, "should i buy a 2006 mac pro or an i7 imac?". the question is, "should i get rid of my 2006 mac pro and buy an i7 imac to replace it?"
further, you are way overstating the speed differences between the two. and as far as video cards, he already has an 8800, so that's not a pertinent question for this discussion either. basically, let's say he can get $1400 for his mac pro, is it worth the $600 to move to an i5 imac? is it worth the $800 move to an i7 imac? I say no.
further, you are way overstating the speed differences between the two. and as far as video cards, he already has an 8800, so that's not a pertinent question for this discussion either. basically, let's say he can get $1400 for his mac pro, is it worth the $600 to move to an i5 imac? is it worth the $800 move to an i7 imac? I say no.
Agree 100%. I cannot conceive of being happy with an i7 iMac 5 year's from now. I can see myself still VERY happy with my 2006 MP in 3, perhaps even 4 years (that's 6-7 years after the original purchase!). Don't get me wrong, a top of the line iMac is a fine machine, but it offers nowhere near the long term bang for the buck that a MP does. You'll find yourself wanting a new one every 3 years or so.
I fully agree to this Bozz2006 and also to Akadmon on the 2006 MacPro. I am a longtime 2006 MacPro user before I gave it to my brother as a special gift. I use the MacPro for heavy graphic designing, web designing and light video editing. With Adobe apps I don't seem to see any big speed difference between the 06 and 08 MacPro. And there was another posting by another member here, Tribe3 on Oct 16 2009 10:50pm that he did not notice any increase in speed between the 2006 MacPro and the 2009 Nehalem MacPro. ( he sold his 2006 MP and bought a Nehalem MP )
The question of getting rid of the 2006 MacPro and replaced it with the new 2009 iMac needs rethinking. I just found this link about some problems cropping up with the 27" new iMac. The issue is slow flash video playbacks on the 27" iMacs.
http://www.engadget.com/2009/10/29/27-inch-imacs-having-performance-issues/
http://discussions.apple.com/thread.jspa?threadID=2207829&tstart=0
http://discussions.apple.com/thread.jspa?threadID=2208018&tstart=15
Though this may just be a Snow Leopard issue and not a hardware issue on the 27" iMac. We are not sure yet. The 2006 MacPro is a tried and tested model while the new iMac is new and still new.
I guess the 06 MacPro is still good for 2-3 years. And it also boils down to good maintenance. Macs get slower when it's not well maintained like lack of directory fixes, regular defraging, permissions repair. And how well the user maximizes the OS , keyboard shortcuts on the Adobe apps. I know of a designer who is a speed demon in designing and he is still using an 06 MacPro. He is strict with maintenance and he once told me Photoshop loads in just 5 seconds in his 06 MacPro.
Thanks.
Here are some questions I asked myself before I jumped ship into the MacPro ownership ring:
- Do you want a built in glossy screen that is tied to the computer, or do you already have a nice screen?
- Are you okay with an 8GB ram ceiling for the next few years?
- Do you need multiple hard drives? RAID? Use for any expansion cards?
If you can answer those questions you have your answer IMHO.
- Do you want a built in glossy screen that is tied to the computer, or do you already have a nice screen?
- Are you okay with an 8GB ram ceiling for the next few years?
- Do you need multiple hard drives? RAID? Use for any expansion cards?
If you can answer those questions you have your answer IMHO.
I'm in similar situation with a 2.66 Rev 1 MacPro. When the i7 27" came out it did make me prick my ears up..
The 27" LED Display is tempting me, however I have decided to stick with my MacPro and see what comes out next year instead. I have had a good 3 years with my MacPro, and I do not think I'd get 3 years out of an iMac before I'd be tempted to upgrade.
1. You can use your screen with the iMac regardless
2. 16GB is the upper limit in the iMac i7
3. Multiple HDD's can be dealt with via Firewire 800 external drives. Not a huge performance disadvantage these days and price wise there is little in it between internal/external.
The 27" LED Display is tempting me, however I have decided to stick with my MacPro and see what comes out next year instead. I have had a good 3 years with my MacPro, and I do not think I'd get 3 years out of an iMac before I'd be tempted to upgrade.
1. You can use your screen with the iMac regardless
2. 16GB is the upper limit in the iMac i7
3. Multiple HDD's can be dealt with via Firewire 800 external drives. Not a huge performance disadvantage these days and price wise there is little in it between internal/external.
Upgrade MacPro-For Me-Not So Much
MacPro 1.1, 2.66 owner here. I initially had the urge to run out and buy the iMac 27" with the new i7. Checking it out at the local Apple Store almost had me ready credit card one. The 27" glossy screen and beautiful aluminum would have been a little hard to hide from the spouse, no
Of course I've considered upgrading my MacPro. Adding RAM, upgrading to a 4870, and SSD replacements drives would have me pour too much money into the MacPro. It seems to me the the MacPro is just old enough that seriously upgrading it would give me diminishing returns. This assumes prices for all those upgrades don't drop through the floor in the next few months. I think that is unlikely.
Having said that I'm rocking three displays, ATI 3870, and four internal hard drives on my MacPro. Internal access is of course really easy. The Beast is far from not meeting my needs.
So, I'm opening a savings account on Monday and over the next few months start pumping in what I'd spend on potential MacPro upgrades. When I get a 2 or three grand in there I'll start start seriously looking to replace the MacPro. Most likely with an iMac By that time the new iMac is going to be seriously checked out for issues, performance.
When the time comes my old MacPro will make a great computer for my spouse to replace an old G4 Dual 1.25. It could also become a media server for the household.
In the end there is no right or wrong here for those thinking about replacing their older MacPro with an new iMac. It all depends on what you need and what you want.
MacPro 1.1, 2.66 owner here. I initially had the urge to run out and buy the iMac 27" with the new i7. Checking it out at the local Apple Store almost had me ready credit card one. The 27" glossy screen and beautiful aluminum would have been a little hard to hide from the spouse, no
Of course I've considered upgrading my MacPro. Adding RAM, upgrading to a 4870, and SSD replacements drives would have me pour too much money into the MacPro. It seems to me the the MacPro is just old enough that seriously upgrading it would give me diminishing returns. This assumes prices for all those upgrades don't drop through the floor in the next few months. I think that is unlikely.
Having said that I'm rocking three displays, ATI 3870, and four internal hard drives on my MacPro. Internal access is of course really easy. The Beast is far from not meeting my needs.
So, I'm opening a savings account on Monday and over the next few months start pumping in what I'd spend on potential MacPro upgrades. When I get a 2 or three grand in there I'll start start seriously looking to replace the MacPro. Most likely with an iMac By that time the new iMac is going to be seriously checked out for issues, performance.
When the time comes my old MacPro will make a great computer for my spouse to replace an old G4 Dual 1.25. It could also become a media server for the household.
In the end there is no right or wrong here for those thinking about replacing their older MacPro with an new iMac. It all depends on what you need and what you want.
Good for you, takes a lot to heep past apple's "newer is so much better for you" hype machine. Besides.... you're saving the environment by re-using