Imac or mac pro?

I am nearing hitting the buy button on a kick *** IMAC 27'' upgraded to just over $3,000. I am hesitant because I see the new Mac Pro tower coming out in December for the same price at entry level. I've had a few discussions with mac store geeks and heard everything from the IMAC is more powerful to the MAC Pro is mainly for pros (no ****). For the same price, I'm thinking why not, but I do have to buy a monitor. Am I going to drop a ton of cash on a 4k? **** no. I really wish this decision could be easier! Anyone have any thoughts?

All I can advise you is to do your homework on the new Mac Pro. The more research you do the more you're going to learn what the "real" cost of running one will be. Of course if you need that kind of power and don't mind spending the big $$ for one, it will be one fantastic machine.

I'm going to buy an iMac 27" probably next month or January to replace the Mid 2011 iMac 21.5" machine that I'm currently using in my home office. The 21.5" machine will replace an older Windows box that we donated to Good Will.

If you're considering a new Mac Pro as one of your options. You really have to wait until they are released, reviews have been written, and benchmarks posted...before making an informed decision.

- Nick

Agreed. On specs the Mac Pro should be a beast, in reality the questions I have won't be answered till people have a chance to run it through its paces.

And wait for the release of the Mac Pro to check that 'same price'.

pigoo3 said:

If you're considering a new Mac Pro as one of your options. You really have to wait until they are released, reviews have been written, and benchmarks posted...before making an informed decision.

- Nick

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I agree. Plus one will have to check to make sure their software will take full use of the hardware as well. If Adobe Lightroom and Photomatix Pro used video card (GPU) rendering I would be all over this thing.

I think it may be awhile before we see tons of software that really takes advantage of this kind of power. I bet most of us have tons of software in our arsenal that doesn't even take full advantage of the current processing power.

Slydude said:

I think it may be awhile before we see tons of software that really takes advantage of this kind of power. I bet most of us have tons of software in our arsenal that doesn't even take full advantage of the current processing power.

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Agreed. Current Mac Pro's have been around since 2006...and there really aren't that many apps that take advantage of the 4, 8, or 12 cores in current Mac Pro's.

- Nick

macbook pro w retina $2,799.00

• 2.6GHz quad-core Intel Core i7
• Turbo Boost up to 3.8GHz
• 16GB 1600MHz memory
• 512GB PCIe-based flash storage 1
• Intel Iris Pro Graphics
• NVIDIA GeForce GT 750M
with 2GB GDDR5 memory
• Built-in battery (8 hours)2
PROS
Retina Display
Portability
Iris Pro Graphics

CONS
15'' screen
750M NVIDIA (compared to 780M) 2GB (compare to 4GB)
2.6 GHZ (compared to 3.5)







imac 27 $2,699.00

• 3.5GHz Quad-core Intel Core i7, Turbo Boost up to 3.9GHz
• 16GB 1600MHz DDR3 SDRAM - 2X8GB
• 3TB Serial ATA Drive @ 7200 rpm
• NVIDIA GeForce GTX 780M 4GB GDDR5
• Apple Magic Mouse
• Apple Wireless Keyboard (English) & User's Guide
• Accessory Kit

PROS
27'' screen
3.5 GHZ
3 TB
780M NVIDIA w/4GB

CONS
No Retina display
Not Portable



MAC PRO TOWER $2,999.00
Quad-Core and Dual GPU



• 3.7GHz Quad-Core Intel Xeon E5 processor

• 12GB 1866MHz DDR3 ECC memory

• Dual AMD FirePro D300
• with 2GB GDDR5 VRAM each

• 256GB PCIe-based flash storage1

• Coming in December.

So, can I sacrifice the Retina display on the 15'' for the LCD display of the 27''? Thats my main hang up. I'm feeling the IMAC.... I think......

mindtheater said:

So, can I sacrifice the Retina display on the 15'' for the LCD display of the 27''? Thats my main hang up. I'm feeling the IMAC.... I think......

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You started off this thread with two desktop computer choices (iMac and new Mac Pro). Now you've complicated things by adding the 15" MacBook Pro.

