Waldo asks a few questions regarding a new setup he plans to purchase.

I am in the buying position for a new Mac Pro and a new IiMac 24″. I currently do video editing currently on my iMac G5 with the old Final Cut and i just got the new Final Cut Studio 2 for Christmas, I also do audio production on my iMac with the old Logic, looking to get Logic Studio.

For years I have always wanted a Mac tower but never had the money, I am looking at the educational store to make my purchase. I finally have the money and I want the best Mac Pro I can get for my money and a baseline 24” iMac which is $1700. I have a budget of $7,600 and I want 2 x 30″ display set up for my Mac Pro.

Does your setup need two 30″ Apple Cinema Display’s, or would you be okay going with another brand? I would stay away from the Apple Cinema Display’s at this point in time as they’re on the verge of an update. Instead, I’d recommend two of Dell’s 3007 displays. These retail for $1399 each. If you’d be willing to stretch the budget, opt for the newer 3008 model ($1999 each). Saying you choose the 3007, this leaves $4800 left in the budget.

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What is the best option for me? My Final system must include 2 30″ Cinema Displays and the 24″ iMac as well as the best Mac Pro I can get with the money. If it goes a couple hundred over….thats ok….but only if I really need it.

With the Mac Pro recently updated, your timing to make the large investment is very good. As far as I can tell, I see the Two Quad 2.8Ghz system to be the best value for money. First of all, you say you need the 24″ iMac. That’s $1700 more of the budget gone, $3100 remains to play with.

I’d suggest ordering from Apple with the following specs (prices from normal, non education store). Pretty much order the stock machine, with the exception of changing to video card to the NVIDIA GeForce 8800 GT 512MB, an extra SuperDrive, and a AirPort Extreme card (Wi-Fi). The machine totals in at $3200, putting you $100 over budget, not taking into account the educational discounts you’ll receive.

Any extra money saved I’d spend on third party upgrades. I’d suggest keeping the 320GB drive for a Leopard (boot drive), then picking up a 750GB drive for storage ($170). As far as RAM goes, it’s dirt cheap now. Pick up a 8GB kit for $400 at OWC. You’ll notice the difference far more than any processor upgrade the money could be otherwise spent on.