20" iMac.....wait, right?!?!

[Sean7512]

Well, my mom has decided that it is time for a new mac. She wants to buy a fully loaded 20" iMac (256 vram, 2GB ram, 500 GB HDD). She claims that we have NEVER bought a GREAT computer, just GOOD ones...so she wants to max the iMac out. I have no objection to that, since it will replace our eMac as our main family computer. The eMac will move downstairs for casual stuff. Anyways, I noticed that it has been a LONG time since the iMac has been updated and it is probably coming sooner than later. We are not sure what to do. Right now, we can get a new iPod and a new printer/copy/fax for free. My mom would get the iPod, and I told her that the iMac would most likely be updated AFTER that promotion is over, but she said that she would not mind. So anyways, what do you guys think?

Oh yea...About software....

1. I am currently using Office v.X, that should be fine on the new iMac, right? We were gonna try to use that forever OR maybe upgrade when the UB Office is released.

2. I have Adobe Photoshop CS, and have no money to upgrade to a newer UB whenever it comes out. This will work better than my current 1.25 G4 I'm assuming, even under Rosetta, right?

3. We are going to get Final Cut Express HD pre-installed. I was wondering, how do you burn those projects to DVD? Is it integrated like iMovie -> iDVD or do I need additional software?

Well, I'm soo sorry for a long post. Thanks in advance for your replies

 

[Eidorian]

If Apple sticks Merom into the next iMac only expect minor gains in gaming if any. The largest gain would be in media applications and encoding.

If they use Conroe then that's a whole different can of worms.

http://www.anandtech.com/cpuchipsets/showdoc.aspx?i=2808&p=1

1. I am currently using Office v.X, that should be fine on the new iMac, right? We were gonna try to use that forever OR maybe upgrade when the UB Office is released.

It'll run fine under Rosetta.

2. I have Adobe Photoshop CS, and have no money to upgrade to a newer UB whenever it comes out. This will work better than my current 1.25 G4 I'm assuming, even under Rosetta, right?

Sluggish to start up. You might want to stick with the G4 though.

 

[miles01110]

Just get the imac now. Like I said in another thread- the new processors will not make a huge performance difference unless you are doing some really heavy graphics editing and what not.

Sounds like you're getting a great mac

 

[Josias]

Well, I don'y understand why you wanna max out the iMac, I undertsand RAM wise, since it's gonne help it last longer, but I can barely believe you're gonna need 500 GB HDD? And yes, I think you should wait. I believe there will be a new iMac here at WWDC, or at the Paris Expo...

I'm also waiting for Office to go Universal, amd I'm sure that a Core 2 Duo iMac with 2 GB RAM will pwn your eMac in CS, even under Rosetta. FCP wise, I dunno about the burning, but I guess you can get someone else to help you with that. I can recommend the iMac, it's a very good computer, but you might wanna lightly inform your mom about the costs and benefits about maxing out for example the HDD...

Just saw the other posts, Merom is 20% faster than Yonah at equivalent clocks, and since I also expect the iMacs to have 2/2.16 GHz is they go with Merom. Just wait, your mom wants it to last, she might as well wait a week/month, and if she doesn't want the new iMac, she can still buy the old one.

 

[kevin.rivers]

Or you could buy my stock 20" Core Duo for only $1400 shipped.

 

[Sean7512]

I'm also waiting for Office to go Universal, amd I'm sure that a Core 2 Duo iMac with 2 GB RAM will pwn your eMac in CS, even under Rosetta. FCP wise, I dunno about the burning, but I guess you can get someone else to help you with that. I can recommend the iMac, it's a very good computer, but you might wanna lightly inform your mom about the costs and benefits about maxing out for example the HDD...

The only reason for going with a 500GB HDD is that we were gonna split it 250 for OS X and 250 for XP (Yuck XP, but it is needed for a FEW things). Another factor is that my sister's husband owns his own DJ business, and they just got married last week, so I made a movie for them that they showed during the reception. Everyone was soo impressed with it, no one could believe that I did that all by myself (If they only knew how easy...). Anyways, he told me that tons of his clients ask if he also does video and that he would allow me to do it for him and keep all of the money that he charges. So, if there is a demand with it as he says, I may be working on a couple different videos at the same time, which can quickly eat up HDD space.

 

[Cygnus311]

The only reason for going with a 500GB HDD is that we were gonna split it 250 for OS X and 250 for XP (Yuck XP, but it is needed for a FEW things). Another factor is that my sister's husband owns his own DJ business, and they just got married last week, so I made a movie for them that they showed during the reception. Everyone was soo impressed with it, no one could believe that I did that all by myself (If they only knew how easy...). Anyways, he told me that tons of his clients ask if he also does video and that he would allow me to do it for him and keep all of the money that he charges. So, if there is a demand with it as he says, I may be working on a couple different videos at the same time, which can quickly eat up HDD space.

You need 250GB for XP for a "few" things??

 

[Sean7512]

You need 250GB for XP for a "few" things??

I was thinking few to include:

GAMES, GAMES, GAMES
MS Visual Studio
Photoshop
Vista in the future
Did I mention GAMES?

