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Help me decide today.

td2243

td2243

Cancelled
Original poster
Mar 14, 2013
382
247
Santa Fe, NM
Okay guys, I've postponed this long enough. I need to order something. My wife and I are NOT made of money, so the difference in cost is something to heavily consider.

I do, Premiere Pro CC, Logic X, some After Effects, and Lightroom. Those are the most taxing programs I use. I don't shoot any 4K yet.

Based on your experience, would the iMac be able to handle those programs reasonably well? (NOTE: I will upgrade RAM on either machine myself)

The Mac Pro is almost twice as much money, or getting close to that.

My thinking is....get an iMac with 3 year applecare. Try to start generating revenue with that and if that goes well, sell it in two years and upgrade to the latest Mac Pro.

Thank you guys for the help.

----------------------------------------------------

27" iMac
3.5GHz Quad-core Intel Core i7, Turbo Boost up to 3.9GHz
8GB 1600MHz DDR3 SDRAM - 2X4GB
512GB Flash Storage
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 780M 4GB GDDR5
COST: $2849

OR

Mac Pro
3.5GHz 6-core with 12MB of L3 cache
12GB (3x4GB) of 1866MHz DDR3 ECC
512GB PCIe-based flash storage
Dual AMD FirePro D700 GPUs with 6GB of GDDR5 VRAM each
COST: $4799
 
I would go with the iMac. I have the new Mac Pro and unless you are using Final Cut Pro X the iMac will give similar performance. At this point the Final Cut Pro X is the only app I'm aware of that can take advantage of the dual graphic cards.

I've done some testing with a friends iMac and my Mac Pro with Photoshop and Lightroom. The differences are small and not worth the price difference.
 
Thanks so much for the help. I truly appreciate it. I am definitely leaning in the direction you said.
 
FWIW... 8GB of ram will not go far considering your workflow. I'd highly suggest pushing the iMac to 32GB(not from apple) and add in Apple Care for $149.

Whilst the nMP is a great start, it's USB 3.0 is definitely crippled. Thunderbolt is there but it's an expensive alternative with too few PCI lanes dedicated to the interface. IMO, nothing in the platform justifies the $1000 price bump.

Since you're tied into the Adobe eco system, the speedup from CUDA in the 780M should help.
 
iMac

I think the iMac will indeed run those apps "reasonably well" and is probably the best route to start with. Especially if this your first move in trying to generate income.
 
handheldgames said:
Whilst the nMP is a great start, it's USB 3.0 is definitely crippled. Thunderbolt is there but it's an expensive alternative with too few PCI lanes dedicated to the interface. .
Click to expand...

You know this because you own one, or because you read a few other's opinions, and "benchmarks." There are just as many benchmarks saying otherwise. A lot of it depends on the peripheral. Speed isn't just determined by the PC port.
 
You said enough for me to recommend that you go iMac. It's fine for a 1080p workflow.

My wife and I are NOT made of money, so the difference in cost is something to heavily consider.
Click to expand...

You buy the iMac to see if the idea is going to work.

Try to start generating revenue with that and if that goes well...
Click to expand...

You buy the MacPro from a position of strength, not speculation.

Adobe CC is working well for me on my MacPro, but, I use Nvidia cards and CUDA on my Windows workstation.

If the business starts making money, you'll probably keep the iMac to do office work, log video, synch audio, or use when the MacPro is tied up.

The MacPro will be here when the time is right. Personally, other than thermal characteristics, I'm not a fan of the 4c MacPro.

Also, starting a video business, there is a lot to buy - lights, cameras, mics, SD cards, batteries, etc. The $2000 saved will probably find an immediate use elsewhere.
 
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Start with an iMac and once you're generating income immediately dump it and get a Mac Pro. I say that mainly because the iMac is an all in one machine and not the best if things go wrong.

My Mac Pro more than pays for itself and has long term reliability, is easily able to handle all the resource intense work I do, and runs so much cooler. It's the backbone of my very robust NAS network, serving my other computers, laptops, iPads, iPhone's etc.

It eliminates the need to spend high prices for large capacity iPads and iPhone's since my entire iTunes library is on the network. Once you have the flexibility and capability of a Mac Pro, everything else pales in comparison.
 
As others suggested, the iMac seems a good choice given your situation. And if you're income is good in a couple of years, a second gen 7.1 new Mac Pro would be a timely choice. For the iMac, you'll need to add more ram for video work.
 
