Do any of you people shooters own an iMac?

anonymouscuban · December 29, 2010

I'm going to be replacing my computer and my wife doesn't want another puter with a large case so my options are limited to a laptop or the iMac. She really liked the new 27" iMac that she got to use at one of the hotels we stayed at.

Anyone have one and what do you think of color and contrast rendition on it when editing on it?

Also, how does LR3 and CS4 work on it?

I will probably get 8GB of memory. Not sure if I should get the I3 or I5 though.

colourbox · December 30, 2010

While I haven't used one for production, they do have nice IPS panels if you can deal with the glossy. Some say it's like getting a high-quality IPS monitor with a computer stuck to the back as a bonus. If I was buying one, I'd do at least the i5 and pack it with cheaper non-Apple RAM. 8GB is a good place to be. Macsales.com has 8GB for $120 or 16GB for $238. I would seriously think about the SSD+HD option simply because it is the only way to get more than one drive into the case. (I have a Mac Pro right now and would hate losing the multiple drive bays.)

Kinkajou · December 30, 2010

27" imac all the way! I looooooove it. I've tried running a Spyder 3 pro calibration on it, but that system is just not good enough. I'm hoping to eventually get the LaCie Blue Eye and try again. I had much better luck with manual calibration (comparing a print to a photo on screen) and it is pretty darn accurate. So far it's been great. It'll be better when it's paid off, though

Highly recommended

reyvee61 · December 30, 2010

Hey Alex...you're back....hope all is well including your lens and happy holidays.

I have the spring 2009 model of the 22" iMac with the Intel Core 2 Duo 2.4 with 4 gigs of memory and I can tell you that both CS4 and LR3 run flawlessly on it. Even the notoriously slow CNX2 runs fast.

I would say any newer model would kick ass except for the glossy display which I do not recommend for image editing.
Plenty of folks seem to be alright with it but I don't care for glossy displays for photo editing but they are fine for video editing.

On my model year they missed the mark with a less than stellar display (you can Google that) so I got a second display IPS from Dell for photo editing.

I highly recommend this all in one if that's your price point and functionality but even more so I'd go for a Mac Pro all the way

wave01 · December 30, 2010

After 30 years with a PC I made the move an Imac 21.5 core I3. WHY did I wait so long it is just great no more waiting for it to start up it is so much faster than a PC. The colours are just great, and things just work. All I did was unpack it plug it in, only one cable the mains one. Answered a couple of questions and I was away. Copied the itunes over and some currnet pictures, job done

adbsgicom · December 30, 2010

Odd that the Spyder3 didn't work for calibration. Any idea why? Was the Spyder s/w a problem? When I first went with 64-bit OS, the Spyder s/w had some issues, but when I emailed their customer support they were very helpful and very fast at providing me a beta that resolved the problems....

adbsgicom · December 30, 2010

One other Mac question for y'all. Is Adobe going to support 64-bit on Mac soon? Last decision time for me, 64-bit was shelved, so scads of memory wasn't going to help things much. Sounds like either the memory utilization on the mac is mounds better or its already resolved (or you don't keep that much memory busy the way you work). Also, at least a while back, if you have PC licenses, you have to buy new ones for Mac, they didn't transfer....(according to the Adobe sales guy)...

colourbox · December 30, 2010

adbsgicom wrote: »

One other Mac question for y'all. Is Adobe going to support 64-bit on Mac soon?

In what program? Photoshop CS5 on Mac is 64-bit. Lightroom on Mac was 64-bit long before Apple Aperture was. Even Adobe's pro video apps are 64-bit...and Apple's are not.

Also, it is said that if you have a PC license you can call their customer service and get a crossgrade to the Mac license for the cost of shipping a disk (around $6?) and agreeing to destroy your PC disks. I haven't done this but it's been reported pretty consistently.

Qarik · December 30, 2010

27 imac here...just a joy working on photos

adbsgicom · December 30, 2010

colourbox wrote: »

In what program? Photoshop CS5 on Mac is 64-bit. Lightroom on Mac was 64-bit long before Apple Aperture was. Even Adobe's pro video apps are 64-bit...and Apple's are not.

Also, it is said that if you have a PC license you can call their customer service and get a crossgrade to the Mac license for the cost of shipping a disk (around $6?) and agreeing to destroy your PC disks. I haven't done this but it's been reported pretty consistently.

