Mac Pro or not?

[Mactux]

Hello out there!

My iMac is a 2.66 ghz ( 4 gigs ram) early 2008.

I d'ont use my mac for specifics tasks like adobe products or even editing tools. nor I oft play game ( sometimes call of or 3D shooter).
Sometimes I need photoshop. But a few programs are running in the background; air video server, eyetv for live tv streaming, iTunes films library for streaming to the Apple tv.
Converting and importing movies using the hardware legato Turbo 264 HD, downloading movies and songs, oft importing photo to iPhoto or Aperture 2.
Also i do some backup with time machine on en external hard drive… but believe it or not the iMac comes to get tired… spinning ball coming more often… and if I want to open up
excel file ( including macros) that's enough for the iMac...


So to get short,
I don't game much ( but when I do everything must be ok )
I don't use much programs like Adobe suite ( but when I do everything must run smoothly)
I do use many programs ( some of them background one) at the same time

Considering all that, I was wondering if should go for a MacPro ( 2.66 ghz or 2.8 ghz) or even a new mac mini core i7 bur as stated when I am playing game it must be all right…
What do you think guys

thank you

 

[flatfoot]

You don't need a Mac Pro. Go with a mini or an iMac.
If I were in your shoes, I'd rather get the iMac with the fastest CPU available and max out the RAM with aftermarket parts. If I went mini, I'd do those two, too.

 

[deconstruct60]

Hello out there!

My iMac is a 2.66 ghz ( 4 gigs ram) early 2008.

Is there something restricting you to just 4GB of RAM ?

That's not much if running a couple of applications at the same time with a large footprint. Try running Activity Monitor (in the Utilities folder). If your disk activity read/write rate is very slow ( hundreds of kb/s ) and/or swap used high (and page outs GB much better than than RAM size after running after a fresh boot for a while) then you may not be getting everything you can out of your iMac.

Your disk could be highly fragmented or dying for slow rates. Similarly, you may need to just bump up to 8GB. If running Mountain Lion (or Lion) probably should be up at 8GB anyway.

Also i do some backup with time machine on en external hard drive… but believe it or not the iMac comes to get tired…

Backing up over USB 2.0? If so that wouldn't be surprising. Again kick off a full backup and see what the data rates are in a tool like Activity Monitor.

What do you think guys

Find out why it is slow then that will lead to insights on what to buy to solve the problem.

 

[Mactux]

Max pro or not ?

Hi,

I already considered to upgrade the quantity of RAM, but according specs the maximum i can put into the iMac is 6 Gb using third party software.
it 'll not bring much difference swapping them imo.
Also I could place a big ssd drive ( not me but a tech)...

While backing-up the monitor activity shows me a rate of Max of 6.7 Mo/s at this very moment…
I am running OSX Lion.
This is why a mac pro could help me ( expandability in term of RAM CPU GPU drive, etc...).

Thanks for your quick replies guys!

 

[Coldmode]

Hi,

I already considered to upgrade the quantity of RAM, but according specs the maximum i can put into the iMac is 6 Gb using third party software.
it 'll not bring much difference swapping them imo.
Also I could place a big ssd drive ( not me but a tech)...

While backing-up the monitor activity shows me a rate of Max of 6.7 Mo/s at this very moment…
I am running OSX Lion.
This is why a mac pro could help me ( expandability in term of RAM CPU GPU drive, etc...).

Thanks for your quick replies guys!

Just get a new iMac with 16GB of RAM. It will be much cheaper than a Mac Pro and you'll be able to use it for years. However, if you just want a Mac Pro, go for it. I don't particularly need a Mac Pro, but I like them for the easy swapability of components.

 

[derbothaus]

Just get a new iMac with 16GB of RAM. It will be much cheaper than a Mac Pro and you'll be able to use it for years. However, if you just want a Mac Pro, go for it. I don't particularly need a Mac Pro, but I like them for the easy swapability of components.

Unless of course the display dies after 1.5 years or 3.5 years. Then it is an oddly shaped tower. Get the RAM from anyone other than Apple. Which means get a 27".

 

[Mactux]

New Mac Pro owner

Hello all,

I finally pulled the trigger on a second hand Mac pro 2008! specs in the signature.

It wasn't that easy to make the choice between an new Imac or this Mac pro but considering what i do and the possibilty to upgrade some components, I guess the mac pro meet my need. Ok I do not use ( yet ?) FCP and logic and so on but that's not important to me.
That thing runs quite fast and smoothly. I am pretty happy right now!!
I plan to swap the internal hdd against two SSD drive ( raid 0) and put the regular hdd in raid 1. Further swap the graphic card. So I 'll be done for a few years I guess!

In any case, thx for your comments!!

 

[Phrygian]

You don't need a Mac Pro. Go with a mini or an iMac.
If I were in your shoes, I'd rather get the iMac with the fastest CPU available and max out the RAM with aftermarket parts. If I went mini, I'd do those two, too.

mheh... only issue i have with the imac is you can't uprade the GPU

 

[pprior]

No specs in the signature

Make sure at -least- 8gb of ram in there.

Enjoy.

 

[Mactux]

Hi!

Signature was normally enabled!

Yes the Mac has at least 8 Gb of Ram...

thx!!