Overall, awesome computer (just wished it fit into my MBP case!!!). Not the most portable of machines, but I love it, and remote into it from my laptop.

You’re right, what I’m running now is great. Nothing wrong with it at all… it’s the ‘want’ desire that keeps kicking in. I always find myself looking into Mac Pro prices from time to time. Can’t help myself.

I am working with some very large files from time to time, but the time wasted waiting vs. the purchase of a new system probably does not even out. It would be more of a ‘luxury’ to have a new Mac Pro than anything else. The work still gets done, I just have to wait a few moments from time to time. Actually, Photoshop generally isn’t as bad as Firefox if you can believe that. A lot of delays in FF.

Thanks for your comments here Richard, very solid.

An extra optical drive? Get one from Newegg for about $30.

A 23″ screen from Apple? I think not. It has not been refreshed in quite some time and there are some decent 28″ ones around for nearly the same price if you shop around. At least check out the 24″ alternatives. If you are doing serious PS work don’t even think about a 20″ iMac because of its screen.

I have lost track of an article that talked about which Mac Pro to get to either add a second processor in a bit as the prices come down or upgrade to the faster ones when those prices came down as they always do when the “newer, faster, better” ones come out. But that is probably not for the faint of heart.

OK, now the big question. Do you NEED the Mac Pro or do you just WANT IT?

If you are doing almost full time PS work with a lot of rendering of very large image files you can probably figure out the productivity gains and estimate how long it takes to pay for itself. If you simply want it, then the old racing adage applies. You want to go fast? How fast do you want to go? (Speed is measured in cubic dollars.)

On the other hand, if you are working with extremely large image files all the time you may even want to think about going to the dark side because (PS) CS 4 will be a 64 bit app for Windows and not for the Mac (if there even is a CS 4 for the Mac) and it is reported that there are enormous speed gains to be had with the 64 bit app. All of that is speculation at this point as it does not exist and so there has obviously been no independent testing…but, still….

If your answer falls somewhere in between the need vs. want category, perhaps something less than a fully tricked out Mac Pro would actually accomplish what you want done. You could use a KVM switch and be able to access either your MacBook Pro or the Mac Pro using the same monitor and so on which would save some $$$.

Oh, there is also the matter of the additional licenses for the software involved if you intend to install it on both machines.

Maybe what you have now is not such a bad deal after all, huh?

Some new guys sell 4GB modules: 16GB for $1250.00 or 32GB for $2500.00. I have never purchased from these eggheads.

Hugo, yeah, the 17″ MBP is stock at $2,799… with a few upgrades I’m sure I could get it in the high $3k range… but still not as expensive as my mid-range Mac Pro.

If you don’t want to spend that much, don’t forget that the iMac’s always there. I’ve done what you do on your MBP with my -white- Macbook, with no problems at all.

Unless you really need loads of storage (and you can always use external hard drives), the Mac Pro probably isn’t worth it.

Plus, the iMac is 32″, while the biggest cinema display is 30″ I think. 2″ more – many more lines of text.