I've decided

[jordan eff]

ok today i went to the apple store and had a good look at all the machine and think I have decided on the 24inch 2.8ghz model

just thought i'd ask what people thought of this model in terms of speed etc
i think I will upgrade the ram to 4Gb

also where would I be able to get photoshop for the mac and how does this model cope with photoshop, does it run smoothly with say safari and and IM app open

and info is really appreciated

thanks

[Testify]

ok today i went to the apple store and had a good look at all the machine and think I have decided on the 24inch 2.8ghz model

just thought i'd ask what people thought of this model in terms of speed etc
i think I will upgrade the ram to 4Gb

also where would I be able to get photoshop for the mac and how does this model cope with photoshop, does it run smoothly with say safari and and IM app open

and info is really appreciated

thanks

Im rather new here, but dont get the RAM from Apple :P

You learn that rather quickly from looking at the price Apple ask you for that update compared to what you can find online.

[jordan eff]

thanks i've heard that alot

\i haven't used a mac since 2001 and it was a power mac G3 with OS9 wich was a nightmare with constant crashing and errors so i'm looking for as much info as possible seeing as 8 years everything will have changed

[Fonzijr1964]

great product

u can get CS4 from the apple store http://store.apple.com/us/browse/campaigns/adobe/cs4_buying_guide?mco=MTIyNzE

[jordan eff]

I see in your signature you have the same model

got any tips about it and how well it runs :)

[Cave Man]

It'll do Photoshop and browsing just fine. If you're a heavy PS user, get 6 gb of RAM and set up a 2 gb ram disk for scratch.

[jordan eff]

What do yo class as heavy use on PS


I need as much info as possible because like i said i havnt used macs in 8 years and dont know what to expect from this one

[synagence]

Its more about image sizes .... i deal with 15MP digital camera files and then work heavily on them.... i can run that ok on 2gb but works nicer in 4gb

Things like photoshop CS4 run much better these days due to GPU acceleration and will in theory work even better in SnowLeopard.

My main photoshop rig is a 2.5Ghz C2D with 4Gb DDR2 ram and 8600M Gfx and it runs perfectly fine

I've even run it on a macmini (just to see how it was) and it was actually ok ... 2Ghz C2D and 2.5Gb ram

[Apple Ink]

Mac OS is way way more lighter on resources than any of its windows counterparts (dont even mention Vista).

So in all 4GB is really fine!

And when Cave Man says Heavy use... he means working with 32bit HDR files weighing in more than a GB (believe me.. with even 6GB of RAM the iMac here will take about 20 minutes with just "Reading Photoshop/Tiff file" message stuck on screen!

[desantii]

Newegg.com is a great source or ram at great prices

[jordan eff]

Ok that sounds fine.

So what about the 2.8ghz core 2. CPU. How good is this

Thanks again for helping guys

[Apple Ink]

the 2.8GHz is an Xtreme series I believe... one of Intel's 'X' variants

Translating: top of the line... costs a lot of moolah!

[wawanarchist]

I'm running the same model right now... I have to say I'm happy with everything except for the graphics performance which seems to be a bit lacking in my opinion... expose and stacks can be choppy sometimes, but thats just gui stuff. I am running 2gb of ram because I plan on selling this when then new iMacs come out and getting a new one.

I run photoshop pretty heavy and its well up to task, though since I mainly do edits for newspapers, I don't do much heavy manipulation, though I will browse through 200+ images at a time.

My recommendation, go ahead and buy it, the screen is beautiful, and you'll love it. If a new iMac comes out in the next few months and you want it you could probably sell it and upgrade for about $200 out of pocket. I just view it as a 'rental fee' for using a temp mac for a few months

[jordan eff]

ah so its quite a powerfull processor :)

well hope full upgrading the ram will also help with performance

also i was thinking i should take out applecare with it, would you all recomend its worth it

any more info you guys have would be great, you've helped so much so far

[cwazytech]

I am so tired of waiting and false rumors I decided to just install a 1TB HD to satisfy my storage needs and I'm going to start saving for a Mac Pro.

[Apple Ink]

Well seriously speaking I've never really felt the use for an Apple Care especially for a desktop!
And generally with Apple products.. defects show up with in a month of usage or they remain pristine for a long time! And Apple Cares are expensive.. o_O

Your call though!

[wawanarchist]

If your a student, get the apple care, its only $120 after the discount, and 2 extra years of coverage for $60 a year is a good deal in my book. Also, I'd recommend getting an external drive for storage, right now my mac could crash and burn and I'd be fine, I have all my files saved on two redundant 1tb drives, the only thing I'd loose is my internet history. It also makes switching between systems a breeze.