Guess I got a bad rep on the phone... About 2 years ago, while running LR2/CS4 the Adobe web site indicated that 64-bit was not supported at this time due to a change in the underlying SW layers of Apple which were necessitated by the 64-bit changeover. They never specified a timeline for release, and I stopped watching for it when I decided to stay PC. That said, the rep on the phone said that there was no crossgrade and I'd need a new license. Between the lack of 64-bit and the cost of the s/w I stayed on Vista/64 -> Win7/64 (the latter being rather solid and stable).

Good to know that the 64-bit and x-grade are both solvable so next machine iteration will allow for possibly going Mac...

Allan FG · December 30, 2010

I've had a 27" Imac with 8GB of ram for about a year, I love it for editing photos. I went with the I5 and I wouldn't want anything less. Go with the aftermarket memory it is much cheaper than the Apple stuff.

catspaw · December 30, 2010

adbsgicom wrote: »

Guess I got a bad rep on the phone... About 2 years ago, while running LR2/CS4 the Adobe web site indicated that 64-bit was not supported at this time due to a change in the underlying SW layers of Apple which were necessitated by the 64-bit changeover. They never specified a timeline for release, and I stopped watching for it when I decided to stay PC. That said, the rep on the phone said that there was no crossgrade and I'd need a new license. Between the lack of 64-bit and the cost of the s/w I stayed on Vista/64 -> Win7/64 (the latter being rather solid and stable).

Good to know that the 64-bit and x-grade are both solvable so next machine iteration will allow for possibly going Mac...

two years ago, yes that was true. CS4 was forced into 32 bit because of changes Apple made. But CS5 is 64 bit, so if you have not yet upgraded... do so!

anonymouscuban · December 30, 2010

colourbox wrote: »

While I haven't used one for production, they do have nice IPS panels if you can deal with the glossy. Some say it's like getting a high-quality IPS monitor with a computer stuck to the back as a bonus. If I was buying one, I'd do at least the i5 and pack it with cheaper non-Apple RAM. 8GB is a good place to be. Macsales.com has 8GB for $120 or 16GB for $238. I would seriously think about the SSD+HD option simply because it is the only way to get more than one drive into the case. (I have a Mac Pro right now and would hate losing the multiple drive bays.)

Hmm... I was under the impression that you can't upgrade memory on a Mac yourself or it voids the warranty. Am I wrong?

reyvee61 · December 30, 2010

I did my own upgrade for pennies to the dollar and am still going strong....you might be right about the warranty though....

Allan FG · December 30, 2010

anonymouscuban wrote: »

Hmm... I was under the impression that you can't upgrade memory on a Mac yourself or it voids the warranty. Am I wrong?

I talked to the guys at the MAC store and they didn't say anything about it voiding my warranty, beside how would Apple know about the memory, you would take it out before sending it in for repair. Installing the memory is very easy, all you need is a phillips screwdriver.

reyvee61 · December 30, 2010

Oh...was gonna suggest....
If you already have a great display and supporting peripherals why not get a Mini?
My daughter's is just as fast as my iMac with less memory (same CPU) probably because she has Snow Leopard and we paid around 500USD and CS5 blazes on it!

reyvee61 · December 30, 2010

Allan FG wrote: »

I talked to the guys at the MAC store and they didn't say anything about it voiding my warranty, beside how would Apple know about the memory, you would take it out before sending it in for repair. Installing the memory is very easy, all you need is a phillips screwdriver.

They have magic elves that can sense this type of thing.....

colourbox · December 30, 2010

anonymouscuban wrote: »

Hmm... I was under the impression that you can't upgrade memory on a Mac yourself or it voids the warranty. Am I wrong?

It's incorrect, or at least it's easily verifiable whether it is or not.

What you want to do is go to the Apple site and download the manual for the model you're interested in. The manual will tell the parts that are "user-serviceable." Technically, "user-serviceable" means it won't void your warranty. I don't know about the iMac but the current MacBook Pro manuals not only tell you that you can replace your RAM and your hard drive, but they give you the step-by-step to do it yourself.

Here's how it really works with those user-servicable parts. If you replace your own RAM, you will not void the warranty. If you send in your Mac and the problem is traced to the third-party RAM, Apple may choose not to cover the repair under warranty, but if the problem is determined to be an Apple defect unrelated to the RAM the repair will be covered under warranty. It's not that upgrading your own will void the warranty, but it only might, and only if something goes wrong and it's related to the non-Apple RAM.

