Time for a new computer. iMac recommendations?

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kevin m

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I'm shopping for a new computer and I'm looking at the new iMacs. It seems they can be configured with more than enough power for my needs, the most demanding of which would be Photoshop and my first foray into video editing with Final Cut Express. I'm leaning towards the 27" with the Quad-Core i5 processor, but since once you buy an iMac you're pretty much stuck with the hardware it comes with (outside of RAM) I'm wondering if the i7 processor and/or the SSD would be a worthwhile upgrade, or just overkill for my needs?

Thanks in advance and feel free to share any other tips. :)
 
I just got the latest Imac a month or so ago and while I dont do anything more processor heavy that lightroom/photoshop/scanning and other assorted photo related stuff I have to say I LOVE it.

My last computer that finally just died was the original Imac so I needed an upgrade bad and may just be in shock because this one is so much more advanced!

Anyway, the upgrades you mentioned at least for me, would be overkill. YMMV, esp with the video stuff.
 
Go for the i7. I love mine, and they'll probably be a longer investment. I buy a mac every 8 years or so.
 
I ordered mine with the ssd & 1TB hard drive combo. The start-up speed will spoil you. I ordered my extra memory from Other Word Computing. It's been a great machine.
 
I would like to get a new one with everything possible. I have an iMac from 2006 (2.16 GHz Core 2 duo) , with two external HD, and 3gb ram, and it's still going strong.

I can only imagine the performance of a new iMAC.
 
First priority: Get the biggest hard drive and budget for an external of the same size for Time Machine backups.

Second: RAM, as much as you can afford.

Third: Processor upgrades maybe... i.e. your money is better spent on more memory.
 
Thanks for the tips! OWC offers 16GB of RAM for $261. :) I think I'll bite the bullet and max out on storage with the 2TB HD plus the SSD.
 
Not sure if they have SSD for internal drives on the iMac yet, if the do get it. Internal SSD rocks, I'm getting one for my Mac Mini to breath new life into it.

Mac's have always been more responsive to more memory than faster processor, but a quad processor makes me wonder. My bet is it's really hard to do more than a memory upgrad to the iMac. I'm with the idea of not buying every new mac that comes out. While 8 years or so it a bit longer than I can do but to each his/or her own.

Good 3rd party memory is every bit as good as Apple (at least IMHO). I picked up some 2TB dirves for $80 each on Black Friday. You can find a low cost slower drive for backups and something fast for active work (like an SSD).

If I were getting an iMac I'd go for the quad core, add 3rd party memory (do not trade in your old stuff as you might need it for service) and an internal SSD (perhaps good 3rd party but I do not know how easy it is to change) with an external drive or two.

B2 (;->
 
Regarding SSDs; my daughter's MacBook Air has a solid state hard drive, and it's nice for a laptop because it boots up faster and runs the battery down slower than a conventional hard drive. On a desktop like the iMac, SSDs have no battery life advantage over a conventional HDD, so you have to decide whether this rather expensive storage device still makes sense.
 
I don't think I'd get a SSD, at least until I spent all my money elsewhere first, since 8-16gb of RAM should keep Photoshop from using the hard drive and Apple wants $600 for a 256gb one ;-/ Seems kinda extravagant for now, more practical in a couple of years when they come down in price.

I just looked at the Apple Store, if I were "luxe yet practical" I'd go for the 27/Quad-Core, 16 gb OWC RAM, internal 2tb ATA and an external 2tb FW800. That would be a decent machine for the next 5-6 years.

The only thing I don't like about iMacs is that the screen and puter are one, so if one fails it takes the whole kabboodle out. But I see they've now priced the Pros so there isn't any overlap like there used to be... So it might be worth the extended warranty for something like that. The extended warranty has paid for itself several times with my laptops.
 
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My home computer is an octo-core 2.93GHz Nehalem Mac Pro with 12GB RAM, a 256GB SSD for boot/OS and apps, and two 2TB WD Caviar Blacks in RAID 0 for data. My work computer is a 27" 2.8GHz i7 iMac with 8GB RAM and a 750GB drive. The iMac boots far more slowly, but apart from that, it doesn't feel appreciably slower in day-to-day usage. Granted, I do mostly coding on the iMac, no heavy Lightroom pushing, but I am quite impressed with the i7 iMac's performance. One thing I am not so impressed with is how hot it gets, despite my not really running very high loads on it. I don't know how well it would handle heavy video rendering jobs before thermal protection throttles the CPU speed.

You might want to check out Lloyd Chambers' tips at www.macperformanceguide.com.

If you already have a Mac Pro, and thus presumably also a decent monitor, it would seem like getting the Westmere 6-core Mac Pro would be your best option.
 
I picked up the latest iMac with the quad-core 2.8Ghz i5. Tossed in a Caviar Black 2TB drive and 16GB of RAM. This baby screams and has a much smaller footprint than the Mac Pro. I highly recommend this setup. All together it cost me only $2400, but I can do all the hardware installs myself. The same configuration from Apple would have been over $3k. The RAM is especially simple to install.
 
Try to get a raid 1 array going - it is worth it. Hard drives are essentially designed with failure in mind, as bearings and lubricants only last so long. Many last quite a while, many do not, and I wouldn't want to take the chance with all of your data. Raid 1 keeps 2 hard drives as mirrors, so you don't get extra capacity, but you get security - you have redundancy. If either drive fails completely, your machine still works perfectly and all your data is intact. It is not a replacement for backing up, but it is far more convenient and arguably more powerful. I would have it as a higher priority than storage, which can be upgraded later.

And as far as specs are concerned a middle range system should be good enough, don't worry about it, although more power won't hurt.
 
My iMac (2006 late) died. One day it simply stopped working. I lost everything that was on the disc.
I am back for PC now.
I feel awkward as I really got used to MacOS, but I have 8 gB RAM, i5 processor, 1gB videocard and 1 tB disk at a 1/2 price of the coolest iMac at the moment.
 
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I'd say focus on processor, video editing is about as processor intensive as it gets and bear in mind disk and RAM can be easily upgraded at a later date. Technically, you could probably upgrade the processor too, but that is not supported by Apple and will void your warranty. With iMacs, for all their strengths, they're not workstations and should not be considered upgradeable apart from disk and RAM, so get the processor and video card you need NOW, as you can't fix it later. RAM and hard disk are only getting cheaper though.

Same for SSD, see how you go with hard disk, if you feel you want SSD in a year, it'll be cheaper and faster.
 
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