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What desktop Mac should I buy?

gazfocus

gazfocus

macrumors 68000
Original poster
Jan 3, 2008
1,650
0
Liverpool, UK
I have been thinking about buying a desktop Mac for about a year now and in that time I have gone from using a Powerbook G4 to a Macbook Pro, to a PC and now back to a Macbook Pro (the same one as before). Anyway, I am now certain I want a desktop Mac and I have just sold my Core 2 Duo Windows PC to make way for it.

After posting a thread last wee, I had decided to go for an iMac, sell my 23" ACD and go with that idea. However, today my mother offered to let me use her credit card to buy whatever Mac I want in January and I'll pay the repayments until April then use my student loan in April to pay the balance...So while money isn't really a problem (up to £2000ish), what should I buy?

Should I stick to buying an iMac as planned before or should I go down the Mac Pro route? (back to the decision making lol). OR should I buy a new Macbook Pro with my mums card and buy the iMac that I was originally going to buy?

Any advice would be appreciated.

p.s. I will be mainly using it for Web Development, University Work, Image Editing, and some Video Editing.
 
I would go with highest-end iMac you can afford. It's a great machine. I would wait until after Macworld 2009 (January 5-9) to see if it gets upgraded.

If you can't wait, I would still get the iMac because there is nothing wrong with the current version.
 
I would go with the Mac Pro. Not only due to how well it can be upgraded. Also because a quad or octo core definitely packs a lot more punch than a dual core, giving a much greater life span.

Personally I also could not justify spending so much money on a dual core desktop. Thus why Apple needs a consumer grade desktop which actually uses desktop not laptop parts.
 
Just for the record, the iMac I had settled on was the lower 24" one (once updated) but with a minimum of 500GB hard drive. Th thing I like about the Mac Pro is that I can upgrade the hard drives myself rather than having to get Apple to do it (as I would with the iMac) plus I could put several hard drives inside rather than having 2 or 3 external drives.
 
Tallest Skil said:
At this point I say at any point in Q1 2009. Not at MacWorld, that's for sure, but maybe announced then, orders open after the keynote, and shipping in VERY late February or March.
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:( that doesn't sound good. I think if the iMac is available before the new mac Pro, I will maybe go with that.
 
Umbongo said:
Would you even consider a Mac Pro if the iMacs were quad core?
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I don't know. I had thought that if the iMac goes quad core, I'd go with that over a Mac Pro, but then I'd really like 2 displays and I have a big thing about multiple displays needing to be the same in order for them to look good, and I already have a 23" ACD so buying another one would only cost me around £450, however if I went with an iMac, I'd probably not go for a 2nd display so still torn...
 
gazfocus said:
I don't know. I had thought that if the iMac goes quad core, I'd go with that over a Mac Pro, but then I'd really like 2 displays and I have a big thing about multiple displays needing to be the same in order for them to look good, and I already have a 23" ACD so buying another one would only cost me around £450, however if I went with an iMac, I'd probably not go for a 2nd display so still torn...
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That I completely understand and I'm sure you wouldn't be the first to buy a Mac Pro soley for that reason. Apple have refurb 8 cores for £1467 right now so you could probably do that, some extra memory and a second ACD for £2,000. I wouldn't wait for the new Mac Pros unless you don't mind paying more (8 core new will probably be £2,000) and waiting maybe up to 7 months.
 
Umbongo said:
That I completely understand and I'm sure you wouldn't be the first to buy a Mac Pro soley for that reason. Apple have refurb 8 cores for £1467 right now so you could probably do that, some extra memory and a second ACD for £2,000. I wouldn't wait for the new Mac Pros unless you don't mind paying more (8 core new will probably be £2,000) and waiting maybe up to 7 months.
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I am a university student so I will get a new one for the same price as a refurb. Yeah I know what you mean about the prices, etc. Although, the money's not available until January anyway so if Apple announce an update at Macworld AND if the price goes up, I might have to think again. Do you really think the new ones will cost £2k?
 
gazfocus said:
I am a university student so I will get a new one for the same price as a refurb. Yeah I know what you mean about the prices, etc. Although, the money's not available until January anyway so if Apple announce an update at Macworld AND if the price goes up, I might have to think again. Do you really think the new ones will cost £2k?
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Yes I think they will go up in price to $2,999 in the US and £1,999 here (maybe £1,956 due to the VAT issue). That's based on the processors they will use costing more and the exchange rate for the UK price.
 
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