How many threads are there like this?

Anyways, I have a different friend that is putting himself through hell trying to decide if he should spring for a MacPro or play it safe and get an iMac. I told him to go all the way. He's getting work now and he can afford it. I told him it's his career and he should get something that will render fast and not choke on stuff. Or maybe a 21" iMac will be enough for him?

I need ammo to convince him he needs the best!

If the decision had to be made *today*, I'd actually tell him to get an top-o-the-line iMac with maxed-out RAM.

Apple is VERY likely to do a "pro upgrade" to their aging Mac Pro line in the near future (I know people have said this for about four years now, but seriously now that Intel has the iCore chips in the pipeline it is most incumbent on Apple to update the line very soon), and the new Mac Pros are rumoured to be TEH AWSUM as the kids say.

This is one of those rare moments where you actually WILL kick yourself for not waiting a bit longer to hold out for a Mac Pro. Hopefully he won't have much longer to wait.

According to Lloyd Chambers (found his blog off a Nikon blog I frequent), he recommends the Pro as the iMac is a dead end product.

Macintosh Performance Guide (http://macperformanceguide.com/index.html)

I'd got with a Pro as well, but like chas says I'd hold off until they're revised.

See this guide for a life cycle overview on Apple products:

Mac Buyer's Guide: Know When to Buy Your Mac, iPod or iPhone (http://buyersguide.macrumors.com/)

Using that you can sorta gauge when you should buy something.. it's saved me in the past... except for in 2003 when I bought an iPod and they came out with a new one not more than 2 days later.

I'd go with a MacPro without hesitation. Much longer legs/lifespan and more options for updating it -- especially if he's doing any amount of rendering. More ram, hard drives, video cards, etc. With iMacs you don't have near the upgrade options as a MacPro.

This is one of those rare moments where you actually WILL kick yourself for not waiting a bit longer to hold out for a Mac Pro. Hopefully he won't have much longer to wait.

On the contrary ... I'd do some research and scrambling and try and find the previous gen 8-core MacPro. Bang for the buck they still kick the latest MacPro machines and there's still some floating around. screature saw some 8-core 3Ghz models on the refurb store a little while back that were a killer deal, especially considering they come with full warranty, etc.

Agreed, the 8-core 2.8 GHz Mac Pros sometime show up for 2499$, that's a pretty good price for a killer system.

Luc

As a 27-inch iMac owner, I'll say this: get the Mac Pro.

The new iMacs are great, but when you say "animation and video," that probably means there will be lots of content created -- which means lots of disk space. Yes, you can outfit an iMac with a 2TB drive, but it's probably smarter to have a second hard drive for your content and to have the option of a third, a fourth, or just replacing the drive yourself.

That and you can, in fact, push a Mac Pro hard while encoding animation or video; 1080p or intense 3D rendering will do it.

Depending on timing, your friend could ideally get something closer to late winter or spring, when Intel should have new Xeons. If that's too far away, it may make more sense to get a refurb of the current models.

Mac Pro or Comparable Hackintosh. Throw a SSD and a i7 in there and you'll tear it up :D

MacPro. You can't beat the simplicity of the four removable drive sleds.