Aye i understand.
But looking on the bay, single core 2.66 ghz go for a fair amount now. Plus the 17.5% discount, I think I would break even(also including software)
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Advice needed, big big decision. iMac v Mac Pro.
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Aye i understand.
But looking on the bay, single core 2.66 ghz go for a fair amount now. Plus the 17.5% discount, I think I would break even(also including software)
Just told my mum about the plans, and the possible sale of it , if Nehalem turns out to be amazing( i doubt i will change it.) , she seems ok about it. Now to get in touch with the person who gets 17.5% discount.
phalewhale
macrumors 6502a
Well that sure is a long time... But, as soon as the first Nehalem's comes out, with 8 cores, there'll be faster ones come out soon after. Look what happened with the Intel Core Duo's. The Core 2 Duo's were out very soon after. Then, in 2010, the 12 core processors are coming out... The ultimate top of the line machine is always just round the corner.
too true, its a tad gay tbh!
Need to order the machine, i need it so bad.
using a 1.66ghz laptop truly takes the p***
phalewhale
macrumors 6502a
Well, if you need it, there certainly is no point in waiting around. I think buying one now and trading it in when the next version is released (or the version immediately after it) is a good policy to stick by. The amount you'll lose will likely not be that much...
But if you are going to wait, you could just go for the top end iMac until Nehalem comes along? There is a good chance that the iMac won't be updated until next summer so you'd be selling the current machine if the new Mac Pro comes along before WWDC.
Of course, if the rumours of a new machine start to turn out to be so strong you could sell a current Mac Pro a week or a few days before the new one is released. Believe it or not, there are folk who don't pay any attention to the rumour mill!!! They have lives... 😉
I managed to do that with my previous iMac and since I get student discount, and I got my RAM for free, I ended up making a tidy little profit on my original purchase!
Oh, and I don't think I would class it as gay to wait around for an update... Just a little extreme, but I waited almost 1 and a half years for the new iMac. Still ended up buying a white one though
Ye i will do this, i think with the discount i will break even.
and like you say, most people won't know the diff between Penyrn and Nehalem
rikoshay
macrumors member
I bought my 3.0 GHz, dual-quad core Mac Pro beast last December & have never regretted the purchase. After 17 years of using moderate-power Macs, & getting used to being informed that my computer won't handle the latest application or game, I'm now reveling in the fact that my Mac Pro will handle ANYTHING I'm likely to throw at it. And will for a long time. That gives me a nice, warm, fuzzy feeling.
Soop53
macrumors regular
I have had my Mac Pro Octo 2.8 since February and have not looked back (switched back to mac after 9 years). I debated getting an iMac because my son-in-law has one. Decided on the Pro, after he stated he should have gone for the Pro.
After spending two days out in Iowa on my brother-in-law's latest Dell, I could not wait to get back home to my beast.
My son just built an awesome Vista powered PC for gaming, that is not as smooth as my Pro. I will take Leopard over Vista any day!
There will always be the latest and greatest in the future...but I can't see how I would need anything faster than this beast!
After spending two days out in Iowa on my brother-in-law's latest Dell, I could not wait to get back home to my beast.
My son just built an awesome Vista powered PC for gaming, that is not as smooth as my Pro. I will take Leopard over Vista any day!
There will always be the latest and greatest in the future...but I can't see how I would need anything faster than this beast!
GoKyu
macrumors 65816
I had used PCs for the last 18+ years...up until mid-January of this year. That's when I bought myself the Mac Pro you see in my sig. Do I need that kind of power? I do run Photoshop nearly 24 hours a day on this sytem, but no, that's still not reason enough to "need" this computer.
I *wanted* something that's gonna last me a long time....4-5 years or longer. Here are the perks:
1. 4 internal drive bays - now completely filled, with a 1TB drive for Time Machine
2. Separate monitor - so if something happens to it, I don't lose access to my whole computer in the meantime.
3. 8 core XEON Cheese Grater of Death 😉
And these are also the reasons I *didn't* want an iMac....sure one would be plenty powerful enough for what I do, but I'm kinda put off by the "all in one" mentality and the fact that you can't even change out the hard drive if necessary. Instant rejection right there. (At least the iMacs let you upgrade the RAM, there's a plus...)
Get the beast, you won't be sorry 🙂
-Bryan
I *wanted* something that's gonna last me a long time....4-5 years or longer. Here are the perks:
1. 4 internal drive bays - now completely filled, with a 1TB drive for Time Machine
2. Separate monitor - so if something happens to it, I don't lose access to my whole computer in the meantime.
3. 8 core XEON Cheese Grater of Death 😉
And these are also the reasons I *didn't* want an iMac....sure one would be plenty powerful enough for what I do, but I'm kinda put off by the "all in one" mentality and the fact that you can't even change out the hard drive if necessary. Instant rejection right there. (At least the iMacs let you upgrade the RAM, there's a plus...)