Part of the reason the salespeople say what they say is that if you do the repair yourself and you screw something up, it's your fault and the warranty won't cover it, but if you have the shop do it you know it will always be their fault if something goes wrong. So they want to use this uncertainty to motivate you to bring it in and pay them to do the upgrade using an Apple part. Like the way car dealers do the hard sell on their highly profitable services. But if you are confident that you can do a dead simple, 60-second RAM upgrade without wrecking the machine, paying a lot more to have a shop do the labor would seem totally unnecessary.

reyvee61 · December 30, 2010

Upgrading the memory on an iMac is simple via a special door that is easily removable compared to that on the older Mini where you have to remove the entire casing...

JohnRA · December 30, 2010

Made the change from PC a year ago.
Best move I have ever made.

anonymouscuban · December 31, 2010

Thanks guys. My question about memory upgrade was from a warranty perspective. I've built my own PC's in the past so adding RAM is not a problem. As I said, I'm considering the iMac because my wife doesn't want another huge box under the desk. The iMac seems like a very clean solution. I've looked at the other all-in-one computers and I don't like them. I'm a PC guy. Always been. I'm also an IT Professional and although we have a few Mac Pros floating around the office, we primarily work with PC. I've never had any issues working on PC's. Never had a virus, never had any of my machines crash. I also haven't drank the Apple koolaid yet. Actually, I don't think any one brand or platform fits everything. You need to look at what your goal is and find the tool that best fits. You're never going to hear a mechanic say that the crescent wrench is the only tool you'll ever need. He will ask you what the job is and then recommend the best tool for it.

I don't have a good display right now so when I do get a new computer, I'm going to have to get a new display. Right now, the iMac is the benchmark but I have reservation about the glossy display. I now have to see if I can find a laptop/display combo that will meet or exceed the specs of the iMac for less. A laptop will meet my wife's requirements for a clean solution.... not as well as the iMac but if we can save a few hundred bucks, she'll go for it.

codiac2600 · December 31, 2010

anonymouscuban wrote: »

Thanks guys. My question about memory upgrade was from a warranty perspective. I've built my own PC's in the past so adding RAM is not a problem. As I said, I'm considering the iMac because my wife doesn't want another huge box under the desk. The iMac seems like a very clean solution. I've looked at the other all-in-one computers and I don't like them. I'm a PC guy. Always been. I'm also an IT Professional and although we have a few Mac Pros floating around the office, we primarily work with PC. I've never had any issues working on PC's. Never had a virus, never had any of my machines crash. I also haven't drank the Apple koolaid yet. Actually, I don't think any one brand or platform fits everything. You need to look at what your goal is and find the tool that best fits. You're never going to hear a mechanic say that the crescent wrench is the only tool you'll ever need. He will ask you what the job is and then recommend the best tool for it.

I don't have a good display right now so when I do get a new computer, I'm going to have to get a new display. Right now, the iMac is the benchmark but I have reservation about the glossy display. I now have to see if I can find a laptop/display combo that will meet or exceed the specs of the iMac for less. A laptop will meet my wife's requirements for a clean solution.... not as well as the iMac but if we can save a few hundred bucks, she'll go for it.

There is one issue with spec hunting when we talk a windows machine a mac. Even though the "numbers" may match apple products use the best hardware on the market. Windows machines spec for spec will cost less but the parts are typically the cheapest you can buy so they make profit. PLEASE do not try to compare an apple and a lemon in this situation. Mac OS also uses a thousands times less resources than windows so even if you cram your pc with steroids we are forgetting about good known hardware working together.

On the topic of screen a matte screen is great but, and this is a big but, you should never ever use a monitor that you plan on calibrating or edit photos on without a shroud period. We rock 2 27" Imacs and two 15" mac book pros in the studio and the glossy screens are annoying with overhead lights, but you should never even let ambient light get close to your monitor as it causes color balancing issues.

reyvee61 · December 31, 2010

codiac2600 wrote: »

There is one issue with spec hunting when we talk a windows machine a mac. Even though the "numbers" may match apple products use the best hardware on the market. Windows machines spec for spec will cost less but the parts are typically the cheapest you can buy so they make profit. PLEASE do not try to compare an apple and a lemon in this situation. Mac OS also uses a thousands times less resources than windows so even if you cram your pc with steroids we are forgetting about good known hardware working together.

On the topic of screen a matte screen is great but, and this is a big but, you should never ever use a monitor that you plan on calibrating or edit photos on without a shroud period. We rock 2 27" Imacs and two 15" mac book pros in the studio and the glossy screens are annoying with overhead lights, but you should never even let ambient light get close to your monitor as it causes color balancing issues.

