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Imac 20 or 24 for prof. editing?

D

Definitely mayb

macrumors newbie
Original poster
May 7, 2008
9
0
I'm buying an imac so I can do my work at home.

So.. I can't figure out whether I should get the Imac 20'' with ATI Radeon HD 2400 or the ATI Radeon HD 2600 and connect an additional 24'' monitor? Or if I should take it up a notch and get the newest imac 24'' with the NVIDIA GeForce 8800 GS card?

Does the NVIDIA GeForce 8800 GS card make a difference for editing? I'm gonna use it for gaming or 3-D. just editing and colorgrading. And no matter what option I'm getting 4 Gb of ram.
 
I'm anticipating this is yet another opportunity for darkroom to complain about his screen and project his problems onto every iMac. :rolleyes:

Ohhh - and both are great screens. The 24" has a better panel and probably more suited to your stated needs.
 
The 24" iMac has a better screen. If you intend to attach an additional 24" monitor, and don't need both to have exceptional performance, than you could get by the 20" iMac, and use the external monitor to do your actual editing (can't imagine the sense of this scenario, though). Regardless, maxing out the ram (with a 3rd party vendor), is in order.

Personally, I'd get the 24" for sure, and would only debate about which version. The deciding factor would probably be how long you intend to use the machine. If it's more than 2 years, then you may want to consider getting the high end version, just to keep pace with the editing software updates. While Photoshop (don't know which programs you use) may not over tax the video card, having the faster CPU, larger hard drive, and better video card add up, and can make that extra $400 worth it.

Good luck with your decision. :)
 
All depends on whether you can live with the glossy 24" display for editing. Only you can answer that one. If yes then a 24" iMac is a cost effective option. Otherwise it's a 20" iMac + a professional quality matte display. One thing's for sure, the 20" iMac display is not good enough for professional photo/video editing.
 
I'm going to go out on a limb here with a suggestion.

If he's considering the 20" with 2400 XT, the OP is probably on somewhat of a budget, or just isn't in need of bleeding edge performance.

There's one solution not yet mentioned in this thread that I think would suit his needs perfecty.

The Refurb 24" 2.16 white iMac. It's going for $1,199 on the US store at the moment.

The screen is a professional quality matte display, better for the type of work he's looking to do than either the Aluminum 20" or 24" displays.

I'm sure the 7300 GT is on par with the 2400XT, and photoshop, from what I've read, doesn't benefit from CPU as much as additional ram for processors over 2 Ghz.

Max it out with 4GB of aftermarket ram (it can only address 3 GB, but the 2x2 GB gives a 4-5% speed increase due to pairing, and isn't much more expensive).

For anyone looking to do editing on a budget, this has got to be the best option right now. The display is excellent and matte, and the price can't be beat.
 
perhaps (offtopic?) consider macbook post late07 (older 2.2s are cheaper & faster than current 2.16) with ext display
 
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