So, thinking about buying a new mac. What should I get? What's the best bang for my buck?

Thoughts please!! Thanks!!

Abby

Just to clarify, the Mac Pro has an intel processor, not a G5.

If your asking between the 24" iMac and the PowerMac G5 I would go with the 24" iMac, particularly if you don't already have a monitor.

If you're asking about the Mac Pro, I would go that route if you can afford it, and if you do have a nice monitor. If you don't have a monitor and are tight on cash, the 24" iMac is a great option.

I hope that wasn't too confusing!

My vote is for the next revision of the Mac Pro, likely to appear some time this Spring and the Adobe CS3 announcement. With the very real possibility of a whole new form factor, 8-cores, and HD/Blu-ray next generation drives in the next iteration of the MacPro née PowerMac, I'd hold off.

MacRumors.com has a good buying guide with recommendations based on product cycle history. At this time the word is: "Buy only if you need it - Approaching the end of a cycle"

MacPro vs iMac is an interesting discussion in itself, but the short version of my opinion is that the MacPro is a much better buy for a serious photographer because it is expandable:

• Four internal hard drives --with the ability to drop in an SATA host card and connect n more drives -- means real storage for those RAW files.
• You're not locked in to a fixed monitor, so if you want to go high end and get the Eizo 24" or something that is an option versus the iMac.
• You can add a second burner -- possibly one of those Blu-ray or HD-DVD drives for ridiculous storage.
• More RAM slots.
• Multiple processors with multiple cores (MacPro) versus one processor with multiple cores (iMac).

Either way you're making a good decision. I'd lean towards high-end now because you're guaranteed to buy a machine that's "obsolete" as soon as you ring it up. The better you buy now the longer it stays within that bubble of "minimum" system requirements for the programs you use.

The thing I've liked the most about our PowerMac G5 (dual 2.5) is how it's still a really fast machine that meets our needs. From my own experience it seems like Apple doesn't necessarily force it's installed base to upgrade hardware every new release to enjoy new features. Every new version of OS X 10.4.x feels a little sleeker and more efficient than the last. Using the Panther (10.3) to Tiger (10.4) upgrade as a reference I'd imagine Leopard is going to run great on our G5 and even squeeze a few extra horsepower out of those "old" G5 chips.

The bang for the buck argument winner is definitely the MacPro if you don't intend to replace your system in less than two to three years. Expect to spend at least $4000 by the time you're done getting the box, monitor (check out those refurbs!), RAM, extra HDDs (500GB SATAs), and extras. Once you've done that you should be able to slow down on the computer purchases for a while!

Good luck!

Edit: I didn't put that thumbnail/image attachment there. When I tried to delete it I got an error. Boo.

I'm really happy with my 24" imac. Upgrade the RAM and video card and it's nice and quick with Lightroom and 5D RAW files.

The Mac Pro is a better machine and has a lot going for it, but it wasn't in my price range. I'll be happy for quite a while!

If you can, wait till either March 27th (possible release of CS3) or April 15th (NAB where Final Cut Pro and Final Cut Extreme are supposed to be released with the new 8 core Mac Pro)

hey abby!

I think i'd go with the mac pro...the 24 inch imac is nice but if you can afford the mac pro all around its a more solid long term investment and its more bang for the buck!

Make sure to investigate educational discounts/business discounts apple has and get applecare and all that good stuff

Damon makes tons of great points, but to be honest, once the "new" line comes out, there is one right behind that one too. So I always find it's better to purchase as needed, rather than waiting for the next greatest and latest.

Having said that...it really depends on what exactly you want to do with the processor. If you process huge files in Aperture, you might want to go the dual core Xeon route (not a G5) rather than an iMac because you can upgrade to 4 GB ram etc. So look at your image management system, and then buy what you need to make that happen.

I decided on a Xeon 4GB hands down. Quite the investment, but trying to process 1000s of 47GB files in Aperture made that decision real easy!

PS...not a terrible idea to buy both the MacPro and iMac! The new iMacs make great slideshow systems!! And the prices are incredible! Frees up your Xeon to do all the manly stuff too. Ideal world situation...we can dream!

Thank you. I definitely agree that as soon as the "new" MacPro comes out there will be chatter about the next one. That is why it's best to buy at the bleeding edge right after one of the product line revisions. Most Apple watchers are expecting something later this month or next.



Geneve: 47MB files!?! Are you shooting with a digital back on a medium format camera?

What do you do for storage? Do you have a file server?

EDIT: 47 MB not GB

Well, my RAW files out of my Canon 1Ds MkII are 47 mb. I use external hard drives, but recently the folks at Aperture suggested a RAID??? Know anything about it? I'm kinda out of the tech loop since I shoot all film for weddings, but all digital for portrait biz. Steep learning curve to say the least!! Any advice?

I started a new thread so as not to hijack this one.

http://www.opensourcephoto.net/forum/index...showtopic=7672#