New to the iMac World

Should be, from what I have been doing (Photoshop/Flash/Illustrator, works fine ((for now)) )

Chris64tx said:

Hello everyone, I am ready to pull the trigger and buy my first iMac. Here's a little bit about why I want the iMac. I am a teacher so my budget is limited.
I am an amateur photographer. (I do earn some money from my photo shoots)
I use Adobe CS5 Design Permium. I am also getting into video mixing. Will the 27" iMac i5 be enough for what I want to do?

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In short, yes.

You will have many people telling you that upgrading to the faster graphics would be better, but as your on a budget the base 27" is more than enough. Just order it stock, and perhaps once you get it order some extra RAM from crucial to help with photoshop - especially if your using RAW images.

Chris64tx said:

Thanks, one ome thing I have a Nikon D800 which produces 36 mega pixel images. Will the i5 still be enough? I will add more RAM to 16 gigs

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It will be "enough" to do everything you want. The higher end model with upgraded graphics and/or upgraded i7 processor will be faster for what you want to do (photoshop, iMovie or Final Cut) etc. But if you are indeed on a budget, the i5 will be easily able to handle amateur photo and video work. Get it and you'll be very happy with it.

chrix64tx

Here is some background reading on macs, cs5, and photography.

http://macperformanceguide.com/PhotoshopCS5-performance.html

http://macperformanceguide.com/OptimizingPhotoshopCS5-Intro.html

your camera is no ordinary 8mp point and shoot so this is why I point you towards this site.

enjoy!

lali said:

chrix64tx

Here is some background reading on macs, cs5, and photography.

http://macperformanceguide.com/PhotoshopCS5-performance.html

http://macperformanceguide.com/OptimizingPhotoshopCS5-Intro.html

your camera is no ordinary 8mp point and shoot so this is why I point you towards this site.

enjoy!

Click to expand...

Nice links, thanks dude

I've been importing some old DV video from my old Sony DV camera that uses Hi8 tapes. iMovie records the movies in real time (i.e. 1 minute of video requires 1 minute of recording). With "Analyze for Stabilization and People" turned on, my iMac i7 with Fusion drive and 680MX takes about 30 minutes to analyze 1 hour of video (those are rough numbers). I have not edited any HD video yet, but I will soon. I'm assuming the analyze process will take longer with HD video, but since the importing will be MUCH faster, I think I'll be pretty pleased.

It seems that iMovie does not utilize the hyper threading in in the i7, but I've read that Final Cut Pro would. It also sounds like Photoshop would use the hyper threading. So, my suggestion is that you look for some actual comparisons between the two processors. I'm likely to have my iMac for 6-7 years, so future proofing was important in my purchase. Your mileage may vary.