Get the beast, you won't be sorry 🙂
-Bryan
GoKyu
macrumors 65816
I'm not terribly impressed with it for photo work....as a basic monitor it's fine, but I'm seeing all kinds of graininess whenever I look at pictures, and the blacks tend to be heavily dithered....I dunno why it looks that way, it just does...
I still need to contact Samsung about that.
-Bryan
I still need to contact Samsung about that.
-Bryan
Bubba Satori
Suspended
Mac Pro. Figure the cost difference over a 4 year period and include the time you'll save and the value of your time. Stuff that puppy with lots of memory too. Good luck.
xraydoc
Contributor
I simply love the simplicity of an iMac - clean lines, no cables, everything self-contained... brilliant design.
However, I'm stuck using a Mac Pro with a spaghetti collection of cables and such behind it. I've got too much hardware I need to connect, including three displays (presently one 30" Cinema plus two 20" 4:3), hard drives (4 internal, 3 external), a dictation microphone and controls (PowerScribe medical dictation system), etc.
Once you start needing that much external hardware, an iMac makes little sense in my opinion.
This is why I believe Apple still should produce the mythical "xMac" mid-range tower. Cheaper than a Mac Pro (which is really a workstation-class machine), it could use the same video cards as the Mac Pro but the less expensive desktop C2D chips instead of Xeon workstation/server chips, standard desktop DDR2 RAM instead of expensive FB-DIMM, room for two internal hard drives and an optical, 2 or 3 open PCIe slots plus one for the video card, one ethernet port compared with two on the Mac Pro, optional BT and AirPort, and you've got a $1200-$1500 tower Mac that has some expandability beyond what the iMac can do, can easily support two (or more) displays, and has easily swappable hard drives unlike the iMac's warranty-voiding complete system teardown.
Sorry, didn't mean to rant. But I truly believe it could be a big seller and Apple could still make a very good profit off it since wholesale on desktop-class hardware is so cheap these days.
However, I'm stuck using a Mac Pro with a spaghetti collection of cables and such behind it. I've got too much hardware I need to connect, including three displays (presently one 30" Cinema plus two 20" 4:3), hard drives (4 internal, 3 external), a dictation microphone and controls (PowerScribe medical dictation system), etc.
Once you start needing that much external hardware, an iMac makes little sense in my opinion.
This is why I believe Apple still should produce the mythical "xMac" mid-range tower. Cheaper than a Mac Pro (which is really a workstation-class machine), it could use the same video cards as the Mac Pro but the less expensive desktop C2D chips instead of Xeon workstation/server chips, standard desktop DDR2 RAM instead of expensive FB-DIMM, room for two internal hard drives and an optical, 2 or 3 open PCIe slots plus one for the video card, one ethernet port compared with two on the Mac Pro, optional BT and AirPort, and you've got a $1200-$1500 tower Mac that has some expandability beyond what the iMac can do, can easily support two (or more) displays, and has easily swappable hard drives unlike the iMac's warranty-voiding complete system teardown.
Sorry, didn't mean to rant. But I truly believe it could be a big seller and Apple could still make a very good profit off it since wholesale on desktop-class hardware is so cheap these days.
zmttoxics
macrumors 65816
I too had this issue. The built in screen for the iMac killed that idea(I have a 22", no room for a 24", and i share screens, cant get rid of the 22").
I was going to get a Mac Pro and put my self into years of debt. But I managed to get a late 2005 G5 for 700 bucks. This is the ddr2/pcie model. It basically is a mac pro, and the performance is awesome for the price (its got a 96 in Xbench and my not even a year old macbook gets a 110). So I love it. No mac mini will support 16 gigs of ram, 2 harddrives, 4 pcie slots - neither will an iMac.
I vote for used G5 or refurb Mac Pro (those quad 2.66 machines are still really fantastic machines).
I was going to get a Mac Pro and put my self into years of debt. But I managed to get a late 2005 G5 for 700 bucks. This is the ddr2/pcie model. It basically is a mac pro, and the performance is awesome for the price (its got a 96 in Xbench and my not even a year old macbook gets a 110). So I love it. No mac mini will support 16 gigs of ram, 2 harddrives, 4 pcie slots - neither will an iMac.