When you have both a laptop and desktop in the "mix"...there's one VERY important parameter that separates the two...and that's portability.

FIRST you NEED to decide if you need the portability of a laptop computer. If not...then remove it from consideration. If you need the portability of a laptop...then you shouldn't even be thinking of getting an iMac or a Mac Pro.

Your initial question and logic was fine (iMac or new Mac Pro)...but as soon as you mentioned a MacBook Pro in your later post...you changed things completely.

- Nick

I am not sure what you do on a computer, but for most usage and most users, I would say get the iMac. The Pro will be great for high end Audio and Video editing and production and some other specialized uses, but for most usage the iMac would be the machine to get. Also (And I am guessing as right now we have no input since the MP is not released yet) the Video card in the iMac will be probably better for Gaming if you are into that VS the Pro level cards in the MP. Those are not really gaming cards.

My opinion anyway.

I think the OP really needs to have a think about what they're going to be using any of these roughly $3K machines FOR.

If one is planning on rattling off a list of well-known commercial software from anyone other than perhaps Adobe, then the Mac Pro is probably not the right machine.

OTOH, if I were in the sciences, or a creative professional, someone who made a good living off my machine, I'd take a more serious look at the cost/benefit of a Mac Pro. Specs are just part of the story -- with OS X's GPU offloading and CPU/core management, not to mention Mavericks efficiencies, that new Mac Pro is going to be *unbelievable* to most of us MBP and iMac types. Nothing I do really needs that level of horsepower, but others may have very different criteria.

I am trying to start a business filming commercials, real estate, ect. I've been into recording music and video since I was building bike ramps. Honestly, My 2002 imac that I still use was the best computer I ever owned and spent decent money on. I just recently bought a used HP G72 laptop for $60 from a girl that needed weed money. Turns out that was great because it was 64 bit and that was required to run the adobe suite, Premier & after effects. I have successfully finished work on this laptop, but its slow slow slow.

We can speculate on the Mac Pro, but none of us can make a proper judgement until Dec when we can view the customization features.

Now most video editing software will use the GPU to boost rendering. You could make a better judgement call buy reviewing the specifications of Adobe Premier or what ever video editing software you will be using. Things to look for, does it use the GPU, how many GPUs can it use at a given time. How much of the software will take advantage of the GPU acceleration.

Then there is also the space requirement for video and audio editing. 256GB isn't going to cut it. This means your going to need external storage. Most NAS and USB 2 drives will limit you to 30MB/s. Trust me even iTuns lags on a NAS reading music. This means your gonna have to look at a Thunderbolt attached storage and preferably a RAID one. They are very very pricey..

Now the Xeon offers much much more on die Cache over the i7. The ECC RAM support is marginal for most workstations IMHO. But if your data is critical then this is your best option.

After looking over the Mac Pro specs the past couple of weeks, I have decided that its a contradiction in its self. The system screens 3D modeling and video editing. Yet they have stuck you with a 256GB flash drive?!?!!?!!? WTH here! But like I mentioned, we don't know the final specs yet.

Now I for one love the look, don't mind the Xeon as its fast, I even like the Fire Pro 300. Which turns out isn't bad for gaming. But would love it if Apple will offer the option to drop one of the video cards in place for a 2 or 3TB 7200RPM 2.5" drive. If they would, I would start kissing up to the wife today to get one. But I don't need 2 video cards, Lr doesn't use them anyway and I need storage space for photo editing.

mindtheater said:

I am trying to start a business filming commercials, real estate, ect. I've been into recording music and video since I was building bike ramps. Honestly, My 2002 imac that I still use was the best computer I ever owned and spent decent money on. I just recently bought a used HP G72 laptop for $60 from a girl that needed weed money. Turns out that was great because it was 64 bit and that was required to run the adobe suite, Premier & after effects. I have successfully finished work on this laptop, but its slow slow slow.

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Interesting information. But it really doesn't help move the conversation forward...in regards to your portability needs. Unless you're suggesting that the old "slow, slow, slow" HP laptop meets those needs.

- Nick