Alright, maybe not 250GB for XP, maybe 150 sound better?

 

[extraextra]

The 500GB HD is only like $200 more, I'd go for it. Better to have more GB. Then you're not stuck with a computer that has run out of space and you either have to upgrade it or buy an external HD.

 

[AviationFan]

3. We are going to get Final Cut Express HD pre-installed. I was wondering, how do you burn those projects to DVD? Is it integrated like iMovie -> iDVD or do I need additional software?

iDVD will turn your FCE-generated videos into DVDs, as long as you don't want to get too fancy with the DVD/menu design or compression options etc. If you need more control, DVD Studio Pro will give that to you, but you'd have to buy (or upgrade to) the Final Cut Pro Studio package.

One option you should to consider for serious video editing on your new Mac is an external FireWire drive. The consensus seems to be that making a separate drive the scratch disk in Final Cut is a good thing. (Scratch disk is where your captured video ends up, along with render files - as opposed to the Final Cut project files.)

I have a 20" iMac, too, and primarily use it for video editing (with FCP Studio). You'll love it!

- Martin

 

[Sean7512]

iDVD will turn your FCE-generated videos into DVDs, as long as you don't want to get too fancy with the DVD/menu design or compression options etc. If you need more control, DVD Studio Pro will give that to you, but you'd have to buy (or upgrade to) the Final Cut Pro Studio package.

One option you should to consider for serious video editing on your new Mac is an external FireWire drive. The consensus seems to be that making a separate drive the scratch disk in Final Cut is a good thing. (Scratch disk is where your captured video ends up, along with render files - as opposed to the Final Cut project files.)

I have a 20" iMac, too, and primarily use it for video editing (with FCP Studio). You'll love it!

- Martin

While I do not have an external Firewire HDD, I do have an 80GB USB HDD. Would that be enough space to use as a scratch disk?

So iDVD will burn my FCE movies, thats good! Also, how much more advanced is FCE to iMovie? I'm assuming that it is still fairly easy to use, in high school we were taught Adobe Premier on OS 9 machines, and I found that to be quite easy. Would FCE still be relatively easy?

 

[Eidorian]

I was thinking few to include:

GAMES, GAMES, GAMES
MS Visual Studio
Photoshop
Vista in the future
Did I mention GAMES?

Alright, maybe not 250GB for XP, maybe 150 sound better?

Uh, I have GAMES, GAMES, GAMES as well for my iMac. I've only allocated 60 GB to Windows.

 

[Sean7512]

So, I called Apple. I brought up that the iMac was not updated since January 10, and casually questioned an imminent update. The sales rep informed me that if there were any update it would have came yesterday, and no plans any time soon for an update. I do not believe him, what do you think?

 

[Fuzzy Orange]

I wouldn't think they would let an incoming update slip. I bet the person was lying. But, you never know. I say you should buy right before the iPod deal ends (Sept. 16). That way, you would still be in time for the iPod deal, but you could get an update if one occurs between now and then. You could also buy it now with said iPod deal, and then don't open it until they update. Then return your bought iMac and replace with the new one. However, most mere mortals wouldn't be able to resist the call of a fully-loaded iMac sitting in front of them for too long.

 

[Super Macho Man]

I wouldn't think they would let an incoming update slip. I bet the person was lying. But, you never know. I say you should buy right before the iPod deal ends (Sept. 16). That way, you would still be in time for the iPod deal, but you could get an update if one occurs between now and then.

I think that is a good idea and it's what I am doing. I'd bet heavily on the Core 2 iMac coming out in Paris. Apple won't speed bump it anytime before then, because why speedbump if you can announce it at an expo and get free publicity? Apple knows that all the students going back to school will either buy the current iMac (not knowing any better), wait a couple weeks for the new one, or wouldn't have bought a Mac anyway.

 

[Super Macho Man]

So, I called Apple. I brought up that the iMac was not updated since January 10, and casually questioned an imminent update. The sales rep informed me that if there were any update it would have came yesterday, and no plans any time soon for an update. I do not believe him, what do you think?

Rarely do the sales reps know any more than the customer about when new products are coming out.

 

[gothicx00]

I wouldn't think they would let an incoming update slip. I bet the person was lying.

It's not really weither or not they were lying but a question of do they truely know about an update. And even then they probably believe in their heart of hearts that there wouldn't be an update so soon as to not cut into their personal sales numbers. But I bet that their sales training update may not happen until a couple of days before or after a new launch. And even then, they'll take them off the phones for maybe two hours max to show them a presentation on the new hardware and maybe give them 10 mins to play with one, if applicable.

But I'm split on the recommendation. While I believe there will be some sort of product line update very shortly after the iPod deal, I can't quite put my finger on what it will be for sure. Are they trying to move the iMacs with free iPods, or is the situation reversed. Will it be new iMacs, new iPods or both.

But what I can say, is that if you and your mother are ready to buy a slammin computer, a fully loaded iMac is definatly the way to go. $2300 for what is in the 20" iMac is practicaly stealing as far as i'm concerned. And as far as a difference between your eMac and a Core Duo iMac, it will be night and day.