I've been a PC guy most of my "computer savvy" life and I agree with Alex that there are attributes on both sides that make both appealing.
I also built my own PC machines with XP and have never had any issues with them in any way other than an occasional crash when pushed to the limits. Of course that's pretty much the norm for PC's while taxing the system with 32 tracks of PCM audio or other such grueling tasks.
Probably not as common an occurrence in an office setting.
If you are a gamer or into music production, Intel is the only way to go and it wasn't until recently that Apple made the change to Intel so it wasn't even an option.
I must admit though, the Mac OS is so damn reliable that it's been a real pleasure to suffer far fewer crashes than with XP based machines....

I also have not drank the Koolade as I'm not entirely convinced that Apple is in any way superior to finely made PC's....

It is true however that you will find Mac Pro in professional studios for music, video and imaging but I've seen my share of PC's in this environment as well...

Alex, I'm pretty certain that you can find a PC based laptop for a far better cost/value than any MacBook and Windows 7 is a solid OS....

Good luck

Hoodahmahn · January 2, 2011

The 27" iMac rocks -- especially with upgrading to the i7 with 16G of RAM. TIP: Don't buy the upgrade RAM from Apple -- I bought mine from Crucial and only paid $250! The speed is insane! I imported over 8000 images (iPhoto AND LR) with Virtual Machines running in the background in less than 2 minutes.

The iMac sits in the same office as the previous fast computer in the place ... a Windows 7 box, .. which now sits, watches, and weeps...

Andy · January 2, 2011

anonymouscuban wrote: »

Hmm... I was under the impression that you can't upgrade memory on a Mac yourself or it voids the warranty. Am I wrong?

Yes, wrong. Buy RAM from www.crucial.com and put it in yourself. Easy peasy.

anonymouscuban · January 2, 2011

Thanks all. The wife and I were going to go to Universal Studios today. It started raining so we decided to run some errands. Stopped by Costco and then went to the mall to have lunch. We ended up stopping by the Apple Store to "look" at the iMac and we left the store with a 27" i5 iMac. Pretty excited to get the thing fired up. I will be upgrading the memory myself; they wanted way too much at Apple.

Seefutlung · January 2, 2011

Congrats on the 27" ... The all-in-one's are great because they are all-in-one. Usually I'll start with the computer in the home office ... then, if the weather is nice (I live in SoCal also ... so that 90% of the time) I'll pick up the thing and easily move it to the patio ... then in the evening to the den. I leave power cords all over and use a bluetooth keyboard & mouse to minimize the move effort.

Happy New Year
Gary

Andy · January 2, 2011

anonymouscuban wrote: »

Thanks all. The wife and I were going to go to Universal Studios today. It started raining so we decided to run some errands. Stopped by Costco and then went to the mall to have lunch. We ended up stopping by the Apple Store to "look" at the iMac and we left the store with a 27" i5 iMac. Pretty excited to get the thing fired up. I will be upgrading the memory myself; they wanted way too much at Apple.

I switched years ago and haven't looked back. Don't forget my 'advice thread'

http://www.dgrin.com/showthread.php?t=7386

Mac users give each other free tech support for life - because you need so little.

NeilL · January 3, 2011

My photo editing machine has for over 4 years now been a 17" HP Pavilion dv8thou-something laptop, Centrino Duo, 2GB RAM running XP. It has been trouble free, and while I always work it very economically, I work it very hard at times. The screen is glossy, but I edit in a controlled light environment, and I have yet to encounter a better image on any other display. It holds its calibration very well, too. It was on this quality of machine that HP made their recent great leap forward. It once just happened unplanned that a friend and I simultaneously ran the same processing on the same file of over 60MB, he on a brand new top iMac 27" @ 2009, and me on the HP PC. When we realised what was happening of course we watched the progress bars on each machine like it was the derby. It was a "photo" finish... and he was strangely quiet!

Maybe Apple have fixed the display problems I kept hearing about over a long time - among them "pink" colour casts at one time. But the main issue for me with Macs is the restriction on choice of software. It has only been like "yesterday" that Macs after a huge effort have started looking comparable to PCs in that. It seemed to me that while Macs ran stuff well, it was a pretty limited range of stuff they ran at all. They have also been forced to drop the virus virgin attitude as that part of cyber life has evolved. Those two things - ability to run practically all and any software and vulnerability - are of course interconnected.

I have used Macs from time to time and always felt like I might if I had put on someone else's shoes.

Besides, I think if went to Mac I would just suffer impossible withdrawal from the sheer intensity of adrenaline rush that PCs are responsible for from time to time!

wink:D

Neil

Joe Dukovac · January 4, 2011

Hi Alex,

First off, welcome home.

