iMac Buying Advice...

[AndrewShanklin]

Hi All,

I have asked you guys about buying my first mac before and in the end i decided to wait until leopard had been released + 6 months to let any bugs get fixed etc..

But could do with a little further info...

Buying direct from apple there are two version available for the 20".

2.0GHz Intel
Core 2 Duo
1GB memory
250GB hard drive1
8x double-layer SuperDrive
ATI Radeon HD 2400 XT with 128MB memory
£799.00


2.4GHz Intel
Core 2 Duo
1GB memory
320GB hard drive1
8x double-layer SuperDrive
ATI Radeon HD 2600 PRO with 256MB memory
£949.00

I want two GB of ram and when i use the "Customize you mac" option i can change the Hard Drive to 320GB and add an extra 1gb of ram to a total cost of £918.00.

So with the exception of the Processor and the ATI Radeon card they are pretty much the same machine, but quite a bit cheaper.

My question is will i notice miss the extra processing power if i opt for the cheaper model?

I am trying to save money so i can buy other things at the same time like Time Capsule / Parallels / AppleCare / XP SP2.

I will use the Mac to run Windows via Parallels and do a fair bit of Photoshop work / imovie etc... Would i regret not buying the better spec machine and should i just bite the bullet?

thanks in advance

Andy.

[rutty]

I got the 24" iMac just before Christmas. It's a beauty of a machine and you certainly won't regret the purchase

I'd consider getting your Mac from one of the authorised dealers. It's where I got mine and they upgraded the RAM to 2GB for free. Doing the same thing through the Apple store is expensive compared to doing it yourself, so if you do decide to buy straight from Apple, get the 1GB version and buy the extra 1GB yourself. Upgrading the RAM is easy, but it looks like the RAM is the only thing you can change yourself! There's a panel you can get to for access.

I can't really give you to much advice on the processor. I suspect that the 2.0GHz would be fine but you'd need as much RAM as you can afford for Photoshop/iMovie. The faster CPU would probably help though.

Get a 320GB external USB drive to use with Time Machine. No need to worry about backups

[Jeewhizz]

So for hte price difference, you get the faster CPU, a bigger HD, and the better graphics card. It really depends on whether you are going to need the extra CPU.

I'd not buy the ram from apple if I were paying for it. That being said, I did get the ram wit my mac pro from apple (i didn't pay!) and when i had an issue with one of them, apple sent out a next day replacement for it - unlikely to happen elsewhere...

Get applecare - cheapest peace of mind ever!

Jee

[AndrewShanklin]

thanks for the info...

I take it that you both have the 2.4GHz version?

I know this is quite a general question - but if i have 2 GB of ram and only the 2.0GHz version (and not the 2.4GHz version) - what kind of apps would i experience performance issues in?

Thanks again

Andy.

[slaughteredlamb]

thanks for the info...

I take it that you both have the 2.4GHz version?

I know this is quite a general question - but if i have 2 GB of ram and only the 2.0GHz version (and not the 2.4GHz version) - what kind of apps would i experience performance issues in?

Thanks again

Andy.

You wouldn't is the simple answer.

I have an older iMac, the one before the one you are talking about getting. I forget what speed the processor is but it's not 2.4Ghz. Last night this was what I was doing:

• Using Handbrake to convert 4 DVD's to MP4 (resizing and compressing) for viewing on my PSP - I had stacked all the jobs up together to run one after the other each creating a new unique file name)
  
• Ripping another DVD using MacTheRipper
• Had my e-mail client open
• Editing Photos in Aperture
• Creating a movie in iMovie - importing and editing video via Firewire and importing photos from Aperture and music from iTunes
• Creating my DVD menu in iDVD
• Had Firefox open

No performance drop whatsoever.

You say you want to run Windows. Are you sure? I thought exactly the same as you and installed Windows under bootcamp. 1 year later I've not used it once and when I upgraded to Leopard I removed Windows entirely.

Others here have said to not buy from Apple. I would advise that you get a quote from 3 Apple dealers for the system that you want and then phone Apple. I did exactly this and the price Apple quoted me was about £50 cheaper than the best quote from a dealer.

As for Applecare, yeah it peace of mind, yeah it's probably worth getting but no I didn't buy it and no I don't regret it and no I haven't needed it.

The only program I can think of that you would see a performance drop with the spec's you are talking about would be Aperture but if you don't do much photo editing you don't need it anyway. That said Aperture will comfortably run on the spec's you are quoting it just won't run as fast as it could on a higher spec machine but Aperture is notorious for needing a really, really beefy Mac to get the best from it.

[AndrewShanklin]

Thanks for all the info its much appreciated 

I think that covers everything.

At this stage i still think i will need Windows installed on the mac (in some form) as i use two windows apps fairly regularly which i am pretty sure will never get ported over. I also use Sage Line 50  for work, which is windows only.

Thanks again

Andy.