I vote for used G5 or refurb Mac Pro (those quad 2.66 machines are still really fantastic machines).
Finally decided between Imac and MP myself... and today ordered a 2.8gh octo MP with a 30" Nec display and 10GB ram 🙂
It's probably an overkill for my needs and it cost a small fortune but the screen and expandability of the Imac (memory, bluray) put me off.... well, actually I hope it's an overkill and that I don't have to think about performance and capacity issues for ages and can just enjoy using the machine 😀 .... something that has not been possible with this old PC.
It's probably an overkill for my needs and it cost a small fortune but the screen and expandability of the Imac (memory, bluray) put me off.... well, actually I hope it's an overkill and that I don't have to think about performance and capacity issues for ages and can just enjoy using the machine 😀 .... something that has not been possible with this old PC.
Just an update.
Recently, i have decided , for many reasons to get a Pc. I will try and run Leapord of it , but if it doesn't work i will use windows.
My biggest reason for this is the money. For someone my age , 16 ,i just can't justify spending the amount of cash needed to buy a pro. For the money i needed to buy just a pro, i can get and am getting
Another thing is the nehalem move, i feel it is too risky.
i am going to buy a mac pro the year i go to university. Until then a quad core machine( overclocked to 3.5ghz) will serve me very well.
Another thing , Thank you all for your advice along the way, its been helpful and i am sure to buy Apple in the future, when earning!
Recently, i have decided , for many reasons to get a Pc. I will try and run Leapord of it , but if it doesn't work i will use windows.
My biggest reason for this is the money. For someone my age , 16 ,i just can't justify spending the amount of cash needed to buy a pro. For the money i needed to buy just a pro, i can get and am getting
- A quad core pc with 27" monitor, 6gb ram etc
- iPhone 16gb
- Two Docks(iPod and iPhone)
- Trainers etc
- Amp and Speakers
Another thing is the nehalem move, i feel it is too risky.
i am going to buy a mac pro the year i go to university. Until then a quad core machine( overclocked to 3.5ghz) will serve me very well.
Another thing , Thank you all for your advice along the way, its been helpful and i am sure to buy Apple in the future, when earning!
krye
macrumors 68000
Go with the 1,611 Pro. I can't see the iMac lasting 5 years either. The Mac Pro can be boosted with more RAM, bigger hard drives, and a better video card down the road. You can get some much more Mac for just a few extra hundred pounds. The Mac Pro is definitely the better choice. And I say the dual proc Mac Pro because the single proc Mac Pro is basically the iMac with more expansion possibilities. Future proof yourself by getting 8 cores. And if you choose to upgrade to Snow Leopard next year, you'll really be able to take advantage of those 8 cores, something you wont be able to do with the iMac.
Just a thought about future-proofing that hasn't been really mentioned here...Apple is doing a lot of research into offloading some processing intensive tasks to the GPU. In many cases the GPU represents a goldmine for additional performance just waiting to be tapped. If Apple can successfully implement OpenCL with Snow Leopard, life will continue to be very sweet for MP owners for a long time.
Drop your monitor requirement back to 24" or even 20", and put the savings toward the 42" tv. 😎
Might even be enough on its own, and keep the 200 GBP you would have spent. 😉
Saladinos
macrumors 68000
I imagine the Mac Pro will last you longer than 5 years. 6 or 7 years is not unrealistic. The iMac may give you 3 years. Partly due to performance, partly due to increased heat stress on components in the iMac.
Multi-core processors aren't really taken advantage of today. It's only beginning to be exploited. More cores are much more of a benefit than you probably realise. Because the hardware is currently well ahead of the software, having more cores today is much more of an advantage (longetivity-wise) than we typically see in the PC industry.
Considering the price difference, I'd go for the Mac Pro. But I'd also wait until Nehalem hits. It'll be a massive upgrade, and probably include some better GPU options.
In fact, I'm buying a Mac Pro as soon as Nehalem gets here. I have the money waiting for it. I'm an engineering student, and really need the horsepower for some of the simulations I have to do.
Multi-core processors aren't really taken advantage of today. It's only beginning to be exploited. More cores are much more of a benefit than you probably realise. Because the hardware is currently well ahead of the software, having more cores today is much more of an advantage (longetivity-wise) than we typically see in the PC industry.
Considering the price difference, I'd go for the Mac Pro. But I'd also wait until Nehalem hits. It'll be a massive upgrade, and probably include some better GPU options.
In fact, I'm buying a Mac Pro as soon as Nehalem gets here. I have the money waiting for it. I'm an engineering student, and really need the horsepower for some of the simulations I have to do.