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iMac vs. Mac Pro

CajunCARTFan

CajunCARTFan

macrumors member
Original poster
Jul 4, 2007
57
0
I'm in a bit of a pickle and looking for some opinion. I like the new iMac released yesterday and I have always liked the Mac Pro. I am looking to move completely back to Mac after using both PC and Mac for awhile. I have a new Macbook Pro and a desktop PC I rarely use except to play a game. I love OS X and loathe Windows. The only reason I kept a PC was to play games which I rarely do anymore but I like having the option to do that. I don't need to play at high settings, medium settings would be fine. I don't know about the new GPU in the new iMac but I know that the ATI in the Mac Pro performs decent. Which way would someone in my position go? I would use boot camp for XP to play games, everything else I do is in OSX.
 
I tested out Medevil 2 Total war on a mac pro using the ATI 512mb graphics card under bootcamp, and it ran great. Althou the new iMacs look much better then the mac pro you cant change the graphics card on an iMac like the mac pro.
 
What update are you talking about? If it is a video card update wouldn't I be able to just upgrade the ATI that I would configure it with?
 
CajunCARTFan said:
What update are you talking about? If it is a video card update wouldn't I be able to just upgrade the ATI that I would configure it with?
Click to expand...

It's very, very unlikely that it'll just be a video card upgrade. It's likely the next time Apple upgrade the Mac Pro there will only be 8 core systems available. While the update will surely come this year, it is unknown when. Yes you would be able to just upgrade the ATI if you wanted, though financially it would make little sense.
 
CajunCARTFan said:
What update are you talking about? If it is a video card update wouldn't I be able to just upgrade the ATI that I would configure it with?
Click to expand...

There is no announced Mac Pro update. If you like what you see, buy it, but realize that you're paying a higher price for components that were introduced a year ago.

You can upgrade the video card to any compatible card. If they come out with a new rocket, you can swap you card out. you'll have to buy the card, of course.

The Mac Pro is not a "bargain" and it doesn't save you money. But if you like it and want to pay for it, I say go for it.

By the way, I'm not only the president of the Mac Pro club, I'm also a client. (bought my Mac Pro July 1st 2007).
 
I have 500GB and 1TB hard drives in my PC, can I install these in a Mac Pro?
 
Sean Dempsey said:
There is no announced Mac Pro update. If you like what you see, buy it, but realize that you're paying a higher price for components that were introduced a year ago.

You can upgrade the video card to any compatible card. If they come out with a new rocket, you can swap you card out. you'll have to buy the card, of course.

The Mac Pro is not a "bargain" and it doesn't save you money. But if you like it and want to pay for it, I say go for it.

By the way, I'm not only the president of the Mac Pro club, I'm also a client. (bought my Mac Pro July 1st 2007).
Click to expand...

Care to elaborate on the non-bargain statement? Like the OP, I have exactly the same upgrade questions/concerns.
 
Well what i meant and should have said better is that if for example ATI or nVidia came out with a new video card that works with a Mac you can buy it and use it in your macpro. You cant change the video card in an imac as far as i know, but you can with a mac pro.

It is possible to play games on an iMac i have done this myself, but it wont be as fast an the macpro.
 
ndriver182 said:
Care to elaborate on the non-bargain statement? Like the OP, I have exactly the same upgrade questions/concerns.
Click to expand...

Not much to elaborate on. The Mac Pro isn't an amazing deal for your dollar. Some refuse to buy it, they feel it is a straight rip off. I didn't, and I currently own a Mac Pro with two 7300gt video cards, and I suffer no ill effects.

That being said, it still is an amazing machine. But as the hordes of people here will tattoo on your eyelids: you are still paying the same price for the same hardware that was introduced in August of 2006.

If that bothers you, don't buy it.

If that doesn't bother you, buy it.

It's going to be different for everyone. I went from a pentium4 I built in 2003 to a Mac Pro - I didn't care if it was "2006 hardware and video cards", it was a massive upgrade for me and I wanted it. So I bought it and have been 110% happy with it.

So that's it. If you are a bean-counter and want the maximum value for your dollar, a Macintosh is not for you at this point. No computer they offer has ALL the latest cutting edge hardware. If the statement "The mac pro offering from apple has not changed since august of 2006, and the price is still 2500" doesn't bother you, then Macintosh is for you.
 
I'm not worried about the price of the Mac Pro. I've been buying top of the line Alienware PC's anyway. I just want to be able to do everything on OSX and game in XP. The Mac Pro seems to fit what I am looking for. I just want to make sure that if Apple updates the Mac Pro line in October or whenever and they offer an updated video card I would be able to upgrade the Mac Pro with it if I purchased it now.
 
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