Quad Core iMac vs Quad Mac Pro

[SWAN808]

So the latest iMacs are looking pretty tasty - with the highest spec having the gorgeous 27" monitor with capacity for 16Gb RAM and a 2.66 i7 CPU.

My mate is looking to buy a new computer and was stretching to a base Mac Pro + monitor but now this iMac is on the cards it looks like an option.

He wont be using any DSP cards
He will have 1 FW interface
He will use a USB drive and 1/2 USB MIDI controller

Thus given that the new iMac can accommodate plenty of RAM/2TB Hard rive and an i7 Hyperthreading CPU - is there any reason not to go for one I have not thought of?

I keep wondering if there is more to the basic specs that make a Mac Pro better - or is it simple expandability? So someone just running Logic with loads of plugins the fast iMac is a pretty good option? After all - its prob faster than my first Gen Mac Pro...

[gdoubleyou]

He should be ok, it's so new that I've yet to see any benchmark comparisons.

The big pay off will come when apps support multi-threading, and 64bitness.

[Sky]

On paper, the new iMac i7 27.5" looks fantastic for audio. YMMV as I believe this model will not be available until November. It is the first iMac that has made me rethink my plans for a Mac Pro quad or octal.

An obvious tradeoff is expandability as you've mentioned. For example the Mac Pro can hold 4x removable hard drives internally, where I would probably connect an external 4-bay enclosure to the iMac. So for my needs the tradeoff is having a bit more cable clutter at a significant cost savings with the iMac.

Fyi, I ran the numbers and the new 27.5" iMac screen actually has slightly more pixels than my current dual 20" 1680 x 1050 setup. Pretty amazing. Your friend should definitely take a good look at the screen before buying because those pixels are tiny.

Sky

[SWAN808]

Originally Posted by gdoubleyou

He should be ok, it's so new that I've yet to see any benchmark comparisons.

The big pay off will come when apps support multi-threading, and 64bitness.

can you get the benefits of the i7 hyperthreading in Logic 9? I thought Snow Leopard was now 64 bit? If not then I guess there is no point in going higher than 4Gb RAM...

[MattiMattMatt]

Originally Posted by Sky

An obvious tradeoff is expandability as you've mentioned. For example the Mac Pro can hold 4x removable hard drives internally, where I would probably connect an external 4-bay enclosure to the iMac.

How would you do that? Which port would you use? (wouldn't you want to keep your firewire port open for your interface?)

[Nsound]

Hello!!

I want to buy a new Mac system and I'm very confused..
Whats the better choice?? whats the powerful system??

-I work in a mobile studio using Protools LE 8.0.4 + Music Production Toolkit + DV toolkit 2 & Digi 003+(Factory).
-I will not update my new mac system after buy it..
-I usually record 16 tracks at 44.1@24 at the same time
-I usually mix 50-60 tracks with a lot of L.E. pluguins.
-Some times I do audio postproduction work!

OPTIONS:

1)IMAC 27' i7

• 2.93GHz Quad-Core Intel Core i7
• 8GB 1333MHz DDR3 SDRAM - 2x4GB
• 1TB Serial ATA Drive + 256GB Solid State Drive (Audio + OS)
• 8x double-layer SuperDrive
• ATI Radeon HD 5750 1GB GDDR5 SDRAM
• Apple Wireless Keyboard (English) & User's Guide
• Magic Mouse

2)NEW MAC PRO QUADCORE Quad-Core Intel Xeon “Nehalem”3.2GHz

• One 3.2GHz Quad-Core Intel Xeon “Nehalem”
• 8GB (4x2GB) 1066MHz DDR3 ECC SDRAM
• None
• DISK 1:1TB 7200-rpm Serial ATA 3Gb/s hard drive (OS)
• DISK 2:1TB 7200-rpm Serial ATA 3Gb/s hard drive (Audio)
• None
• None
• ATI Radeon HD 5770 1GB
• One 18x SuperDrive
• None
• None
• Apple Magic Mouse
• Apple Keyboard with Numeric Keypad (English) & User's Guide

What is the better choice???
The price of 2 computers is very very similar..

Help me please!!

[Sky]

Nsound, I think you have two good choices that can work for you. With the iMac, you're more locked into the configuration (including that gorgeous 27" monitor), whereas the Mac Pro enables adding a third HD for samples, SSD, eSata and USB3 ports via PCIe if these matter to you.

One suggestion - avoid buying 2GB RAM chips for the Mac Pro if possible. Street prices for compatible 4GB chips have dropped quite a bit so you can easily install 12GB upgradable to 16GB for a reasonable cost. That's a comfortable minimum to really benefit from newer 64-bit apps that are starting to appear, and 24GB (3x 8GB) is even better.

Sky

[TNM]

and don't forget you can get that gorgeous 27" display for the mac pro now too

one thing that surprised me last night, was going to my friends house who just bought a brand new imac 2.8 i5, is how quiet it was.

I went there cause he's a mac newb to show him logic basics and ust set up some general system preferences, and over the two hours i couldn't hear the machine at all unless i specifically put my ear to the rear or top of it.

I'm now very tempted by the 27" i7 but i don't know what i'd do with my pcie powercore.... the way i would do it ssd + 1tb option internal, external FW bus powered ssd for audio, but then, even if i sell my powercore express and get an X8, can i even daisy chain a FW HDD to a powercore x8 without performance problems?

lots of decisions.

[Sky]

Originally Posted by TNM

and don't forget you can get that gorgeous 27" display for the mac pro now too

Yeah I was going to mention that Nsound can probably run three of the 27s on a Mac Pro.

one thing that surprised me last night, was going to my friends house who just bought a brand new imac 2.8 i5, is how quiet it was.

I'm impressed at how quiet the new 6-core is as well, especially compared to an older dual-G5. It's not silent like the iMac but good enough to sit next to the editing desk.

Sky

[aof21]

My G5 that I bought in 2005 has an extremely loud fan at this point and its starting to feel pretty sluggish.

It can mostly handle my sessions, but starts to get really choked up if I use too many soft synths concurrently, or once I get towards the end of my songs and I'm running a lot of automation, fx and especially if I throw any high quality mastering plugs on the master track, it can choke up completely even on the highest buffer.

I just sold my car so I can buy a new computer. So I'm thinking I'll get the iMac i7 with the 2tb drive and 4gb ram. MacPro just seems like way too much more money and I don't need any of the extra s*** like extra drive bays, PCIe, etc.

Also, no matter what I'm gonna have to upgrade my computer every few years, so I figure get the 3 yr apple care and upgrade for the better one at the end of that period.

My two friends who both work at Apple for Logic and do a lot of music stuff on their computers both say the iMac should be plenty for me. I, like a lot of people here I think was basing my opinion more on the old iMacs which I think were a different beast. Seems like these new ones are a lot more capable.

Anyone want to talk me out of it or should I go ahead and spend the $2,500 and grab this iMac?