Sidebar Sidebar
Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.

Get rid of 2008 Mac Pro for i7 imac?

J

Jackers008

macrumors member
Original poster
Mar 8, 2009
42
0
I'm considering selling my 08 mac pro and getting the i7 27" imac as its replacement but I'm just not sure if its worth it. What attracts me to the imac is the fact its an all in one system and comes with a great spec including a decent gpu and that wonderful screen. My pro has the dual quads, 10gb ram, 2.5tb hd space and a 2600 radeon gpu. The toss up would be between getting an imac or keeping the mac pro and getting a radeon 4890 as I do enjoy gaming and my current gpu is not really capable of playing most new titles. I certainly dont really utilize all the mac pro's power as I only dabble in music production from time to time but its nice to have all that power and know that the computer is a workhorse. Whats putting me off the 27" imac is these screen issues that seem to be common. I dont really want to risk selling my current mac and having to go through replacements when my pro is perfect.

What do you think?
 
I'd say don't do it. I thought about doing the same thing. When it comes down to it, I just don't want to have to deal with any problems with the new machines. My current machine works great for what I do regularly and has enough power to handle tasks for years to come.

But if you REALLY want to, wait until revision 2 of this current iMac line-up, so you can be sure that the manufacturing bugs are fixed.
 
Jackers008 said:
I'm considering selling my 08 mac pro and getting the i7 27" imac as its replacement but I'm just not sure if its worth it. What attracts me to the imac is the fact its an all in one system and comes with a great spec including a decent gpu and that wonderful screen. My pro has the dual quads, 10gb ram, 2.5tb hd space and a 2600 radeon gpu. The toss up would be between getting an imac or keeping the mac pro and getting a radeon 4890 as I do enjoy gaming and my current gpu is not really capable of playing most new titles. I certainly dont really utilize all the mac pro's power as I only dabble in music production from time to time but its nice to have all that power and know that the computer is a workhorse. Whats putting me off the 27" imac is these screen issues that seem to be common. I dont really want to risk selling my current mac and having to go through replacements when my pro is perfect.

What do you think?
Click to expand...

I'd definitely would not do it. How do you think you are going to feel when they announce the new MacPro? You just spend a lot of money on an iMac that is probably superseded by the new MacPro for a little more money.

I can see your point though, the machines look very tempting.

I'd wait.
 
*sigh* Another one with a severe luxury problem. :)

Macs are no gaming machines, and iMacs are even worse gaming machines than Mac Pros. At least you can upgrade the graphics card in your Mac Pro and you can also add additional hard disks to it. None of that is possible in an all in one computer, no matter how beautiful it might be.

If you decide to trade in the Mac Pro for the iMac, you will be posting again here in three to six months, because by then you will have realized that BioShock 2 won't be running that well on the iMac. Or whatever else the reason will be.

A workstation class computer like a Mac Pro should be an investment for three to five years (usually five). Dump OS X, get Windows 7 and install a new graphcs card in the beast and be happy with it.
 
ByteOfApple said:
I'd say don't do it. I thought about doing the same thing. When it comes down to it, I just don't want to have to deal with any problems with the new machines. My current machine works great for what I do regularly and has enough power to handle tasks for years to come.

But if you REALLY want to, wait until revision 2 of this current iMac line-up, so you can be sure that the manufacturing bugs are fixed.
Click to expand...

Real good advice here. I have a 2008 MP and thought the same. Problem is I also have a 30" ACD that I love. I dislike the glossy and in my office it would be a bit of a hassle. I also considered the fact that I can upgrade the graphics card if I wish. I have 4 HDDs in there and it's great and I can add an esata adapter inside and plug my externals in that way.

Aside from all the issues with the i7, I felt like my MP was great and not worth selling.
 
