Sidebar Sidebar
Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.

Where/when to get best deal on a Mac Pro

D

DEMinSoCAL

macrumors 603
Original poster
Sep 27, 2005
5,420
8,449
OK, it pains me to have to do so, but a client needs another Mac Pro for their office. It pains me to pay that price for that old hardware but it must be done.

So, apart from the Refurbished store at Apple.com, anyone know of good places to get discounts on a new Mac Pro from authorized resellers?

OR...would a new 5K iMac be a better choice? The Mac Pro will be the Quad 3.7Ghz, 32GB RAM, 512 SSD, Dual D300. No video editing. Mostly Photoshop and InDesign/Illustrator. Playing 4K video maybe. I nicely equipped 5K iMac would be at least as powerful or MORE powerful?

This config for iMac 5K:

Hardware
  • 4.0GHz quad-core Intel Core i7, Turbo Boost up to 4.2GHz
  • 32GB 1867MHz DDR3 SDRAM - four 8GB
  • 512GB Flash Storage
  • AMD Radeon R9 M395X with 4GB video memory

Thanks.
 
if your client is good with the iMac screen, definitely a better option. cheaper and faster. the iMac will die sooner but if you are going with the D300s, you wont want the Mac Pro to last. that base Mac Pro, considering it's historical position, should be $2K.

and 64GB RAM! for either, from a 3rd party makes it relatively a bargain.

and my personal opinion, I'd recommend a machine like the one in your sig over new now.
 
thats all folks said:
if your client is good with the iMac screen, definitely a better option. cheaper and faster. the iMac will die sooner but if you are going with the D300s, you wont want the Mac Pro to last. that base Mac Pro, considering it's historical position, should be $2K.

and 64GB RAM! for either, from a 3rd party makes it relatively a bargain.

and my personal opinion, I'd recommend a machine like the one in your sig over new now.
Click to expand...

Turns out she has a problem with the glare on the iMac screen and needs a non-glare screen.
 
dmylrea said:
Turns out she has a problem with the glare on the iMac screen and needs a non-glare screen.
Click to expand...

that is a valid issue. are you sure she is basing it on the latest offering? in 2012 and again in 2015 Apple made nice improvements on the late 2009 to 2011 shiny screens. It seems a lot of people have the memory of those seared into the nightmare center of their brains (especially as those introduced the quad core i series chips, the first time the iMac could be well considered a replacement for a tower as a production machine (and a lot of people bought them for that (later to be disapointed with having to look at their reflection all day long)) I don't know what you intend to use as a monitor on the nMP. if something like an NEC PA302w, then yeah, the iMac is not comparable.

if you are definitely going for the nMP I would push for the higher spec graphics cards. the quad core CPU may be enough for most things but down the line, GPU compute (or just pushing more pixels on ever larger monitors) will be the first thing that slows that box down. I know that's another big price bump, but if it adds a year to the usable life of the machine (with increased productivity all through), totally worth it I'd say.
 
thats all folks said:
that is a valid issue. are you sure she is basing it on the latest offering? in 2012 and again in 2015 Apple made nice improvements on the late 2009 to 2011 shiny screens. It seems a lot of people have the memory of those seared into the nightmare center of their brains (especially as those introduced the quad core i series chips, the first time the iMac could be well considered a replacement for a tower as a production machine (and a lot of people bought them for that (later to be disapointed with having to look at their reflection all day long)) I don't know what you intend to use as a monitor on the nMP. if something like an NEC PA302w, then yeah, the iMac is not comparable.

if you are definitely going for the nMP I would push for the higher spec graphics cards. the quad core CPU may be enough for most things but down the line, GPU compute (or just pushing more pixels on ever larger monitors) will be the first thing that slows that box down. I know that's another big price bump, but if it adds a year to the usable life of the machine (with increased productivity all through), totally worth it I'd say.
Click to expand...

That is all great info and insight, thank you. This user has a bright window right behind her so she sees that in the screen of her current iMac (2011 vintage). I know even non-glare screens will block out the window, but we have decided on getting the BenQ SW2700PT for all the Mac Pro's.

I will check out a new iMac and see how it looks at the Apple Store with all their glare and glass windows and sunlight coming in the store.

Thanks!
 
dmylrea said:
That is all great info and insight, thank you. This user has a bright window right behind her so she sees that in the screen of her current iMac (2011 vintage). I know even non-glare screens will block out the window, but we have decided on getting the BenQ SW2700PT for all the Mac Pro's.

I will check out a new iMac and see how it looks at the Apple Store with all their glare and glass windows and sunlight coming in the store.

Thanks!
Click to expand...

your are welcome. glad to be of use. I'd add that (since you mentioned "the monitor for all the Mac Pros") having a house standard is a good thing so maybe throwing a colorful retina iMac into that mix might become an issue if people are collaborating.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Register on MacRumors! This sidebar will go away, and you'll see fewer ads.
Top Bottom
Back