Buying an iMac - specs?

I am looking for a career in graphic design and plan on buying a Mac w. the capabilities to handle and run creative suite 3 at a good pace.
I don't know anything about what the recommended specs would be for this and I am wary of just going to the mac site clicking on things I know nothing about.
Please can someone give me some recommendations as to what I should be looking for?
Thanks ~ A.
Mac Mini Mac OS X (10.4.9)

According to Adobe:
Macintosh
PowerPC® G4 or G5 or multicore Intel processor
Mac OS X v.10.4.8, Java™ Runtime Environment 1.5 required for Adobe Version Cue® CS3 Server
1GB of RAM
6.3GB of available hard-disk space (additional free space required during installation)
1,024x768 monitor resolution with 16-bit video card
DVD-ROM drive
QuickTime 7.1.2 software required for multimedia features
Some 3D features in Adobe Photoshop CS3 Extended require an OpenGL 1.4 capable graphics card with at least 64MB of VRAM
Internet or phone connection required for product activation
Broadband Internet connection required for Adobe Stock Photos* and other services
At the Apple Online store select the Mac model. For each model you will find a chart of specifications (General) that can be expanded to provide Detailed specs. You can also find specifications for any Mac here: http://support.apple.com/specs/.
Why reward points?(Quoted from Discussions Terms of Use.)
The reward system helps to increase community participation. When a community member gives you (or another member) a reward for providing helpful advice or a solution to their question, your accumulated points will increase your status level within the community.
Members may reward you with 5 points if they deem that your reply is helpful and 10 points if you post a solution to their issue. Likewise, when you mark a reply as Helpful or Solved in your own created topic, you will be awarding the respondent with the same point values.

Similar Messages

Buying an iMac - Spec Level??

Hi, hoping I can get some advice. I'm a long time iPhone user and have an iPod Classic and Apple TV, so I'm used to using Apple equipment and like it along with the fantastic customer service.
My laptop (Windows) is getting old and I would really prefer a desktop so am naturally thinking iMac. I am not quite in the position to buy, perhaps a couple of months time, but am looking to do the research now so I know what I want. Not being a fantastic computer person and only really needing a home computer for everyday things like word processing, Internet, music and photos (including photo editing) my question is what specification would people recomend?
Is the basic 15" iMac enough? I would like to have some future proofing and was looking at the idea of getting 16GB RAM and a 1TB Fusion Drive but are they really going to make any difference for what I am doing?
Any ideas and suggestions would be much appreciated.
Thank you.

To add to the above...
You might want to consider refurbished iMacs that Apple sells on its site. I have purchased several and they are fine. They come with a year warranty like new ones. Unless you expand your uses, any Mac that Apple sells today would be fast and fun.
Also, though we cannot speculate here on upcoming products, a rule of the discussion boards, I doubt anyone will mind if I point out that Intel has come out with new chips and Apple likes to put new intel chips into new iMacs, and so may just be selling a new model in a few months.
I think jumping into Apple products is a great investment in one's piece of mind. I did, and have loved the sense of the explorer that it gave me. I went wireless, then got an apple tv, hooked it to my tv, and now watch Coursera courses from my ipad or Macbook directly on my tv, not to mention YouTube video on the tv. Last night I watched video from my iPod touch on my tv via the apple tv and airplay mirroring...
Ah...it was nice to have a bank account, but love, I have noticed, costs.
Hugh

