Help deciding on new iMac

Hi, I'm and trying to decide on what new iMac to purchase and thought some of you could help me out. This will be replacing my 20inch G5 iMac at home so whatever I get will be leaps-and-bounds better. I work on a 24 inch 3.06 Core 2 Duo at work. I assume even the bottom of the line of the current iMac setup will be as fast or faster.
So there are two things that are stalling me. Is it worth spending more on the 3.2 processor? Is it that much faster than the 3.06? And would I benefit more from the 512 graphics card?
Also, I've seen the 21.5 and the 27 inch and can not decide. I wish there was a 24inch still. The 27 is too big. But I'm afraid of running out of room on the 21.5 inch.
We will not be watching movies on the new Mac. It will be used for iPhoto, iTunes, email, internet as well as graphic design work using Adobe CS. No serious gaming.
Thanks for any opinions!

vondy wrote:
Thanks for any opinions!
ah, good
go for the biggest, baddest machine your budget allows in order to be sufficiently safe for the next 3-4 year.
max our RAM (DIY - get it from OWC. installing it is a piece of cake).
JGG

Similar Messages

Help deciding on new iMac purchase

Hi,
I am looking at getting an iMac for my sister, who is pursuing a degree in graphics. Right now, she is just using Adobe Creative Suite, but wants to learn 3DS Max, Lightwave 3D, etc..
Would the 27" iMac with the ATI Radeon HD 4670 graphics (256mb) be sufficient for her?
Thanks in advance for the advice.
Subhash

Hi-
Your sister is lucky to have a brother as generous as you!
THe short answer is that she will be quite happy with the 27" with Radeon 4670(256)
Note that since 3DS Max is a Windows application, she will need to set up Bootcamp to use it at its optimal speed. This means that you will also need to install (at least) Windows XP on it. Windows 7 is also a good option, with Apple releasing the official drivers for it just two days ago. You can choose the 32 bit or 64 bit of Windows. According to chatter on the web, it will work fine on even the 32 bit version.
Also, you might consider bumping up the ram to 8GB or higher, as she will be using a lot of graphics intensive programs. If so, it means she can, instead of running those apps in Bootcamp, she can also run them in Parallels (albeit at slower speed)

HELP! brand new iMac froze during firewire transfer and won't start!!!

During my setup for my brand new iMac I follwed the directions and connected my iBook via firewire to transfer my files. I noticed after a while that my iMac was frozen on "45 minutes remaining" and the blue line wasn't wavering a bit, and after over half an hour it hadn't moved. I powered off the iBook, and still nothing happened to the iMac screen--it remained frozen. I went to the guidebook and nothing seemed to work, so I powered off and on again, only to get a flashing question mark. All this and I just bought the darn thing tonight!
Help! Anyone know what happened and more importantly how to fix it?
Thanks.
Lindsay

it sounds like the iBook went to sleep during the transfer or at least it's hard drive spun down.
what you need to know is hope that simply booting from your install DVD will let you repair the iMac's hard drive. You could also try booting holding down the Command S keys on startup and when you get to the Single User Mode command line prompt follow the directions there for running fsck to repair your hard drive.
Do you have a FW hard drive? Can you copy files from iBook to FW and then from there to iMac?
And, it is always nice to have a FW emergency/backup hard drive. The iMac needs a different partition scheme to be bootable from FW than the iBook does, but you can create the proper partition type etc from a Tiger Installer and put OS X on FireWire, then see if you can backup and repair your iMac's hard drive.
MicroMat's TechTool Pro 4.5.1 is now shipping and is compatible, Universal Binary and bootable. Always good to have some 3rd party utility handy.
If you are just starting out, you probably don't have much if anything installed yet, so you may want to just erase your iMac drive and restore to what it was. That would be the easiest if Disk Utility won't repair it.
Instead of powering off the iBook, I would have tried to force quit whatever was running, like Migration Assistant.

From tiger to leopard.. plz help me.. new imac tomorrow

so for 3 years i always used my ibook with tiger.. tomorrow my new imac will be delivered... i need any help u can give or links to previous topics regarding how to transfer everything such as settings.. emails... music.. calendar..everything..especially now that i there will be two operating systems (different) involved. thanks

Migration Assis. *****.
I've seen alot of issues when people use it. Back up all you'r info (http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=301239) you can also try (http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=58583) Firewire, But that doesn't save any preferences, Try the Migration Assis. But a backup is always best just in case.

