“There used to be a time when the gap between Apple products made choosing the right computer obvious and easy. The deliberate compartmentalization of prices and features clearly dictated which laptop or deskop machine was right, with minimal overlap between the categories,” Michael deAgonia writes for Computerworld. “But as Apple expanded its line-up, and as technology became faster and more efficient, overlap became unavoidable. Nowadays, the line between consumer and professional hardware is blurrier than ever.”
“Neither the Mac Pro or the 5K Retina display iMac was designed with your average customer in mind; starting at $2999 and $2499, respectively, the price alone dictates that these computers are beyond the budget for most buyers,” deAgonia writes. “At this level, potential customers — businesses and universities included — are expecting a high-performance machine, which is exactly the territory of the Mac Pro.”
“It used to be that you could decide between two computers by how much room they took up on the desk (or floor) or how loud or quiet they were under a heavy load. Those issues don’t really come into play here. Both the Mac Pro and the iMac are stylish and take up minimal room on the desktop. And from my time with both of them, they’re both equally quiet under operation,” deAgonia writes. “That means the decision really comes down to absolute performance vs. absolutely-best screen.”
Much more in the full article here.