I'm going to be buying an iMac and need advice

HI Everyone, I'm going to be buying an iMac. I'm trying to figure out the specs and such that I want.
Background:
I've had a MacPro 1,1 for 8 years and it was more than enough for my needs. I liked having several different hard drives to back-up data but found that 1 tb seemed to be the most I would use (ended up backing-up data onto the other drives). Unfortunately it died and now I'm shopping for a new mac.
What I'll be using my mac for:
1) Managing content (iTunes data)
2) Photos
3) Programming (working with Xcode)
4) Photoshop
5) Photoshop Lightroom
6) Illustrator
7) Microsoft apps
8) Diablo
9) Starcraft
10) WoW (very rarely because of time constraints)
So I pretty much figure I want an 1 TB Fusion drive. And I want 8 - 16 gb of RAM. What processor should I get and video card. There might be some point that I'm playing games so I'm curious if I should shoot for an i7 processor or just an i5. As well, a 1 gb video card, intel HD, or 2gb card. I think with the video card and and processor it is a matter of longevity rather than performance at this moment (since non of the games I'll ever play are processor intensive). Any thoughts on this are greatly appreciated. I'm buying in Dec and am going to see what comes out in Oct. I definitely need a new computer. Been running an 128 gb hard drive Macbook Air all summer and going to pull my hair out if I can't get access to all my data soon.
Message was edited by: Belleatrix

for a case, if you are planning for rough treatment, dust, water...
Look at the Pelican line.
http://www.pelican-case.com/1095.html
This is ne of many they offer, this is brand most TV crews use. You can call them they have a ton of cases to offer, it depends on how it is going to used.
Something like this for power, this is a grey area to recommend as it depends on what the voltage supply is doig, the heavier duty, the more $$$
The solar charger you will have to do some research, I could,nt find anything that looked promising.
Have a safe trip

Should I buy a iMac or Mac Pro

Hi all
I am looking to buy a new Mac.
My main purpose will be for developing apps both for Mac ios and running Parallels Desktop to use windows.
I first thought to buy the Mac Pro as it everything I am looking for. If I buy a Mac Pro then I would also have to buy the 27' Thunderbolt Display. When I did my research on the Thunderbolt display I almost got a heart attack when I saw the price.
So then I went and checked the iMac to see it specs and was let down when I saw it only has an i5. Though the price would be much lighter on my pocket.
So now I am torn between buying the iMac or the Mac Pro.
Any advice would be appreciated.
Sincerely
The one who can't choose

Craig952101 wrote:
If I buy a Mac Pro then I would also have to buy the 27' Thunderbolt Display. When I did my research on the Thunderbolt display I almost got a heart attack when I saw the price.
No, that's not correct. There is absolutely no reason you have to buy the Thunderbolt Display if you buy a Mac Pro. You can choose from many monitors.
The Mac Pro connects to monitors through any of its Thunderbolt ports. But you must realize that on a Mac, every Thunderbolt port is the same as the Mini DisplayPort industry standard video connection. You can therefore buy any DisplayPort monitor on the market and plug it in.
For example, I bought a nice NEC monitor and I can plug it into the Thunderbolt port on my Mac Pro or MacBook Pro, using a $5 Mini DisplayPort to Mini DisplayPort cable.
But there are other questions about your post. lllaass has a good question: How do you plan to use your Mac? Because a Mac Pro is too much computer for most users. It's for high end users. You said you had a heart attack at the price of the Apple Thunderbolt Display. But the Thunderbolt Display is only a mid-range price for a professional monitor. Many professional monitors cost between $1000-2000. If you are having a heart attack over the Thunderbolt display price, why aren't you having one over the Mac Pro price?
Following that, if you are worried about the i5 in an iMac, why not just customize the iMac order to get an i7 instead? It's an option for all iMacs except the cheapest one, and it would be much less expensive than a Mac Pro plus any good monitor.

How can I buy an iMac?

