# First iMac - Which one?



## DJdeRidder (Oct 13, 2012)

I am looking at buying an iMac, which will be my first Apple tool, but I'm still in doubt about a couple of things.. Hope you can help me out!

Currently, I have the most basic desktop PC model available. I just clocked the time it takes to render a single 7D raw image in Lightroom and the answer was 39 seconds!! No need to explain why I need something new..

I would like to get the cheapest 21.5" model, so I can save some money for other important things, and possibly upgrade RAM to 8GB. Apart from the usual stuff that works on every computer (internet, music, text editing, etc) I will mainly do image editing in Lightroom 4 (sometimes using CS6 at the same time) and video editing in iMovie. Would this iMac model be good enough for this type of work?

Taking my current desktop in mind, I guess any iMac will be a massive improvement? I don't mind waiting two or three seconds for an image to render, I just want everything to work smoothly. Will I regret choosing the least expensive iMac?


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## clee01l (Oct 13, 2012)

I think so. I migrated from Win 7 just this February. While I opted for the 27" screen I5, I suppose the 21" would perform as well. What I do think important is RAM. Having 16 GB really made a difference over my 6GB Win7-64 machine that the iMac replaced.


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## Victoria Bampton (Oct 13, 2012)

Congratulations Dirk!

Considering your current computer, I think you'll be pretty happy with any upgrade, PC or Mac.  

Upgrading the RAM would be worthwhile, although I tend to ship it in from the US from OWC http://eshop.macsales.com/shop/memory/iMac/2011/DDR3_21.5_27 rather than buying from Apple, as it's a lot cheaper and you can get a lot more RAM for the same money.  They provide videos showing how easy it is to do http://eshop.macsales.com/installvideos/imac_mid_2011_mem/

If you'd like to put the 7d file on my server (www.vbftp.net, username webupload, password 123) along with the xmp showing the settings you used, I'll run it on a couple of machines here (1 year old Mac Pro and 4 year old MacBook Pro) to give you a point of comparison.  Or there may be someone here with the same spec you're looking at, who might be able to convert it.


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## DJdeRidder (Oct 13, 2012)

Victoria Bampton said:


> If you'd like to put the 7d file on my server (www.vbftp.net, username webupload, password 123) along with the xmp showing the settings you used, I'll run it on a couple of machines here (1 year old Mac Pro and 4 year old MacBook Pro) to give you a point of comparison.


Thanks a lot for the offer, but I don't think it makes a lot of sense to make such a comparison. Also, it's not something that I'm particularly concerned about. I'll be happy to hear any experiences from anyone who uses the iMac 21.5" 2.5GHz (and others) though..


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## DJdeRidder (Oct 13, 2012)

clee01l said:


> What I do think important is RAM. Having 16 GB really made a difference over my 6GB Win7-64 machine that the iMac replaced.


I'm not sure the 21.5" can take 16GB RAM. The Apple website mentions all iMacs accept up to 8GB, while some accept up to 16GB. Since I'm opting for the cheapest model, I guess 8GB is the maximum..


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## clee01l (Oct 13, 2012)

DJdeRidder said:


> I'm not sure the 21.5" can take 16GB RAM. The Apple website mentions all iMacs accept up to 8GB, while some accept up to 16GB. Since I'm opting for the cheapest model, I guess 8GB is the maximum..


It appears from the Apple store that you are correct.  I really think that 16GB is important enough to recommend the larger screen. 
Even though your 7D has half the mp as my D800, sooner or later your are going to appreciate the advantage that more RAM provides.


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## Victoria Bampton (Oct 13, 2012)

OWC push the limits.  8GB's the most you can get from Apple factory, but read this http://eshop.macsales.com/memory/maxram and http://blog.macsales.com/10038-owc-...rades-up-to-16gb-for-new-mid-2011-apple-imacs  Double check with OWC before ordering, but I've been very happy with their service.


