I am purchasing a imac what processor should i get for photography

Question

I am going to use iMac with adobe suite, I don't know a lot about computers but want it to be fast and I have a tendancy to leave a lot of windows open. Any advice?

Answer 1

There is a lot of truth in 'ds stores' response that a MacPro would probably be the best option.  There are also a couple of things which may be misleading.
An iMac will last as long as a MacPro.  You can make a MacPro last longer by continually swapping out bits and upgrading but I have never heard of people swapping out at motherboard/processor level.  So you can add RAM and hard drives etc. You can do this (to a much lesser extent) with an iMac.
Not sure why you would have to re-buy all of Adobes products either?  I assume that whether you buy an iMac or a MacPro you will keep the software up to date so even if Adobe does rescind it's support for an OS you would have to upgrade in both scenarios.
With Thunderbolt tecnology being what it is I would say an iMac is better than a MacPro.  All of your storage (and scratch discs) can be kept on a NAS (external Network Attached Storage) - and can be accessed by any iMac on your network.  This means that you or any member of your future workforce can access and work on any file.  Also, if you do change or add machines it can hook straight into your network seamlessly. (I know the new MacPros also have Thunderbolt - but it would be MUCH more expensive to achieve the same solution)
It is quite correct that you can increase display 'real estate' by adding displays, and that matte displays are far better for photographic work.  Just bear in mind that you can add displays (not as many - but how many can do you actually need/ afford) to the iMac too.  It also appears, if the rumors are to be believed, that the forthcoming 2012 iMac may well have a matte display option.
Dont get me wrong, I have a Mid 2010 MacPro and it's superb for photography.  It's what I use it for.  I have a dual 21" cinema display (and dont use photoshop or ligtroom).  I find that Aperture is a better, more intuitive, workflow solution which will likely be supported on the Mac for much longer than any single Adobe product.
The bottom line is as follows;
1. How much money do you have.
2. How much physical room do you have'
3. What are your processing requirements (i.e will there be lots of montaging, cut outs, layers, masks and renders?).  If so I would definitely go for Photoshop on the fastest MacPro you can afford.  If you are doing studio photography where the most you are likely to do is 'adjustments' then an iMac will easily do the job and save you a wad of cash.
4. What sort of equipment are you using.  Are you using a 50 megapixel Hasselblad or a Leaf back?  These produce monstrous files which need immense processing.  Are you using a good quality 18 or 20 megapixel DSLR?  If it is the latter then an i7 iMac will be just fine.
I have recently been considering this issue myself and - I am moving to the new iMac when it is released.  Hope this has not confused you too much.