new 2011 imac - what can i upgrade easily myself / transferring from 10.6-7?

[steveOooo]

contemplating a new imac as i need some more oompf and cant wait until the new mac pro (anytime between Jan - April 2012).

I currently have the MBP 2009 Unibody (1st unibody) and will have quite alot of editing to do in FCP 7, Compositing / title sequences in Motion 4 and dabbling / learning After FX CS5.

So, having had a imac g5 and upgrading the RAM and upgrading the RAM in my MBP what else can i upgrade in the imac

Im assuming RAM is all you can upgrade easily WITHOUT voiding the applecare warranty?

So, im going to go for the highest processor
'3.4GHz Quad-Core Intel Core i7' with
1 TB HDD, (will be using a ext FW800 4TB RAID)
4GB RAM (16GB from Crucial memory)
AMD Radeon HD 6970M 2GB GDDR5

I currently have a HP LP2475w (http://www.amazon.co.uk/HP-LP2475w-...8TH8/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1319141612&sr=8-1)

which is great! no glare and id like to use it as my main screen with teh imac as a mirror - how do i do this (MDP / TB - DVI ?)

id also like to hook up a matrox mx02 (for video monitoring to hdmi tv ) and daisy chain this with a external raid at a later date - is this possible?

 

[simsaladimbamba]

RAM is the only user upgradeable part, maybe you can upgrade the HDD, but that involves a lot of work.

And the 24" display has a resolution of 1920 x 1200 pixel (16:10 aspect ratio), the 27" iMac has a resolution of 2560 x 1440 pixel (16:9 aspect ratio), thus mirroring the 24" to the 27" iMac will not use the full iMac's resolution and will probably distort the image. You can always extend the desktop and use the iMac's screen as secondary display.

Most common video interfaces on external computer displays and TVs

Common video interfaces on Macs and the appropriate adapters to connect to other display devices
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Helpful Information for Any Mac User by GGJstudios​

 

[steveOooo]

Another q on migrating from snow leopard to lion7

When connecting the Mbp to the iMac in migration assistant, will the following apps be in tact?

Final Cut Studio 3 / 2009
Adobe CS5
MS Office 2008
VMware fusion 3
QuickTime Pro (7) not the qtX crap

Or do I need o fart around reinstalling ??