Convince me to get a Mac Pro not an iMac

[Peabody]

god knows i'm tempted..... gotta see if i can scrap some new funds together

Dig man - find the dough!

I just ordered a MP today to replace an ailing 17" G5 1GHz iMac. It's been 5 loooooong years with that iMac wondering what the heck I was thinking. Yes it's been trusty, but the inability to upgrade anything in it is frustrating as #*%&! That and the lack of true horsepower has prevented me dabbling in all sorts of fun over the years. DV editing wasn't even close to productive, let alone any big photo editing...couldn't ever really take it out of "2nd Gear" so to speak pushing it's power in the consumer level app circle.

I can't wait for my new quantum leap in computing power to show up - this ought to cover me for at least 8 more years!

Mac Pro, Mac Pro, Mac Pro!!!

Edit: Oh, I only ordered the Quad with the ATI card...for me that was "compromising"....hah!

 

[Nik]

Well, it is a very hard decision what to get if you don't know what kind of performance you will need in the future.

If you take the total cost of ownership the MacPro will pay off in my opinion. It will be cheaper in the end and -most importantly- is much faster than the iMac.

I own a unibody 2.4GHz MacBook Pro right now and it really is too slow for me. The MacPro is in fact more than four times(!) faster than my current setup so it will be a HUGE difference in my opinion.
You will have a better feeling using your mac when you know that it won't let you down in terms of performance!

You are more flexible with a MacPro:
Just buy the base 2.66GHz model as a starting point and go from there.
You need more Ram? Buy more ram!
You need more hard drives? Buy more hard drives and just put them in!
You need a really fast graphics card? Buy a freakin' fast graphics card!

It will be worth it if you have the money to spend!
Maybe an old 2.8GHz QuadCore MacPro will fit your needs for less money?!