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What Should I Buy with My iMac?

I

iChrisG

macrumors member
Original poster
Mar 1, 2008
91
0
Sunny California
What should I buy with my iMac? I'm getting the 20 inch with 2.66 GHz and I'm also getting iWork, Aperture 2, Applecare, and the Wireless Mighty Mouse.

If I have any bit of money left over I want to also get:

1. Wireless Keyboard

But I can't choose which I would want: Any suggestions?

Time Capsule (500 GB) vs. 500 or 160 GB External Hard Drive?

Red 8 GB iPod Nano vs. Final Cut Express?

Also, what are some other things I should consider getting? This will be my first Mac and the first Mac in the house.

Thanks!

-Chris
 
Get a RAM upgrade from Newegg, OWC, other third party and install it yourself. You'll thank yourself later.
 
RAM upgrade, Time Capsule, and the nano/FCP is entirely up to your preferences. You do already have iMovie, if you are only a light video user.
 
Good luck with that mouse. I've used several of them and it really is absolutely the worst mouse I have ever used in my life and is definitely the worst product Apple sells. Do yourself a favour and cancel the order for that mouse and get a decent one from Logitech or Microsoft.

No joke - you'll become so frustrated with mighty mouse getting confused at what you want to do that you will end up throwing that POS at the wall.

The wireless keyboard is awesome though.
 
neiltc13 said:
Good luck with that mouse. <snip>
Click to expand...

And then again... I have no problem with the mouse
Depends on the user

Woof, Woof - Dawg
pawprint.gif
 
I would skip the Time capsule. I had the 1 TB version and sold it. It's not worth the money. Get a nice firewire drive. Backing up over wireless is slow and cumbersome.
 
MacDawg said:
Depends on the user
Click to expand...

You're right. If you lift all of your other fingers completely off the mouse when you click then you'll be fine with Mighty Mouse, but if you're in the habit of resting your fingers on the other side while you click (or you rest a finger on the scroll wheel) then you'll struggle with this mouse.

That said, regardless of your finger position you still have to put up with a weird design which isn't shaped like any hand I know of.
 
I dread using wireless mouses and wireless keyboards. They would never connect until the login screen so if I ever wanted to boot to a separate drive, mine would never connect in time. If I were you I would buy the external over the time capsule because it would be more useful to me.
 
Sideonecincy said:
I dread using wireless mouses and wireless keyboards. They would never connect until the login screen so if I ever wanted to boot to a separate drive, mine would never connect in time. If I were you I would buy the external over the time capsule because it would be more useful to me.
Click to expand...

Yeah, I find I have an issue with my Apple Wireless Keyboard when trying to select my Boot Camp partition. It doesn't connect with the computer soon enough to detect that I have the alt key held down and it throws me into OS X.
 
zer0tails said:
I would skip the Time capsule. I had the 1 TB version and sold it. It's not worth the money. Get a nice firewire drive. Backing up over wireless is slow and cumbersome.
Click to expand...

amen!

Go to OWC (macsales.com) .... get some RAM and a external drive for Time Machine.
 
Just be aware that the wireless keyboard doesn't have a numpad and small arrow keys. As Cheffy Dave linked to, the Logitech MX Revolution is an excellent mouse. Get the ram cheaper from somewhere else. I walked out of the Apple store with just the iMac and Mini DVI -> DVI converter and got everything else elsewhere.
 
For me external speakers are a must. So if you're into music, I'd go for some nice speakers. For me a mouse is a mouse, a keyboard is a keyboard, so I usually just go with what's cheap and looks good and save some money.
 
In no particular order:

1. Decent speakers.

2. RAM (an upgrade is definitely a must, but if you're short on cash I'll say waiting for abit isn't bad as you'll really feel the speed increase. 2GB ram in the mean time is still adequate for most tasks.

3. External Hard drive (preferably firewire)

5. if you skip the time capsule, get a airport express to stream your music wirelessly :) that'll be a nice option.

4. MX Revolution mouse (can't go wrong here)

6. If you will use FCE a lot. Then get it.


As for the bluetooth keyboard, that's really up to you. I have little problems having mine connect with my MBP. the one that gives me more problems is the bluetooth mighty mouse hence i recommended the MX Revolution.

Look at it this way, the wired apple keyboard is really think and only has one wire. It's not cumbersome or anything. The bluetooth keyboard, i'll say go for it if you like laptop keyboards where there are no number pad on the side and page up, page down keys.

This is my advice speaking from my own experience :)
 
I know that I'm definatly not going to get the Time Capsule.

Thanks to all of you guys! As a new Mac user I don't really know much. And the iMac is coming in about 2 weeks! I will definatly keep you guys updated!

Thanks so much!

-Chris
 
Do not get the Wireless mighty mouse! your only best wireless mouse would be a logitech one! trust me
 
tri3limited said:
Im getting the wired MM :D
Click to expand...

Even bigger mistake than getting the wireless! The wired one uses a cheaper optical sensor which results in poor tracking compared to other mice on the market, including its wireless brother.

Better mice use lasers and of course you're going to be stuck to a wire too.
 
I'd get the following:

-Logitech Mouse (Something Mid-Range)

-Keep the Mac Keyboard, The two USB ports on the sides are handy

-A WD MyBook Studio (Firewire 400/800/USB2, I Have Two and they are awesome!)

-FCE4 is an excellent program for $199 if you are really in to working with video

-I know Aperture 2.0 is a very nice program but I'm partial to Photoshop Elements 6 for half the price, it's worth a look.

-Harman-Kardon Soundsticks II for Speakers, They sound as good as they look!

-And of course, upgrade your RAM to 4GB!
 
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