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Author Topic: iMac vs. Mac Pro with a third party monitor  (Read 8030 times)

cerett

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iMac vs. Mac Pro with a third party monitor
« on: April 01, 2013, 04:03:17 pm »

I am badly in need of some advice. My current Mac Pro is 7 years old and in need of an upgrade. I had originally planned on purchasing a new Mac Pro and a 30" NEC display with SpectrVision. Apple suggested that I consider an iMac by itself or an iMac along with an NEC monitor. My concern about the current Mac Pro is the lack of things like thunderbolt and the real possibility of a new model in the near future. Does the lack of thunderbolt on the current Mac Pro make that much of a difference? Is it possible to properly calibrate an iMac and get accurate colors on my printer? Do I need the NEC for this purpose. I would appreciate any and all advice on this difficult decision. Thank you.
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Walt Roycraft

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Re: iMac vs. Mac Pro with a third party monitor
« Reply #1 on: April 01, 2013, 04:56:38 pm »

I just upgraded (January)from an iMac (monitor sucks) to a Mac Mini with NEC PA241W
I had OWC install an SSd drive and max out memory.
Really enjoying having a calibrated monitor and fast computer.

Something to consider...
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LawrenceBraunstein

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Re: iMac vs. Mac Pro with a third party monitor
« Reply #2 on: April 02, 2013, 08:11:10 am »

Certainly a well calibrated wide-gamut NEC display will help you with critical color work more than any iMac will (or any Apple display, for that matter). Apple has promised a new, upgraded Mac Pro for 2013. When it will appear and what it will have is anyone’s guess, though there’s reason to believe it will offer thunderbolt and/or USB 3.0 port(s). If you can wait (...and have the money!), this - combined with an NEC display - would definitely offer you the best possible hardware.

Another alternative would be to upgrade the present Mac Pro with, for example, a fast SSD (mine rests in the lower optical drive bay of my 2009 Mac Pro), a USB 3.0 PCIe card (can warmly recommend those from CalDigit), increased memory, and perhaps a RAID 0 (Stripe) system utilizing two of the four internal hard drive bays.  This would certainly offer you more than enough performance for any photo processing you need to do.

Best of luck,

Larry
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Tim_Smith

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Re: iMac vs. Mac Pro with a third party monitor
« Reply #3 on: April 06, 2013, 11:18:12 pm »

I too have an older Mac Pro and have decided to wait for Apple to announce a new model (rumored to happen this year.) In the meantime, I've added a couple SSDs, more RAM and a new video card. It runs a 27" Eizo beautifully and the entire thing is a stable computing money maker. The ability to refresh the guts of the Mac Pro (up to a point) is one of the advantages of the tower concept vs. the all-in-one iMac. At this point, it's performing so well that I'll probably let others be the early adopters of the upcoming (hopefully) 2013 model Mac Pro.
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Lee Rentz

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Re: iMac vs. Mac Pro with a third party monitor
« Reply #4 on: April 06, 2013, 11:54:04 pm »

I was in the same situation with an aging pre-Intel Mac Pro, and decided I couldn't wait for the forthcoming 2013 model. I chose a top Mac Mini with maximum ram and fusion drive. It is extremely fast, and is paired with an NEC 27" with Spectraview. I have gradually come to appreciate the flexibility of using external drives, so I no longer miss having all the internals combined in a tower. I think that with the Mini, Apple pretty much proved that a lot of creatives simply don't need a tower.
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digitaldog

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Re: iMac vs. Mac Pro with a third party monitor
« Reply #5 on: April 07, 2013, 01:48:20 pm »

Nothing special in terms of Apple display's, go NEC.
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nemo295

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Re: iMac vs. Mac Pro with a third party monitor
« Reply #6 on: April 09, 2013, 06:14:32 pm »

Nothing special in terms of Apple display's, go NEC.

Agreed. Apple is very sparse with their monitor specs. Whereas most manufacturers will tell you how much of the sRGB or AdobeRGB gamut their high end models can reproduce, Apple isn't forthcoming with that information. In fact, they make no claims about color fidelity at all. Even Dell makes a 27" LED backlit monitor that can show better than 99% of AdobeRGB (the U2713HM)--that's outstanding. And it costs $399 less than Apple's Thunderbolt display.
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Jeremy Roussak

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Re: iMac vs. Mac Pro with a third party monitor
« Reply #7 on: April 10, 2013, 03:54:17 am »

Agreed. Apple is very sparse with their monitor specs. Whereas most manufacturers will tell you how much of the sRGB or AdobeRGB gamut their high end models can reproduce, Apple isn't forthcoming with that information. In fact, they make no claims about color fidelity at all. Even Dell makes a 27" LED backlit monitor that can show better than 99% of AdobeRGB (the U2713HM)--that's outstanding. And it costs $399 less than Apple's Thunderbolt display.

The spec says 99% of sRGB.

Jeremy
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afx

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Re: iMac vs. Mac Pro with a third party monitor
« Reply #8 on: April 10, 2013, 07:41:44 am »

Even Dell makes a 27" LED backlit monitor that can show better than 99% of AdobeRGB (the U2713HM)--that's outstanding.
You've got the 2713HM and the 2713H mixed up. The 2713HM is sRGB...
But even the wide gamut 2713H is only decent when compared to a PA271W.
But yes, the 2713H is a much more sensible option than the Apple screen for less money.

cheers
afx
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