iMac or Mac Pro?

O

owen-b

Registered
Hi,

Last few months I've been pretty set on getting a new iMac if and when they finally hit the streets. I'm running a 1.5GHz Powerbook with 1GB RAM and the hard drive is only a few gigs from being full - mostly with photos because I'm starting to pick up jobs as a photographer.

I need something MUCH bigger, much faster, and desktop based for comfort and screen size, and was going to go with either the most maxed out 20" or possibly, if I can get my head round the stupid amount of screen, the 24" iMac.

But now I've been thinking - if my career in the future goes where I want it, I may need to expand. A couple of other photogs I know, some of whom I think are just flashy gits, have 3GHz Mac Pro machines. I looked at the cost of them today - <i>well</i> over two grand (UK money) for one of those plus screen and decent RAM and large hard drive etc.

On the other hand, the current 24" iMac would be about £1700. Seeing as I've been doing mostly okay on my Powerbook lately, but that I really need the power boost to run Nikon Capture NX and the hard drive space for my catalogue of originals and processed shots, and that my career is only just starting at the moment and mostly freebies to get my name around, I should probably just stick with whatever the highest spec new iMac is, shouldn't I?


Right?


:)
 
Either option would be a good choice. I think right now I'd have to recommend the iMac as the speed you'll get compared to what you have will be surprising. The cost to benefit ration is pretty good with them.

That recommendation of course depends on when you'd need to expand your system if your career goes the way you want. If you think this is going to happen relatively quickly (within 6 months), then bite the bullet and buy the Mac Pro. If it's going to be longer than that, then buying the iMac is probably a better solution. You can always sell the iMac at a later date and purchase a Mac Pro then (with even better specs than now).

Personally I wouldn't not own a laptop anymore. Anything of real large size (files) can be stored on an external, or multiple externals (one stationary, one portable, etc.). The processing power of these MacBook Pros is pretty darn good too. I went from the last G4 based Powerbook (1.67gHz, 2GB DDR2) to the MBPro 2.33gHz Core2Duo with 2GB. Huge difference in speed. Not so much in Photoshop as I haven't upgraded to CS3 yet, but even then it runs just fine under Rosetta (near the speed of my G4).

I'd love to have a Mac Pro sitting around, but for the cost difference compared to the benefit I can't justify it.
 
Cool, that's pretty much my thinking too.

I'll be keeping my Powerbook because once the desktop is in place I will dump all my media onto it, freeing up buckets of space on the Powerbook and essentially increasing its speed quite a lot (literally 4 gigs of space left on it now!). I can then take it around the house, or to jobs where I need to do some downloading or tinkering in quiet moments, or on trips with me.

I don't want to get a MacBook Pro for home because I need the screen size of a desktop, and the ergonomics for my posture as well! ;)
 
I would personally go for the MacPro because I have had problems with my iMac although it is a G5 and i have had it for nearly 3 years. I have had problems such as: Sound, Screen and DVD Drive totally busted. Make sure you purchase Apple Care protection, Highly Recommended.
 
Ignoring the Mac Pro for now (reason later), I'd say go with the 20" iMac. Sure, the bigger screen of the 24" version is nice, but from what I read, I'd say you'll profit more from investing the price difference in RAM (max it out, if you can!) and an external harddrive. The external harddrive, btw., is key. You'll _want_ to do backups. (If you think "no" here, let me tell you that you'll want to _have done_ backups one day in the future...) ;)

I think it's also important to learn to archive. If you really work with photos, you'll generate a couple of 100 MBs every week. But even if it's only 50 MB/week, you can still calculate that at _some_ point in time, _any_ internal harddrive of a MacBook or iMac or MacPro will be full. You can, of course, put the archiving off 'til later, but it'll be more of a hassle later on and take longer. If you archive a done project right away, its space is saved on the active main drive. And free space on the system volume is _key_ to a well-performing Mac.

Now for the reason against the Mac Pro: Money. A well-equipped iMac or MacBook simply gives you more performance than an under-equipped Mac Pro. Sure, if you _can_ afford to give the Mac Pro enough RAM and harddrive space, that's just dandy, but if you have to sacrifice RAM and harddrive space (or a backup solution that is not internal), it'll bite you back soon enough.

So... Why not do the following:

1.) Get an external FW/USB-2 harddrive now. Free some space on that PowerBook by backing everything up and deleting the stuff from the internal drive that you don't need at the moment. This enables you to hang on to that PowerBook just a little longer. You might want to do that, because

2.) At the end of October, Leopard is released, and the new iMacs, which should come out in early August, will then come preinstalled with Leopard. (You've just saved 129$, which might be enough for that external harddrive, depending on what you buy and where...) Now buy the iMac that fits you best. Until then, you might have put a little more money aside as well, which may or may not nudge your decision towards a different model.

