iMac or mac pro for new project

[driftless]

I know a number of folks who run a small video, feature films, web, etc., studios. Myself included. Since you are starting from scratch, the iMac screams out as a great first choice. For back-up, and if you want to build a network, then the 3 GB Time Capsule would be a very good first choice. It gives you wireless back up, a network; and, you can even have a guest WiFi login. Then I would I add redundant RAID back up and external HD/SSD as needed. I think you will find that 10,000 pics will not make much of a dent on a 2 TB disk.

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I should add that my personal, not biz photos located elsewhere, iPhoto gallery has over 10,000 photos in it and takes up ~ 60 GB. I use a TC, an iMac, along with 2 - 4 laptops redundantly backed up with an external. It's all straight out of the box stuff which allows you to focus on your business model.

 

[Trudy]

But what am worried about is that the computer will be slower so I thought the mac pro would be a better choice but the IMac may be a better choice. Also what about upgrading the ram in the iMac to 32gigs worth it or not ??

Honestly can't recommend a Mac Pro until the line gets an upgrade. Right now the $1,999 iMac is higher performance than the $2,500 Mac Pro.

And unless you need the internal PCI slots, why get one? A Mac Pro isn't going to be faster than the iMac unless you buy the two processor version for $3,400 (and then it's double the cores, but slower).

Before I would have said the faster hard drives you can get with the Mac Pro make a difference, and you can RAID them for speed. But these days you can get an SSD with your iMac.

If you really want a speed demon:

iMac 27
3.4GHz Quad-Core Intel Core i7
1TB Serial ATA Drive + 256GB Solid State Drive
AMD Radeon HD 6970M 2GB GDDR5

Use the 1TB drive just for photos. That comes out to $2,899. Now for memory, don't buy from Apple. Also 8 GB chips are crazy expensive, and you really don't need that much memory for what you're doing. Go to crucial.com and find the "8GB Kit (4GBx2), 204-pin SODIMM, DDR3 PC3-10600." Get two of those kits for 16 GB, and it'll only cost you $108. Use the rest of the money for an external Time Machine drive.

Expansion in the future? One word: Thunderbolt. When they come out, you won't be able to tell the difference between an Thunderbold drive and an internal drive.

 

[jonnymo5]

iMac is a much better value right now. I would only suggest the Mac Pro if you will be compressing and processing media for extended periods of time. The Mac Pro has much better cooling and will handle running at 100% 24/7. The iMac does better with some downtime every couple hours.

 

[comptr]

First of all I would like to thank you all but I have come to a conclusion I am going to skip the mac pro and go for a fully loaded iMac as it will work better for me and my pocket book compared to the mac pro. Also for a external hd I am going to wait a little or not depending on if there are any more thunderbolt externals coming out.

 

[thefirstdon]

Hi, I thought I would post in here instead of making a whole new thread. I have just finished University and am planning to start doing freelance work in filming and video editing. I will be using Final Cut Pro, Adobe Premiere and After effects. I have a limited budget (around £1500) and have found these two machines. They are both refurbs which doesn't bother me as they will work the same and it means less money to spend. Could anybody recommend which one to get as I am planning to switch to Mac after being a PC user all my life (although have used both the iMac and Mac Pro at uni).

Refurbished iMac 27-inch 3.4GHz Quad-Core Intel Core i7
4GB memory
1TB hard drive
AMD Radeon HD 6970M graphics with 1GB memory


This is from Apple themselves and costs £1529.


MAC PRO 3.00 Quad
2 X Dual core 3Ghz Xeon CPU
256Mb 7300GT Video card
8Gb Memory
2 x 2TB hard drive

This is £1325 from a local company (but offer 12 month warranty)

I would have to buy a screen for the mac pro which will increase the price. I know a fair bit about computers except graphics cards but I'm guessing that the Mac Pro graphics card isn't that great although the iMac would need more RAM added. Any help would be appreciated.

Thanks

 

[comptr]

Hi, I thought I would post in here instead of making a whole new thread. I have just finished University and am planning to start doing freelance work in filming and video editing. I will be using Final Cut Pro, Adobe Premiere and After effects. I have a limited budget (around £1500) and have found these two machines. They are both refurbs which doesn't bother me as they will work the same and it means less money to spend. Could anybody recommend which one to get as I am planning to switch to Mac after being a PC user all my life (although have used both the iMac and Mac Pro at uni).

Refurbished iMac 27-inch 3.4GHz Quad-Core Intel Core i7
4GB memory
1TB hard drive
AMD Radeon HD 6970M graphics with 1GB memory


This is from Apple themselves and costs £1529.


MAC PRO 3.00 Quad
2 X Dual core 3Ghz Xeon CPU
256Mb 7300GT Video card
8Gb Memory
2 x 2TB hard drive

This is £1325 from a local company (but offer 12 month warranty)

I would have to buy a screen for the mac pro which will increase the price. I know a fair bit about computers except graphics cards but I'm guessing that the Mac Pro graphics card isn't that great although the iMac would need more RAM added. Any help would be appreciated.

Thanks

To be honest the iMac is a better deal

 

[mrsir2009]

Unless you wanna wait around to see if the Mac Pro gets updated or not go for the iMac. The current Mac Pro is expensive and outdated ... While the current iMac is pretty cutting edge.

 

[thefirstdon]

Thanks for the responses. Have heard a few people say wait and see if the Mac Pro gets updated but is there a time frame of when this would happen? As I only have about a month before I need to purchase.

Thanks

 

[Tanax]

Thanks for the responses. Have heard a few people say wait and see if the Mac Pro gets updated but is there a time frame of when this would happen? As I only have about a month before I need to purchase.

Thanks

You will not be able to get the new Mac Pro within 1 month. Buy now in that case.

 

[nightfly13]

Another i7 iMac vote

Having gone from an older Mac Pro (which I bought for the expandability) to the iMac in my signature, it's a VERY capable machine. The quad-core i7 (with hyperthreading giving a virtual 8-cores) is going to perform well for many years to come, you have plenty of options for RAM, and once you get an SSD in there, it's extremely quick. TB will help with future high-speed expansion. There are very few downsides.

People say the downside of the all-in-one is that you must part with your display when you sell it, but you get a lot more money for it when that time comes, so yeah, I wouldn't hesitate with the top-end iMac.

2GB GPU is only required if you're going to be running 2-3 large screens.... and even then it's not 'required'.