With the newest vesion of FCS, a brand new AX2k, I now feel I need some updgrade to my mac hardware. Particularly now that we have new MBPs.

But I am not sure I should get a 15" MBP or an iMac. Right now I have both, but the Core Duo versions, so both a few years old. Also, my MBP is falling apart. Considering portability an added benefit, yet not essential, would you pick the iMac Quad-Core Intel Core i7 or the 2.66ghz MBP ? Both would be best but hey .... And the Mac Pros, also a different cost league, but anyway they need badly some updates.

Thoughts, considerations ?

It all depends on what you really need to do with it...
I got tired waiting for the Mac Pro update and went for the iMac i7 with 16gb ram.
I gave in on previewing on a monitor and the expansion options, but i mainly do offline editing so it wasn't a biggy for me.
Currently considering to giving up the superdrive for esata connectivity, but will it be a hackintosh then?
Anyways, since december I have been waiting for the Mac Pro to be upgraded or reasonable in pricing.
I can't wait any longer, and the i7 with 16gb is a very good alternative for me. The free display makes it most logical route, two years later down the road I will reconsider everything and look at what the MacPro's look like then (usb 3.0, blu ray etc etc etc). I still will have a nice 27 inch monitor regardless of what will happen this year...

I am glad to hear, thanks for sharing your thoughts.

Last night I almost bot a 15" MBP. But today I decided for the same iMac you got (but I will start with 4gb ram!).

I figure most of my FCP stuff I do it in one place after all.

I am a light user anyway....just a hobby for which I wish I had more time for!

The fact that it took hours for FCP to prores 422 some avchd clips is, sadly, irrelevant. No matter what the hardware is, I would still start it up and go to bed.

So, now to the Apple store.