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Imac for Photo Editing?

N

NStocks

macrumors 68000
Original poster
Apr 3, 2008
1,569
18
England
Hi,

I'm planning on getting the highest 20" iMac model, within the next 2 months. This will be my very first mac ever ( im already excited thinking about it).

I understand that they all have glossy screens. I will be doing quite a lot of photo editing, but im by far no professional, i merly do it as a hobby. I talked online to a Apple person on there website, he was telling me that they wouldnt be anygood and that i should buy another display!,a matte one as the colour reproduction will be better when printing.

So should i still get the iMac, i really want my photos to look vibrant and bold on screen, more then what they will look like when printed, as i hardly ever print photos, besides id probablly get a digital photo frame, rather then printing them ( at home anyway)

Any input would be apprecitated.

Thanks

NStocks
 
Well my answer is no.
20" uses a TF panel which is a total mistake when it comes to photo editing.

The 24" uses a I-SPS panel which will give you a way better results. Get a calibration tool to it and you should have pretty good system.

It all depends how far you want to go with your hobby. The 23" ACD will give you superb results but the price tag is high.

I would go with 24" and if you ever decide to go pro with your venture then simply add a external screen and you will be all set.

Stay away from 20".

And if the nVidia graphics card isn't something that you might want then you could take a look at Apple Refurbished iMacs cause they might save you a few nice $$.
 
hmmm, well its really got me thinking now.

Do you think it would be a better investment to put an extra £200 towards it, to get a slightly faster model ( would i notice the difference), and get a bigger and better display.even though the graphics care is the same in the high 20" as it is in the base 24", would i notice it a lot more, due to the screen type.

I wont be going that far with photography, i would very very much doubt that it will become a profession, or that i will make money from it, I just want a quality display to show off my work. Im currently using a samsung 26" HD t.v as my monitor, i take it the 24" base model will be much better?

Just looking on the apple website, where is it, is says about the screen type. I would really like to see it in person, but the nearest apple store is over 2 hours away.

NStocks
 
NStocks said:
hmmm, well its really got me thinking now.

Do you think it would be a better investment to put an extra £200 towards it, to get a slightly faster model ( would i notice the difference), and get a bigger and better display.even though the graphics care is the same in the high 20" as it is in the base 24", would i notice it a lot more, due to the screen type.

I wont be going that far with photography, i would very very much doubt that it will become a profession, or that i will make money from it, I just want a quality display to show off my work. Im currently using a samsung 26" HD t.v as my monitor, i take it the 24" base model will be much better?

Just looking on the apple website, where is it, is says about the screen type. I would really like to see it in person, but the nearest apple store is over 2 hours away.

NStocks
Click to expand...

Difference is huge. I mean it and anybody that used both for anything more than web surfing will say the same thing.
Basically the 20" shows +/- 260K colors while the 24" 16 million. I think that speaks for itself :)
24" base model will be much better for what you intend to use it.
 
I just looked at the tech specs on apple website. It says that the contrast ratio is

800:1 for 20" model
750:1 for 24" model

Now i dont know much about that, but isnt that bad ( for the 24" model)

I've also read that the 20" models had problems, that the screens wern't upto scratch compared to the previous versions, but the 24" ones are perfect. Do you kno if this has being fixed yet?

I'm thinking about getting the 24" model now, with my education discount its just a little over £1,000 which was my budget, but hopefully paying a bit more will make my first mac experiance even more incredible. And depending on how much i get for my Pc which i built and cost me £950, and will probablly get £450 for it, i might even upgrade the graphics, but that will only depend on how much i end up getting, and how much overtime i can get at work!

( I'm 17 and just started my first proper job, can't wait to see my montly wages! )

NStocks

P.S Is there anyone out there who has a 24" base model, and uses it for Photo editing
 
NStocks said:
I just looked at the tech specs on apple website. It says that the contrast ratio is

800:1 for 20" model
750:1 for 24" model

Now i dont know much about that, but isnt that bad ( for the 24" model)

I've also read that the 20" models had problems, that the screens wern't upto scratch compared to the previous versions, but the 24" ones are perfect. Do you kno if this has being fixed yet?

I'm thinking about getting the 24" model now, with my education discount its just a little over £1,000 which was my budget, but hopefully paying a bit more will make my first mac experiance even more incredible. And depending on how much i get for my Pc which i built and cost me £950, and will probablly get £450 for it, i might even upgrade the graphics, but that will only depend on how much i end up getting, and how much overtime i can get at work!

( I'm 17 and just started my first proper job, can't wait to see my montly wages! )

NStocks

P.S Is there anyone out there who has a 24" base model, and uses it for Photo editing
Click to expand...

The real difference between 20 and 24" is the display itself.
20" uses 6bit panels and 24" use 8bit panels.
To buy a decent 24" I-SPS monitor these days will set you back easly $700 so this thing alone is worth a lot.

The 20" still suck.

The only real diffeence between the base model and the top end is the graphic card, a bit faster CPU and bigger HD (i think). For the display itself there is no difference at all.
 
Ok, looks like its the 24" base model, I was thinking about getting it just because for an extra £188 ( student discount), i would get 4 more inches of that lush screen on the iMacs, and a slightly faster processor.

If i got one, but then decided it wasnt for me, or it wasnt upto expectations could i return it for a no oblegation refund?

NStocks
 
NStocks said:
Ok, looks like its the 24" base model, I was thinking about getting it just because for an extra £188 ( student discount), i would get 4 more inches of that lush screen on the iMacs, and a slightly faster processor.

If i got one, but then decided it wasnt for me, or it wasnt upto expectations could i return it for a no oblegation refund?

NStocks
Click to expand...

Call Apple UK and find out as it might be different but here in the US you have 14 days to return the product. If it's unopened you do not pay a fee, it it was opened they charge you 10% i think BUT if you are nice and are lucky they won't charge you those 10%.

Once you get the iMac buy extra RAM (do not buy it from apple) and get Aperture. This pretty cheap application is a blast if you're into photo editing.
 
What about if i open it. I'm sure i will definetley be keeping it, i just wanted to make sure.

I read in a magazine, that apple are going to stop the fees of returning items now. If i find the magazine i will post the whole article. Yeah, ive being looking at aperture but i really like lightroom. Im going to try and find some good tutorials on aperture becuse from what i've seen so far it looks ok, but not sure if i want to buy it.

NStocks
 
mate go for the imac, i have a 24" one and i use all of the adobe suit on it, and it works fine for me i use it for the photography work and i often let a friend of mine use it when he needs because he runs a photography business and only has a laptop so he is always on the go so he is forever carrying external hard drives with all of his work on them, so i just let him put them on my net work because i have two spare 1 TB drives so it is not problem, but back to the point he uses it and he sells the photos that he edits on it and he does not seem to have any problem with business so i would say go for it ::apple::apple:
 
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