Mac Pro vs iMac

Question

Yesterday, talking with a couple of Pi memebers, one remarked that they were
waiting on the the release of the new OS, and then planned to buy a new quad
whatever MacPro.
I remarked that that had been my plan, but that now I was thinking about a new
iMac instead.
My friend, like me who do a lot of video stuff, reacted -- 'Why would you even
consider that, the 'quad' machines are so much faster.'
I said, something to this effect: Yes, I'm sure that the MacPros are faster --
for pros, for whom time is money, e.g., who do a lot of heavy duty lifting (you
can see how technical I am), but for us, whose biggest demand is rendering or
compressing at most an hours worth of video, the time difference would be
measured in seconds, not minutes nor hours, yet the cost difference would be
measured in hundreds of dollars.
My question is this: if, in the most extreme case, we'd be
rendering/compressing a bit of video, is there a 'substantial' difference in
the proformance of a Mac Pro vs an iMac. Let's assume for the sake of this
question, that we'd beefed up the iMac, e.g., added ram, got the best video
card, etc.
Can anyone offer any insights, or point me to a site the offers comparisons (I
can understand)?
Thanks,
Hal
PS: My search led me to sites such as this, but I don't know enough to know how
to judge his comments:
http://blog.crankybit.com/mac-pro-vs-imac/

Answer 1

I intend to wait at least until Leopard emerges from the shadows to purchase my first Mac. But until that moment in time arrives, there is not a single day that goes by where I do not mentally review many of the Mac products...periodically going back and forth between the lower-cost systems and the higher-cost ones.
Like you, I recently (over the last few days) began leaning towards the iMac instead of the Mac Pro Quad-Core product that initially captivated my consumer interest. I am primarily music-oriented (Logic Studio will be my first add-on software product) but I also have an interest in getting into video-production later on down the road perhaps initially as an amateur hobbyist but without ruling out future career possibilities in that field. But cost-wise, when I saved my shopping cart at apple.com that had a maxed-out (beefed-up) iMac and compared it to my previously-saved cart with the 3.0GHz Quad-Core Mac Pro, there was not that big of a price difference between the two (as long as I did not get carried away with filling each Mac Pro hard drive bay with 750 GB HD'S). I am referring to a difference here of around $1000 to $1500 depending mainly on my selection of hard drives (how many and what sizes). 4 GB of RAM was a minimum for both carts but have you noticed how much more they charge to upgrade RAM for an iMAC ($700 to go from 2 GB to 4 GB on an iMAC compared to $699 to go from 1 GB to 4 GB of RAM on a Mac Pro)? And I could be wrong but I think that lots of RAM would be helpful when it comes to digitally editing video whether one is a pro or not.
But then I began researching (mainly at wikipedia.org + googling) the different types of processors used in each of these systems and the more I read online about the ones found in Mac Pro's...
"Processors: Two dual-core Xeon 5100 Series ("Woodcrest" Core microarchitecture with EM64T instruction set) processors at 2.0, 2.66 or 3.0 GHz, or two quad-core Xeon 5300 Series ("Clovertown") processors at 3.0 GHz"
...the more I realized that for a little bit more money (relatively speaking) than an iMAC, I can get the superior processing power offered by the amazingly robust and exceedingly powerful Xeon 5300 Series "Clovertown" processors plus an expandably-friendly hardware interface that is inherently included in the Mac Pro's superbly ingenious design structure as opposed to paying a little bit less to get something that I am very likely to "outgrow" within a short period of time.
Rumor has it that Benjamin Franklin would make a written list of all the pro's and con's affiliated with different decisions he needed to make. I have not done this yet but this might be a good way to see in black and white before my very eyes all of the positives and negatives affiliated with each of the Mac products I am presently considering to purchase. By negative, I mean things like "more expensive"..."not expandable"...etc. Oh yeah. I almost forgot to mention (if I am remembering correctly) that he would count up the number of pro's and con's (pluses and minuses) and then use that data to assist him in reaching a final decision.
When all is said and done for me, I shall most likely choose to invest in the latest technology that I won't need to upgrade at least for three years (when my Mac Pro extended warranty expires). But like I said at the beginning, I do find myself being tossed about daily upon the dreaded sea of indecision.
So, here are my suggestions to you:
1) Try saving different shopping carts with different products to make it easier for you to see how much you will save between your choices and then compare what those price differences mean as far as what you are getting for your money.
2) Continue to ask around as you are doing here to get input from others to assist you in your personal evaluation process. Also, do your own independent research online since many helpful articles are only one google-click away.
3) Remember not to be solely influenced by the numbers (tech specs) that are displayed by each product. Unlike the Xeon 5100 "Woodcrest" or quad-core 5300 "Clovertown" processors used in the Mac Pro, iMACs use a:
"2.0GHz or 2.4GHz Intel Core 2 Duo processor, or 2.8GHz Intel Core 2 Extreme processor".
This is not to say they (the Core 2 Duo processors) are not good, but it would be both reasonable and fair to say that they are different from what the Mac Pro uses and IMHO based on all that I have learned so far, the quad-core Xeon 5300 Series "Clovertown" processors are the best I could ever hope to have at my personal disposal when typing various commands for them to faithfully follow and expeditiously execute.
But I do stress this final point about the different processors being used (if not the main point of my response to your posting) only because early on in my preliminary research, I did not even realize that there are different types of processors being used in the different categories of Mac products currently on the market.
If I knew more about cars, I would use an engine analogy here but I am not mechanically inclined so I won't even try. Instead I would simply say that I do not want my spontaneous creativity to be hindered by technology that lags behind me.
Be of good cheer for Leopard should soon appear sometime this year although the exact day remains rather unclear!