Help Needed re: New iMac SSD and Apps

I have a new MTO 27" iMac with the SSD option and I want to maximize the performance of my Apps and OS by having them resident on the SSD and not much else. I don't know what folders and files other than the .app files I need to move from my old PPC to achieve this. Please help as I am already a little confused about the content of the SSD vs the HDD. After moderate reading, I'm thinking I just want the OS (Lion) and my Apps on the SSD but I am using the Target Drive process vs Migration assistant. I already have moved my "out of the box" User home folder and its "Hidden" Library to my HDD on the new imac, but have NOT moved any of my old PPC Apps or other folders to the new iMac yet.
Should I put my User/Library/Applications Support Folder on my SSD if I mainly want my OS and Apps on the SSD? AND Can I just move/copy the folder to the new iMac using the Target Drive process from my old PPC?
I'm open to other ideas about what files s/b on SSD

I've seen a few Discussion Threads regarding these new iMac setups with the two internal drives (SSD + HDD). Some folks are advocating for keeping all Apps/OS files on the SSD exactly as you mention. Then they come up with a scheme for keeping their whole home folder on the HDD and it's seamlessly done so that the Mac doesn't complain that your home folder isn't in the default location.
http://web.me.com/pondini/AppleTips/SetupOther.html
This has some tips on how to keep your home folder on the larger HDD instead of on the SSD.

Need help installing on new iMac

I am just in the process of getting ready to upgrade my G5 to Leopard, and then back up the drive to a firewire drive. I am also getting a new iMac, which will come with Leopard, Parallels, and Windows, pre-installed. I do not want to have to start putting my software on the new computer disc by disc. How do I transfer what I have on the firewire drive to the new computer? If I copy the drive over, will I lose what is pre-installed on the iMac? I can't copy the G5 drive to the firewire to begin with, and I can't copy it over from there to the iMac using SuperDuper, since I understand it does not work with Leopard, so what do I use? Can someone give this moron step by step instructions? I have had a number of computers over the years, but never copied over a drive - Inever had as much on a computer as I have put on it over the last few years, and I don't want to spend weeks transferring. Thanks for any advice! Leslie

Hi Leslie Weinberg;
If I understand you correctly you want to move your applications from a G5 to new iMac. This is know way to cause performance problems on the new iMac. The reason for this is that applications installed on the G5 are set up for PowerPC and the new iMac has an Intel processor.
The recommended way to do this is to install the application on the new iMac and then you can move the data and settings over afterwards.
Allan

Help buying a new iMac

Hello,
As the subject points out I'm looking to buy a new iMac but even after over a month of debating what iMac to buy I'm still puzzled. This machine will be a gaming machine, spec:
iMac 27-inch
2.93GHz Quad-Core Intel Core i7
4GB 1333MHz DDR3 SDRAM - 2x2GB
1TB Serial ATA Drive
VS
iMac 27-inch
2.93GHz Quad-Core Intel Core i7
8GB 1333MHz DDR3 SDRAM - 4x2GB
1TB Serial ATA Drive
VS
iMac 27-inch
2.93GHz Quad-Core Intel Core i7
4GB 1333MHz DDR3 SDRAM - 2x2GB
256GB Solid State Drive
VS
iMac 27-inch
2.93GHz Quad-Core Intel Core i7
8GB 1333MHz DDR3 SDRAM - 4x2GB
256GB Solid State Drive
The SSD adds a lot more to the final price and I don't know if it is worth it... Me and my wife play World of Warcraft (aka WoW) so the i7 is a must and the I know for a fact that WoW is RAM hungry as well, hence why I'm thinking 8GB of RAM(I know I can upgrade later ... ). But still the SSD...? I have upgraded my MacBook Pro 5.5 (mid 2009) to a crucial SSD and I am very pleased with it, but will it make the same difference on the iMac? The i7, 8GB RAM, SSD is affordable but ... the price makes me think twice.
I am really stuck, I want to order it but don't quite know what to do...

As you know a SSD is great for startup and opening Apps and files beyond that that there isn't major advantage. Where you benefit from a SSD is by installing the OS, Apps and critical files onto the SSD and use the internal HD only for storage. If you are in the habit of turning off your computer nightly (Apple recommends you leave it on 24/7 in the manual) then the SSD would be nice. Also if you are in the habit of opening files and apps very frequently then again the SSD would be a nice asset. IMHO though SSD's are nice but a luxury and not necessary due to their costs. My opinion mirrors my financial status, however once they are considered more mainstream and less expensive I will probably jump in myself.
So my recommendations would be to get option #2:
iMac 27-inch
2.93GHz Quad-Core Intel Core i7
8GB 1333MHz DDR3 SDRAM - 4x2GB
1TB Serial ATA Drive
however DO NOT purchase the RAM from Apple. RAM is user upgradeable and won't affect your warranty. It takes 5 minutes to do. SImply purchase RAM from a reputable source like Crucial or OWC.
Roger

Deciding on new Imac or not.

