would a mac pro be too much for me?

[tjespo22]

hey, I really want to get a nice desktop and i was looking at the iMac and Mac Pro. I do ALOT of photography and have lots of pics. Do a real lot of editing. Have lots of music and some videos i would like to store in itunes.. I just really like the mac pro because u can plug in any screen you want, more professional imo, and easier to work with as if i had to upgrade something. its easier to open up etc...

I would like to be able to run Aim, firefox, photoshop, lightroom, apature with no problems..
Last question, how is a samsung LCD compared to apples lcd's? I honestly think the apple lcd's are overpriced. I got a 23" samsung LCD and it works great with my ps3 and as a regular TV.

thanks
espo

 

[oogje]

No, a Mac Pro wouldn't be too much for you.

 

[juanster]

i also think its prefect for you, and you ll be able to keep it for longer than an imac..because is so easily upgradable

 

[exspes]

Last question, how is a samsung LCD compared to apples lcd's? I honestly think the apple lcd's are overpriced. I got a 23" samsung LCD and it works great with my ps3 and as a regular TV.

espo

I'd like to comment as I've just spent the past month running around and looking at LCDs.

All the samsungs I looked at (which were moderately priced), looked alright, but not much. Basically, you get the $200 or $300 worth out of them. My biggest problem is the bad viewing angle. Side to side, top, bottom, color quality dropped very quickly.

I could speak the same about Acers, HPs, etc.

I've finally settled on a BenQ FP241W - only $650 for a 24 inch monitor, sharp looking, great build and a good viewing angle. Color reproduction is good enough for my tastes, and not as expensive as ACD.

 

[zdobson]

Do you need a Mac Pro? Probably not. It'll be nice to have one, though! I always say, "What's overkill today is average in a year or two."

 

[trainguy77]

I wouldn't say its too much for you. Even the last gen would be fine for you. But if i was you i would order a new one and just drop to the single CPU so you ONLY get 4 cores. But before you do that we need to find out if there is a second socket to drop in another CPU in the future.

 

[valdore]

I think the Mac Pro is ideal for photographers like myself who tend to accumulate a lot of photos very quickly. The main selling point for me was all of the internal storage possible with my Mac Pro - fill up a hard drive with high res RAW files? Then just throw second, third, or fourth drive in there, and set up a RAID. I think the 'Pro would be more suitable for you as well if you do a lot of editing. The better processors and graphics available compared to the iMac would also come in useful more often than you think.

 

[trainguy77]

Yeah as valdore mentioned hard drive expandability would be huge! Being able to stick another 500gb drive of even up to 1tb drives. The price for internal drives is also cheaper then most externals. (if you don't order from apple that is )

 

[awad]

I think the Mac Pro is ideal for photographers like myself who tend to accumulate a lot of photos very quickly. The main selling point for me was all of the internal storage possible with my Mac Pro - fill up a hard drive with high res RAW files? Then just throw second, third, or fourth drive in there, and set up a RAID. I think the 'Pro would be more suitable for you as well if you do a lot of editing. The better processors and graphics available compared to the iMac would also come in useful more often than you think.

the storage features are the main reason i ordered the mac pro. i've had enough of externals!

 

[tjespo22]

alright, will im gonna start saving! lol. i also have already a western digital 250gb hard drive so that plus the 320 it comes with will be perfect

 

[zdobson]

the storage features are the main reason i ordered the mac pro. i've had enough of externals!

The main selling point for me was all of the internal storage possible with my Mac Pro - fill up a hard drive with high res RAW files? Then just throw second, third, or fourth drive in there, and set up a RAID.

How much do you really want to store in your computer? I do photography for a living and I don't archive anything in my computer. I only use it for current projects. I archive everything to externals and dvd backups for long term storage. What if my computer gets stolen? Then all of my photos are gone! I'm not trying to talk anyone out of anything here, I'm just talking about my personal preference.

 

[aaronw1986]

How much do you really want to store in your computer? I do photography for a living and I don't archive anything in my computer. I only use it for current projects. I archive everything to externals and dvd backups for long term storage. What if my computer gets stolen? Then all of my photos are gone! I'm not trying to talk anyone out of anything here, I'm just talking about my personal preference.

What if your externals are stolen!?!?!?!

 

[awad]

How much do you really want to store in your computer? I do photography for a living and I don't archive anything in my computer. I only use it for current projects. I archive everything to externals and dvd backups for long term storage. What if my computer gets stolen? Then all of my photos are gone! I'm not trying to talk anyone out of anything here, I'm just talking about my personal preference.

I'm currently going to school for photography, so im constantly working projects. i'd love to store a copy of all my photos on an internal drive, it doesnt mean im going to stop backing up externally or archiving, but when it comes to accessing my photos quickly and easily, this would be an ideal option.

 

[Sun Baked]

If you do stuff that requires a bunch of memory, CPU cycles, or HD space -- nothing wrong with a Mac Pro.

Internal upgrades are so much nicer than a stack of boxes, and tossing more memory/cores at many problems in something that can only be done on the Mac Pro right now.

 

[contoursvt]

I'm all for a really powerful box but would it not work just fine having a 24" iMac 2.4hz, maybe bumping the RAM to 4GB and adding a gigabit network storage device such as this

http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications/SearchTools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=2443662&CatId=207

With drives so cheap, one can get a pair of 750GB drives and create a mirror set which should protect against drive failure and being gigabit, its fairly fast and you could place it anywhere as long as you can run ethernet to it. Also doubles as a file server and FTP server I believe.

Later on if you get another computer or laptop, your data is central so you dont have to share anything from your main box.