Just bought first mac....intro and software recommendations

Welcome to the club. I have a similar 27" iMac to what you have ordered and I love it.

How heavily do you use Outlook? Microsoft Office for Mac 2011 re-introduced Outlook for Macs and I think it supports .pst files directly. Otherwise you will need to spend some time re-creating (and importing) into Mac Mail and iCal, but then you have the benefit of the clean/slick Mac software.

I dabbled in both LightRoom and Aperture and went with Aperture, which I have had no real problems with and I like the integrated interface. I believe LightRoom V3 is a major upgrade though and a lot of people really like it. Definitely do the trial versions of both.

I too am in the market for a 2TB external FW drive, but yes, they are very expensive at the moment. Hopefully prices will come down soon and availability will go up.

PK