2009 Mac Pro - worth buying?

[parisat]

Hi,
I'm a Multimedia Student, specialising on 3D and Videoediting. I do all my work on a 2007 iMac 24" with 3GB RAM right now but it lacks in processing-power and RAM so I'm considering buying a used Mac Pro.
The software I use: Cinema 4D & VRay, Final Cut Pro 7, Pro Tools 9 and the Adobe Creative Suite.
Is it worth buying a 2009 8-core Mac Pro (~1900$) or could I be better off with a new iMac or soemthing else in this price range (newer Quadcore MacPro?)?


thanks

 

[RavingMac]

Hi,
I'm a Multimedia Student, specialising on 3D and Videoediting. I do all my work on a 2007 iMac 24" with 3GB RAM right now but it lacks in processing-power and RAM so I'm considering buying a used Mac Pro.
The software I use: Cinema 4D & VRay, Final Cut Pro 7, Pro Tools 9 and the Adobe Creative Suite.
Is it worth buying a 2009 8-core Mac Pro (~1900$) or could I be better off with a new iMac or soemthing else in this price range (newer Quadcore MacPro?)?


thanks

I would try bumping up the RAM first (far cheaper) to see what that does for you.

 

[MacDude121]

I would try bumping up the RAM first (far cheaper) to see what that does for you.

If I have the correct model here, it says his iMac can only support 4GB of ram. That's not much of an improvement, especially for running stuff like Final Cut Pro.

To the OP, you might want to look at the i7 iMac first, cheaper than a Mac Pro, but newer ones can support 16GB of ram.

 

[pigoo3]

Officially from Apple, the newest iMac's support 16gig of ram...but even better...they have been found to actually be able to support 32 gig!

- Nick

 

[RavingMac]

If I have the correct model here, it says his iMac can only support 4GB of ram. That's not much of an improvement, especially for running stuff like Final Cut Pro.

To the OP, you might want to look at the i7 iMac first, cheaper than a Mac Pro, but newer ones can support 16GB of ram.

I was being lazy and didn't have access to MacTracker. Should have checked, but still, depending on which model 24" iMac from 2007, if the OP has the MA878LL, it will address up to 6GB of RAM.

So, may still be worth looking at.

 

[harryb2448]

6GB is the maximum for the iMac, where Apple does say 4GB so you can increase it a little. IMHO suggest going with the Mac Pro which is extremely upgradeable to 4 hard drives, faster graphics, up to 64GB memory and much better record with tray loading optical drive over the slot loaders which do fail quite a lot. Just go through the threads for iMacs and MacBooks with failed optical drives.

It all comes down to performance. Mactracker reports Geekbench 2 tests on the two machines are as follows:-


Mid 2007 iMac 2.8GHz comes in at 3,791.

2009 Mac Pro 2.93GHz comes in at 14,904.

Enough said and good luck with your decision.

 

[MacDude121]

Officially from Apple, the newest iMac's support 16gig of ram...but even better...they have been found to actually be able to support 32 gig!

- Nick

Yikes! That's a lot of Ram for an iMac, I thought only the Mac Pro's could take that much!

 

[pigoo3]

Yikes! That's a lot of Ram for an iMac, I thought only the Mac Pro's could take that much!

The newest Mac Pro's can be upgraded to 96 gig of ram! Still Apple's leading model when it comes to max. ram.

- Nick