iMac vs Mac Pro decision

Red Alert

I have an early 2007 Macbook Pro, and want to get a desktop. I'm having major difficulty picking between these two combinations:

Option 1 - iMac
27", SSD+1TB, i7
RAM upgrade from Crucial to 8GB.

Option 2 - Mac Pro
Quad-core, base configuration.
RAM upgrade from Crucial to 8GB.
Add SSD afterwards.
Budget for buying TV to replace monitor that I currently use for TV, and using the monitor for the Mac Pro. (It's a BenQ 24")

I definitely want an SSD for the boot drive, and I figure the 8GB mark is about right for RAM since I do tend to use VMWare a lot. The machine will be used for general surfing, Aperture, Mac Development, iOS Development and will run a Windows 7 guest via VMWare for Visual Studio.

I currently have a monitor (BenQ 24") that I can use for the Mac Pro if necessary. I've used this display for my Macbook Pro too and it's very easy on the eye.

For the time being, it'll be in my otherwise quiet bedroom. Although it'll be off or sleeping at night, I'm not a fan of anything noisy. From my days of building PC's, it's very hard to get anything relatively silent. Anecdotally the Mac Pro is quiet, but depending on what you read on the net, how quiet is quiet? The iMac does appear to be silent.

Anyone able to chime in in favour of either option?

PeakOutput

i have the imac 27inch 1tb no ssd

beautifull

silent

fast

great for media

screen is excellent

if i was buying again though id buy a macbook pro

i guess your only decision really is with regards to the monitor. are you happy with a 24inch or do you think the extra is worth it for the sweet 27inch imac screen

Freddie59

PeakOutput wrote: »

i have the imac 27inch 1tb no ssd

beautifull

silent

fast

great for media

screen is excellent

if i was buying again though id buy a macbook pro

i guess your only decision really is with regards to the monitor. are you happy with a 24inch or do you think the extra is worth it for the sweet 27inch imac screen

Same here. +1 to all of that (except the MBP bit). Sweet machine. Go on.........get the 27"!!:D

Talisman

If you want a big box that intermittently sounds like a jet engine then get a Mac Pro.

Seeing as you already have the monitor, have you considered the Mac mini?

Whatever you decide, get the stock RAM from Apple. The markup they make on RAM upgrades is obscene.

ingen

PeakOutput wrote: »

i have the imac 27inch 1tb no ssd

beautifull

silent

fast

great for media

screen is excellent

if i was buying again though id buy a macbook pro

i guess your only decision really is with regards to the monitor. are you happy with a 24inch or do you think the extra is worth it for the sweet 27inch imac screen

i had the same decision didnt know what to get, between the imac 27" or macbook pro. went with the macbook pro in the end, 15" i7, 15 secs from pressing the power button , and im sitting at the desktop screen, nice and fast!

cornbb

I use a Mac Pro, in the 15 or so months I've had it I've never once heard a decibel from it. They can be loud when pushed hard (which I rarely do with mine) but if the machine is actually idle in your room while you sleep then you won't hear a peep from it.

You might be better off with the iMac, unless you need the power/expandability of the MP. The extra 3" of display space is worth a lot IMO. You could even consider buying a Mac Mini and an extra display, it could probably handle the workload you described.

Red Alert

There's an SSD-only 27" on the Refurb store now... it's 2349 (vs 2595 for the SSD+1TB iMac new). All my stuff wouldn't fit on it, but I do have external drives. Should I just bite the bullet and get the dual or might this do the trick?

Red Alert

Went ahead and did it - 27" iMac w/ 1TB and SSD arriving next week

PeakOutput

Red Alert wrote: »

There's an SSD-only 27" on the Refurb store now... it's 2349 (vs 2595 for the SSD+1TB iMac new). All my stuff wouldn't fit on it, but I do have external drives. Should I just bite the bullet and get the dual or might this do the trick?

as far as i know you can add regular internal hard drives to an imac that has an ssd but you cant add an ssd drive to an imac that dosnt come with one. so you could buy it and then put in an after market hd

minikin

If you want a big box that intermittently sounds like a jet engine then get a Mac Pro.

Is this from personal experience talisman? They're absolutely silent - some of the old G5's had a noise issue but have never had a bad experience with any of our mac pros!

cornbb

minikin wrote: »

Is this from personal experience talisman? They're absolutely silent - some of the old G5's had a noise issue but have never had a bad experience with any of our mac pros!

Agreed that with normal day-to-day usage they are completely silent, but if you start to push them hard and for a long time, they sound like they're gonna take off.

This is rare though. Will only happen if you're pushing all cores to 100% for an extended period.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5DBqNHormTs

Freddie59

Red Alert wrote: »

Went ahead and did it - 27" iMac w/ 1TB and SSD arriving next week

Good on ya! Enjoy!:D

Talisman

minikin wrote: »

Is this from personal experience talisman? They're absolutely silent - some of the old G5's had a noise issue but have never had a bad experience with any of our mac pros!

A friend works for a company that digitises movies - the software they use can make the Mac Pros howl.

Red Alert

Writing this post from the new machine, it's unbelievable how fast it is.