The IT Nerd

I just got this question a few minutes ago in my inbox that I wanted to respond to before I head out for the day:

Hello. I want to buy a new Mac, but I am torn between the new Mac Pro and the iMac. If I want the fastest Mac possible, which should I get? 

Thanks for taking the time to answer my question. 

Thanks for writing in. I really appreciate it.

The answer is that it depends on what you’re going to be doing with it. Certain applications will run better on the iMac vs. the Mac Pro and vice versa depending on whether they’ve been optimized to leverage the capabilities of the Mac in question. For example, Final Cut Pro X fully leverages the Mac Pro’s Xeon processors which makes it an ideal platform to edit HD video. Having said that, there is also the fact that any app that uses OpenCL and OpenGL should immediately benefit from the Mac Pro’s improved GPU (Graphics Processing Unit) performance versus the GPUs that come in other Macs. So you should expect that apps like Photoshop, After Effects, and the like will eventually be updated to leverage this. Thus the Mac Pro will eventually become the platform of choice for power users everywhere. Conversely if you use iMovie, you would actually get better performance from a fully loaded iMac with a i7 processor in it. Thus the Mac Pro for that use way beyond overkill.

So, if you need to buy now and you currently run applications like Final Cut Pro X that would leverage the Mac Pro today, feel free to put your credit card down for one. If you need to buy now and you don’t run apps that would take advantage of the Mac Pro’s capabilities, your better option is to go out and get a iMac fully loaded with an i7 processor and as much RAM and disk space as you can afford. This is important because just like the MacBook Pros with Retina Displays, you cannot upgrade them after the fact. So you should max it out right up front. Besides, it will cost you less than a Mac Pro. You can then spend the savings on a nice vacation.

This entry was posted on January 21, 2014 at 10:52 am and is filed under Tips with tags Apple. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.