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Imac 24" for editing pictures?

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Craig

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I have read a lot of reviews on the Imac but not many people are pros.

I don't know how good the screen is for getting good color correction and image editing.

I would like to get the power mac but to me it's expensive and overkill. By the time I get enough memory and eventually a new monitor, software you are talking $4k

anyone have an opinion?
 
More real estate on the screen is not necessary if you don't want the
extra investment. Its nice, but not really that big a deal. Put the extra
money into memory so your computer opens files faster.

Keep your files on an external LaCie Extreem HD and not the iMac.
Back them up on DVD or another HD. I use a 17" iMac and see no
problem over the bigger models. LaCie external drives have just come
down in price, so that is the way to go.

They come spot on calibrated but its good to have a OneEye etc.

17 2.0Ghz around $1400 with memory
Lacie external $200
Apple Aperture $300
Photoshop..... lots.....

However, you can still run all your PC programs, so iMac is the best of
both worlds.
Craig said:
I have read a lot of reviews on the Imac but not many people are pros.
I don't know how good the screen is for getting good color
correction and image editing.
I would like to get the power mac but to me it's expensive and
overkill. By the time I get enough memory and eventually a new
monitor, software you are talking $4k

anyone have an opinion?
Click to expand...
 
the only thing that scares me with the Imac is that there are not that many inputs.

I have two printers, may get rid of one, 2 scanners, I need a card reader, I use lacie external hard drives. I would like the Power mac but that's on the other end, more expensive and over kill for what I need. But it has plenty of room for drives and more inputs, memory.

I have a Mac pro 15" laptop I just bought and I like Mac. No problem since I don't need to use it for a lot of heavy processing, plus I installed parrallels on it with xp for a couple of programs I
need.

But changing over my workstation is going to be a pain. I will have to get xp running on it too, so that adds to the expense. I would love to get totally away from windows and Norton utilities

I need more memory for my pc and I hate to add another gig since the way it is laid out I have to buy 2 gigs to add a gig..buy in pairs.

maybe I can find someone show needs my 1 gig of memory.
 
Hi,

I'm not sure what you mean by lack of inputs on the imac, I had one I used before I replaced it with a macbook pro that had 2 7 port usb hubs plugged into it, 6 hard drives (firewire and Usb 2) and a 21 inch screen (I had a 17inch Imac) The whole setup worked fine, even if aperture was a little slow when it first came out.

With today Imac and macbook pro, get the most memory you can no matter which one, and definatley get a few firewire drives (I find them quicker then the USB 2).

I admit I'm tempted by the 24inch, every image editor I've talked to who ahd a big screen says they would never go back, and some are looking at bigger screens. The 24 Imac is a realy good value, just a little more that the 24 lcd screen

Bourne
 
Craig said:
the only thing that scares me with the Imac is that there are not
that many inputs.
Click to expand...
Some USB devices do take power. A hub will power and expand USB
as much as you like. FireWire is chained so that is not a problem. FireWire
800 has a large cable and will take many, many external drives.
Craig said:
I have two printers, may get rid of one, 2 scanners, I need a card
reader, I use lacie external hard drives. I would like the Power
mac but that's on the other end, more expensive and over kill for
what I need. But it has plenty of room for drives and more inputs,
memory.
Click to expand...
I agree, the tower Macs are for number crunchers and gamers and
24/7 studios that need that power. iMac works well for weddings such
as yours or my business.
Craig said:
I have a Mac pro 15" laptop I just bought and I like Mac. No
problem since I don't need to use it for a lot of heavy processing,
plus I installed parrallels on it with xp for a couple of programs I
need.
Click to expand...
I actually did all my business on a 12 inch laptop for almost a year
while waiting for Mac to upgrade operating systems. That is when
we jumped on the iMac and it was worth the wait.
Craig said:
But changing over my workstation is going to be a pain. I will
have to get xp running on it too, so that adds to the expense. I
would love to get totally away from windows and Norton utilities
Click to expand...
iMac will run windows as well as any PC machine.
Craig said:
I need more memory for my pc and I hate to add another gig since
the way it is laid out I have to buy 2 gigs to add a gig..buy in
pairs.

maybe I can find someone show needs my 1 gig of memory.
Click to expand...
We are waiting again for the OS X Leopard and will add, yet, another
iMac 17 2.0GHz machine. My 2nd iMac will go to assistant work desk
when that happens.

