Need mac help fast please (help!)

[ambientdoll]

Hi, i'm new to macs and have a quick question - i have found a mac pro very cheap. It is new & warranteed at a dealers i trust & purchase from regularly

the price is amazing, but it's an older quad core mac-pro using 2 x 2.66 dualcore xeon processors (does that sound correct?) which apparently runs a slower bus and slower ram

the question is this:

for editing video and mostly for running music s/w including audio-plugins (Logic pro) - assuming both machines had the same amount of ram; which'd be faster/offer most power:

a. this older mac quad core pro

or

b. a newer dualcore imac - say a 2.8 imac




i've been told that in fact the 2.8 iMac would offer more power (i'll get more plugin fx, s/w instruments and tracks etc) cos it has faster buss and ram even tho it has less cpu cores

is that true? - i need to act fast cos this mac pro is sooooo cheap someone'll snap it up soon - but is it really a bargain?

oh, btw this old mac pro quad is priced WAY less than a 24" 2.8 imac... like 300 GBP less and it is a fully warranteed ex-demo unit


mac experts help please?

 

[win32asmguy]

I would just get the Mac Pro. The processors, while only 2.6Ghz, run on a faster FSB (1333Mhz vs. 1066Mhz) and have more L2 cache (8MB vs. 6MB) so will more than likely "feel" just as fast or faster than the dual core 2.8Ghz iMac. Now, the 7300GT that those came with are somewhat inferior to the iMac's Radeon HD 2600 XT, but the card can be upgraded for an additional cost. Do you already have a nice LCD or would you ever aspire to get a 30" display for your workstation?

 

[ambientdoll]

cheers mate - well that the opposite of what i was told - i was told this mac pro runs 533 ram, and the imacs run 800 - is that a load of cock? (permission to say 'cock' captain)

so that's 100% is it?

also i remember reading an anadtech article where they bunged 2 quad core xeons into the old quad mac pro - i have the page saved. I assume i could do that with this mac pro quad yes?

as far as i can tell this mac pro runs not ONE single quad xeon like the new mac pros (if you buy the cheapest 2.8 quad) but has 2 x dualcore xeons

is that right? i'm kinda out of the loop for the last 1.5 years on cpu's

 

[KeithP]

I would get the Mac Pro. For a single threaded appication, I doubt you will see much difference but as soon as you start using the extra cores, the Mac Pro will have the advantage given its +2 cores. Plus, you have 4 internal HD bays compared to the iMac's single internal HD. If you need extra drives for separate scratch/data disks or if you want to go with a RAID 0 set up, you are much better off with the MacPro. Not to mention the greater RAM capacity and the upgradeable video card of the Mac Pro. Heck, you can even upgrade the CPUs in the Mac Pro although I don't think it is economically practical at this point.

-KeithP

 

[ambientdoll]

thanyou chaps! - i got it anyways for 500 GBP can you beleive, ex demo, warranteed for 2 years, lol bargain eh! at that price you cant argue now i just need 4gb of ram it's only got 1gb

i assume the best way to do that is rip out what's in it (i assume it's got 2 x 512mb) and bung in 4 x 1gb sticks from crucial right? or take it to 2gb with 2 more 512's? that'd work right?