Questions regarding an early 2009 iMac

[TrollToddington]

Hi gang,

My little sis plans on joining a course in Design in her University. She has told me she needs a new, more contemporary, computer in order to do the exercises for her classes. She has been modelling jewelery for a few years and wants to enhance her knowledge. On a few occasions, I've helped her process some series of photographs with Aperture but now I think she'd rather started doing her homework herself.

Long story short, I am offered the following configuration:

Early 2009 24" iMac 2.93 GHz core 2 duo
640GB 7000 RPM HDD
256 MB VRAM
4 GB RAM
wired keyboard & mouse
In perfect condition
OS Lion
The seller does not mention if the computer has warranty (presumably, no warranty)
Price asked: 500€

The questions:
1 will this configuration be sufficient for running light-to-medium Photoshop and Aperture 3? Will it be able to process 10-12 MPix RAW files from a Nikon camera as effortlessly as my i3 iMac does? I presume it will be quite OK for browsing the internet and watching movies.

2 Do you think this machine can last for additional (at least) 3 years?

3 is this a fair price for this iMac? The seller is a Learning center which is upgrading their computers.

Regards,
Troll

 

[miles01110]

1 will this configuration be sufficient for running light-to-medium Photoshop and Aperture 3?

Yes.

Will it be able to process 10-12 MPix RAW files from a Nikon camera as effortlessly as my i3 iMac does?

No.

I presume it will be quite OK for browsing the internet and watching movies.

Correct.

2 Do you think this machine can last for additional (at least) 3 years?

Macs last as long as you want them to.

3 is this a fair price for this iMac? The seller is a Learning center which is upgrading their computers.

I'd say it's a little high, but it's not like you are getting badly burned.

 

[PurrBall]

I have the same model iMac. Aperture can be sluggish at times with large libraries, but it's completely useable. Photoshop works great as well.