24 inch iMac buying advice

Gerard_Smith

I'm most likely going to be buying a 24 inch iMac in the coming week and was looking for a bit of advice.

The 2.8Ghz model with the Nvidia Geforce 8800 GS and a 1TB drive is €1,959.00. The 3.06GHz model with the same spec would cost €2,119.00; is the extra processor speed worth the extra money?

Also how effective is apples migration assistant? Will it import my installed programs or just my music photos and movies? I also have iWork 07 installed on my current mac. Would I be able to install and use it on my new mac or is the licence key locked to my current machine?

ozt9vdujny3srf

In terms of the product licence, I don't see where there would be a problem

In terms of processor speed, I very much doubt the extra speed will make any difference to you. the 2.8ghz is already a beefy enough processor. If you want even more performace, buy some ram for it and jam it in. I have 4gb of memory on my macbook and it runs rather fast

Gerard_Smith

Really need some info on the set-up/migration assistant. Will it transfer my applications? Do I have to connect the old mac to my new one or can I use my external back-up?

Cabaal

Gerard_Smith wrote: »

Really need some info on the set-up/migration assistant. Will it transfer my applications? Do I have to connect the old mac to my new one or can I use my external back-up?

http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=25773

Gerard_Smith

Thanks, and though its not stated in the above document it seems I'm ok using my bootable back-up rather than my current mac.

colm_c

The assistant will just suck everything from your old mac (or bootable drive) and load it into the new mac - docs, settings, apps etc.

Make sure you verify the bootable disk -- I've had a friend loose everything because he had a corrupt disk image.

Ram is definitely more important than the extra speed -- max it out if you can -- ram is dirt cheap these days, either with apple or with crucial. Installing ram is 1 or two screws at the bottom of the iMac.

Gerard_Smith

Thanks thats good to know.

Gerard_Smith

Another qeastion. My new iMac will be sitting next to a window; just how bad are the reflections on that new glossy screen?

forbairt

Gerard_Smith wrote: »

Another qeastion. My new iMac will be sitting next to a window; just how bad are the reflections on that new glossy screen?

In my opinion the glossy screen is a no no

It does look nice ... but its not worth the hastle.

I just bought the mac book pro in the US ... and my friends who have glossy screens told me don't do it.

Edit: installing memory on the iMac ... http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=303084

Very simple I was curious this morning as I'm thinking of getting one.
I don't think the extra speed will make much difference ... you're pretty much paying for the latest technology so it works out quite pricey.

I'd also go with crucial to get more memory depending on what you'll be using it for (I'm happy enough at the moment with 2gbs on my MBP)

Gerard_Smith

Well on the iMac I have no choice. Its gloss or nothing. Thanks for the info on installing more memory.

K.O.Kiki

Gerard_Smith wrote:

Another qeastion. My new iMac will be sitting next to a window; just how bad are the reflections on that new glossy screen?

Take that 200e saving & invest in some curtains or blinds

preilly79

I'd go with the slower but cheaper processor (what I currently have), and use that money you would have spent on the processor upgrade to get 4Gb of RAM. It makes a huge difference and the price of RAM is fantastic at the moment. just don't get the RAM from apple, www.komplett.ie is a good place to go.

regarding the glossy screen; as another poster pointed out it can be a nightmare in very bright conditions but if you have freedom to move it around you should be ok.

The front glass CAN be taken off really easily as it's just held on with magnets, but it's not something i'd recommend!

Gerard_Smith

If I were to add 4gb of ram to the 2.8ghz model with the spec I mentioned above that would come to €2,119.00 which is a little bit of a stretch but just within my budget. I can't imagine I could get 4GB of mac ram from Komplete for less than €160 but I would love to be corrected if I'm wrong.

If I were to go for the 750GB drive over the 1TB option that would take it down to €1,998.99 but I do need a lot of storage space and at least 100gb of that would be going to a Windows partition for gaming.

forbairt

I wouldn't go near komplett for memory ...

http://www.crucial.com/store/listparts.aspx?model=iMac%202.8GHz%20Intel%20Core%202%20Duo%20%2824-inch%29%20MB325LL/A

125 dollars for 4 gbs and you'd be able to sell your old stuff hopefully for a few quid

If you need the extra space I'd say get an external drive ... they are cheap enough ...