We have Macs dating back to 600Mhz that are still totally functional
machines. I have one laptop that is from the early 90's and still starts
and works.
 
I've still got a powerbook G3 from 98 that still works and even had 10.4 installed on it.... go to love Macs for that

Bourne
 
Yes you do have a point regarding no PCI slots, but just what would you like to add - upgrade ? (I know a faster graphics card ... but other than that)

Bourne
 
bdew said:
Yes you do have a point regarding no PCI slots, but just what would
you like to add - upgrade ? (I know a faster graphics card ... but
other than that)

Bourne
Click to expand...
The thing is that with PCI slots you can always have the opportunity to upgrade. For example I still use a 733 G4 and when they first came out USB 2 wasn't available, but with the expansion slots I stuck in a USB 2 card, same with larger internal hard drives. You never know what's going to be obsolete in the next couple of years, but with the PCI slots you can always upgrade most everything.
 
Just visited apples web site to freshen up on prices, and a 24 imac is selling for 2000, upgrade to 256 mb of video, and get some third party gb upgrades and the whole thing comes in at around 2300- 2400.

For 2500 you can buy a mac pro, that other from the processors, is the same machine. (I know thats not really true...) add on a few gigs of memory and a 24 screen and your paying 3700$ (Everytime I think I should buy a mac pro the same thing happens...)

With mirroring now enabled (without the patch) on the imac, for another 1000$ you can have a rig with 2 24 inch screens for cheaper than the Mac Pro.

Yes, down the road, you will not be able to upgrade.... but I had the first mac in 1984, and in all these years of havings macs and then a IT consultant, I've only performed an upgrade once. (I will admit most of my clients were not image professionals)

Bourne
 
bdew said:
With mirroring now enabled (without the patch) on the imac, for
another 1000$ you can have a rig with 2 24 inch screens for cheaper
than the Mac Pro.
Click to expand...
They always had mirroring. Now, you can run a second monitor with extra real estate. That feature alone will probably cause me to switch from a tower to an iMac.
 
up untill the last Imac, the video card had to be patched to enable to extend the desktop across 2 screens, but this was easily fixed with a patch (did void the apple gurantee though). The patch worked on both imacs and ibooks.

Bourne
 
I have and use the 20" iMac (one month old) and I'm loving it so far. The panel is sublime. It's actually the same panel component as they use in the top end Dell monitors. Contrast is great and colors are great (as long as you're calibrated of course). 20" is a great size... almost too big... so I'd feel that 24" would be more than necessary.

On the lack of USB ports... not a problem, spend $30 and get a Kensington USB 2.0 hub. I haven't run out of slots yet... then again, we have a full network so our printer is connected to the server.
 
I hope that you're being sarcastic... why would I instal a patch to enable a feature that Apple had locked if I didn't know the difference ?

bourne
 
.... I went back and read one of my posts and it looks like I typed in mirroring enabled insteard of spanning or extended.
Sorry bout that.

Bourne
 
We all make mistakes!

Of course, it's awful when we get cranky, then discover our own error. LOL!
 
ok well i have seen some mixed responses here. so EXPANDED desktop is enabled? ie i can have another monitor to the side and slide my mouse etc right over there? or it will just mirror whats on the imac screen?
--
music; response.
http://hedley.zenfolio.com
 
yes, in the most recent Imacs, Apple finally enabled spanning or extended desktop, which was possible before, but only by using a patch. So you can now hook up (you'll have to buy a 20$ adapter) any lcd or vga screen to the Imac and have a lot of real estate. Once you get used to working with two screens, its difficult to go back.

Bourne
 
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