well. if they will spring for it go with a tower...it will allow for more longer use b/c of the fact you can upgrade more of the components in it down the road... where as on the imac... if you ever need to upgrade you are limited to only a few things and its harder to get inside of it without damaging something.

this would be my dream layout
Specifications
store.apple.com
Two 3.0GHz Dual-Core Intel Xeon
16GB ram(8 x 2GB)
750GB 7200-rpm Serial ATA 3Gb/s
750GB 7200-rpm Serial ATA 3Gb/s
750GB 7200-rpm Serial ATA 3Gb/s
NVIDIA Quadro FX 4500 512MB, Stereo 3D (2 x dual-link DVI)
Two 16x SuperDrives
Both Bluetooth 2.0+EDR and AirPort Extreme
Apple Keyboard and Mighty Mouse - U.S. English
Mac OS X - U.S. English

thanx.... i'll look into the towers... anybody else... have good advice for outputting video from your mac while running serato?

If you're gonna run both progs at the same time you def need to get the most ram you can afford. I use an iMac personally, not stationary, and I love it. But if I were in your situation I would def look into a mac pro. It gives you the most power and that's what you want in that situation. As far as video output, you'd probably want to run in extended desktop mode with Virtual DJ's video screen on one monitor and SSL on the other. Also, with the mac pro you'd have more options as far as where you place your monitor. You could have an LCD on a movable arm unlike the iMac which you'd need cords plugged into the back of the monitor to run the projector and whatever else is going on. I think you're looking at a bit more than $2K though!! lol

I strongly suggest not getting an iMac for this...these machines run quite warm when doing cpu-intensive stuff, which might be okay in a home or office environment but seems like a really bad idea in a club setting.

I would get a Mac Pro, which even with the base video card should have more than enough cpu and video horsepower for the task. It's also much easier to lock down and protect that machine than would be possible with an iMac, and obviously the expandability/upgrade options are far better.

go with the tower it's more stable and better expandability

I have an imac at work and a macbook for Serato... both intel based so i can run windows if need be. (successfully running windows at work on my mac with the parallels program)

OK that was my next question... Video output cards... i don't know much about them.. but you say the Stock card in the mac pro will be more than enough? I'm not sure but thinking 3 screens will be necessary. (how many cards is that?) One for Virtual DJ's Output.... One for My Visualizatoin Programs output (I use G force visuals while playing mp3's from Serato) and the 3rd would be the monitor i look at to use the serato and Virtual DJ controls. Is that making sense? Am i using the correct terminology here? it all gets a little confusing...

Currently i have 1 screen (my laptops).. and an s video out which plays The G-Force visualization software. ... when i switch to our DVD players i just fade the volume over and hit the button on my video switchh box... from my laptops output... to the dvd's output... i'd like to someohow control all of this with one computer.

I have 24" iMac at home. I love the hell out of it but I wouldn't use it in a club enviroment. The CD drive is a slot-fed one and those aren't nearly as rugged as an old fashioned tray load type. Of course you could add a firewire CD drive but that's another expense and cable to go bad.

why would you need a CD drive. I've been using my 17" iMac for 8 mo. in clubs and mobile gigs with no problems and I never use the CD drive during gigs.

True, but when you have an installed system EVERYTHING will get used at some point. I've had friends hand me a cd and dumped into my system while spinning.

That's true Beale. The iMac is my main comp at home too and I use the CD there all the time, but I've made it a rule not to use it while spinning. If someone has a CD they need to get it to me before I start so I can rip it into iTunes and then open serato. Of the very few times Serato has actually crashed on me during a gig, not only on the iMac, 75% of it was because I was trying to load a CD while playing. So I don't do it! lol Basically my point is that I don't see the slot load CD drive as a problem.

yeah i wasn't planning on using the cd drive... my main concern is the video output cards. not sure which one i need.... there isn't an apple store in my city... i suppose i would have to call one and speak to an expert? running parallels on the mac with Virtual DJ makes me nervous.