Macbook or iMac?

[dj j mady]

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my understanding is that i have two options.. mac pro or imac.. i think we are all talking about the same thing but anyway..

my situation is that i have a lap top.. and i cannot have my m audio project mix plugged into my powerbook g4 at the same time that i have serato (dj software from rane for turntables that uses a usb).. so basically if i want to record a mix from my turntables it is very difficult because the project mix interface and serato are both using the same bus, a very slow bus at that.. 167 mhz.. there is only one bus on powerbooks..

so not only can i not have my serato hooked up at the same time as the pro tools interface.. (if i do .. pro tools crashes and it takes forever to make dj mixtapes).. but there is an even bigger problem.... lets say i eliminate the turntables and the serato connection that uses the usb and i want to engineer a session with a vocalist.. i still have to record straight to my powerbook's hard drive.. this hasn't been a problem at all.. pro tools runns fine.. but obviously i'd rather have my external hard drive connected because that is what ur supposed to do..

i've heard that in rare cases, if pro tools crashes, there is a chance that it may fill up the entire hard drive's memory, or whatever's left of it, another reason why u should always use an external.. the options menu of pro tools, u can set the maximum record length to a relatively small amount of time, like an hour or a half hour to avoid this possible problem of infinite recording time..

in summary (this is turning into an essay.. i hope some one is learning something) its ideal for me to have my external hd connected so that i can record onto it and have my turntables connected at the same time as well as the interface.. all three suck up bus speed..

now back to the point.. the imacs have a bus speed which is around 600 mHz, something like 4x faster than that of my powerbook g4.. those are the all in one macs where the monitor houses the computer parts.. those are like $3,000.. the mac pro has a bus speed that is twice as fast as the imacs and 8x as fast as my powerbook.. something like 1.something ghz.. mac pro's are like $4,000 dollars

my question to u guys is.. will the imac's bus speed be fast enough or should i get a mac pro.. its a difference of over $1000 dollars.. i think i could get by with an imac.. but i don't know..its a big decision.. it would be cool to have a mac pro..i could get 2 computer screens in the future but the question is what do i really NEED?

[joemusic]

dj j,

you also have to take into consideration that the mac pro is upgradeable. you can put pci cards in, and you can have 3Terabytes of internal storage. If you're going the way of the Mac Pro, I highly doubt you'll need the 3.0ghz one, so save yourself some money. I do some personal recording which relies heavily on plug-ins, and I have no problem with the 2.66ghz configuration with 2gb of ram at the moment.