Sidebar Sidebar
Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.

A few questions before I purchase my imac 24"

jnash

jnash

macrumors regular
Original poster
Apr 26, 2007
139
5
Michigan
Hey guys ive been trolling forever on the forums and finally sold my old desktop pc and will be going for the imac 24" (as soon as leopard is announced/released) I do have a few questions and I hope some of you guys can chime in and kinda of give me reasurance about my purchase.

My first situation is my primary reason for getting the iMac is of course to save space, but besides that I have a 6 month year old son and plan on buying a new HD camera and using imovie/final cut express (not anything pro) to perform some video editing. Right now video editing will be my hobby and something I will grow within I plan on upgrading to 2 gigs of memory but my question is should I just purchase 4 gigs of will I be fine with 2 gigs I dont know how far I will go with video editing but I know on my pc ram helped a ton and on my MBP tiger with 2 gigs is great, but I really want good performance or should I say forget the 4 gigs get 2 gigs and upgarde to the extreme c2d?

My 2nd but last questions is will the iMac be decent enough for photoshop and other misc programs (protools/logic) I havent really been able to find any benchmarks but is the 2.4 C2D that much slower then the 2.8 Extreme? Will the 4 gig of ram make up for the difference our should I go ahead and invest into the extreme 2.8

PLEASE HELP ME!!@!@! AND OMG ITS KILLING ME WAITING ON LEOPARD!!
 
hmm

flopticalcube said:
Here's what I would do:

Buy the 24" with the 2.8GHz as a BTO option. You will get 1G of RAM. Buy 4G of RAM from a 3rd party (saving yourself $600 in the process). The 2.8GHz w 4G of RAM will SCREAM through iMovie video editing.
Click to expand...


So is the difference REALLY that big I am getting 3rd party ram for sure but the price difference between the 2.4ghz and the 2.8ghz is pretty huge. Is there a link to any benchmarks comparing the two units?
 
flopticalcube said:
http://www.macworld.com/2007/09/firstlooks/28ghzimac/index.php

The diff is only $250 if you select the 2.4GHz model and change the processor to 2.8GHz.
Click to expand...

Hmm very good point, looks like we are talking a few seconds overall I see that you have the 2.4ghz are you happy with them? I am just thinking I can get the 2.4 and upgrade to 4 gigs of ram for 190 bucks or spend an extra 250 and get the 2.8 ARG THIS IS KILLING ME lol Also when they tested the 2.4ghz it only had 1 gig of ram I wonder what would of been the difference if they both had 2 gigs of ram?

Thanks alot for the link and input
 
jnash said:
Hmm very good point, looks like we are talking a few seconds overall I see that you have the 2.4ghz are you happy with them? I am just thinking I can get the 2.4 and upgrade to 4 gigs of ram for 190 bucks or spend an extra 250 and get the 2.8 ARG THIS IS KILLING ME lol Also when they tested the 2.4ghz it only had 1 gig of ram I wonder what would of been the difference if they both had 2 gigs of ram?

Thanks alot for the link and input
Click to expand...


Here's the thing to consider. You can always buy more memory later. But, you can only buy the faster processor at the time that you purchase the computer.

So, get the stuff you can only get when the system is built now. The items that can be added later are things you can get after you save up a few more dollars.

If it were me, I'd get the faster processor, and buy more memory once you save up a few more dollars.
 
flyinmac said:
Here's the thing to consider. You can always buy more memory later. But, you can only buy the faster processor at the time that you purchase the computer.

So, get the stuff you can only get when the system is built now. The items that can be added later are things you can get after you save up a few more dollars.

If it were me, I'd get the faster processor, and buy more memory once you save up a few more dollars.
Click to expand...

ARG guys I see where this is going goodness I didnt wanna have to order an apple ( i wanted to get it at the store when leopard released) now I guess I will order it offline and get the 2.8ghz added to the setup. Also how is the wireless keyboard? I hated windows wireless keyboard because when I wanted to play a FPS they SUCKED bad I also plan on getting the wireless keyboard and using a wireless logitech mouse
 
jnash said:
Hmm very good point, looks like we are talking a few seconds overall I see that you have the 2.4ghz are you happy with them? I am just thinking I can get the 2.4 and upgrade to 4 gigs of ram for 190 bucks or spend an extra 250 and get the 2.8 ARG THIS IS KILLING ME lol Also when they tested the 2.4ghz it only had 1 gig of ram I wonder what would of been the difference if they both had 2 gigs of ram?

Thanks alot for the link and input
Click to expand...