I would go with the pro:

-can upgrade cpu and or gpu http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yaTEjCoqPeg Imac can't
-Imac has had issues with "yellow" screens...as someone who is planning on making $ using a computer I would want a screen with the best reproduction (something the Imac appears to lack)
-although system may show similar "geekbench" scores,in real world editing the pro will eat the Imac
 
Anim said:
There isn't any confirmation of upgrading the GPU once purchased on the nMP, Apple don't even sell it as an after market part. Unless I missed something.
Click to expand...

Watch the video he linked to.

You can drop another CPU right in and it seems to identify and work just fine according to early reports.

There is a nice 130w 10core that would make a nice upgrade for 4c and 6c owners.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819116927

Obviously, this is not an Apple approved or warranty covered type thing. I would probably not attempt this with the 150w CPU either.

http://blog.macsales.com/22230-owcs-mac-pro-2013-processor-upgrade-compatibility-testing
 
Anim said:
There isn't any confirmation of upgrading the GPU once purchased on the nMP, Apple don't even sell it as an after market part. Unless I missed something.
Click to expand...

another utube video by some after market mac company did say they are already working on gpu cards.
 
snouter said:
Watch the video he linked to.

You can drop another CPU right in and it seems to identify and work just fine according to early reports.

There is a nice 130w 10core that would make a nice upgrade for 4c and 6c owners.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819116927

Obviously, this is not an Apple approved or warranty covered type thing. I would probably not attempt this with the 150w CPU either.

http://blog.macsales.com/22230-owcs-mac-pro-2013-processor-upgrade-compatibility-testing
Click to expand...

Yeah, I have seen the CPU switching which is great but that is very different to the GPU :)

----------
tom vilsack said:
another utube video by some after market mac company did say they are already working on gpu cards.
Click to expand...

That is very interesting as it is my biggest worry of the nMP. Graphic cards get out dated very quickly so this would be fantastic. Can you find the link?

You would still need some technical skill as you would need to apply thermal paste to the GPU which makes it less easy to swap out.
 
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tom vilsack said:
-Imac has had issues with "yellow" screens...as someone who is planning on making $ using a computer I would want a screen with the best reproduction (something the Imac appears to lack)
Click to expand...

You'd probably want a 2nd monitor anyhow. Editing on one screen is rough, to me anyhow. There are plenty of nice ~$500 1440p IPS screens out there that you can use as a source/program monitor and would mate well with the iMac and you'd have two 1440p monitors and an i7 32GB ram SSD iMac for less than the 6c MacPro which you would still have to buy more ram, key, mouse and monitors for.

I just loaded a 1080p HDSLR shot project onto a 2011 MacBook Pro 17" (SSD upgrade and 16GB ram) and it performed well in a client meeting. I would not want to live that way, but it worked just fine, meaning, I think the current iMac would be well up to the task.

I also think the MacPro is less compelling in the 4c version. If you need the thermal characteristics of the MacPro you probably want more than 4c as well.

Just my opinions, worth about... .02 on a good day.

----------

Anim said:
Yeah, I have seen the CPU switching which is great but that is very different to the GPU :)
Click to expand...

Whoops, my bad. Mistook the G for a C. :eek:

I'm doubtful about the economics of upgrading the GPU as well.
 
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d-m-a-x said:
the Mac Pro is easier to fix and would probably last longer due to cooling
Click to expand...

The oMP sure, the new one No.

Disabling a new Imac or new MP is about the same. Neither is made to be user serviced.

Parts for the nMP will also cost a fortune, as you can no longer just bang in replacement GPUs.
 
Go for the iMac.
Save the money, establish your workflow. Based on what you say right now the iMac is perfectly fine and in some cases outperforms the more expensive Mac Pro
 
I as a long term iMac user who now switched to the new mac pro would suggest you buy the iMac. Even a late 2012 imac is MORE than enough for most needs. It's a lovely machine really. Just get a 2nd display!
 
So you posted the same thing in the iMac forum...and, although I haven't read that thread, I assume they all said get the iMac (or most anyway). That's also what you're getting here (although I may or may not agree). So it looks unanimous. If you are willing to let other people tell you how to spend your money, then the iMac it should be!
 
Good news is if you order the nMP now you have about 4-6 weeks to change your mind lol. The iMac is a better buy but I just hate being tied down to the monitor that comes with it. If I'm buying the base model it's not so bad but to get the high end it's close to 3k.
 
The iMac makes a lot of sense. Tons of my college students are in a similar position to you as far as needs/budget, and the iMac has been a great solution. Adding more RAM, SSD, second monitor and nice external RAID would go a long way, and can happen as you can afford them.
 
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