Need some help deciding imac or mac pro

I have a photography business. I am in the process of switching everything to mac. I just purchased my new 15" Macbook pro about two weeks ago. New version with 4g ram and 2.53 processor. I LOVE IT and the whole Mac system, which is why I want to switch my main desktop over soon. I primarily do Photoshop CS4. I am not a high volume studio. Maybe 20 weddings a year and a few portraits each week. I am debating between an imac 24" or a Mac Pro. I always built my own PC's from scratch, so I like the ability of being able to change parts (if needed in the future) on the Mac Pro. However, the Mac pro as you all know is a chunk of change. I am not sure If I will really use the power of the pro, but I like some of the flexibility with changing drives, video cards, memory in the future as well as more monitor options. I was looking at base Mac Pro for $2799 with two 2.8 quad xeon's and 2gb of memory that I can always upgrade later. I have a decent 22" samsung monitor that I can use for now and then later upgrade to a Cinema display or maybe an Eizo.
But, for the same price as a Pro I can get a 24" imac with 4g of ram and an additional monitor like an Eizo and now have dual monitors for the same price. If I go with an imac, everyone said to wait until after Mac world in Jan. I am thinking there wont be any changes to the Mac Pro though. I am looking for honest feedback from someone who is not a salesman.
Thanks a bunch in advance.

Most photo pros I work with in the wedding business use tower Macs, either the G5 or the Pro, because of the advantage of the more powerful video card, external monitor and the flexibility of all those 'extras' that can be added. Some too don't like the iMac screen. For sheer grunt you couldn't surpass a Pro and, as you say, it's almost infinitely adjustable/upgradeable. My vote goes for the Pro, even if you don't use everything it offers.
[An analogy I use is the outboard motor on a boat - always get more than you *think* you need because you never know when you're going to need it.]

I am a photographer and I just switched platforms and started with an older G5 non-intel iMac / 20".

Well, this was a DAWG compared to my mini PC tower with a 10K speed HD and fast ram, etc.

I just bought a new 24" iMac 2.8 GHz and am awaiting more ram to max it out at 4GB.

I must say that the increase in speed is really nice (and hope for more with the added RAM).

The screen alone is AWESOME. Be prepared to spend $800+ to get the comparable 24" if you buy a tower.

I guess if I had unlimited funds, I would have gone for a tower, but I am very satisfied so far.

FWIW, I do some pretty heavy imaging with CS2 (CS3 in the mail).

PM me if you want more info or have other questions.

greg

Is it safe to buy a Mac Pro now? I know Mac world is coming up soon, but I wanted this as a tax deduction for the business for 2008.

Welcome "JM Photography". I thougt I would add my 2¢. I am a web designer and at work I am on the 24" iMac, which works well for what I'm doing. But at home I have my amazing Mac Pro. And I do lots of design work on it, much more "heavy" work that at "work". I have 5GB of RAM and it does the job, I also upgraded the VGA card to a ATI x1900xt. The iMac will do what you need and to be fair it would work for me to. The reason I went for the Pro and shelling out LOADS more money for it, is that you can upgrade, yes you can upgrade the iMac, but unless you live next to the Apple store it can be a pain to take your iMac in for a simple upgrade of the VGA card. With the pro you order the part online, it comes to your door and your done. I'm toying with the thought of upgrading the CPU on my Pro. Again it would be just a hassel to take my Mac to a store to get them to do it.

If I was you wait until Mac World and see what God... er, sorry Job's has to say, you never know they might add a thought recognize thingy meur jib that will tell you, you need to change your socks? Or that they might have new 64Bit in the new Pro's, I'm hoping for the thought thingy!

BUt if you still want it on the books for 2008??? I'll leave you to do the math on that one.