The important thing, I think, is to see that having a big external harddrive will solve your initial problem _immediately_. Freeing up space on that PowerBook will also speed things up.
 
fryke said:
Ignoring the Mac Pro for now (reason later), I'd say go with the 20" iMac. Sure, the bigger screen of the 24" version is nice, but from what I read, I'd say you'll profit more from investing the price difference in RAM (max it out, if you can!) and an external harddrive. The external harddrive, btw., is key. You'll _want_ to do backups. (If you think "no" here, let me tell you that you'll want to _have done_ backups one day in the future...) ;)

I think it's also important to learn to archive. If you really work with photos, you'll generate a couple of 100 MBs every week. But even if it's only 50 MB/week, you can still calculate that at _some_ point in time, _any_ internal harddrive of a MacBook or iMac or MacPro will be full. You can, of course, put the archiving off 'til later, but it'll be more of a hassle later on and take longer. If you archive a done project right away, its space is saved on the active main drive. And free space on the system volume is _key_ to a well-performing Mac.

Now for the reason against the Mac Pro: Money. A well-equipped iMac or MacBook simply gives you more performance than an under-equipped Mac Pro. Sure, if you _can_ afford to give the Mac Pro enough RAM and harddrive space, that's just dandy, but if you have to sacrifice RAM and harddrive space (or a backup solution that is not internal), it'll bite you back soon enough.

So... Why not do the following:

1.) Get an external FW/USB-2 harddrive now. Free some space on that PowerBook by backing everything up and deleting the stuff from the internal drive that you don't need at the moment. This enables you to hang on to that PowerBook just a little longer. You might want to do that, because

2.) At the end of October, Leopard is released, and the new iMacs, which should come out in early August, will then come preinstalled with Leopard. (You've just saved 129$, which might be enough for that external harddrive, depending on what you buy and where...) Now buy the iMac that fits you best. Until then, you might have put a little more money aside as well, which may or may not nudge your decision towards a different model.

The important thing, I think, is to see that having a big external harddrive will solve your initial problem _immediately_. Freeing up space on that PowerBook will also speed things up.
Click to expand...

I second everything that Fryke said, if not with more emphasis on backup and storage space. Shooting NEF files at 6 megapixel every day equals around 1 gigabyte per two days shooting. If I shoot 200 pictures a day, that's a little over a gigabyte of data unedited, and about half that after editing and cleaning up. I use my G4 with a RAID setup to provide -very- quick access to my camera files, my iMac to edit, and my MacBook on the road.

If I sold all three of my computers, I'd end up with enough money to buy a baseline Mac Pro.

The main thing to keep in mind is what machine will make you happiest, and what machine will get your job done. I'm perfectly happy with my setup, and I've used it for image sizes all the way up to 24 megapixels. I could afford to buy a loaded Mac Pro, but I don't see the necesity... I'd rather buy a couple hundred more gigabytes of storage.

This is all coming from a "semi-professional" photographer. I don't use a Mac Pro, I don't use a MacBook Pro, but amazingly I still do my jobs! An iMac would be great for you, especially because you don't have to buy an extra screen.
 
If you plan to expand the Mac Pro, then of course that form factor makes sense. The general feeling is, your more than likely add additional hard-drive space (external), which you can do easily on the iMac.
Fryke's and Qion's advice makes sense, just be diligent about archiving and backing up.
 
I highly recommend you get the iMac 24" and max out the RAM.

The speed is excellent for what you need and you would use external HardDrives anyway, at least one just for backup/mirroring. You can fit a 2nd monitor if required as a pallette monitor which is always a good idea but not absolutely necessary for the 24".

Principally you want the 24"s much larger and brighter screen which is glass so you can wipe it down. The smaller screens have a soft plastic finish which is very hard to clean which is a bummer when you need to do editing.

The only downside with the 24" and other iMacs at the moment is the limited number of ports and their awkward placement on the back. However we shall probably see new models next week and these may have been addressed.

Either way I wouldn't act till all 3 factors are in place:

1. Leopard comes with your Mac

2. iLife and iWorks have been upgraded - even as a professional photographer these are very useful

3. The new models are out for a while and you get a chance to see how well they stack up.

You should be able to also get the iMac from regular Apple resellers.

Here in Australia they are freely available from department stores and lots of electronics resellers. All are doing some kind of finance deals, usually GE Money, which are mostly sucker deals. "Interest Free" but charging a monthly fee which turns out to be the same thing as being charged commercial interest.

The Department stores however have their own finance cards and at least a couple have incentives attached ie a discount on initial purchases and also 12 month real interest free with payment at the end of the 12 months. My son has invested his money and when the 12 months is due he should have got an effective 7-8% discount on top of what he will negotiate when he buys the iMac.

I cannot recommend the iMac highly enough it truely is a professional machine for anyone who doesn't need the absolute max grunt of a MacPro which in IMHO needs a redesign and sharp price adjustment before I'd even remotely be interested.
 
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