........ its a consumer computer.
Really? No one will use the iMac for professional work? I didn't know that! I should cancel my order and get my Mac Pro back!
........ its a consumer computer.
Its socketed, you certainly can upgrade it.
They're socketed and they're using LGA 775 right now vs. the older mobile sockets.IIRC all of the iMacs from 2006 up have had their chips blatantly soldered onto their respective logic boards, effectively preventing tampering from all but the most skilled techs.
They're socketed and they're using LGA 775 right now vs. the older mobile sockets.
I thought that the Penryn iMacs used mobile chips were soldered in place? No idea about the new quad desktop chips though
I'm pretty sure that they have not been soldered on for quite some time. I took apart a white 24" Core Duo and that was not soldered it has a socket, even the core solo mini I took apart is not soldered.
The more recent 9400M G Mac minis are soldered.I'm pretty sure that they have not been soldered on for quite some time. I took apart a white 24" Core Duo and that was not soldered it has a socket, even the core solo mini I took apart is not soldered.
The more recent 9400M G Mac minis are soldered.
The quad imac is great and maybe faster than the base mac pro but if your a video professional the MP is the only choice. What if you need a KONA or blackjack card? What if you need more than 2 displays. MP supports 8. There are many advantages to the MP but no advantages for the common desktop user. If your a video pro you'll see why a quad MP is better than a quad imac. The Mac pro is really for just that. A pro. People who need many displays for editing or a KONA capture card. imac may be faster but its not more ideal for the pro so if your an average user go imac, if your a video pro, go MP. There are more reasons to call a machine PRO besides the cpu speed. CPU isnt everything. a video pro needs to be able to swap hard drives quickly and insert capture cards etc. you cant with an imac. They dont even make capture cards for the imac. Most video pros have there own displays and studio monitors set up so again the 27" isnt needed for he video editor/3D artist etc. Its for the graphic designer/home user.
not to mention that i7 has only one core running when hyper threading is active
while the xeon has its 4 cores active
The reasons the mac pro is better seem null and void. Yes you can upgrade the video card; to what?
You can also pay more for inferior hardware in a larger case with no display!
$2500 for a base MP gets you
One 2.66GHz Quad-Core Intel Xeon
3GB (3x1GB)
640GB 7200-rpm Serial ATA 3Gb/s
NVIDIA GeForce GT 120 512MB
While $2200 gets you this
2.8GHz Quad-Core Intel Core i7
4GB 1066MHz DDR3 SDRAM - 2x2GB
1TB Serial ATA Drive
ATI Radeon HD 4850 graphics with 512MB
Also, for video pros, server operations etc PCIe RAID cards are available from the likes of Super Talent which offer sustained 1400MBs/ read 1200MB/s write speeds. That's 11Gb/s real world.
Core i5 (Lynnfield) just has hyperthreading turned off so it won't step on the toes of the higher end and priced models. It's not an Apple only component either. I've had one since September.From what I have read this version of the i7 is pretty much an i5 with improved turbo boost and hyperthreading. On every other spec it is pretty much an i5. It makes me think that intel branded this baby just for Apple's marketing machine.
From what I have read this version of the i7 is pretty much an i5 with improved turbo boost and hyperthreading. On every other spec it is pretty much an i5. It makes me think that intel branded this baby just for Apple's marketing machine.
Hi,
I've been reading this thread and have got some interesting info. I myself am thinking of either getting the new i7 imac or possibly the 2008 8 core (two quad core chips) mac pro second hand from ebay. The mac pro will probably cost around $300-$400 more however, I have read that a true 8 core mac pro will probably work better than a quad core machine with hyper threading. I want the machine for music production, primarily using logic 9 and also pro tools le 8.
My main concern with getting the imac is the lack of expandability/inability to have more than 1 internal HD. However I am also concerned that by getting an "obsolete" 2008 Mac Pro I may find that I will need to upgrade again in a year or two's time.
At the moment I have heard that there are many problems with hyperthreading and audio. (Pro Tools definitely doesn't like it). However that will likely soon change and it will be very useful for loading multiple effects/pluggins.
What are the specs of the Mac Pro you are buying?
If Pro Tools still has issues with HyperThreading then you will most likely have to disable it, leaving you with a quad core.
What screen are you considering, a good 30" will be at least $1000+ on top of that Mac Pro.
The Mac Pro 08 is still a very good machine imo, I'm on one right now![]()