My last suggestion is don't necisarily think that you need to do a half/half partition. If you buy and install mediafour's MacDrive on the windows partition, you'll be able to access the Mac partition from Windows. This will allow you to store most of your media files on the mac partition and leave the windows partition wholly for windows only data. Peace be with you my brother, and enjoy your new mac, when ever you decide to get it.

 

[Sean7512]

I think that is a good idea and it's what I am doing. I'd bet heavily on the Core 2 iMac coming out in Paris. Apple won't speed bump it anytime before then, because why speedbump if you can announce it at an expo and get free publicity? Apple knows that all the students going back to school will either buy the current iMac (not knowing any better), wait a couple weeks for the new one, or wouldn't have bought a Mac anyway.

A few questions about the Paris ordeal....

1. When is it?
2. Is it common for Apple to release updates there (has it happened before)?
3. Is Mr. Jobs set to do a keynote, or what exactly is it?

Thanks for all the replies....I think we may be leaning towards waiting til Paris if it is not too far away and getting it after with or without an update....still not sure though

 

[Josias]

A few questions about the Paris ordeal....

1. When is it?
2. Is it common for Apple to release updates there (has it happened before)?
3. Is Mr. Jobs set to do a keynote, or what exactly is it?

Thanks for all the replies....I think we may be leaning towards waiting til Paris if it is not too far away and getting it after with or without an update....still not sure though

1. 12th to 16th September (in Paris).
2. Yes, look here.
3. Dunno, he most probably will, otherwise look at the "here" link...

 

[asphalt-proof]

Well, I don'y understand why you wanna max out the iMac, I undertsand RAM wise, since it's gonne help it last longer, but I can barely believe you're gonna need 500 GB HDD? And yes, I think you should wait. I believe there will be a new iMac here at WWDC, or at the Paris Expo...

I'm also waiting for Office to go Universal, amd I'm sure that a Core 2 Duo iMac with 2 GB RAM will pwn your eMac in CS, even under Rosetta. FCP wise, I dunno about the burning, but I guess you can get someone else to help you with that. I can recommend the iMac, it's a very good computer, but you might wanna lightly inform your mom about the costs and benefits about maxing out for example the HDD...

Just saw the other posts, Merom is 20% faster than Yonah at equivalent clocks, and since I also expect the iMacs to have 2/2.16 GHz is they go with Merom. Just wait, your mom wants it to last, she might as well wait a week/month, and if she doesn't want the new iMac, she can still buy the old one.

You can never have too much HD space and as mentioned before, the extra $200 is not that much more considering what he is getting. Personally, I would give XP 80 gigs but no more. That should be plenty for games and the other things you listed. Leave the rest to iTunes, movies etc. on the mac partition.

 

[Atlasland]

2. Is it common for Apple to release updates there (has it happened before)?

Last year they announced the iSight iMac at the Paris Expo... 1 month after I bought my Rev. B iMac.

But it didn't matter - I had to have my iMac before going to University, so I didn't have a choice. Also, my iMac completely kicks ass.

 

[AviationFan]

While I do not have an external Firewire HDD, I do have an 80GB USB HDD. Would that be enough space to use as a scratch disk?

You need around 12 GB per hour of captured DV material. With USB drives, there might be a problem with the transfer speed, though. If the connection to the external drive isn't fast enough, you'll see "dropped frames". I cannot tell you with certainty whether a USB drive is fast enough or not, just that all the folks I have talked to have either external FireWire drives or additional internal drives (the latter not being an option for the imac, of course). You may want to ask this question over in the Digital Video forum.

So iDVD will burn my FCE movies, thats good! Also, how much more advanced is FCE to iMovie? I'm assuming that it is still fairly easy to use, in high school we were taught Adobe Premier on OS 9 machines, and I found that to be quite easy. Would FCE still be relatively easy?

Well, Final Cut is a lot more complex and capable than iMovie, so if you want to take advantage of the additional capabilities for your editing work, you should plan to invest some time. On the other hand, you can do this one step at a time, i.e. start with just the basic stuff that you could have just as well done in iMovie, and then move up at your own pace. I haven't used Premier, so I can't tell you how much your experience with it might help (or hurt) with FCE.

- Martin

 

[OziMac]

Last year they announced the iSight iMac at the Paris Expo... 1 month after I bought my Rev. B iMac.

Last year there was no Stevenote, and the only thing out of Paris was .mac updates. The iMac G5 with iSight was released at last year's October 'One more thing...' special event, along with the 5g iPod.

But I am with you, I hope (nay, I think it must be inevitable) that the iMac is ripe for a Core 2 update in Paris. Leave the iPods/iTMS for another inevitable October 'special event'.

 

[tominated]

Just get the imac now. Like I said in another thread- the new processors will not make a huge performance difference unless you are doing some really heavy graphics editing and what not.

Sounds like you're getting a great mac

Thank god, i just got my imac last weekend, mainly for games.

 

[Atlasland]

Last year there was no Stevenote, and the only thing out of Paris was .mac updates. The iMac G5 with iSight was released at last year's October 'One more thing...' special event, along with the 5g iPod.

I stand corrected.

I still think hardware udpates at Paris are more than possible, though.