Help Me Pick The Right Mac

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Early 2008 Mac Pro - 500 GB HD - 6 GB Ram
I plan on switching to a Mac in the next couple of months (probably end of July when my wife returns from maternity leave.

I'm doing a lot of research on the various models to determine what would best fit my needs and budget. I'm fairly certain that I can convince my wife to spend $2000. I plan on using my future Mac for general MS Office, web browsing, minor amounts of video editing, and running one of the virtual machine applications for Windows XP and possibly Linux via VMWare/Boot Camp/Parallels. Assuming it is available by the Fall when I start back in grad school, I plan on buying an educational copy of Premiere Pro. I've used Premiere Pro 2.0 for the PC and find it fairly easy to use.

I initially looked at the 24" iMac but I think that the screen may be too big for the workspace where I would put it. I currently have a 19" monitor in the space the iMac would occupy and the lack of distance between at 24" and my eyes would be pretty short.

After all but ruling out a 24", I took a look at the 20" and what its capabilities are. I don't like that the 20" lacks the 800 firewire port and has less capabilities in the graphics dept than the 24".

I'm also considering a bare bones Mac Pro. After looking at Apple's web site, and also finding MacMall.com, it looks like I can get a Mac Pro for pretty close to $2,000. I don't mind adding memory and hard drives down the road as funds are available. It looks like Apple sells a DVI to VGA adapter that I could use with my existing Hitachi monitor. I've been building my own PCs since the 386 and I really like having the ability to add/upgrade the components in the Mac Pro.

Any suggestions or ideas are appreciated.
 
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Your Mac's Specs
13" macbook C2D; 24" Imac, 8GB Iphone
You say you will be using it mainly for microsoft office and bootcamp/ parallels etc
I would personally buy another computer rather than a mac in your position.
However if your are set on a mac, customise the macpro if the imacs are to big for your workspace
Hope this helps ~ mikeyman
 
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Edmonton, Alberta, Canada
Your Mac's Specs
White MacBook, 2.0 ghz Intel Core 2, 2GB ram||[G4 Imac Flat Panel] |800mhz|1Gb RAM|60gb HDD
I would go for the imac 20 incher.
I 've got a core duo 2 macbook and with no graphics card it destroys my powerbook g4 that I had for video editing.
It's a nice price, I think it's the sweet spot for the imacs. Perhaps boost it up to 2 gigs and you should be good to go.
If you are concerned about video editing check out these benchmarks. I know it doesn't include the imac, but it does the macbook and it shows that it beats out the dual G5 in pretty much every way. You can compare the macbook with no video card to the imac
http://creativemac.digitalmedianet.com/articles/viewarticle.jsp?id=43717
 
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Anytown, USA
Your Mac's Specs
27" iMac 2.7GHz Core i5, iPhone 6, iPad Air 2, 4th gen Apple TV
I would probably go for the Mac Pro for it's upgrade-ability and having a choice of monitor. What are you going to grad school for? These days, chances are you'll need a laptop, so I would rule out a Macbook Pro. I'm in grad school now for business and wouldn't make it through the day without a laptop. When I get home I just plug in my external monitor and have a wireless keyborad/mighty mouse. If you've been accepted to a school, you can get the student discount, which is a big help.
 
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Your Mac's Specs
13" macbook C2D; 24" Imac, 8GB Iphone
I dont see why someone gave me negative rep for my opinion!

i only suggested he should stick with a pc because he has all the applications already. And unless a mac furfills all his needs like his pc does at the moment there is no need to switch.
 
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M
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Your Mac's Specs
Early 2008 Mac Pro - 500 GB HD - 6 GB Ram
I would probably go for the Mac Pro for it's upgrade-ability and having a choice of monitor. What are you going to grad school for? These days, chances are you'll need a laptop, so I would rule out a Macbook Pro. I'm in grad school now for business and wouldn't make it through the day without a laptop. When I get home I just plug in my external monitor and have a wireless keyborad/mighty mouse. If you've been accepted to a school, you can get the student discount, which is a big help.

I completed a Masters of Science in Information Technology in Fall 2005 and working on my MBA and hopefully finish in 2008.

I already own a HP 17" laptop (more like a desktop replacement, the thing is HUGE and weighs almost 10 lbs). I have a lot of software on the laptop that would be a massive pain to re-install on a new machine (Visual Studio for Enterprise Architects plus a bunch of other stuff like MS SQL Server). I work in the web hosting group of a large finance company and the laptop gets used a lot for work and home stuff.

The future Mac is to replace my old HP workstation that my wife and I both use and isn't worth upgrading to be a decent video editing machine. I may buy a Mac laptop down the road, but wouldn't be for a year or two once my HP is no longer usable for its intended purpose.
 
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Your Mac's Specs
Macbook Pro, 2.53GHz, C2D, 4G RAM, 250G HDD
The Mac Pro is certainly the most powerful and adaptable of the choices, plus you can decide what screen size to use with it. The ability to upgrade over a period of time would make it my choice.

Neil M.
 

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