Breezer

€86.94. They do euro prices too

Can't recommend Crucial enough, I bought my RAM from them and it was here in a couple of days and worked no hassle. Cheaper than anywhere else I looked too.

forbairt

Breezer wrote: »

€86.94. They do euro prices too

I was lazy ... EU was an extra click ...

I've maxed out 3 of my machines with them and its always been next day delivery ... if ordered before midday I think

colm_c

As far as the hard drive goes -- I personally would go for the 500GB drive, the bigger the drive the slower the read/write time, also you'll never be able to use time machine with a 1TB disk without spending a lot on a huge single external drive.

I've got a huge movie/music collection -- over 2TB and it's mostly on external drives, all hooked up to my iMac and time machine backing up the machine's hard drive and scripts running daily to mirror the movies/music drives to an identical set of drives.

Type 17

Glossy screen is a pain for reflections, but renders photos really nicely (I'm a photographer, so it matters) - consider blinds!

As mentioned, go for 4GB of RAM over the extra few percent of processor speed.

Crucial.com are excellent for RAM - mine usually arrives 48 hours after ordering (four times since autumn '07)

Big HDs are ok if they are fast - spindle speed of 7200 rpm should be ok, but at 1TB don't be tempted by a cheap 5400 rpm one. Also, choose the biggest cache size available/that you can afford...

Gerard_Smith

Well I'm buying from apples website and according to them its 7200 rpm.

Gerard_Smith

Well I ordered it and it shipped today. Its current delivery estimate is the 26th!? How on earth could UPS possibly take that long to deliver a package?

Type 17

If you customised it in any way (added RAM, chose a bigger HD, etc), it will take a while to be built, rather than being shipped within 24 hours.

The UPS delivery times are padded somewhat, to cover their ar5e - actual delivery times are usually sooner...

Gerard_Smith

Yeah I ordered it on Tuesday morning so it took just under 3 days to ship. Still for any currier service an 11 day estimate seems really excessive. I take it its not coming from Cork.

ZENER

I collected a 24" Maxed out iMac from a customer yesterday to set up. Sheer quality right down to the packaging !! The screen is amazing and the whole package is sleek and professional. Its Spec :

3.06GHz C2D
4GB RAM
500GB Hard Disk 7200RPM
Superdrive

The only downer as far as she was concerned was that she ordered the wireless keyboard which is useless to her - she does prepress design so needs the extended keyboard. Other than that a very very sweet machine. You'll love it !

ZEN

Gerard_Smith

Went for the 2.8GHz model with the 1TB drive and 2GB of RAM. I'll be buying the 4GB kit from Crucial.

Joe Gt

got my 24' iMac today , ordered it late monday night , it was shipped from the uk via cork by UPS , very happy with it so far , 24 inch is very big though !! ha

Gerard_Smith

Joe Gt wrote: »

got my 24' iMac today , ordered it late monday night , it was shipped from the uk via cork by UPs , very happy with it so far , 24 inch is very big though !! ha

Was it UPS?

Joe Gt

yes , got it from them mid afternoon

Gerard_Smith

Joe Gt wrote: »

yes , got it from them mid afternoon

Good to know thanks. The package still isn't showing up on UPS's system so I still have no idea where its shipping from.

Edit: Its coming from Prague and is currently in Nurnberg.

Gerard_Smith

I have had packages come from the east coast of Canada faster than its takeing this thing to get out of Germany!

Gerard_Smith

It is apparently still sitting in Germany...

Gerard_Smith

Came today, migration assistant worked like a charm, and it is magnificent! :eek: DHL still said it was in Germany right up until it was at the door.

The Black Oil

Glad to hear it arrived safe and sound.

I'm seriously tempted to get a 24" one too but I'm not sure whether I'll bump up the spec. I might just stick with the 2.8GHz, 2GB RAM and 320GB HD model and add more RAM later on.

Decisions, decisions...

Gerard_Smith

Just noticed this now but migration assistant placed my applications folder on the root of my hard-drive rather than in my home folder. The applications folder in my home folder is empty apart from an empty crossover folder. Odd. This wouldn't cause a problem would it?

Type 17

That's what my Mac looks like. Apps in the root-level folder can be used by all users, whereas apps in your home-folder can only be used by you.

