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New i5 iMac owner and VERY HAPPY!

M

MacRodster

macrumors member
Original poster
Hello everybody!

I've just changed over from pc to Mac and purchased the i5 iMac 27". I would just like to say hello and show-off my new setup. I'm still learning the ropes and setting up my machine so any suggestions on apps etc... will be highly appreciated...

Here's a pic for your viewing pleasure 🙂
 

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Very nice. I can't tell from the pic, is that a mixer you have hooked up? If you are working with audio I definitely recommend giving Logic audio a go. It's not for everyone but it's a great piece of software.
 
Congrats! and welcome to the Mac community 🙂
I hope that the awesome feeling you have now will last until you get a new Mac. There is nothing like the feeling of getting a new toy, especially if you're a guy like me and love all the new tech.

Anyway, I see you have a mixer or something of that sort on your desk, and if you're into audio I'd highly recommend Logic Studio. You can download the trial version and give it a try, see if you like it. As far as I know, it's the best one out there. Actually Macs have very good audio support, that's why most studios and artists use Macs to create their music.

Anyway, other than that, you I'd recommend getting Unrarx, it's free, and it'll help you uncompress/compress files to the right size.

Oh and of course, Perian for Quicktime. Without it, you're pretty crippled when it comes to video support.
 
Very nice! The Core i5 does a lot better then I thought it would (I just got the i5 MBP my self).

My recommended apps:
VMWare or equivalent (Parallels, VirtualBox(Free))
Adium for chatting
MS Office 2k8 (It sucks, but its the closest to real office support, and with patches runs pretty good)
Steam for games

Thats about it for me. I spend most of my time in the Terminal. 🙂
 
Hello,

Thanks for the responses. Yes, that's the Hercules RMX DJ controller, great piece of gear if you're into a little mixing. I'm using VDJ Pro for mac and it runs great.

I've installed Parallels 5 and Windows 7 Pro 64bit to run my Paintshop Photo Pro X3 photo editing software, unfortunately there is no Mac version out yet. It runs quite well actually. I've tried Adobe Elements but it's very weak in comparison and CS5 is just too expensive and robust for my needs. I'm currently looking at Aperture and Pixelmator as an alternative. Pixelmator looks like a great app for the price.

I grabbed Adium, thanks for that!

I also installed Open Office(Free and complete office suite) and find it to be very robust plus the bonus of PDF management is a plus for me being an E-Book reader.

Also installed Calibre(Total e-book manager/converter - FREE) which I highly recommend.

Grabbed the Perian codecs - Thanks for that!

Gonna look into Logic Studio - Thanks.

Also installed UnArchiver and Stuffit so I don't really need UnrarX "yet" but thanks for the suggestion.

Also installed VLC, Handbrake and uTorrent plus Peerguardian - Great Apps!

And for streaming to my PS3 I'm using PS3 Media Server, Hardwired to stream Blue Ray Rips and it works great! Plus it's free!

Also installed "Paragon NTFS for Mac" to read and write from my old Windows External Drive - Cost me $40 bucks but well worth it.

iAntivirus - Not sure why but just in case 🙂

"Burn" for burning stuff, I know I can use "Disc Utility" but Burn is simple and straight forward PLUS it's quicker.

I think I have almost all bases covered for now...but further recommendations are very welcome 🙂

Thanks for the welcome folks and YES I LOVE MY NEW iMac!

Cheers,

Rod,
 
Excellent!

Yeah, the only reason I don't use OpenOffice anymore is because most of my fellow employees use MS Office and I get tons of fancy spread sheets and documents that just don't work right in OpenOffice.

Anyways... Happy Hunting! 😀

EDIT: No steam though?! You can get Portal for free right now. A free game is always a good way to test a new computer... 😀
EDIT #2: Nevermind, the portal deal is gone. But HL2 is on sale for super cheap.
 
zmttoxics said:
Excellent!

