Mac Pro or iMac

[forwardesignz]

Hello great Mac lovers,

I am a Graphic Designer, which uses Abode Photoshop, Illustrator and Indesign a lot. I use very large images and sometimes all 3 softwares at one time.

I have the budget to get the Mac Pro, but according to MacRumors Buyer's Guide, I should wait:

http://guides.macrumors.com/Mac_Pro_Buyer's_Guide

Should I buy the new iMac and wait till the new Mac Pros come out or should I just buy the Mac Pro and forget about the new release?

This is a huge step, and I need advice on what's best for this current situation.

 

[Santabean2000]

Do you have to buy now?

Anyone making money with their Mac should look towards a MP, (except mobile characters, who need a MBP).

The new MPs (coming... 'soon') are worth waiting for.

iMacs are great, but somewhat limited by their all-in-one design; MPs offer the flexibility for pros.

 

[Hellhammer]

It's unlikely that Mac Pros will be updated before Q4 2011 since there are no suitable CPUs for them. Unless you can wait that long, go with the iMac. Thunderbolt makes iMac much more upgradeable and you can finally add high-speed external storage to iMac without mods. The only reason to go for the Mac Pro is if you hate the iMac's display or you need PCIe slots for even faster bandwidth.

 

[aloshka]

It's unlikely that Mac Pros will be updated before Q4 2011 since there are no suitable CPUs for them. Unless you can wait that long, go with the iMac. Thunderbolt makes iMac much more upgradeable and you can finally add high-speed external storage to iMac without mods. The only reason to go for the Mac Pro is if you hate the iMac's display or you need PCIe slots for even faster bandwidth.

And now it seems the HDD upgrade on imacs is impossible. So if you want SSDs and more storage space w/o having a bunch of external drives, go mac pro.

 

[cheesymogul]

Neither I nor any of my graphic designer colleagues like the glossy iMac displays. None of us would ever buy that crappy current Apple Display.
Therefore we all use Mac Pros with a non-Apple matte display of our choice.

If you have the money and plan on using your machine for a few years longer, a Mac Pro will still give you the best return on your investment.
Upgrading the Mac Pro with a faster, newer graphics card or bigger HD's, or speedbump the machine with a an SSD is a piece of cake and gives you peace of mind and adds lifespan to your workhorse. If something breaks after Apple Care runs out, there is a great chance you can fix it yourself for cheap with aftermarket parts.
Even if you are not the DIY type, the fantastic accessibility of the MP will still drastically reduce the costly repair hours at your Apple service station.

If something breaks on a iMac after Apple Care, the machine will most likely end up on a landfill, unless you are a gifted repairperson...

Recently my optical drive broke down, while still under warranty. But my Apple dealer wanted to keep my MP for two frickin' days! So I just ordered a new Samsung superdrive delivered to my door for 30 bucks and swapped it myself within 10 minutes.
This saved me not only the hassle of schlepping a 42 lbs. brick down the stairs and to the dealer, but also prevented a costly down-time of two days.
Besides, what would I have gotten from Apple for this ordeal? The same cheap, unreliable Sony crap-drive as before...

 

[forwardesignz]

@Everyone

Thank you so much for your advice, it's very helpful.

Sadly, Yes I have to buy now. The company is offering me, because I been using my person MBP 17" for the past 3months and I might want to sell my Laptop ASAP.

The reason I am not interested in iMac is mainly because of that limitation. But I am soon going to be working with another Graphic Designer, I can pass him the iMac and get the Mac Pro in June or July (may just maybe something comes out then).

iMac is always useful around the office, isn't it?