Help with choosing which imac

[Pop's Posse]

I am considering buying a new imac. I am a 62 year old PC user that needs to make a change. I need advise on which imac would be best for editing and making slide shows of scanned photos. I have shoe boxes full and need a hobby for retirement. Also, and maybe more importantly, I want to make some dvd's from my daughter's wedding. I will have unedited movies from about 3 different people that had video cameras at the wedding. They will give me the footage unedited on dvds. I want to take this material and incorporate a load of still shots to produce some nice wedding dvds with special effects. I have tried to do this on my pc using Power Director 7, but everything is super slow and constantly crashes. For that reason I have decided to get an imac (plus Mac has cool commercials).

So which is the best choice considering I don't have a huge amount of money to spend on a computer, but want one that will fill my needs. I was leaning toward the 24" 2.8 unit and thought I would buy some aftermarket memory to install. My concern is if the processor is adequate and if the graphics card is ok for the job.
Thank you for you time.
Mike

 

[allmIne]

I am considering buying a new imac. I am a 62 year old PC user that needs to make a change. I need advise on which imac would be best for editing and making slide shows of scanned photos. I have shoe boxes full and need a hobby for retirement. Also, and maybe more importantly, I want to make some dvd's from my daughter's wedding. I will have unedited movies from about 3 different people that had video cameras at the wedding. They will give me the footage unedited on dvds. I want to take this material and incorporate a load of still shots to produce some nice wedding dvds with special effects. I have tried to do this on my pc using Power Director 7, but everything is super slow and constantly crashes. For that reason I have decided to get an imac (plus Mac has cool commercials).

So which is the best choice considering I don't have a huge amount of money to spend on a computer, but want one that will fill my needs. I was leaning toward the 24" 2.8 unit and thought I would buy some aftermarket memory to install. My concern is if the processor is adequate and if the graphics card is ok for the job.
Thank you for you time.
Mike

The base iMac will be more than enough, so you could save money that way. The included RAM could be upgraded to 2gb, and you'd be all set. The 2.8 is overkill.

My dad has the 20in base iMac, 2.4ghz, and it's great. He got the graphics upgrade option, though. The screen is plenty big enough for viewing photos and stuff on.

 

[richard.mac]

as you are doing photos and videos def go for the 24" display. it will seem huge at first! but then youll start to wonder where youd be without it. also the 24" display is better for photography than the 20".

the dual core 2.8 GHz is very speedy and it will last you for a while. most dual core desktops are at this speed right now and the iMac uses a laptop processor. if you can buy then stock 2.8 model then go for it! and yes then buy some aftermarket memory if you wish.

for slideshows you can use iPhoto and then share it to iDVD… all very easy and included with Mac OS X. to edit DVDs you can use iDVD and iMovie. or you could upgrade to a professional application suite like Apple's Final Cut Studio but that is very pricey.

 

[techound1]

Welcome, Mike.

An add to the above advice is to get a refurb to save a few extra hundred dollars.

 

[themanfromvlad]

Welcome, Mike.

An add to the above advice is to get a refurb to save a few extra hundred dollars.

I would seriously consider this 24" iMac from the Apple refurb store:

http://store.apple.com/us/product/FA878LL/A

Get 4GB of after market RAM and you'll be find this computer is smoking for the price of $1299.

 

[Pop's Posse]

I would seriously consider this 24" iMac from the Apple refurb store:

http://store.apple.com/us/product/FA878LL/A

Get 4GB of after market RAM and you'll be find this computer is smoking for the price of $1299.

This does sound like a great deal. My only question is would the video card that is in this machine handle my needs? (See my original post). If it would, I think I would get it.
Mike