Hey,
I know this might seem like a very basic question, but it's sometimes the easiest questions that take the longest to answer, so let me give you some back story to my problem. Currently, I'm using the (Terrible) Lenovo Thinkpad T410, but I need to upgrade, and thought the 21.5" 2.9GHz iMac would be the perfect investment. I'm currently in College learning about various forms of digital design and marketing, and need a computer with an amazing screen. Since I don't have enough money for the Retina Macbook Pro, The new iMac is the best alternative in my books. So, I've been saving up my money and have just arrived at the amount of money I need (1,800$ taxes included), and I want to go buy it. I don't have a credit card, so I need to pay in cash. Anyways, I went to my local Apple store (Carrefour Laval) today, and they said they didn't have any in stock. Great. They said it could take up to 5 days for them to a recieve a shipment, but they can't say for sure. Amazing. Later on, I called them to see if they could give me a date where I could come in and pick one up (as in a guarunteed purchase), but they said they couldn't help me, and I should just call in advance. Beautiful. So, I did some Googling and found out that you can reserve products through the Apple store application. I downloaded it and found out that yes, you can reserve most products, BUT not the iMac. Wonderful. I went onto the Apple Online Store website where they have a chat box to see if that "person" can help me at all. The "person" said she understood why I was angry and just redirected me to the Apple Online Store. Genius. So, here I am, money-in-hand, but no way to buy the iMac. What should I do? I also went to various other electronic dealers in my area and they were also out of stock. Yay. Is there some way I can find out when they'll have it in stock without calling them every day, hoping for a yes?
TLDR: I want to buy a 21.5" 2.9GHz New iMac, but don't have a credit card (Can't buy online). I want to pay with cash, but my local store never has it in stock. Any tips on how I can get one without having to call them everyday?
Thanks,
Ben

The new iMacs are still in short supply, and Apple are quoting 3-4 weeks for delivery.
So you will need to call carrefour every day!

I am planning to buy an iMac 21.5 inch with Fusion drive and 16 GB RAM while i visit USA for a conference. My country of origin is India. Once i am back to India, will my iMac be covered by the Apple's Protection Plan?

I am planning to buy an iMac 21.5 inch with Fusion drive and 16 GB RAM while i visit USA for a conference. My country of origin is India and the option of configuring to my need is not avaialble here in India. My concern is once i am back to India, will my iMac be covered by the Apple's Protection Plan if something goes wrong here in India?
I recently came across some posts regarding International warranty related issues for iPhone and iPad....hence this crossed my mind...
Waiting for response from the support group members...

Thanks Ralph
This essentially means that if my iMac develops some problem (both software and hardware) in my country (India), it will be completeley attended (even the whole system requires replacement) by the AASP in India...is that what you say?

Advice on buying first imac?

Hello all,
I would like a little help with the following?
I am looking at trading up from my old 10" netbook running windows xp, 143GB of hard drive of which I have only used 26GB, 1.60Ghz, 2GB of RAM, I upgraded that myself from one to two. I also have a 500GB back up external hard drive.
I want some advise on when to buy (is the not so far away upgrade going to affect me?)and what model I should be looking at.
Money is not to much of an issue neither is desk size.
I dont want a model that is more powerfull than I need, I do the following on my current pc:
Lots of web surfing
Lots eBay and Amazon buying
Lots of emailing
Little bit on excel and word
Adding and sorting family photos
itunes, twitter and facebook etc
I do not need it for work, this is for home use only.
Also is there an easy way to get all my emails off my old pc to the imac.
I know how to get all my files and music of the pc to the mac with my back up drive.
I also want to transfer all my contact from microsoft outlook 2007?
I have an iphone 3gs with the same contacts on if that is of any help?
Any other advice would be more than welcome, I understand it is going to be a bit of a learning curve going from pc to imac..... bring it on hey
Thanks in advance guys
Ade.

+...But I would seriously think about buying an imac again...+
(Re-printed from a previous post)
Of the 21 or so Apple products I have bought since 1999, only one failed. My 17" iMac G4/700 (2002) was the only casualty with a bad motherboard and graphics card. My wife still uses her G3/600 iBook from 2002. Our original iMac G3/333 from 1999 still works although we do not use it much. My original 10GB scroll wheel iPod (2002) I use daily. I only have replaced the battery twice. I have three other iPods and two iPhones. We have two 17" MacBook Pros which are very good. My first generation iPhone was sold with no issues during ownership. None of the Apple products required warranty issues. None have had software update problems. I ordered my new i7 iMac built for the next eight years. My recent additions are an iPad and MacBook Air. I hope this gives you some encouragement in your choice.
zoz

IMac spec help required for virtualisation needs.