Lol Winni I'm not a serious gamer. I sold my last custom built pc (i7, gtx260, 12gb ram, win 7 etc) to make way for the mac pro. The pro was bought for the reliability and also for my music production etc. I was not planning on getting rid of the pro till recently so if I decide to keep it I will do so for the next few years. I already have a vista ultimate partition set up to deal with the gaming side of things but much prefer snow leopard for every other task :)
 
I would definitely view the imac as a step down:

1. inability to use my 30" monitor (no I don't want 2 monitors on my desk)
2. inability to add internal drives (I already have 3 externals on my desk for backups. I don't want 6.
3. no graphics card upgrades (I know options for mac pro are limited, but at least there are a few).
4. inadequate cooling in laptop form factor which may impact component life in the long run (I like to keep my machines for 5 years)
5. inability to add a high speed solid state hard drive as my boot drive once price comes down and reliability improves.
6. very small number of connection ports (I have add-in cards on my mac pro for additional USB/FW that allow me to connect all of my peripherals).
7. mac pro has work station quality components and beefier backplane. Speed is not just about having latest/fastest CPU, but mileage will vary depending on what you do with your machine.
 
kudukudu said:
I would definitely view the imac as a step down:

1. inability to use my 30" monitor (no I don't want 2 monitors on my desk)
2. inability to add internal drives (I already have 3 externals on my desk for backups. I don't want 6.
3. no graphics card upgrades (I know options for mac pro are limited, but at least there are a few).
4. inadequate cooling in laptop form factor which may impact component life in the long run (I like to keep my machines for 5 years)
5. inability to add a high speed solid state hard drive as my boot drive once price comes down and reliability improves.
6. very small number of connection ports (I have add-in cards on my mac pro for additional USB/FW that allow me to connect all of my peripherals).
7. mac pro has work station quality components and beefier backplane. Speed is not just about having latest/fastest CP, but mileage will vary depending on what you do with your machine.
Click to expand...

I'm actually in the same position as the OP and trying to debate whether or not to get a Mac Pro or an iMac, as I also do music production and game. But I'll try to respond to your points to see if I can help give the iMac some leverage and maybe help clarify the comparison for the OP and myself.

1. Thats subjective. In a counter-subjective statement, as a music producer, I love working with two monitors, and the iMac would beautifully fill one half of that requirement. The objective argument here of course is that the Mac Pro can go well beyond 2 displays, unlike the iMac, where it is only limited to 2 displays, including itself.

2. Agreed. A strength of the Mac Pro is internal bay expansion.

3. Again, agreed. The Mac Pro is an obvious choice over the iMac in terms of gaming. But for light gaming, as the OP has noted, the iMac probably may be sufficient enough. I like to push the graphics on some of the newer games so I personally would definitely appreciate graphics upgradeability.

4. I would take "inadequate cooling" with a grain of salt. I have no technical data to back me up, but only the words of the community that I've read and heard. Apple obviously has a tremendous reputation as designers and their products have generally been to known to be long lasting compared to PCs. As for the latest iMacs, I've heard great things about how cool it maintains. If the general use of a computer is roughly 5 years, then I personally wouldn't worry about heating shortening your computer's life.

5. Same as #2.

6. For the most part, the Mac Pro simply ups one for each type of port, with the exception of two more firewire 800 ports. For an all-in-one computer, I feel like the iMac stands well on its own with connectivity options.

7. Totally true.

Ahh, decisions decisions. The 2010 Mac Pro needs an announcement already :rolleyes:
 
maghemi said:
I was seriously considering going down that path recently. But after spending much time comparing. The number just don't stack up.
Click to expand...

Because of the resale value of the Mac Pro? I can understand that completely.
See, if I already owned a Mac Pro, I say I probably wouldn't either. But for someone who owns neither (like me :D), would you say the iMacs hold more weight against the '09 Mac Pros, assuming the 10's continue the high prices of the '09s?
 
The 2008 Mac Pro is pretty reliable, while the 27" iMac is increasingly suffering from what I will call "360 syndrome". That is, you get a bad unit, replace it, it breaks, replace it, it breaks, etc.
Stick with the Mac Pro for one reason: RAM. As it gets older, you can cram RAM into it to speed it up. it can take 32GB of RAM! :eek: Not to mention upgradable graphics, internal hard drive access and the ability to use a monitor that isn't glossy rubbish
 
specs aside, with all the problems the new iMac has been having, you would be making a very risky decision switching...
 
alpacasrme said:
Hi,
If you decide to sell your macbook pro, and have apple care , please contact me at franab@yahoo.com.
Thanks
Frana;)
Click to expand...