Hey everybody! I currently own a 2.4GHZ older imac with an ATI 2600 pro in it and 3gb of ram, the 20inch version.
I have an oppertunity to get a new Imac 24inch 8800GS, 4gb ram, 500gb hard driver, and 3.06ghz for about 1600 cdn.
So my question to you is, should I go for it or wait a while? I'm fine with my imac right now, but I'd like to install windows on it and play a few games as well. So what does everyone think about that?

That sounds like a model from the first aluminum iMac line-up. You can upgrade the RAM to 4GB with one 2GB module to replace the existing 1GB module, if 3GB is not enough. That should improve performance a bit. The upcoming Snow Leopard (in a few weeks) will probably make the same Intel 64-bit hardware run better, because it is an upgrade the is focused on optimization in various ways.
You can install Windows on it. Whether the graphics hardware can handle "a few games" depends on the system requirements for those games. If the current system running Windows under Boot Camp meets the requirements, and the iMac is otherwise fine for what you do under Mac OS X, I would keep it and use it as long as possible. I'm sure there will be other good deals in the future.

Need help with workflow: New iMac with SSD & HDD and Pegasus Promise

Hello everyone! I've decided to upgrade my iMac and ordered an i7 with the SSD and HDD drive configuration as well as the Pegasus Promise 12TB drive. I've been researching as to what's the best way to manage both the SSD and HDD drives and I really haven't seen an end-all answer. Now with the purchase of the Pegasus Promise, I'm more confused as to what's the best approach to take. Here are my thoughts:
1. Use the SSD as the boot and application drive and the HDD for the users folder.
2. Use the SSD as the boot and application drive, the HDD for the users folder, and photos and pics onto the Pegasus.
3. Use the SSD as the boot and application drive, the Pegasus for the users folder, and the HDD for ???
4. Just use the Pegasus drive as the boot drive and use it for everything. (being that it's a RAID drive, then all my files are backed-up already)
Majority of my space-filling files are my iTunes folder, tons of pictures from using Aperture, and iMovie for videos.
Thanks in advance for everyone's input and help!

I'm working on a similar premise. i7, SSD, HDD, Promise raid, etc.
I'm nowhere near as savvy as a lot of the people here, but after a lot of research I decided that focusing on how the Pegasus gets configured is the most important for me. My concerns are for a business in photography, btw.
I can't budget the 12TB unit so I'm trying to make the most of either the R4-8tb or th R6-6tb.
I'm planning to launch the applications from the SSD. I will use the Mac HDD for typical non-photographic files, iTunes (mine's not so big), and standard fair. This is all backed up via Time Machine to a 3TB Western Digital MyBook for the time being.
As for the Pegasus, I believe I've settled on: taking an R6-6tb unit, placing the 6th drive in my firesafe from the moment I get it. Configuring the remaining 5 drives in a level 5 setup. Leaves me 4TB to get started and buys me a few succesful quarters to plan on daisy chaining another unit when memory is needed. This way, I may not have maximum possible drive space, but I've got a replacement drive on the ready should I experience a drive-failure. Then, I'm not sitting on pins and needles while I await a replacement; they'll simply be shipping me a new "spare".
I still need to actually speak to someone @ Promise to make sure this will work, as I stated: I"m learning as I go here. If this is an acceptable Raid setup, you would have 8TB available to you.
Personally, I am far more comfortable running systems in series and building the size as I go (to a point) than putting so much data in a single array.
[Edit] The raid bay is mainly for the Lightroom catalog, and I use standard external drives to store redundant backups off-site (1TB at a time).

Need basic help with my new iMac

Can someone please assist me with these questions?
When I click on F3 (wireless keyboard), I can see all my windows that are open (I think this feature is called expose?), but it just shows the windows for about a second and then I see my desktop. I'm not able to select the window I want to activate. It used to show me all the windows open and then I could just click on the one I want to activate. I don't know what I did to change this.
Also, I added some stuff (widgets?) on my dashboard and I don't know how to remove them. How do I do this?
Thanks in advance for your help.

