iMac 20" G5...Question...

[ldenman]

Hello,
I am buying a new imac here pretty soon.
The specs for the one i am getting are:
1gig ram
250gig HD
2ghz processor
wireless mouse and keyboard
ATI Radeon 9600 with 128MB DDR Video Memory

I am going to be editing movies and creating music for them and just for fun, ya know.
Would it be wise to get 2 gigs of ram? or can i buy another stick cheaper and just put it in there?

and also, is the performance of the bluetooth mouse and keyboard worth the money?

thanks,
lake denman.

 

[AlmightyG5]

i still have 512mb of RAM in my iMac and its doing really well with iMovie. I am going to up it to 1 gig soon. I think 1 gig total should be plenty.

 

[CanadaRAM]

Get it with the stock Apple 512, add a third party 1 Gb DIMM yourself and save money - 1.5 Gb of total RAM should be comfortable for your use.

Choose RAM from a reputable vendor who tests and guarantees compatibility with your model Mac.

Thanks
Trevor
CanadaRAM.com

 

[ldenman]

thanks guys. I think thats a real good idea, canadaram.
thanks again.

so anything on the bluetooth?

 

[devilot]

and also, is the performance of the bluetooth mouse and keyboard worth the money?

A lot of people on MR really like the Apple BT mouse and keyboard, I haven't personally used them, but I'm getting more and more tempted to save up and get them (my desk is too thick so that the keyboard cord isn't quite long enough to reach the back of my iMac so I have an ugly wire on the top of my desk).

 

[TIGERmac]

thanks guys. I think thats a real good idea, canadaram.
thanks again.

so anything on the bluetooth?

The Apple BT Keyboard and Mouse are well worth the money when bundled with the iMac. Both function quite well 99.9% of the time. My only complaints are that the keyboard can take a while to re-pair with the computer after restart (takes a few seconds before you can enter username & password to log-in), and the BT mouse eats batteries a little quicker than I would like (and it doesn't want to work properly with my rechargeables).

Besides those few issues and the omission of second button and scroll wheel on the mouse, these are excellent products.

My Rev. A iMac has been a terrific computer. I'll probably upgrade to 1 GB of RAM in the coming months, as Tiger seems to be a little more RAM hungry than Panther.

 

[ldenman]

awesome

thanks a lot guys.
i will go ahead and get the upgrade. thanks.

-lake denman

 

[AKFONG]

Get it with the stock Apple 512, add a third party 1 Gb DIMM yourself and save money - 1.5 Gb of total RAM should be comfortable for your use.

Choose RAM from a reputable vendor who tests and guarantees compatibility with your model Mac.

Thanks
Trevor
CanadaRAM.com

Is it easy to open up a 20" iMac to upgrade the RAM? Does it affect the warranty?

Alvin...

 

[Vanilla]

Is it easy to open up a 20" iMac to upgrade the RAM? Does it affect the warranty?

Alvin...

I've done this myself and yes it is straightforward. There are clear instructions provided in the user guide so you should be fine and no it does NOT affect your warranty.

In short your gently place the iMac screen side down on a soft surface like a blanket (to protect the screen), loosen three screws along the bottom (where the speaker grills are), lift the back off by grasping the stand and lifting up and away from yourself, locate the ram slot (right-hand side), place your ram in, grasp the back panel by the stand again, position the top edge with the tabs and gently place back down ensuring a snug fit and then finally tighten up the three screws.

cheers
Vanilla

 

[ldenman]

http://www.kodawarisan.com/imacg5/imacg501.html
http://www.kodawarisan.com/imacg5/imacg502.html

 

[Savage Henry]

Get it with the stock Apple 512, add a third party 1 Gb DIMM yourself and save money - 1.5 Gb of total RAM should be comfortable for your use.

That's pretty much the spec I have and last night I did my first project from vid camera to iMovie to iDVD with plenty o'editing and menus int he space of a few hours complete. So much easier than the G4. It will be perfect for your needs.

 

[ldenman]

thank god, man.
i have been using my crappy dell for like 3 years of making short films for school and stuff. it has been hell working on this thing: crashes, freezes,bsod,loss of work, you name it. I am just happy to be getting an iMac in give or take a month.

 

[gekko513]

The iMacs have faster memory speed with 2 identical RAM DIMMS. I was going to recommend that you get 2x512MB installed by Apple and back it up by linking to barefeats benchmark.

Then I noticed from the benchmark test that although a matched pair of RAM gives better theoretical RAM speed it doesn't seem to have any effect in real applications.

So I won't recommend a matched pair after all.

 

[Arnaud]

BT not so great (for me)

thanks guys. I think thats a real good idea, canadaram.
thanks again.

so anything on the bluetooth?

Hi,

I got an "old" iMac G5 1.8GHz 20" in last January, and I'm very happy about it but a couple of comments to answer your questions.

I bought it with the Apple BT keyboard and a third-party BT 2-buttons mouse ("The Mouse"). The little problem with BT is the latency of answer. The keyboard is all fine for me, but the mouse sucked when I was working on Photoshop or other precision tasks. Maybe other "precision tasks" with the keyboard (such as gaming, like driving a car?) could have problems?
Anyway, nowadays I have the BT keyboard (perfect to clear your desk) and a wired 2-buttons mouse (perfect for efficiency, and I don't mind so much one wire).

NB: I used to have a wireless (but non-BT) logitech mouse, which was working perfect, even for precision tasks. But not in white/transparent plastic

About the Ram, I use 1.25Gb, and I'm considering expanding, as I often end up with (iPhoto, Photoshop, InDesign) and/or (Final Cut Express) and iTunes, Mail, Safari and other software open at the same time, and it gets rather heavy. But you'll get a faster processor AND a better video card (and I'm jealous...).
When I expand it, I will get the same brand/type as my 1GB chip, which is already non-Apple. I wouldn't want to mix-up different types.

A!

 

[tgrimley]

The iMacs have faster memory speed with 2 identical RAM DIMMS. I was going to recommend that you get 2x512MB installed by Apple and back it up by linking to barefeats benchmark.

Then I noticed from the benchmark test that although a matched pair of RAM gives better theoretical RAM speed it doesn't seem to have any effect in real applications.

So I won't recommend a matched pair after all.

Ahh, I asked the fellow at the mac store if the G5's perform better with matched dimms and he said no. I think he though I thought it was a bad thing Salespeople!

 

[ejl10]

so anything on the bluetooth?

One thing to consider is that there are no really good two button BT mice on the market that match and work well with the iMac. The DV Forge mouse gets mixed reviews and is not, reportedly, well made. The Logitech mouse works very poorly for lack of real drivers (in my experience), and doesn't match the iMac very well anyhow. The MS mouse looks awful next to an iMac (and may work poorly for all I know), and the various notebook mice are just too small to make sense for a desktop.

Word on the street is that Apple may be developing a nice one themselves, but that's just a rumor. I only mention this topic because I got the BT combo thinking that I'd have lots of options for replacing the mouse, but it turns out that I don't.