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## LouieSherwin (Oct 14, 2012)

Hi Dirk,

I just did a little testing on my Mac Book Pro 15, 2Ghz Intel Core i7 with 8GB RAM. I can easily run Lightroom 4, Photoshop CS6, Safari, Mail, Chrome, iTunes etc. I even opened a 500MB TIFF with Nik Color Efex pro smart filter and still has plenty of free RAM ( free plus inactive in Activity monitor). The image files are from a 5Dmk2 so 22Mp in size. 

I will occasonally cause the cooling fans to kick into high speed when building 1:1 previews or when switching among multiple images in the Develop module. 

So I don't think you will have a problem with the default maximum RAM unless you plan to try open multiple large image files in Photoshop on a regular basis. 

One thing that I would suggest is to be sure to get the largest 7200 rpm internal disk you can afford for your system disk. That will definitely improve overall performance.

-louie


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## DJdeRidder (Oct 14, 2012)

Thanks for the confirmation Louie. I have decided I will definitely go for the 21.5" 2.5GHz iMac. I hope Apple will soon announce a new iMac, so I can make the decision to opt for the 'old' model (I can still get a student discount until next month), or pay the full price for the new model and wait a little longer..


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## Randy McKown (Oct 16, 2012)

Congrats on joining the Mac Clan  .. I would definitely upgrade to the 8GB .. 16GB if you want. Honestly you notice a HUGE difference going from 4 to 8 in Aperture & Lightroom but not so much when going from 8 to 16. Unless you start doing stuff in Final Cut then you notice a pretty good difference from 8 to 16. Spend the cash and buy Apple RAM though and not some generic brand. I've bought the non Apple stuff before and it never seems to last .. when you pay a 1/4 of the price you get what you pay for. LOL


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## Tunney (Oct 18, 2012)

After being on dell pc's for over 20 years, I switched over to apple with some hesitation. This took place about 6 weeks ago. I bought an iMac 27 inch with a 2 Tera byte drive and a 250 gig solid state hard drive, running on16 gig of memory. I have never been happier with the performance of this operating system (mountain lion 10.8.2). It really flies in either LR 4.2 and CS6.  

If you can afford it, go for it!

Tunney


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## Victoria Bampton (Oct 18, 2012)

Great to hear it Tunney, and welcome to the forum!


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## Tunney (Oct 18, 2012)

Victoria Bampton said:


> Great to hear it Tunney, and welcome to the forum!



When I bought my mac, they told me the most ram I could get was 16 gig. Can you tell me Victoria, how you were able to add that 8 additional gig of ram into you system?

Tunney


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## Victoria Bampton (Oct 18, 2012)

I'm on a Mac Pro most of the time Tunney, so I haven't a clue what the maximum is.  I stopped at 24gb and haven't maxed it out yet.

OWC/MacSales tend to push the boundaries of what can be put in most machines though, and they support it well.  All of my extra RAM has come from them over the last few years, and it's been perfect.


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## KKH (Oct 20, 2012)

DJdeRidder said:


> Thanks for the confirmation Louie. I have decided I will definitely go for the 21.5" 2.5GHz iMac. I hope Apple will soon announce a new iMac, so I can make the decision to opt for the 'old' model (I can still get a student discount until next month), or pay the full price for the new model and wait a little longer..



I, too, and thinking of getting an iMac and waiting not-so-very patiently for Apple to announce a refresh.  I don't need it immediately, so I can wait.  There are rumors (aren't there always???) of an iMac announcement next week, along with the iPad mini.  I'm not holding my breath (much).  There were rumors of a refresh announcement at the WWDC, then in July to coincide with the release of Mountain Lion.  The iMac is way overdue for an update, though, so maybe, just maybe, we'll see something next week.

The one I'm dreaming of - 27" i7 with 16gb (bought aftermarket) and an SSD for the primary.  Not sure about the secondary.  I'll probably go aftermarket on that, too.  I just can't bring myself to pay the Apple tax on *everything.*  

Hope you can get yours while you still have the student discount.  

Kristin


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