Older Mac Pro vs. New

Hi all,

I'm a longtime Mac user for my laptops, but have generally put together my own desktops. I'm by no means a power user, I've just always found it most cost effective.

I'm finding it frustrating switching back and forth, though; I'm ready to upgrade my desktop; and I'm doing a /lot/ more video editing these days, and am ready to be able to use FC.

So. I'm looking at a Mac Pro. But I am budget conscious (I don't need a $1k machine, but the $5k price tag on the new 12-cores before any RAM expansions... phew). I'd like to spend less than $2k on the machine, pre-display.

I'm looking around, and finding some good deals on things that are along the lines of (8-core) 2X Xeon Quad 3.0GHZ (X5365), which as far as I can tell is a modified version of the Mac Pro from 2008, with a new processor? Correct me if I'm wrong. Anyway, the price is right on these – around $1800, which would leave me enough to add a chunk of RAM.

What I'm wondering is: what differences will I see between a machine like this and the new generation? If I was to buy a current generation Quad Core for $2500, for example. I'm having a hard time figuring out what exactly has changed generation to generation, and what I should be looking out for.

I'll be using this machine for amateur video editing – nothing too terribly intensive, but not lightweight stuff I could use an iMac for either. I'll probably be doing two angles, and a fair amount of color grading, which is certainly more than my MacBook can handle.

Thanks so much for your advice, and helping me to navigate this next purchase (which feels huge to me! this is money that could be spent on lenses!).

I can only address a small part of your question & comments by way of a question.

Are you really sure that a 27" iMac i7 with 16GB of RAM can't handle your video and other needs?

I do a lot of video editing and even more image manipulation using 2D and 3D graphics on the OsiriX platform and my iMac handles this beautifully. Huge savings on price versus even the basic Mac Pro.

Happy New Year.

Ian

kalisti said:

What I'm wondering is: what differences will I see between a machine like this and the new generation?

Click to expand...

If you say you don't need a $1000 computer, and you would like to spend less than $2000 on a newer/used computer (used Mac Pro I assume)...even "if" the current generation Mac Pro's are "better"...it would seem that they are outside of your budget anyway...right?

I only mention this because...if a brand new Mac Pro is outside of your budget...then there really is no reason to complicate things wondering if a new Mac Pro better than an older used Mac Pro.

Also (like "IWT" mentioned)...are you sure a 27" iMac wouldn't get the job done? With an iMac you also don't have to worry about the extra expense of a display.

HTH,

- Nick

Hi guys,

Thank you for the replies!

A display isn't an issue, as I have two nice studio displays on my current rig that will work fine.

As far as budget, one reason I'm asking is because if there really is a huge difference I will probably just limp along with what I have until the new Mac Pro's come out, and try to get one of the current generation at a firesale for just within my budget.

Is the iMac really powerful enough to do what I'm looking for? If so, I'm certainly game! I've only ever used them for very basic editing (single angle, basically just cutting stuff together), never with Color or other grading software, and I just assumed they wouldn't be up to the task (I actually assumed that was basically why the Mac Pros existed).

That said, if they're robust enough to handle mid-level video editing, I will look into them more closely as an alternative.

Thanks!