Excellent question. Thanks for posting it. Not all of us are misinterpreting your question or tone. You're just curious, and there's nothing wrong with that.
I'm not sure what you mean by "pro". I am a "professional", I guess. That is, I use my computer for business purposes. But, I don't think that's what you're after. I think you're wondering how many of us are "pros" in the sense that we're the pros the machine was built for (graphic designers, music engineers, film makers, animators, etc.). I am not that kind of pro. I do some graphic design, photography and video editing, but nothing major. Certainly nothing that requires a Mac Pro.
I went with a Mac Pro, primarily, because I came from a Windows mentality of "buy the biggest, baddest machine you can possibly afford, and maybe it won't be a dog within 6 months".
Another reason I went with a Pro, instead of an iMac (my only other consideration) was because of the monitor. I didn't want to waste the 24" monitor I already had (no desire for a dual monitor setup), and I had a hard time with the idea of basically just throwing away a beautiful iMac 24" monitor when it was time to replace the computer.
Future proofing had a little bit to do with it too.
Truth be told, I'm not sure I made the right decision. Having spent $4000 on this machine, I could have purchased two 24" iMacs for the same price, and my wife could be on the good side of the force now too. Or I could have went with a 24" iMac and a descent MacBook for the same price.
Only time will tell if I made the right choice or not. If this ends up lasting 2 years longer than an iMac would have, then I will feel good about the choice, and go this route again next time. If not, I'll probably switch it up to the iMac. When I say "lasting 2 years longer", I'm speaking not only of failure issues, but of continuing to be a great performer on modern software, as well as my ability to control my emotional drive to buy every new thing that comes out.
So I guess I should throw this question out to the forum: Currently, is a 5 year old Mac Pro better equipped to handle Leopard and CS3 Suite than a 5 year old iMac is?
