Mac Pro vs. IMac for Video Editing...

I currently own the latest edition of the Macbook Pro 17" that I've fully max'd out for ram after purchasing it. I use Adobe Premier CS4 for editing 1080p and 720p video. The Macbook Pro really can't keep up, making my editing hard to accomplish quickly, especially when rendering a video. It plays the video choppy when editing, which makes editing really hard to accomplish, obviously. It will do it, otherwise, with no problems, other than being slow as molasses when rendering.

My question is should I get a IMac 27" fully loaded or a comparable Mac Pro, and what would be the benefits of one or the other for my application/use? I usually have PhotoShop, Premier, Mail, & Chrome open nearly all the time, and I want something that will smoothly play 1080p video when editing the movie and can render the video much quicker than my MBP.

Your help is greatly appreciated...

Chris

If you can afford to spend the money, the Mac Pro is a good choice because of its ability to be upgraded and the availability of high quality video adapters. MacWorld Magazine testing labs gives it the highest speed and power bench mark of any of the current Macs including the best 27" iMac.

The i7 in a 27inch iMac would be better than the quad core of the Mac Pro. 2 Quad Cores in a Mac Pro would probably be better than the i7 but that starts at $3499.

Get at least 8GB of RAM in your desktop (of your choice) or get 4GB and upgrade it aftermarket. 16GB is ideal but quite expensive still.

Ideally you would want a workstation graphics card (available aftermarket in the Mac Pro), not an ATI Raedon series (found in iMac and Mac Pro)

The Mac Pro would be the best with the dual quad cores + workstation graphics card, but that's gonna set you back a few grand. The iMac 27" with an i7 would be more economical but you would notice a slight lag in performance between the two.

So basically you want:
8GB min. of RAM
i7 / dual quad cores (the single quad on the base Mac Pro is a little older tech than the i7 and doesn't support hyper-threading)
Get an external 1/2TB Esata external hard drive
Workstation graphics card (ATI FirePro/GL or NVIDIA Quadro FX)

I would get a MacPro because the processor is made to handle tougher tasks without "throttling" down like the i5/i7's, which I've been reading is a real pain for editing. Plus, you will have an easier time transferring media to multiple hdd's, as well as have more connections available. You, obviously, also have the chance to upgrade the graphics on it, which is the best selling point to me, as well as having easier access.

The Imac will get outdated faster than the MacPro.

Unfortunately, it will cost a bit more for the MacPro. I would go refurbished!

Mac Pro. Upgradeable graphics, simple installation of hard and optical drives, simple installation of memory.