Buying Advice Needed! What set-up for 1080P?

Question

Hi. I need some insight from you actual users out there. I am about to upgrade from my nearly 3-year old iMac (which was top of the line at the time). The vast majority of my usage will be for general computing work. I generally keep a lot of applications open so I can easily flip between things I need. So I want to make sure I don't get bogged down on a day-to-day basis at a minimum.
More importantly, though, the key heavy-duty function I want to tackle is editing 1080P video I import from my Canon 5D Mark II. I will mostly use FCE. I also do a fair amount of very high res photo management, although not a ton in Photoshop (use Aperture more).
Initially I had intended to get the top of the line iMac and upgrade to the ATI 4850 card. Then I decided maybe I should take the plunge and go for the Mac Pro to (1) be best prepared to take advantage of Snow Leopard's multi-core capabilities and (2) to be a little more future proof.
Here was the initial setup I thought about:
- Mac Pro 8-core 2.26 (go for octo vs. quad at 2.66 to best take advantage of Snow Leopard's upcoming GCD) and because price sort of washes out if you want to go > 8GB of RAM
- EVGA 850 video card (seems to have much more room for growth, given additional RAM, threads, etc.)
- ACD 30" -- for the real estate and in large part because the 24" Apple LED display will not work with the EVGA card
Key questions for all of you:
1. Is the Mac Pro just way overkill? Again, I will be doing occasional 1080P editing and I worry that even the 8450 top of line iMac might struggle
2. Will the EVGA card be much better for me than the ATI 4870?
3. Views on the 30" ACD? I struggle with the idea that this is a 5-year old model, but love the real estate and the tighter dot pitch. But I also am not sure that the matte effect doesn't feel like it blurs text a bit
4. Should I be wary that I find myself in the middle of a refresh cycle? e.g., should I hold off for a bit because we shouldn't be far from an update and/or price cut?
Thank you all for any input you may have!

Answer 1

Mac pro always. Unless you're only using it for browsing and office apps; anything graphics or video related, go for mac pro. Rather than more power cpu wise, the expansion ability always wins for me.
A lot of people talk about MP being overkill for certain things, well personally the fact that it's overkill makes me feel good. If you're presently overkilling something, it means you're getting the fastest possible speed for what you're doing. Also overkill now, will be standard in like 2 years.
Multi cores, alot of ram, and scratch disks will all help you do video and photography more faster and easier. Also having multiple hard drives gives options like consolidation of apps and user/data; giving a nice clean boot drive. Not to mention ability to install SSDs, which are very in now.
The 30" ACD is pure sickness. I want to buy one everytime I go into the apple store. Also matte display is way better than glossy, for everything. Just my opinion though.
On the issue of 285 vs. 4870, for you, either is ok imo. Do you game a lot in windows? You might though want to check the benchmarks from barefeats when they come out on the 285 with core apps.
http://www.barefeats.com/index.html
If the benchmarks for core apps is good enough for you on the 285, stick with the stock GT 120, and buy the 285. That way you also have the MDP option for newer apple displays in the future. The nvidia cards together will play better with one another.
For the refresh cycle, its up to you really...if you need it soon or not. However 6-core nehalems are coming. Not around the corner...but will be here.
http://www.engadget.com/2009/06/11/six-core-intel-nehalem-processors-in-the-work s/