Should I get an iMac 5k or a Mac pro?

[blaketho]

I'm trying to decide whether I should get a Mac pro or the 5k. I'd like to set up three monitors. So three with the pro or two more onto the 5k. Not right away but that's one of the end game results I want. I know that the pro is overkill for what I would use it for but its a more logical choice because I also want to use the monitors with a pc and if I have a 5k I would have to rearrange or just have a completely different setup for my pc. However the 5k saves a bit of money cause I don't need to go out and buy a monitor or keyboard/mouse and I get the gorgeous display.

I was however thinking about the difference the 5k would show with two 1080p monitors one either side. Going from 5k to 1080 might be a little much but I haven't really had the chance to compare since Mac has its own section even in bestbuy. With the Mac pro I wouldn't have that issue because I would have three identical monitors but at the cost of having a 5k display (and currently I couldn't afford a 4k monitor and a mc pro).

I asked an Apple Store employee yesterday what his thoughts were and initially he said go with the pro since they're more upgradeable and a bit more powerful and made the most sense monitor wise. But after we talked a bit more he said I might just go with the 5k because who doesn't want that screen? One last comment before I can hopefully get some advice on this, I would like to play games. At least temporarily until everything is setup with the pc and whatnot. And I know Mac is not for games. But I can easily run mmos or probably an rpg. I have no need to run battlefield 4 at max everything. But it seems like for games the 5k is better since its not geared toward being a workstation but then again k don't know too much about the two GPUs in question. Anyway I apologize for the long ish post but I'm hoping someone will be able to clear things up or at least give their two cents

 

[blaketho]

Well besides a bit of gaming, what else are you planning on doing on the machine?

Typing papers, trying some audio stuff. Mainly Photoshop and other graphic apps though. Corel painter things like that. I'm still a college student so I know that a Mac pro is a bit much but I'm just trying to think about what I'll need later and what works best now. Thanks!

 

[cardfan]

I wouldn't worry about what you need later. Buy for now. Sounds like a Mac mini or reg iMac would do the trick.

 

[blaketho]

I wouldn't worry about what you need later. Buy for now. Sounds like a Mac mini or reg iMac would do the trick.

I'd like to go with the 5k because of the resolution and ability to hook monitors up. Mac mini would be great if I only needed a monitor or two but I think power wise I need a little more. Or maybe I just want a little more haha

 

[blaketho]

Yep. Want is there key word there. Not that there's anything wrong with that if you've the money.

Anyway for a lot of tasks the 5K iMac actually outperforms a Mac Pro. The Mac Pro is geared more towards professionals who need massive parallel processing-video editing and rendering would be an example. For most single threaded tasks the iMac can beat the Mac Pro.

Alrighty. So assuming identical specs (theoretically) for the monitors do you think having a 5k and two 1080p on either side would be a painful transition?
And with the pro, would it be better to set up three identical monitors and have the ability to hook my pc to them or would it be more reasonable to just go 5k since it has monitor and keyboard included?

 

[cardfan]

I think a 2560x1440 monitor would be a large improvement over the 1080p ones. That's a reg imac that you can find discounted. I'd really wait on the tech to catch up to 5k. Let future products meet your future needs.

 

[blaketho]

I think a 2560x1440 monitor would be a large improvement over the 1080p ones. That's a reg imac that you can find discounted. I'd really wait on the tech to catch up to 5k. Let future products meet your future needs.

Would the Asus PA297Q be a good 2560x1440?

 

[blaketho]

Edit/bump I have been thinking about it more and rather than starting anew thread, lets say I was playing an MMO on the main screen, had safari open on another and probably just desktop on a third. Would the iMac 5k actually be able to handle that? I'm assuming a Mac pro would be able to do that fine but I'm really curious if the 5k would actually be able to handle multitasking that well or if it would slowdown overall.

 

[blaketho]

Probably. But why? Presumably playing an MMO occupies most/all your attention. What purpose does having a desktop and a safari monitors do for you? I think maybe you are too obsessed with having the absolute best as opposed to the best for your uses. Again assuming money isn't an object, it certainly doesn't matter to me, but it sounds like you are going to have far too much computing power that you won't be using. Anyway if your purpose is mainly playing MMO type games the iMac will serve you better. The Mac Pro isn't really designed to be a gaming machine. The only advantage is you could possibly be able to upgrade the graphics card in the Mac Pro at a later date but I have no idea what cards may be available.

I understand that macs in general aren't great for gaming. I was just curious if multiple programs like that would work on an imac. I know they would on the pro but i wasn't sure if miltiple monitors and apps going would cause performance or heat issues. A lot of the time I have photoshop and Safari up for reference images so I was just wondering. In reality i could buy a retina MacBook Pro and hook it to a monitor and have just fine performance but since I don't need mobility a desktop is a better option. I just tend to go overboard with specs and upgrades. I'm a bit obsessed with tech

 

[blaketho]

The iMac shouldn't have any problems with that multi tasking doing what you said.

Thanks for the help. I'm sure I annoyed the crap out of uo

 

[Algus]

Macs are fine for gaming as long as you aren't performance/framerate obsessive and don't mind paying more (a LOT more) for your Mac vs a dedicated gaming machine. I run Bootcamp on my Mac Mini exclusively for gaming and have gotten a ton of use out of it.

If you've got the money and space for all those monitors go for it! though if you're planning to build a rocking gaming center, Macs probably aren't your best bet. I tolerate poorer performance from my computer games because I'd rather be running OS X than Windows but my desktop also isn't a monster gaming/media center.

iMacs have plenty of horsepower for running all those monitors because they're essentially production machines and plenty of users need multiple monitors when they're working on photography, video, etc.

I would recommend to you to get a quad-core CPU if you're planning on running multiple apps on different monitors, which rules out the newer Mac Minis (though the old 2012 Mini has a quad-core model that honestly would be fine for you). If you've got the money to spend though, might as well grab a dedicated GPU in the iMac for your gaming. A Macbook Pro can do all this too. Integrated graphics are fine for most modern computer games as integrated chips are pretty good now but if you skip getting a dedicated GPU, you'll want to double down on RAM. I plugged 16 GB into my 2012 Mac Mini and it performs pretty well.