The Black Oil

Is now a good time to buy one? I think someone sent a text into Newstalk's technology slot suggesting that Blu Ray might come along...

colm_c

The Black Oil wrote: »

Is now a good time to buy one? I think someone sent a text into Newstalk's technology slot suggesting that Blu Ray might come along...

Doubt it for the consumer machines due to the expensive drives, they might offer it as an option on the MacPros though.

There's a Mac conference in the next week which they're supposed to announce a 3G iPhone, any Blu-ray options will be announced then I'd say.

silvine

I got a 24 inch iMac two weeks ago. It's a thing of beauty and the operating system is great. I love Expose and those hot corners. There is something about the OS and Mac apps that seem more seemless and cleaner.

I loaded Vista up on the same machine (via Bootcamp, for games) and it runs slower than Leopard too.

The switch was worth it.

The Black Oil

Thanks.

Think I'll order one around this time next week so that it arrives shortly after my exams finish.

The Black Oil

Order placed though now it doesn't like my Laser card, problems ahoy.

Gerard_Smith

I have to say I am very impressed with the performance of my new mac. On the OS X side I haven't encountered anything that has made it so much as splutter and on my Windows partition The Orange Box and Supreme Commander are running at full resolution with everything on high.

grumpypaddy

ordered a refurb 24 inch , 2.4gig with 320 gig hd last friday, it arrived today and to my delight, it has turned into a 2.8gig with 500gig hard drive... how sweet is that?? all for 1200 euros!! my lucky day! used migration assistant to move everythign from my macbook, just over 2 hours later 100gigs of info moved, and no problems

silvine

The same happened to me. I got 2.8Ghz with 500GB instead of a 2.4Ghz with 320GB.

Crann na Beatha

This post has been deleted.

Ham'nd'egger

silvine wrote: »

The same happened to me. I got 2.8Ghz with 500GB instead of a 2.4Ghz with 320GB.

Bet you didn't think of sending it back

johnk123

Iolar wrote: »

Lads should i hold off buying a mac until blu ray comes out?

It depends, will you need/use BluRay on your mac?? And, i may be wrong, but i think you can add/change the disk drives in the Mac Pro, if that was what you were thinking of buying

Crann na Beatha

This post has been deleted.

johnk123

Yeah, the imacs are great. Awesome machines! Whether you should wait or not depends on whether or not you feel that you would benefit from the bluray or not. As we know, the iMac was recently upgraded so i'm not too sure if apple will revamp the imac collection just for bluray. But i'm pretty sure that they will release an external BluRay drive at some stage also

The Black Oil

Shipped on: Jun 10, 2008
Merge in Transit GB

I presume this will change to UPS or something.

BFassassin

grumpypaddy wrote: »

ordered a refurb 24 inch , 2.4gig with 320 gig hd last friday, it arrived today and to my delight, it has turned into a 2.8gig with 500gig hard drive... how sweet is that?? all for 1200 euros!! my lucky day! used migration assistant to move everythign from my macbook, just over 2 hours later 100gigs of info moved, and no problems

silvine wrote: »

The same happened to me. I got 2.8Ghz with 500GB instead of a 2.4Ghz with 320GB.

I just ordered a refurb with the same 2.4 spec so hopefully I get mine upgraded to a 2.8 as well. If not its still a decent enough machine for what I want. I can always upgrade the ram myself easily enough.

Dr_Teeth

Got my 3ghz model last week.. OMG it's freakin' sweet! Transferring all my files and apps over using the firewire cable worked perfectly aswell. I'm really happy with it, now I can play WoW with all the settings maxed.

The Black Oil

Am a bit confused about when it might be delivered.

Shipped to DUBLIN, IE: 10 Jun 2008
Estimated Delivery Date: 13 Jun 2008 (Subject to change)
Current Delivery Status : In Transit to Customer - Shipment on Schedule 13 Jun 2008

For the past few days the estimated date was saying next Friday the 20th, and the current delivery status was fixed/stuck on 13th of June a few days ago, I thought this was just when it might be updated again. Not sure which page is more accurate - Order Details or Shipment Status...the latter says UK Distribution Centre so I can't see it coming to Dublin today. I don't mind as I'm not really expecting it until next week.