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iMac 27 i5 2.8gig couple of questions before I buy

G

Grolsch30

macrumors member
Original poster
Dec 25, 2007
90
0
Bergen, Germany
Hi,

Right I have decided to wait no longer and part with my monies and order myself the iMac 27 i5 2.8 ghz quad core.

I have already bought Office for Mac 2011 (really wanted To be Microsoft free, but need the universal compatibility of MS Office).

Anyway could anyone help me out with some questions I could do with being answered?

Looking to extend the memory from 4 gb to 8gb I have looked at Crucial for prices, now they have either 2x 2gb or 1x 4gb the latter being more expensive.
Does it not matter which one I buy (the cheaper 2x 2gb)?
Are crucial a good make?

What would I need or is it even possible to fully connect my PS3 to my iMac and use it as You would normally via a normal tv set up?

I am also going to buy a German keyboard, now can you use both the Uk and German wireless keyboard at the same time?

Can anyone recommend a separate wireless numerical keyboard as I am undecided wether to buy one full wired keyboard with numbers and one wireless one!


Many thanks :)
 
Grolsch30 said:
Hi,


Looking to extend the memory from 4 gb to 8gb I have looked at Crucial for prices, now they have either 2x 2gb or 1x 4gb the latter being more expensive.
Does it not matter which one I buy (the cheaper 2x 2gb)?
Are crucial a good make?

Many thanks :)
Click to expand...

Crucial is a good brand, if you are in North America I prefer OWC (www.macsales.com) but that is strictly a personal preference. As far as which configuration you get the only thing that matters is your long term plans on RAM expandiblity. Your iMac will max out at 16GB and has 4 RAM slots, if you purchase the 2x2GB you have limited yourself to 8GB however if you purchase 1x4GB you can easily upgrade beyond the 8GB to 12 GB by adding another 4GB DIMM. It's less expensive in the long term if you purchase 1x4GB if your plans are to expand beyond 8GB.
 
When I got my ram I went with owc ram. The ram is excellent and has a great price. I would get two 4gb sticks. Then you can have 12 gb of ram and a low cost.
 
Grolsch30 said:
Hi,

Right I have decided to wait no longer and part with my monies and order myself the iMac 27 i5 2.8 ghz quad core.

I have already bought Office for Mac 2011 (really wanted To be Microsoft free, but need the universal compatibility of MS Office).

Anyway could anyone help me out with some questions I could do with being answered?

Looking to extend the memory from 4 gb to 8gb I have looked at Crucial for prices, now they have either 2x 2gb or 1x 4gb the latter being more expensive.
Does it not matter which one I buy (the cheaper 2x 2gb)?
Are crucial a good make?

What would I need or is it even possible to fully connect my PS3 to my iMac and use it as You would normally via a normal tv set up?

I am also going to buy a German keyboard, now can you use both the Uk and German wireless keyboard at the same time?

Can anyone recommend a separate wireless numerical keyboard as I am undecided wether to buy one full wired keyboard with numbers and one wireless one!


Many thanks :)
Click to expand...
I'd pick up the RAM from OWC, they are very reliable, have lifetime warranties on their RAM (at least the OWC brand anyway) and sell "apple spec" RAM.
 
Thanks everyone,

I will have a Look at OWC and See if they have a UK website As im in the UK.

THis is a Long Term investment want to get everything just right.

I will also be purchasing the time capsule (or is it machine), for my backup.

It maybe hard for me at first to make the transition to Mac OS X having been a pc user all these years but have been convinced to go for it!

still wondering about dual wireless keyboard usage?


Again many thanks to the forum and everyone :)
 
Grolsch30 said:
Thanks everyone,

I will have a Look at OWC and See if they have a UK website As im in the UK.

THis is a Long Term investment want to get everything just right.

I will also be purchasing the time capsule (or is it machine), for my backup.

It maybe hard for me at first to make the transition to Mac OS X having been a pc user all these years but have been convinced to go for it!

still wondering about dual wireless keyboard usage?


Again many thanks to the forum and everyone :)
Click to expand...

I would stay away from the time capsules. I was given a lot of info from users of it, saying that they crap out on them a lot. I believe that they only last around 18 months or so. For the price of them, you can grab yourself a 2tb or 4tb external FW drive, and use that for Time Machine.

IMO, the two best RAMs to get for the iMac are OWC and Crucial. I have 8gb currently in my iMac, and will be looking to go to probably 12gb soon (Crucial btw). Im not big into RAM-eating programs, but when I do run Parallels on my iMac (which is using Windows 7 while in Mac OS), the RAM is divided.

The bluetooth keypad looks cool, but Im worried about it after reading all the negative reviews on it. I still cant understand why Apple wouldnt release a BT keyboard with the keypad. Ridiculous!
 
Grolsch30 said:
Thanks everyone,

I will have a Look at OWC and See if they have a UK website As im in the UK.

THis is a Long Term investment want to get everything just right.

I will also be purchasing the time capsule (or is it machine), for my backup.

It maybe hard for me at first to make the transition to Mac OS X having been a pc user all these years but have been convinced to go for it!

still wondering about dual wireless keyboard usage?


Again many thanks to the forum and everyone :)
Click to expand...
K, I think they are US only though; I'm in Aus and get it shipped.

I'd avoid the time capsule, just pickup a good external, or something like that, etc.
 
In regards to the Apple numerical wireless keypad, it's got very mixed reviews so might just leave that and opt for the wired keyboard with integrated separate numbers. And buy the German keyboard as a wireless one.

If the wired UK keyboard is connected and the German wireless keyboard paired up via Bluetooth would I be able to switch over from one keyboard to the other or will I have to activate and deactivate the respective keyboard which I am not using?
 
Done.

Done the deed and now ordered myself:

iMac 27 i5 2.8 gig
Trackpad
German wireless keyboard
Uk wired keyboard
Time machine (taking the chance)
Remote control
Battery charger
Office for Mac

Probably looking @ Crucial for the Ram 1x4gig @ £90


Really looking for to it, my first Mac :D
 
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