Now to the matter at hand. I'm going to break it down for you in a couple sections. I've been a windows/microsoft guy for the past 20 years. 6 Years ago I switched to Apple and haven't looked back. Just to give you a little background, I'm certified with many companies, and my degree is in engineering, plus I work at the Apple store part time (for fun). I tell you this not to brag, but more for credentials.

Now, here you go.

1. Apple iMacs are very popular in part because they are everything in one. The monitor is the computer itself. There is no tower, because everything is in the monitor. The pros are that it takes up a lot less space. The down side is that you cannot swap out your own hard drive, what you buy is what you get. Same with the video card. However, you can upgrade the RAM yourself, from the bottom access panel. It comes by default with 4 GB of RAM, upgradable to 16GB. You can purchase the less expensive RAM, because Apple's RAM is more expensive, HOWEVER, Apple RAM is certified, meaning if you have a problem with your Mac, and you bring it in for service for RAM related issues, there's not much to do if you have cheap RAM in it. Also, I've seen people come in with weird problems like their computer slowing down and stop responding due to bad cheap RAM. Beware of cheap RAM; if it's at an unbelievable price, there might be a reason for it. If you go the route of the less expensive RAM, go to Crucial. They have a tool which will tell you EXACTLY what Ram to purchase and their RAM is pretty damn good. The hard drive is not an issue really, cause all you need to do is purchase an external Firewire Hard Drive and voila, more storage. The only drawback is the video card. However, if you get the Cora i5 or Core i7, you get 1GB of video RAM which will be more than adequate for years to come, unless you get into hard core video editing, then again it becomes an issue of time and patience.

2. Why don't Spyders work all that well with the iMac? There are two reasons. One, it's a glossy screen. Two, and more important, the screens are designed to have the colours more saturated and contrasty by default which makes the images more "punchy" and vibrant. That's how they come. Yes, yes, you should be able to colour calibrate them, but you might find that they are never spot on because of the over saturation and contrast, that's why many photographers use Matte screens. The colours are more accurate representations of the actual colours. The solution here is to get a second monitor, get a Mini-Display to VGA or DVI cable and hook up a secondary Matte screen. That way you have the matte screen to work on and the glossy to preview your work on. Then again, you might not care that much about this.

3. You can get Lightroom for the Mac, as well as all other Abode products. I personally use Aperture (I started using it WAY before I worked at Apple), and the main reason why I went with Aperture was because Lightroom did not support multiple monitors for a long time. I like to have a monitor to work on and one to preview as I work. You can get a variety of filter plug ins from OnOne Software, Nik Software, Portraiture, etc. that will be supported by both Lightroom and Aperture. One advantage of Lightroom is that RAW converters come out usually before Aperture does, giving you support for newer cameras sooner. The downside is that Aperture's RAW converters are often times better than Adobe's.

4. As for which one to go with, go with the one that makes more sense to you. I personally would suggest the Core i5 or i7. The core i3 comes with a 500gb hard drive, 512MB of video RAM and 4BG of RAM, whereas the Core i5 and i7 come with 1TB hard drives, 1GB of video ram and 4 GB of RAM. The 8GB upgrade should cost you around $300 if I'm not mistaken (Canadian prices). Again, not sure about prices. Apple Care ($199.00 CAD) will cover your Mac for 3 years and also give you 3 years of phone support. the One to One program has a free data transfer and also give you the opportunity to come into any store world wide (even my store in Montreal should you choose to visit) and take a one to one session which is 50 minutes each, one on one, and you can learn about any Apple product for unlimited times in a year, for $99.00.

I hope this gives you a bit of info. Maybe a little more than bargained for. If you have more questions, just shoot me an PM. All I use at home now are Macs. I wish my regular job was the same, but alas, I still have to use Windows XP at work. Not that it's a bad OS, I just find things much more intuitive on my Mac.

Good luck and happy shopping my friend!

Take Care,
Joe

PS. Forget about everything I said.....you already bought one!!! Congrats. Welcome to the other side.

reyvee61 · January 4, 2011

anonymouscuban wrote: »

Thanks all. The wife and I were going to go to Universal Studios today. It started raining so we decided to run some errands. Stopped by Costco and then went to the mall to have lunch. We ended up stopping by the Apple Store to "look" at the iMac and we left the store with a 27" i5 iMac. Pretty excited to get the thing fired up. I will be upgrading the memory myself; they wanted way too much at Apple.

Congrats and an excellent choice....

Do any of you people shooters own an iMac?

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