The release of Apple’s new iMac line had me a little disappointed this morning. I was wondering why I hadn’t waited to purchase up one of the new 24″ iMac’s, until I realized I’d made the right move with the Mac Pro and I loved the machine to death.
Here’s a few reasons why you should purchase the upgradable Mac Pro over the non-upgradable iMac if you’re on the edge trying to decide which to pick up.
Ability To Run Two Large Displays
Sure, you could pair up a 24″ iMac with the 23″ Apple Cinema Display, but currently with the Mac Pro I have a 30″ Apple Cinema Display hooked up, and have the ability to add another down the track if I felt the need to do so. Two smaller screens vs two larger screens? Bigger is better in my opinion.
Mac Pro can run bigger displays, and more displays than the iMac.
Backup Drives Inside The Tower
If you need additional storage with an iMac you need to attach external drives to the machine, you can’t add more than a single drive inside the machine. With the Mac Pro, you can install up to four drives inside the tower, more if you’re willing to give up the second optical drive bay. This reduces desk clutter and keeps everything safe and tight inside the tower.
Mac Pro can have four internal drives installed.
Upgradability
The iMac is still the same as before in a form. It’s not a truly upgradable machine. Sure, you can pack in a 1TB hard-drive and 4GB of RAM, but will that really be all so impressive in three years time when you could have 32GB of RAM and four 1TB hard-drives in the Mac Pro? The Mac Pro allows you to upgrade almost every single internal item, including the processor, video card, memory, optical drives, and hard-drives.
Mac Pro can be expanded like mad.
Lifecycle
When the Mac Pro needs extra RAM, more internal HDD space, or a quicker processor, simply pop the unit open and install the components. With the iMac, once you hit a certain point, no more upgrades can be performed. In three years time when you need more than 4GB of RAM, you’ll have an iMac you need to get rid of which still has a perfectly fine screen, logical? Not really..
Mac Pro will last much longer.
Are you swayed yet? If you had $4000 in pocket and needed a new machine, which would you be opting for?