Mac Pro 2.66 8 Core or New iMac

[marquito]

Hi All
Quick question requiring a quick answer...

I decided to wait for the new iMacs before making a decision - here's my choice -

Either a new Sandy Bridge iMac 27" 3.4ghz upgrarded to the max - ssd + 2tb HD

or the best 2nd Hand MacPro I can find - currently it's:

8-core: Two 2.26GHz Quad-Core Intel Xeon 5500 series processors (comes out about $1200 cheaper)

I can't find any Apple Refurbs at the moment as they are all 4 core and I figure the iMac is better in that case.

Any help much appreciated

[Buzzy]

...without having seen or heard and knowing anything. And going strictly by gut feeling I vote for the new iMac.

[MIDI Life Crisis]

...without having seen or heard and knowing anything. And going strictly by gut feeling I vote for the new iMac.

That's the way to shop! LOL! The new iMacs look nice but you still loose any chance to use a PCI card without a breakout box. Also, be sure you look at the internal buss speeds of each machine as that is where the rubber really hits the road.

[Dwetmaster]

Because of the MacPro's many expansion possibilities, my 2008 MP still hold up and I can still work fairly well with it. I'm not convince that a 2008 Imac would hold as good today...

Just a thought

[Buzzy]

Having now heard some, and knowing significantly more than before, I now choose the Mac Pro.

Life is easy.

[HCMarkus]

The top end iMac will probably smoke the Mac Pro you are considering in speed overall, but the aforementioned expansion limitations could be a concern. On the other hand, the inclusion of two Thunderbolt ports on the new iMac render this machine hugely expandable, at least as soon as appropriate Thunderbolt peripherals hit the market.

The top-end iMac should Geekbench at about the speed of the current 3.33 6 Core Mac Pro. I'm holding out until Sandy Bridge meets Mac Pro later this year. I wouldn't be surprised to see direct SSD caching in the new Pro when it is introduced.

http://www.macrumors.com/2011/05/05/app ... new-imacs/

[jlaudon]

I have a 2.26 Mac Pro (8 core) and the new Macbook Pro 2.2 Quad. Not a direct comparison, but the Mac Pro geekbenches at around 13000, and the Macbook Pro at 10300. The Mac Pro can handle DP better, but I find the Macbook Pro is more responsive, which is pretty much not because of the speed, but the SSD. To me, that's the future, albeit expensive right now...

[marquito]

Thanks for the replies everyone.

I hear such amazing reports about the performance of the new Sandy Bridge MacBook Pros that I think I will give the new iMac a try and hope the promise of Thunderbolt gives me some flexibility down the line.

Also, since the iMacs now allow two internal drives - SSD + Hard Drive - and the fact that RME are bringing out very serious USB interfaces like the Fireface UFX, it seems a good time to go with the new technology. And, I get an extra 27" display with the iMac which can't hurt.

Only problem is the 6 week shipping time for the Build to Order options I need...

Thanks again for the replies.

[mikehalloran]

>Only problem is the 6 week shipping time for the Build to Order options I need...<

In week 7, when you are enjoying your new machine, those 6 weeks will no longer matter.

Definitely spend the extra $200 for the i7 upgrade. In some tests, the i7 Quad benches 30% faster than the i5 Quad.