If I had the chance to get a 20" 2.8, I would have. I (ie, my kids) don't need the extra screen space and the screen quality is fine for its purpose for me. More RAM is always better and I think 2G is a minimum these days for mist purposes.
 
flopticalcube said:
If I had the chance to get a 20" 2.8, I would have. I (ie, my kids) don't need the extra screen space and the screen quality is fine for its purpose for me. More RAM is always better and I think 2G is a minimum these days for mist purposes.
Click to expand...

ok guys the 2.8 it is I wish they had that option in-store cause I dont need the extra HD and ill prefer to upgrade the ram myself
 
jnash said:
ok guys the 2.8 it is I wish they had that option in-store cause I dont need the extra HD and ill prefer to upgrade the ram myself
Click to expand...

Sounds like a good choice.

Understand that if you do need a larger hard drive someday, then you'll have to either pay Apple (or an authorized service center) to install it. Or, get an external.

The design of the current iMac is not inviting to hard drive upgrades. There's a lot of stuff you'll have to get out of the way to get to the drive (including the monitor).

But, I think you'll be happier in the long run getting the faster CPU.

With every computer I've ever purchased, the one thing that I found in common is that after a month or two I've always wished I got the faster one.

Better to just do it, and get the minor upgrades later.
 
Yeah I agree, thanks alot for all your input on this topic :) One day ill get a macpro like yourself

flyinmac said:
Sounds like a good choice.

Understand that if you do need a larger hard drive someday, then you'll have to either pay Apple (or an authorized service center) to install it. Or, get an external.

The design of the current iMac is not inviting to hard drive upgrades. There's a lot of stuff you'll have to get out of the way to get to the drive (including the monitor).

But, I think you'll be happier in the long run getting the faster CPU.

With every computer I've ever purchased, the one thing that I found in common is that after a month or two I've always wished I got the faster one.

Better to just do it, and get the minor upgrades later.
Click to expand...
 
Hi,
Just to add an opposing point of view...

I'd buy the 2.4GHz machine (as I did). It is plenty quick enough (86% as fast as the 2.8GHz) and use the money I saved on the CPU upgrade to get 4GB of RAM from the outset. I did exactly that and loved the feeling of walking out of the store with my big iMac in a box under my arm. Very satisfying!!

Yes the 2.8GHz is faster but is it really worth the difference in price or worth the extra wait? I don't think so.

Look at it this way - the fastest production car in the world (Buggatti Veyron) does something like 252MPH. 86% of that is 217MPH which is still pretty darned fast!! Your CPU will probably average something like 4% utilisation anyway...

Whatever happens, you'll love your new iMac!

Cheers,
Craig.
 
craig1410 said:
Hi,
Just to add an opposing point of view...

I'd buy the 2.4GHz machine (as I did). It is plenty quick enough (86% as fast as the 2.8GHz) and use the money I saved on the CPU upgrade to get 4GB of RAM from the outset. I did exactly that and loved the feeling of walking out of the store with my big iMac in a box under my arm. Very satisfying!!

Yes the 2.8GHz is faster but is it really worth the difference in price or worth the extra wait? I don't think so.

Look at it this way - the fastest production car in the world (Buggatti Veyron) does something like 252MPH. 86% of that is 217MPH which is still pretty darned fast!! Your CPU will probably average something like 4% utilisation anyway...

Whatever happens, you'll love your new iMac!

Cheers,
Craig.
Click to expand...

Very good point, I will prob just get whatever is in stock, I wish someone had benchmarks of 2.4ghz with 4gigs of ram vs 2.8ghz with 2 gigs of ram lol and maybe even 4gig vs 4gig I mean if you plan on making video edits to something I plan to take 2-3 hours to do a whole video or so, I mean while speed is good like you say its it REALLY a night and day difference when we are just talking a matter of seconds not so much minutes...
 
zyuzin4 said:
I would get the 2.8ghz, sell your 1Gb chip and get the 4GB 3rd party in a couple months (xmas gift?)
Click to expand...

I would advice against selling the 1gb ram because you will want it later in case your system goes screwy. By keeping the Apple ram which you know will work (test the system before adding ram) you can take out the 3rd party ram and put in the original Apple ram. If the problem goes away then you know it was the 3rd party ram at fault.

Plus I would recommend Crucial.com for your ram. There are others that are good but they are at the top IMO.
 
zyuzin4 said:
I would get the 2.8ghz, sell your 1Gb chip and get the 4GB 3rd party in a couple months (xmas gift?)
Click to expand...

the 2.8GHz model come only with 2GB ram (i.e. u cant get only 1GB)
is there a way u could get it with 1GB only?
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Register on MacRumors! This sidebar will go away, and you'll see fewer ads.
Top Bottom
Back