Which iMac?

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grum

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Graham
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I am looking into getting one of the recently updated iMacs. I will be using it for mainly photo editing (LR and CS4) and music (Logic, Ableton etc), plus I would possibly like to be able to do some video editing too.

I am currently thinking of the 27" i5 - is it worth the extra for the i7? Anything else I should be aware of? I take it it's still better to stick with the base RAM and buy extra from crucial later? I'm not too much of a geek when it comes to specs etc

I like the idea of SSD but the price is still too much for me at the moment.

I'm using an 3 year old Macbook Pro at the moment which is pretty decent but not mega fast (struggles with video editing), and I would like the bigger room of desktop drives. I would also really like a decent screen that I can calibrate for proper editing etc.

Or.... should I stump up some more for a Mac Pro? Not sure I am doing things at the level to justify that for the foreseeable future.

Any thoughts?

(And before anyone says get a PC - no!)
 
I looked at a Mac Pro back in December, but then compared the Pro with the 27" Imac i5, and came to the conclusion that for me the iMac as the better deal.

Can't help you re the video editing, but for normal Lightroom and Photoshop use I find the i5 version to work fine, and I'm handling 20+Mb RAW files.

The newer models have faster processors so you should pick up a bit of a speed increase over mine, but the 2.66GHz model seems to be fairly fast.

I increased the memory to 8Gb which seems to be about right. There was a rule of thumb with the Mac Pro the 2Gb/core was the way to go, and it seems to be right.

Music can take up a lot of memory depending how many tracks you are using at one time and how long they are so a good amount of RAM is a good idea.

One advantage the Mac Pro has is the ability to add additional hard drives which are SATA drives so they have a fast transfer rate than USB or Firewire 800. However I've not really found that the transfer rate from the external Firewire drives I use has been excessively slow.

Usual advice is to get down to an Apple store and bench mark the machines yourself. Most Apple stores have Photoshop on their machines, and Aperture. ( They wouldn't let me load Lightroom, can't imagine why :) ) plus I did notice that one Mac Pro had a music programme on it.
 
I think a 27" i5 will have enough grunt for anybody.
Just stick some extra RAM in there and it will fly. 8GB should be fine.
As for SSD's, I wouldn't bother.

If I was in your situation I would just get the 27" i5, lots of RAM, big second monitor and a couple of large external hard drives.
 
Thanks everyone. Neil - I'm not a huge fan of the glossy screen but I don't hate it either. You do have to be a little careful about where your light comes from.

I could probably stretch to a Mac Pro but with a decent monitor bought separately (don't have a great one at the mo) it's a LOT more money and I don't know if I can justify it really.
 
The beauty about the i7 is the hyperthreading which works great & speeds things up. The new i5 is supposed to be faster than my older i7. Best thing if your considering video editing is the extra memory. I have 8GB. The New IMacs now have 4 slots making up grading the memory to 8Gb a lot cheaper.
 
I've been undecided whether to go iMac or Mac Pro for a while now. However my friend just ordered a 27" iMac in i7 flavour, SSD + 2TB HDD, 8gb ram etc

I have to admit I've loved the idea of an all in one for ages and the iMac has always been on my list as the next desktop machine I'll go for.

BUT, after seeing my friends top of the line iMac it has confirmed for me the fact I want to go Mac Pro. Two reasons:

1) The screen. It is LOVELY, but the reflections are very annoying.

2) Storage. My friends iMac is three days old and already he is talking about buying external drives for more storage (so all in one neat clutter free idea is out the window) and to have raid etc, but they will only be as fast as FireWire 800 as that is the fastest connection on the iMac.

So, 6 Core Pro will be in my future when I'm ready to buy. Expensive, yes, but this machine is going to go 4 years or so before I think about replacing.

I think it comes down ultimately to what you need from a machine and how much you want to spend.
 
I *know* this is about iMacs, but the previous poster raised the issue of the Mac Pro.

1. Just about any Mac Pro is 'Dear God!' quick due to them all having a minimum of 4 processor cores. Even my twin dual core 2ghz machine flies.

2. There are deals to be done on ebay if you can find a private seller from among the scammers.

3. Four internal SATA HD bays (one occupied as std of course) and two DVD drives.

4. Mac Pro Memory can be eye wateringly expensive - factor that into any deal.

5. At *this* moment there seems little point in exceeding 8gb RAM, I have 10gb and noticed no difference above 8GB.

6. With an older machine, upgrade to 10.6 to make full use of the memory available to you.

But hey! What do I know? My everyday machine is a dual core 2.4ghz BlackBook, but the 2ghz Mac Pro is used when sheer grunt is needed!

-Rob
 
I went for a Imac i5 refurb for £1269, you don't need the latest version, you may lust for it but you don't need it, you'd be better off buying the lower spec one and spending the difference on more memory or software.

if you have kids at school you get to buy £800 worth of photoshop for £150 on amazon.

£1269 for the 2.66ghz
£1399 for the 2.8ghz

http://store.apple.com/uk/product/FB953B/A?mco=MTU3ODcyNDE
 
Thanks everyone. I still just don't think I can warrant a Mac Pro at the moment. I have had a glossy screen macbook and while I prefer the matte Macbook Pro I have now it's not a deal breaker for me.

I don't like the idea of refurbished for some reason. I can also take advantage of higher education discount so I think I will go that way.

I did start wondering whether to get a 21.5 inch one and boost the specs instead of getting the huge silly screen, but I think I will go for the 27" - still considering i5 or i7.

Is putting your own RAM a simple job, not like changing HDs? Done it on Macbooks etc before.
 
Putting in your own ram is VERY simple, just lay it flat on a table, open one screw to get to the memory (it's on the bottom edge of the iMac) and push in more modules.

My 27" i7 came with 4GB.. I pushed in 8GB more.. Now it's truly a monster, 12GB is enough to run everything I use without any paging.
 
grum said:
I don't like the idea of refurbished for some reason. I can also take advantage of higher education discount so I think I will go that way.
Click to expand...

I'm not sure mine was refurbished, it didn't have a mark on it, comes with 12 months warranty and is eligible for applecare to take it to 3 years.

They won't have sold the last of the old spec iMacs before introducing the new one so i'd guess there's a fair chance your refurb iMac would be new, £355 is a big discount on something that's always sold at full price.

How much is the education discount, it only seemed to be a few quid off when I looked
 
Higher Ed discount is 15% I think, plus you get 3 year applecare for £50, and at the mo you get a £130 rebate on an ipod. :D

Thanks everyone - decided to go for the i5 quad core 27" in the end. Just ordered it now
 
You can buy applecare from ebay, the US sellers do it for about £50 anyway, don't buy anything from apple but the iMac, it's mega expensive
 
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