Yeah, the only reason I don't use OpenOffice anymore is because most of my fellow employees use MS Office and I get tons of fancy spread sheets and documents that just don't work right in OpenOffice.

Anyways... Happy Hunting! 😀

EDIT: No steam though?! You can get Portal for free right now. A free game is always a good way to test a new computer... 😀
EDIT #2: Nevermind, the portal deal is gone. But HL2 is on sale for super cheap.
Click to expand...

Ah yes, Steam, I do most of my Gaming on my 360 and PS3 but never thought about gaming on a Mac. Definitely will look into it though. I loved the old "StarCraft" and I believe the new one is coming out soon. Hopefully it will be available for Macs...
 
I have to second the Half-Life 2 package. You might want to consider this, because it is probably among my all-time favorite games I've played in the last 15 years.

I think the "Orange Box" will give you an expansion pack or two as well. Or, you could splurge on the "Black Box" and get everything, which is a pretty nice deal if you're into gaming considering how many games you get!

As for the iMac - glad you enjoy it! My desktop recently nuked itself and I'm waiting impatiently for a new release of the iMac.

Just one question for the OP though - is there a reason you chose to get the i5 rather than upgrading to the high-end i7 core, or was it a cost issue?

Thanks!
 
Congrats on ur iMac, I have the same model and love it lotz 2. One of my fav programs is called "Little Snitch" another favourite is called "Black Light". I use them both every day, they may be useful 4 U 2 yah.
 
i5 instead of i7?

It was more of an availability issue and also the recommendation of the re-seller(so a bit of both). The re-seller actually said there were more returns of the i7 due to display and heat problems and he recommended getting the i5 or wait 4 to 6 weeks for the i7.

To be honest I used to be an Alienware customer until now and always bought the highest end notebooks that mostly seemed to have overheating problems in the long run with components eventually failing due to this fact.

So I started buying mid-range specs instead, even with Alienware. High-End always tends to be a bit of a gamble, low-end is mostly a safe bet but you sacrifice power and speed, so I'm kind of a middle ground person. Therefore the i5 made sense.

In reality, not many apps support HT right now and to me thats the only significant difference between the i5 and i7. I'm not a benchmark enthusiast, I'm more of a "real-world" app person, so if a video takes a minute or two longer to code for the possible benefit of a cooler system, thats also fine with me 🙂

The main thing for now is that this machine currently fullfills my needs plus more and thats more than I could ask for at the moment....Do I have any regrets? definitely not!

And then to contradict myself 🙂 I might have gone for the i7 if it was available at that very moment just to give "Apple" a chance in the "high End" area just because I was trying out a new company.... LoL!
 
Congrats, you will enjoy this machine. I myself switched from a PC to a i5 last year and I'm also very happy about it.

For photo processing, you can give Lightroom a try, you can download the beta trial version 3 for free. On the PC, I used Photoshop, but I use Lightroom for 95% of my editing now.
 
lexvo said:
Congrats, you will enjoy this machine. I myself switched from a PC to a i5 last year and I'm also very happy about it.

For photo processing, you can give Lightroom a try, you can download the beta trial version 3 for free. On the PC, I used Photoshop, but I use Lightroom for 95% of my editing now.
Click to expand...

Thanks, I also downloaded Aperture and I'm pleasantly surprised how good this program is. I've tried Lightroom but Aperture 3 seems to work better for me. Glad you're enjoying your i5 because I certainly am 🙂
 
@Macrodster

Congrats on your iMac =) I got mine this November (or December? Seems like so long ago), and I completely love my i5. Quiet, speedy, huge screen real estate. I also just got a MBP i7, and replaced the HDD with a SSD. I'm now truly thinking I can slam in an SSD in my iMac in a year or two to put in some new life if needed.

Also : If you're not into getting Photoshop CS4 or CS5 (you're not a student, for the student pricing...or the high premium isn't worth it for what you do) but you still need a similar environment, I recommend trying out GIMP.
 
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