new iMac 24" or 2nd hand MacPro

[arturo f.]

Hello.

I'm sure this has been asked before but I could not find it in other threads.

Some months ago I bought an alu macbook as second computer and I am so pleased with it that I am thinking of replacing my desktop computer home (a PC+19" screen) by a mac. I would probably keep my 19" screen because the resale value is so low.

I was thinking I could go for a new 24" iMac with 2.93 CPU, 4-8Gb RAM and 640Gb disk or a 2nd hand 4-core MacPro, not necessarily latest generation, also with 4-8 Gb RAM and 640 Gb disk. I have several external drives, I do not need a massive internal one.

This is a computer for home, not for professional use. However I would like to do the following intensive tasks:

1) Digital darkroom (phothoshop and lightroom). I am amateur photographer.
2) Virtualization of windows with parallels, sometimes CPU intensive tasks (my present copy of photoshop runs in Windows).
3) Ocassionally remuxing or re-encoding HD films or other CPU-intensive tasks.

I have a budget around 2000 euros (I know, it's a bit overkill for a home computer). With the iMac I get a monitor integrated (I would have 2 screens, the 24" integrated plus external 19"), with the MacPro I would only have one 19" screen, but I am also interested in the performance of the system. I wonder if the MP gives a significant advantage there.

What would you do?

Thanks,

Arturo

 

[Santabean2000]

Without hearing too many specifics regarding which MacPro you'd be getting, and for how much, I'd suggest getting the iMac.

Would handle all that you're talking about here; for a performance boost drop in extra RAM further, but perhaps just a bit further down the line, (i.e. when it's cheaper, and when Adobe puts out CS5 for Mac).

 

[dollystereo]

The mac pro is way faster than the imac in multitasking, can handle more ram and cheaper (yo can get 8gb for around 200 in the mac pro).
Upgrading HD is cheap to, and you can get a dedicated desktop class video card like the Radeon 3870.
If you can get the oldest one (quad core 2.66) for around 1400USD you could get a monitor and have 2.

 

[maccompaq]

No question about what to do. The Mac Pro will give you many more years of life not to mention more speed and the ability to add or replace hard drives

 

[yoak]

I loved my 24 iMac and used it for hd video editing. I loved the screen and it felt fast enough. Latly I have mainly used our 2.8 eight core mac pro and the rendering and coding speed is night and day. The easy acces to upgrade hard drives ram etc is a huge pluss. I never realized how great a mac pro is when using my iMac as it cabln do most of the same tasks, but slower.
Get a mac pro ( I do miss my iMac screen though)