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I want to explore the option of buying iMac or Mac Pro

piatti

piatti

macrumors 6502a
Original poster
Jun 9, 2010
819
0
USA
So I have a MacBook Pro 15 but I think it was a mistake to buy it in the first place, I should have bought an iMac, because I like to have a lot of applications open and the MBP15 cannot handle it, and I need a bigger screen. How many hours have I wasted impatiently waiting for the application to respond and force quitting applications!

I am not sure what to buy, iMac or Mac Pro (used). I thought maybe if I bought a used Mac Pro I might be able to get a faster computer for cheaper than iMac?

What monitor should I buy for MacPro that could match the iMac resolution? Also I love the resolution for the new MacBook Pros 15 and 17inches, is the same resolutions available for separately sold monitors of any brand?
 
piatti said:
So I have a MacBook Pro 15 but I think it was a mistake to buy it in the first place, I should have bought an iMac, because I like to have a lot of applications open and the MBP15 cannot handle it, and I need a bigger screen. How many hours have I wasted impatiently waiting for the application to respond and force quitting applications!

I am not sure what to buy, iMac or Mac Pro (used). I thought maybe if I bought a used Mac Pro I might be able to get a faster computer for cheaper than iMac?

What monitor should I buy for MacPro that could match the iMac resolution? Also I love the resolution for the new MacBook Pros 15 and 17inches, is the same resolutions available for separately sold monitors of any brand?
Click to expand...

I have had the same problem at times on my 4 year old Macbook and traced it to two culprits: Firefox and Chrome. When I stopped using FF, my beachball incidents went to almost zero. If I start seeing the beachball and hearing my fans run while using Chrome, I quit Chrome and it's 90 tabs and reopen it and all is well again (after the fans run for about 3 minutes for all the tabs to reopen). I have been considering one of the newer MBP models that geekbenches more than double my current low 3000's Macbook. The only thing is, I'm not sure it would make that much difference. The most CPU intensive thing I do these days is transcode video and even if it was suddenly twice as fast, it wouldn't be worth considering a new Mac for me right now. Now if it was 10 times as fast...

You didn't mention how old your MBP is so I will assume it's a few years old and somewhat slow by today's standards. Nevertheless, I would recommend a phased approach to solve your problem. First of all, use Activity Monitor to find out which application is holding your OS hostage. If you can solve the problem my switching to a more stable browser or closing and reopening the browser, you've saved yourself a lot of money. Next, for screen real estate, consider an external monitor. Third of all, consider more RAM and possibly an SSD. Lastly, if you really want or need a new Mac right now, consider the iMac over the Mac Pro unless you specifically want upgrade-ability.
 
Obviously you know very little about the computer world

A Mac pro is slower and more expensive then an iMac and doesn't come with a monitor

U love the resolution of the 15inch? That is a horrible resolution and the iMac has almost 4x that also th 17 inch res is found on many 24inch monitors but would be much less Pixels and lower dpi then the iMac screen

Also the Mac pro is about to be updated so don't buy it
 
Lastly, if you really want or need a new Mac right now, consider the iMac over the Mac Pro unless you specifically want upgrade-ability.
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Why is that?
 
Mac Pro:
Hardware from 2 years ago
Used for severs alot
overall slower then iMac for the price

iMac:
Sandy Bridge (soon to be Ivry)
All-In-One
Saves Space
High-Res Screen
i7s are faster then the mac pros Nathelm (something) processor

The iMac will be updated soon, so if you need one wait till spring if you can.
 
build a hackintosh that will be cheaper than the mac pro and imac while also being more powerful.
 
I love my 27in iMac, but there very well could be a new one in the next month or two. I'd probably put a small wager on it.

Wait is what I would suggest.

EDIT- that's only according to the Macrumors Buyer's guide... but knowing that Ivy Bridge isn't slated until Q2 (I think?) 2012, you might be looking at an April-May time frame. Not too sure.
 
dba415 said:
build a hackintosh that will be cheaper than the mac pro and imac while also being more powerful.
Click to expand...

I read from a comment on this post on how to build a hackintonsh that it might not be worth the trouble? I definitely want a 27 inch though.
http://lifehacker.com/5672051/how-to-build-a-hackintosh-mac-and-install-os-x-in-eight-easy-steps

do you think this is worth the trouble when a comparable iMac is out now? $1,200 for an i7 quad-core iMac which includes a card reader, thunderbolt, and a high quality 21 inch display.

Could this hackintosh be upped to an 8 or 12 core machine? I would definitely build one then. Primarily for 3D modeling and rendering.
Click to expand...

How would the Hackintosh be more powerful?
 
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I would say that if you hunt around carefully you might be able to find a 2008 8-Core Mac Pro which will be as fast as the current iMacs and is a lot more expandable. The downside being you don't get the lovely display. However for your use a new iMac is probably a better bet. (Mainly as the Mac Pro is likely not to be any faster for the same price as a new iMac. Obviously a higher-end 2009/2010 Mac Pro like mine still smokes them, but their a lot more expensive, even used).

The Nehalem and Westmere Mac Pros (2009/2010) still outperform the current Sandy-Bridge iMacs in the higher-end configurations (6/8/12-Core +) incidentally, but they will be way out of your price range unless you know someone willing to sell you one cheaply. But even if you did find one of them you would have to get a display, (Admittedly I have a 27" Cinema which I love, but its not exactly cost-effective), which would probably make it a lot more expensive than getting an iMac, hence I say get an iMac, preferably a 27" model.
 
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