It sounds like you have Expose set to "Desktop" rather than "All windows" or "Application windows". Check your settings in System Preferences....
cheers
mrtotes

Photos previously deleted from iPhoto, cannot rebuild library on new iMac

I purchased a new iMac and restored from Time Machine. In the past, I moved some photos from my previous imac to store on a hard drive. In iphoto, the thumbnails were still present but could not open (message: cannot find file). I lived with this because I knew where I could find them if I wanted them.
Now, when I first open iphoto it tries to rebuild the library. I get the error message for every single one of these photos (hundreds), asking if I want to cancel or find photo.
I there some way I can resolve this without clicking on hundreds of error messages? When I did this, eventually iphoto closed and I had to start all over again.
Thank you for you help. My new iMac is running Mountain Lion.

Is sound like the original files for those many thumbnails are gone. Try the following:
Using iPhoto Library Manager to Rebuild Your iPhoto Library
Download iPhoto Library Manager and launch.
Click on the Add Library button,
navigate to your Home/Pictures folder and select your iPhoto Library folder.
Now that the library is listed in the left hand pane of iPLM, click on your library and go to the Library ➙ Rebuild Library menu option
In the next window name the new library and select the location you want it to be placed.
Click on the Create button.
Note: This creates a new library based on the LIbraryData.xml file in the library and will recover Events, Albums, keywords, titles and comments. However, books, calendars, cards and slideshows will be lost. The original library will be left untouched for further attempts at fixing the problem or in case the rebuilt library is not satisfactory.
If that doesn't give you a good library you can try this:
Starting over from scratch with new library
Start over with a new library and import the Originals (iPhoto 09 and earlier) or the Masters (iPhoto 11) folder from your original library as follows:
1. Open the library package like this.
2. Launch iPhoto with the Option key held down and, when asked, select the option to create a new library.
3. Drag the subfolders of the Originals (iPhoto 09 and earlier) or the Masters (iPhoto 11) folder from the open iPhoto Library package into the open iPhoto window a few at a time.
This will create a new library with the same Events (but not necessarily the same Event names) as the original library but will not keep the metadata, albums, books slideshows and other projects.
The library will contain all of the orignal files that are in your current library.
Note: your current library will be left untouched for further attempts at a fix if so desired.
OT

So many issues - family of 5, i am using my wifes apple id on my iPhone, my daughter is using my apple id on touch, i need to get all iTunes content off an old PC onto new imac and i just got iphone 5 and want to be able to have evreything work - help!

5 plus years ago my wife had the only Apple ID and as a family we all used her Itunes account to buy and listen to music. A couple years later, I (husband) bought my first iPhone - the only iDevice in the household. When I set that iphone up, I used the wife's apple ID as I wanted access to all of the itunes music we had as a family. So now years later, all of my Apps etc have been purchased via the Wife's Apple ID. To make matters worse for my situation, my 10 yr old daughter got an iTouch for Christmas and i decided to use my actual (husband) Apple ID as daughter is a minor and I felt I could manage her iTouch Apps content that way. We have just recently bought our first iMac and I had yet to understand or get to work the iCloud or the Home Sharing of iTunes. To make matters worse, I have never synched my 3G iphone because of the whole Apple ID issue. I should also mention that the primary 'authorized' computer for my wife's itunes account is an old PC that we almost never use anymore as it runs soooo slow. So I am left to wonder how to go about making the transition to get the old PC 'deauthorized' after I somehow transfer all itunes files from the old PC to the new iMac. I now have the new iPhone5 and i REALLY want to get to the point where i have my iphone on my apple id and my wife has her apple id (no iphone for her yet - probably coming soon though). On the new iMac i have created a login for me and one for my wife. I was able to login to itunes on her imac login and i was able to set up iCloud. it works! - but now my calendar, contacts, photos, etc are on her profile login of the iMac! HELP me PLEASE!!

Your Apple ID should not be causing problems with your browser. If you describe the problems you are having we might be able to help with those.
regards

Apertrure or iPhoto on a new iMac? Photo Storage? HELP!

I just purchased a new 27" iMac and before I did anything, I upgraded to Mavericks on a clean install out of the box. My "old" computer is a first generation Intel iMac (Jan 2006) running Snow Leopard. The internal 250GB hard drive was becoming labored with files, so I stored all of my photos, videos, and music on an external hard drive and simply directed my respective programs to look for their libraries on that hard drive. Made a MASSIVE difference on the computer and it ran wonderfully all along due to a light load on that internal drive.
Since the new iMac has a 1TB internal drive, I thought I would put everything ON the internal hard drive and just use the 1.5 TB Drive as a backup. Importing photos to iPhoto has proved to be a rediculous nightmare with Faces and quadruplicates of pictures. I have just dumped the whole file and want to start over from scratch.
My question is this: I have intentions of downloading Aperture anyways.... should I just download it and use it as my primary, by importing all pictures off my external drive into Aperture, then direct iPhoto to look at my Aperture library? I have nearly 50,000 pictures to put on the computer so I can start to clean them out. One of the BIGGEST complaints of iPhoto is Faces. What a mess! Another reason to want Aperture even more so I can disable that! I was also thinking of just directing the libraries to look at the external again and getting ANOTHER external drive for JUST Time Machine backups.
So many choices.... don't know which way to turn. Any advice?
(and NO, I don't want to hear how crazy I am to have or want to import 50,000 photos..... which, with Faces and unruly duplicates became 275,000 files transfered. Ugh.)