[jordan eff]

well maybe you can help answer this as i'm unsure

i'm not at school or college but i am doing a modern appenticeship where i had the choice to go to college or on the job learning, i chose on the job and i regularly get exams etc every month for the work and get someone to come and watch what i'm doing to accese me for a few hours, i have a card to say that i am doing this kind of stuff from the place that gives me my work and exams so would this class as one of the ways for a discount :)

i have and external HD with 400Gb i have used it for about a year on windows so will that still work on the mac, so what happens if defects show up within the month, do i just take it back to apple and let them fix or replace it

thanks again

[desantii]

the 2.8GHz is an Xtreme series I believe... one of Intel's 'X' variants

Translating: top of the line... costs a lot of moolah!

Just FYI, the extreme (X variant) were the 2.8 CPUs in the previous IMAC (2.4 with a 2.8 option). The current 2.8 is a Peryn e8235 cpu, not extreme, in any case the new cpu is faster than the old extreme (1066bus vs 800mhz bus and 6mb cache vs 4mb)

[schizoidwoman]

i'm not at school or college but i am doing a modern appenticeship where i had the choice to go to college or on the job learning, i chose on the job and i regularly get exams etc every month for the work and get someone to come and watch what i'm doing to accese me for a few hours, i have a card to say that i am doing this kind of stuff from the place that gives me my work and exams so would this class as one of the ways for a discount :)


thanks again

As far as I am aware from the uni where I work, you must be enrolled at an institution of further or higher education to benefit from the discount. I had a look in Apple's Ts and Cs and they seem to confirm this:

"2.1 In order to be entitled to benefit from the special discounts on the Apple Store for Education you must be either a registered student and possess a valid student I.D. or you must be engaged as a teacher or lecturer at an education institution [...]"

Having said that, I would suggest you discuss your situation with Apple and see what they suggest because you can't lose anything by asking and you may end up with a nice surprise!

In reply to your other question, you get a 14 day window in which to return your purchase if you wish and after that it's covered by the standard 12 month warranty (or more with AppleCare) as with any similar item you might buy so either way, you should be protected against any manufacturing defects at least for the first year.

[jordan eff]

ok so worth a try askin when i go to buy it

so within the 12 motnhs if I have problems with the hard drive for example apple will fix but after the 12 months if this happened i would need to pay out for it

when into another store an hour ago and had another go on the 24inch 2.8 model and even with the standard 2Gb of ram I was really impressed with the speed compared to my current windows laptop with 4Gb of ram. I'm really looking forword to getting my mac now

thanks again everyone for all your help

expect me to be back after i buy it and get confused

rhanks again

[Apple Ink]

Just FYI, the extreme (X variant) were the 2.8 CPUs in the previous IMAC (2.4 with a 2.8 option). The current 2.8 is a Peryn e8235 cpu, not extreme, in any case the new cpu is faster than the old extreme (1066bus vs 800mhz bus and 6mb cache vs 4mb)

Aah... my mistake then! Clearly Apple's strategy of not describing the processors by their proper nomenclatures has succeeded!

Then again... Apple has always supplied their products with the highest end of processors currently available in the market! Considering that the 2.8 is an expensive option.... it ought to be one of the best in class!

[Fonzijr1964]

the 2.8GHz is an Xtreme series I believe... one of Intel's 'X' variants

Translating: top of the line... costs a lot of moolah!

Just FYI, the extreme (X variant) were the 2.8 CPUs in the previous IMAC (2.4 with a 2.8 option). The current 2.8 is a Peryn e8235 cpu, not extreme, in any case the new cpu is faster than the old extreme (1066bus vs 800mhz bus and 6mb cache vs 4mb)

yep

the new ones have a 1Ghz Bus instead of the 800mhz in the c2e

[kurosov]

As far as I am aware from the uni where I work, you must be enrolled at an institution of further or higher education to benefit from the discount. I had a look in Apple's Ts and Cs and they seem to confirm this:

"2.1 In order to be entitled to benefit from the special discounts on the Apple Store for Education you must be either a registered student and possess a valid student I.D. or you must be engaged as a teacher or lecturer at an education institution [...]"

Having said that, I would suggest you discuss your situation with Apple and see what they suggest because you can't lose anything by asking and you may end up with a nice surprise!

In reply to your other question, you get a 14 day window in which to return your purchase if you wish and after that it's covered by the standard 12 month warranty (or more with AppleCare) as with any similar item you might buy so either way, you should be protected against any manufacturing defects at least for the first year.

ok so worth a try askin when i go to buy it

If this is a UK based modern apprenticeship then the person in question is still inrolled at a college, they just opt for a practical route to learning while examinations and grading is still carried out by the college. As such they are eligible for all student discounts. Although it is best to apply for an NUS card just incase.

[schizoidwoman]

Although it is best to apply for an NUS card just incase.

Just to confirm though, it doesn't have to be an NUS card - any card showing you are enrolled at the institution will do. For instance, our students have swipe cards to access labs that have their name, photo and some other details pertaining to the uni and these are accepted by Apple.

[jordan eff]

yes it is a uk apprenticship

so you think i should am entitled to the discount :)

i have a card here that has my name, a candidate number and expiry date that came with my apprenticship do you think that would do

think it will be either tomorow or thursday when i'll pick it up