Used Mac Pro or iMac

[miap123]

Hello there,

I was wondering if anyone had any thoughts advice on buying second-hand Mac desktop.

I'm looking at either a Mac Pro (2010) 8-core (Xeon), 24Gb Ram or an iMac (2012/2013) i5 quad-core, 32Gb Ram.

Both should upgrade to the latest OS, but then no further, which I'm ok with.

I need it for heavy data analysis. So I'm particularly interested in speed and running multiple apps at the same time.

Anyone have any idea as to what would be the faster/better model?

Many thanks!

 

[Naimfan]

I'd go for the MP.

 

[filmak]

Mac Pro, full the way!

 

[abdyfranco]

Mac Pro FTW!

 

[miap123]

Well that was an easy vote
Many thanks everyone

 

[bsbeamer]

If you ask in an iMac forum you may get a different answer. The majority of users in this forum will vote Mac Pro hands down every time, unless it’s a trash can Mac Pro.

 

[filmak]

If you ask in an iMac forum you may get a different answer. The majority of users in this forum will vote Mac Pro hands down every time, unless it’s a trash can Mac Pro.

A "trash can" Mac Pro is also preferable too than an iMac for the OP needs.
So, yes, MacPro.

 

[Darmok N Jalad]

You can get way more threads out of the 5,1 MP. You could add a pair of hex-core Xeons to get 12C/24T. The i5 in the iMac is 4C/4T. For what it's worth, the W3690 6-core in my old MP benched slightly faster than my i5-7500 in my new iMac in multi-thread, with my i5-7500 having an edge in single thread. I don't think it will be that close of a contest against a 2013 iMac.

 

[orph]

what is "I need it for heavy data analysis"

from what i know unix/linux is where that is and on a budget a used xeon or new ryzen cpu are the budget kings depending on what app you use and how it scales.

unless you can offload to GPU's then you want a simple cpu with as much GPU as you can thro at it. (tho some times single core speed can matter here as tasks are pased around)

any way macpro v imac will depend if it scales well then the mac pro may win (with a cpu upgrade, the stock 8c was 2.4ghz?) but you will want to think about the cost of upgrading.