Hi I currently own a MBP 13" core 2 duo with 4GB ram and its hardware limitations are becoming apparent for my needs and I cannot increase the memory any further.
I have recently taken a career change and started working in IT which I love to bits. As part of my job I have to complete several Microsoft Exams.
I learn by doing practice scenarios and have been using Parallels 6 for Mac, virtualising 2 Windows 7 and getting them to communicate to each other etc. There will be other things to learn down the line. I like Parallels because you can flip easily between OSX and MS take snapshots etc. However my current MBP does struggle (it pages to the HDD and the fans do kick in) & I am looking for another Mac as I like the all in one form factor screen etc, I don't want a beige box.
I would really like another MBP but the memory only goes up to 8Gb Ram so considering the iMac range but with the iMac comes limitations - portability.
As I progress with my new career I will have to take further exams in further subjects such as Windows Server 2008 R2 & Exchange 2010 and so on.
I would like to continue using Parallels 6 but my main issues is the spec.
A training example I maybe thinking of is:
1 to 2 Windows 7 Virtual clients
1 Windows Server 2008 R2 with SP2 running a Domain & Exchange 2010
or to replicate real world scenario
as above but 2 * Windows 2008 Server R2 (1 with a Domain controller the other with Exchange 2010).
I may also want to learn Windows Small Business Server - so something similar to the above.
This will (ideally) be running on OSX using Parallels 6.
With this in mind I am considering:
iMac 27" 2011 -
3.4GHz Quad-Core Intel Core i7
4GB ram Plus 8Gb purchased separately totalling 12GB (may consider maxing out to 16gb if needed)
256 Gb SSD with the 2TB HDD
I understand that I will have to balance the needs of OSX and the guest operating systems I am hoping the i7 will give me this flexibility as there are virtual cores.
eg Host - OSX - 2CPU's & 4GB ram
2* Win 7 - 1 CPU shared & total of 2GB ram
Windows 2008 R2 (Domain controller) - 1 CPU & 2GB ram
Windows 2008 R2 with Exchange 2010 & test mailboxes etc - allocate 2 CPU's (hoping that the virtual cores come into play) & 4GB ram.
As this is going to be a testing & learning environment there isn't going to be a massive load on the exchange box or loads of clients accessing so I am hoping the memory & cpu requirements are going to be ok.
My main questions are:
1- Will the above iMac spec do?
2- Should I max out the ram to 16gb?
3- Is the standard AMD Radeon HD 6970M 1GB do or should I upgrade to the 2GB due to the number of virtual machines.
4- As this iMac will cost some money could I get away with an i5???
5- Will it perform ok - ie will my OSX environment and my guest os's work smoothly without any lag
6- Will the i7 Virtualisation of the CPUs work (as in my real world scenario I have run out of "actual cpu's!!)
7- Is there a likely hood that the iMac could over heat with all the work that I am asking it to do?
8- Confirm my gut feelings that a MBP would not be able to do the the tasks I am asking it to do?!!!
10 - Any suggestions to getting my MBP to connect remotely to the iMac so I can do virtualisation work on it?
11- Has anyone done something similar and got any advice / tips on their setup.
12- Should I just not bother using OSX and just use Microsoft Hyper V (still on an iMac though)
Any answers / suggestions would be greatly appreciated.
Ta.

1. I would think the system that you have is mind is more than enough.
2. No, I think 8GB is find, but if you are planning on running 4 or 5 VMs at the same time then maybe 12GB.
3. This is find.
4. Yes, the i5 will work for you also.
5. Yes, but again if you have 4 or 5 VMs open it could lag.
6. Yes both the i5 and the i7.
7. No, It has has a few fans that will take care of heat.
8. Yes, I would think any of the current MacBook Pro's con handle this also.
9. Yes, Apple Remote Desktop, Back to my Mac, LogMeIn, etc.
10. Get the largest hard drive available for you new system.
11. No, use Parallels.
Good luck with your new position.

