Saying goodbye to Mac Pro?

Question

Hi guys,
I'm sure this topic has been talked over many times, but I would really like your opinion in my particular situtation.
I own an early 2008 Mac Pro with 2x3.2 Quad Core Intel Xeon 8GB RAM and Radeon 2600XT + 30" cinema display. It suites my needs for now but I'm thinking of changing my setup.
I was thinking about selling this setup and buying a 27" iMac with i7 processor. This would also left me some money to buy a thunderbolt external Raid storage. Please tell me if this move is rational
I'm using my Mac for editing (mostly ProRes or XDCAM - no R3D or other uncompressed formats) and graphic&motion design (photoshop & After Effects).
//My thoughts are that I rarely use all 8 cores and I would much more like to take advantage of thunderbolt port by purchasing Promise Pegasus storage and Black Magic Design Ultra Studio 3D. Also I had some problems in the past upgrading my graphics card: my 30" display produced a lot of noise in pure black areas, so I would rather buy a fully functional setup.
I'll be happy with any kind of advice
Maciek

Answer 1

Yes, but i7's now are just an interim step.
Intel will be ready to ship X79 chipsets in August. The X58 replacement is long overdue. quad memory channels and a whopping 14 Serial ATA ports, the X79 is clearly designed for workstations and servers.
LGA 2011 - Ivy Bridge socket support (Wiki)
Report: 7-series Intel Ivy Bridge chipsets March 2012
What the Mac Pro needs: SATA3 6G / PCIe 3.0 / quad-channel memory
Besides which not every software program you will be using do you want to be stuck running having to use Lion today. 
it usually takes six months from the time there are engineering samples and prototype systems until they can find their way into new workstations, and another 3-6 months if you want to skip the early steppings and revisions.
And what would an up-coming Ivy Bridge Xeon look like?
List of Intel Sandy Bridge Xeons Processors
Intel® Xeon® Processor E3-1290 (8M Cache, 3.60 GHz)
And what does the high-end offer today? well Apple charges $1200 for 6-core 3.3 which is twice what the newer replacement processor, W3680 $619.
Intel® Xeon® Processor 3600 Series
The MacPro1,1 was actually developed in 2005, over a year before it saw the light of day, and even though base 2.66 has changed to 2.8 (2008), 2.66 (again, 2009) and back to 2.8 (2010) the processor computing index of power keeps showing improvement.
So what would 3.6GHz 4-core base do? Yes, the high end iMac has i7-2600k (or could) with 3.4GHz
Your iMac i5? no thanks. So that leaves BTO 17 w/ $200 extra and other upgade/expansion costs, and lack of future upgrades made easy.
So while people may like the ZXY, whether laptop or all in one, when it comes to 3-6 yr investment... no. You can still use and upgade that MacPro1,1 (circa 2005 remember) with X5355 8-core, ATI 5770 and the memory is now almost affordable (4 x 2GB $295 is not cheap but they are FBDIMM ECC unfortunately).
the 3.2 8-core 2008 was the first real refresh of the Mac Pro line and that particular model should still hang in for a year until Lion matures; and Ivy Bridge based systems are realized.
I would save $300 and buy the following, and upgrade it with that W3680 on your own.
Refurbished Mac Pro 2.8GHz Quad-Core Intel Xeon - Apple Store (U.S.)