Purchasing Advice

I am going to buy to a Mac Pro. I have two areas of concern:

1.How should I build it (Configure)?
2.When should I buy it (Is the line getting upgraded anytime soon?)?

Background info:

I have been a mac user for a little over five years. My first purchase was an Imac. I was very pleased with it. Within the last year I purchased a Macbook; love it. Now I am ready to purchase a Mac Pro. I currently design, both graphic and web, at a very novice level- as a hobby. I plan on working intensively on improving my skills, and, with hard word and dedication, eventually become a freelance web designer. I have decided against the Imac. I've been there and done that, plus I've read some troubling comments about the screen with concern to photo editing. I don't want to overkill and get the most powerful model, after all, I am not doing any professional video editing or animated graphics, but I do want a finely tuned beast. I know that upgrading the RAM will be cheaper if I go through OWC, but I don't know how much is too much. I also do not want to buy my Mac Pro, and then a week later learn that Apple has upgraded the line.

Could someone give me some much needed advice? I'd really appreciate it. Thanks a bunch and I look forward to your replies with great interest.

-Fabian

Welcome to Mac Forums Fabian!

Based on what you have said, I would recommend the Mac Pro model that has 2 Dual Core 2.66 GHz processors (4 cores total), 2 GB of RAM the nVidia 7300 GT w 256 MB of video RAM and the 500 GB hard drive. This will be an excellent machine for you as you start out on your quest to "go pro" in the freelance design area.

As you get closer and closer to "pro" you can upgrade the memory to 4 GB, add another 500 GB hard drive (if needed) and upgrade to a faster video card (again if needed - I do a lot of image work on my PowerMac G5, and it's nVidia 6600 has served me very well - never felt limited by it).

Thanks! You've definitely helped me to get some perspective. Can't thank you enough; I felt like a wandering dog.

The Mac Pro is a year old. There are a bunch of rumors there is a new model this month, next month, or by the end of the year.
Check out the rumors thread. I really don't know anything about it. I am surely not here to start one either.

1. With everything. If you don't have atleast 2 TB, you're not cool
2. Now.

Really, you can buy basic. From your description, you're not doing anything taxing so even an iMac would work. If you want a Mac Pro just to have a Mac Pro, then build it based on your budget and on what you want to have in it.

I don't know anything about the release schedulels of Apple products, so I'm almost useless on the 2nd, but if you need it, buy it.

Also, a continual theme of mine: there will ALWAYS be a newer and better version of almost any computer, always just about ready to be released. It is the nature of the computer business. If you wait for that mythical next version, you will never buy. Find the computer today that meets your needs and go and buy it. So what if the next version comes out the day after... doesn't the computer you have just bought STILL meet your needs? The defense rests!