What planet are you from? :confused:
The OP is talking about a Mac Pro 2008 model, not a Macbook Pro.
Also one piece of advice other than read before you post, is: posting your e-mail on a public board is risky, making you a target for spam, as many bots harvest these mail addresses just for that purpose.
I suggest you use an alarm clock and wake up.
 
Icaras said:
But for someone who owns neither (like me :D), would you say the iMacs hold more weight against the '09 Mac Pros, assuming the 10's continue the high prices of the '09s?
Click to expand...

The best response to this is buy what you need. If you need room to grow, max out BTO options or do something similar. If possible, wait. We say a lot of stuff on these forums, but the reality is that nobody knows what we're going to get until release. The high price of the 09s was completely unexpected here, and a bitter disappointment to many. We were conditioned to expect pricing on the 08 level.

That said, the notion of dropping the 08 for an iMac is completely ridiculous. That'll be a step down in speed if it's a 2.8 octad, even if Nehalem's benching faster at the moment.

Heck, these days people are still buying the 08s refurbished.

Nobody (especially on these forums!) needs more power than the 08 Mac Pros can provide. Software hasn't caught up.
 
Keep your 2008 MacPro. It's a good machine and I am satisfied with it. You're able to choose the type of monitor you want and has better expansion. Don't get carried away by the large 27" screen of the iMac.
 
TheStrudel said:
Nobody (especially on these forums!) needs more power than the 08 Mac Pros can provide. Software hasn't caught up.
Click to expand...

Just because you don't doesn't mean that there aren't people who do. 3D rendering should be significantly faster on a dodeca MP, and that'll be a good enough reason for some to upgrade.
 
davidlv said:
What planet are you from? :confused:
The OP is talking about a Mac Pro 2008 model, not a Macbook Pro.
Also one piece of advice other than read before you post, is: posting your e-mail on a public board is risky, making you a target for spam, as many bots harvest these mail addresses just for that purpose.
I suggest you use an alarm clock and wake up.
Click to expand...

LOL +1 .... Loose the email dude, just PM him and discuss from there. The only email that's publicly thrown around here is sjobs@apple.com
 
I consider to never buy an iMac again as they get obsolete so quickly.

You are also stuck with a screen that may seem great right now, but once you do color critical work you'll see that the quality of iMac screens is not that great when looked up close. They are not evenly lit enough, and color varies.

A Mac Pro like yours, OP, is what many people want.

If your pockets are too heavy with all your cash, get a nice screen.

NEC or Eizo have screens that chew up the iMac screen.

Eizo is very expensive, but a NEC is in the affordable range. *25.5 or 30")
 
Nostromo said:
I consider to never buy an iMac again as they get obsolete so quickly.
QUOTE]

I wouldn't say that. My 24 inch 06 iMac is still working great running tiger. Zero problems. Got this before getting a mac pro. Great companions. The wife and kids use the iMac and the mac pro is mine exclusively.

Anyways, keep the mac pro. More drives, allot more ram, changable video cards. If you want a iMac, buy it as a second computer and keep the mac pro. :D
Click to expand...
 
Icaras said:
Because of the resale value of the Mac Pro? I can understand that completely.
See, if I already owned a Mac Pro, I say I probably wouldn't either. But for someone who owns neither (like me :D), would you say the iMacs hold more weight against the '09 Mac Pros, assuming the 10's continue the high prices of the '09s?
Click to expand...

Correct. Sort of. If I didn't already have a Mac Pro, and was new in the market, I'd have gone the 27".

But in the context of the OP, I stand by my above comment.

But having said that If you really wanted the power from the higher 09 machine I see no reason not to get them
 
hwhalers said:
Just because you don't doesn't mean that there aren't people who do. 3D rendering should be significantly faster on a dodeca MP, and that'll be a good enough reason for some to upgrade.
Click to expand...

I'm not basing this on my needs, I'm saying: the software hasn't caught up. Most of the pro software is still 32-bit! OpenCL and GCD are in their infancy! And I defy you to find a single person on this forum who can definitively claim that 8 2.8 Ghz Penryn Xeons are inadequate to any tasks put before them.

They always hit storage and other bottlenecks first. There are far more software and chipset problems to be solved than raw CPU boosts.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Register on MacRumors! This sidebar will go away, and you'll see fewer ads.
Top Bottom
Back