Did I just buy the wrong Mac?

[somdowns]

I was conflicted for weeks, going back and forth, about getting the new 27" iMac 2.8 Ghz Quad-Core with 16 GB memory or the Mac Pro 2.93 Quad-core with 8 GB memory (the jump to 12 and 16 is outrageous).

I'm a student working with Maya, Mudbox, Blender, Vue, Adobe stuff, and Final Cut Studio. I would love to have a monsterous Mac Pro 8-core, a billion gigs of memory, and I seriously considered getting it, but...I settled on the iMac and money for a vacation to Hawaii instead of the Mac Pros.

Was it the wrong choice?

Of course, I chose the RADEON HD 4850 graphics card. But will I still have to wait days for 15 seconds of 3D animation at 640x400 resolution to render? Will the imac keep cool enough for this kind of work?

Thanks for your advice!

 

[Badger^2]

Only if you bought the 16 gigs of ram from apple.

Once you graduate, then you might want to move up.

 

[nanofrog]

I was conflicted for weeks, going back and forth, about getting the new 27" iMac 2.8 Ghz Quad-Core with 16 GB memory or the Mac Pro 2.93 Quad-core with 8 GB memory (the jump to 12 and 16 is outrageous).

I'm a student working with Maya, Mudbox, Blender, Vue, Adobe stuff, and Final Cut Studio. I would love to have a monsterous Mac Pro 8-core, a billion gigs of memory, and I seriously considered getting it, but...I settled on the iMac and money for a vacation to Hawaii instead of the Mac Pros.

What it the wrong choice?

Of course, I chose the RADEON HD 4850 graphics card. But will I still have to wait days for 15 seconds of 3D animation at 640x400 resolution to render? Will the imac keep cool enough for this kind of work?

Thanks for your advice!

Actually, a used or refurbished '08 MP would be a better choice over both IMO. You can get them for a good price (definitely cheaper than the '09's), and it's upgradable (not just graphics, but RAID is possible, and would help you given the software listed). Keep an eye on Craig's list if you decide to take this route, as the risk is too high on eBay (can't test it yourself prior to payment). Another user just got burnt this way (dead logic board it seems).

They use EFI64 (only '08 & newer have it), so you can continue to fit in newer graphics cards, and update OS X after it goes exclusively K64.

Just a thought. Hope it helps, and good luck.

 

[pukifloyd]

Actually, a used or refurbished '08 MP would be a better choice over both IMO. You can get them for a good price (definitely cheaper than the '09's), and it's upgradable (not just graphics, but RAID is possible, and would help you given the software listed). Keep an eye on Craig's list if you decide to take this route, as the risk is too high on eBay (can't test it yourself prior to payment). Another user just got burnt this way (dead logic board it seems).

They use EFI64 (only '08 & newer have it), so you can continue to fit in newer graphics cards, and update OS X after it goes exclusively K64.

Just a thought. Hope it helps, and good luck.

+1 ... you get expandability with mac pro ...

and if you bought ram from apple then you fail