I just buy a imac 27inch when after intalling everthing for windows 7 and all the drivers i need and goes to the restard part my imac just goes to a black screen with a blinking cursel and it just wont proceed anyone can help me with this?

i just buy a imac 27inch when after intalling everthing for windows 7 and all the drivers i need and goes to the restard part my imac just goes to a black screen with a blinking cursel and it just wont proceed anyone can help me with this?

Support articles for things like this would be here:
http://www.apple.com/support/bootcamp

Can I buy an Imac on usa and can apple send it to Colombia?

i wanna buy an imac but its too expensive in my own country, co i `d like to know if i can buy it in a usa mac store n bring it to COlombia...
can i do it ?

You could fly to the US, buy it, pay extra to bring it back with you on the airplane and pay duty on it. I doubt that will be less expensive. You cannot buy it in a store and have them ship it to Columbia.

Can I buy an iMac and pay in dollars and send it to Belguim?

I will buy an iMac and pay in dollars.
Can i send this imac (paid in dollars) to belguim with the apple store?
Please answer ;)

…not to mention VAT at 19% which will be charged on the final price, including customs duties.
Cheaper overall to buy in Belgium.
If you want a US keyboard, you can order it from the online Apple store in Europe.
Message was edited by: noondaywitch

Can I buy an imac at the applestore and have it personalized (for example have it with the non wireless keyboard)?

Can I buy an imac directly at the applestore (milan) and have it with a cables keyboard instead of the wireless one?

Give them a call > http://www.apple.com/it/retail/storelist/

Can I buy an imac without keyboard and mouse ?

Can I buy an imac without keyboard and mouse from an apple store ?

Call or email your Apple store and ask. But I doubt that you can do what you want. You might try a resller.

Buying new iMac 3.06 which windows program for boot camp to get

I am buying a iMac 3.06 and their is a deal to get boot camp with several windows options:
Vista, XP versions either standard or premium or pro versions.
I am retired and do not have any need for windows. once in a while someone sends something that I cannot open in e-mail and my grandson has a PC with standard vista.
If it were not a nominal charge I would not even consider it.
Any thoughts about which windows program to go with,
Greg

Your system and needs sounds like you might want to forgo native dual-boot of Windows and invest in Parallels or Fusion, both are virtual machines so you can run Windows inside OS X, side by side.
Or you might just need a program like OpenOffice, NeoOffice. I'd wait and see if OS X can help you manage files. Or tell us what type of files you need to view. Your iMac comes with iWork which can open some files. You may not need Office for Mac or Windows.
XP tends to be common choice and just 32-bit with SP2 (or later).

About to Buy The iMac (Stop Me?)

I am about to buy the iMac, possibly today. I was wondering a couple of things.
-Should I wait for 10.5 to come pre-installed on them?
-How are they, work wise, look wise, function wise (for the owners)?

*Hi CA..., Welcome* to Apple's Users Help Users Forums.
*Francine Schweider* a |||| bar poster in these forums has what I think is an excellent thought.
"I plan to buy my next computer before Leopard comes out. Why? Because generally new Mac computers will not run any system older than the one they ship with, I want to be able to use the fully mature Tiger system, rather than having to rely entirely on Leopard. Who knows whether the software I own will be fully compatible with Leopard? Or how long it will take for developers (think Adobe) to update if there are incompatibilities with Leopard. Or even just how stable and reliable and all like that Leopard will be.
Francine"
Enjoy your new Mac, JP
*The specifics:*
http://www.apple.com/macosx/uptodate/
Enjoy

Buying an iMac - specs?

Similar Messages

Maybe you are looking for