Need "replacement" Mac Pro buying advice.

[chrisa107]

The new Mac Pro systems are giving me a headache - so I'm putting it out to all of you for some advice.

Right now I've got a 2008 2.8ghz octo core Mac Pro with 6gb of RAM. It's awesome. Someone else in my office has been using a two year old iMac for video work - that's not awesome. So our plan is to give her my current Mac, and then I get a new Mac Pro as a replacement.

I've read review after review and am flummoxed because I want an upgrade to my current system, don't need the highest of the high end, but find the new models to be much more expensive then what we spent for our current machine.

So that leaves the 2.26GHz and 2.66Ghz 8 core models or a refurb. The 2.66GHz still just seems too expensive compared when benchmarks are compared to my current machine. The 2.26Ghz seems like, benchmark wise, it will more or less be the same computer I'm using now - faster in some cases, and slower in others. And then, there's a 3.2Ghz 8-core refurb on the Apple Store website that would obviously be faster than my current machine.

So, given that I'm replacing a 2.8GHz 2008 model and want to strike a good balance between price and performance, between the 2.26GHz 8-core, 2.66Ghz 8-core, or the refurb 3.2 GHz of last years model, what would you all suggest?

Thanks!

 

[Umbongo]

The Octo 2.66GHz is the strongest overall choice, but you need to decide if the extra expense is justified. I wouldn't buy the 3.2GHz refurb eitherway.

 

[wfj5444]

Another good reason not to buy the referb 3.2, is that instore the a new 3.2 is going for $3599 if you can find one.

 

[sboerup]

The Octo 2.66GHz is the strongest overall choice, but you need to decide if the extra expense is justified. I wouldn't buy the 3.2GHz refurb eitherway.

I think if you can swallow the $5k price of the 2.66ghz octad its worth it, otherwise the 2.26 octad isnt much of an upgrade from the 2.8 octad, bu that really depends on what applications you'll be running.