. I am leaning towards upgrading the existing library using iPhoto, then when we get REALLY bold, have Aperture look at the library...........
Aperture has better tools to organize your photo library than iPhoto. For example, you can structure your projects (aka "events" in iPhoto) by putting related projects in a hierarchical structure of folders. And yes, you can decide, if you want to use faces, places, previews. You can delete faces, that have been created in iPhoto.
You will want to save as much of your previous work, but start with a new, clean design for your Aperture library, that will be easily mainained and suffice for many years. these goals are a bit in conflict.
If you want to eat the cake, but have it too, start your Aperture library with two folders for projects - old and new. Import the iPhoto library into the "old" folder, and build the structure in the "new" folder according to your new design by moving items between these two folder sets. Importing the iPhoto Library will save all your edits and tags like Andy recommended, and keeping the imported projects/events in a separate folder, will help you to build a new structure from it.
These two user tips might help you decide on a design for your new Aperture library:
My little effort:                  New to Aperture? Some Considerations when Designing your First Aperture Library
And Kirby Krieger's great                  The Well-Trod Path: a Beginner's Guide to how Aperture's major parts inter-relate
After upgrading to Aperture, don't delete iPhoto in a hurry, see:
                 Keep iPhoto - It May Come in Handy!
-- Léonie

Need help deciding between iMac or Display

I'm hoping some of you mac pros can help me with some advice. A few months ago I made the switch and bought a macbook and realised how great it was for photography, but am now wishing I had a larger screen. I can't decide if I should keep the macbook and get a display to hook it up to, or sell the macbook and buy a new imac. If anyone with either of these could help me out with some pros and cons I would be most grateful !!!

Hi LilacRose
If you bought the Macbook for portability then buy a screen, if possible go to a dealer and take you Macbook to try some out.
You probably will need at least a 20" so consider if you have permanent space for presumably an iMac (the keyboard will store under the screen on the stand) or the screen.
It comes down to what other things you want to do with the machine, for instance if you want take it to show friends or family photos you have, then maybe keep the Macbook and have the benefit of the big screen for editing etc.
Remember that although Macs hold their value you will still lose some money possibly.
chris
iMac 20" Intel Core Duo 2GB RAM Mac OS X (10.4.8) G3 600 iBook 640MB OS X (10.2.8) Lacie d2 60GB & 250GB Firewire Windows XP

[help] new iMac +tiger

Hi,
I purchased a new iMac (24inch, 2.8ghz core2duo extreme,came with leopard) a little while ago for use with music production (pro-tools, ableton live etc.). Before this I had purchased a MacBook Pro (running tiger) for use with DJ'n and production on-the-go, making the switch from Xp.
I originally had the iMac setup with bootcamp running Win XP pro, allowing me to keep the programs I had previously used and slowly move across to a full Mac set-up.
What I didn't realise is that leopard is unsuppported still by Digidesign for my soundcard and Pro Tols LE, and most of my plug-ins are unsupported aswell. This means my MBP and Desktop aren't running the same software, so if i work on a track on my laptop , I can't move it across onto the more powerful computer which is what i was intending to do.
Anyway I decided I would try to install tiger on my iMac, so I backed up necessary files on my XP partition and used bootcamp to delete it,which somehow messed up my leopard partition aswell, leaving me with nothing.
Now I have leopard re-installed and am wishing to install Tiger on it. I have used a program call CheckUp, which tells me that the computer is capable of running tiger and I have the tiger installation disk (boxed version, but it is for PowerPC only). I have read about succesfully installing tiger on a new model iMac (through using the iMac as a firewire drive from my MBP) but am unsure how to get the correct version to work on the iMac, as it seems it needs to be updated before it can be used.
here is the link to what I had read on it http://discussions.apple.com/thread.jspa?messageID=6887285
Any help with this would be greatly appreciated.
Thanks,
Shane

You cannot install the PPC version of Tiger on it you need to find an original 10.4 ALU iMac install disk. http://discussions.apple.com/thread.jspa?messageID=6701696&#6701696
George

Help deciding on new iMac

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