Intro and RAM install question: UPDATE

[garcia2ko]

Hello, folks, I'm a new iMac owner in a few hours. Always been a PC guy but tired of living in fear of viruses (they've caused a few problems in the past) and my wife and daughter are doing a lot with photo editing so it made sense. My iPhone and iPad have also warmed me up to Apple, plus my dad who used PCs from day one is now a convert.

So, it's a 21" i5 processor with 2TB hard drive from MacMall. Called a couple days ago and they said the Nov 28 order would be shipped Dec 13...but got an email yesterday saying the thing was shipped and going to get to me today. Nice!

I've ordered 4GB RAM and it's in the mail. My iMac will get here before the RAM does. So my question: Do I wait to plug in after I install the RAM....or do I get the machine running for a few days, then do the install? Will it make any difference? Thanks! Dan

 

[TMRaven]

won't make a difference.

 

[garcia2ko]

won't make a difference.

Great, thanks

 

[garcia2ko]

Intro and RAM install question: UPDATE

Set up the iMac last night and WOW. First impressions:

1. Can't tell you how many cords are simply gone with this new machine. No keyboard cord, no video camera cord, no speaker cords, etc....

2. No yellow screen issue. Checked that quickly.

3. Runs FAST. Everything.

4. No noise. Sadly, the fan on my PC was on all the time...probably going bad or something, but this iMac is quiet.

5. Lots of options for personalized settings. And not just a lot, but useful.

6. Final and most important: I had gotten the machine for my wife and daughter who are doing lots of photo editing, but I should have found a reason to get a Mac long ago. Price was always a consideration but when you think about the amount of time you spend on the computer and how long you'll have it this is minor.

 

[H00513R]

Congratulations and welcome to the community!

 

[DanielCoffey]

That is wonderful news - welcome to Macdom.

By the way - have you investigated external drives for automatic backups with Time Machine (it is included with Snow Leopard)? If not, I would suggest you have a look at external 3.5" HDD enclosures and SATA II HDD of around half as big again as your new HDD. If you want an all-in-one solution, LaCie do some good gear.

A second useful accessory is a UPS to protect against power surges and cuts. APC are excellent. I think since you have a new Mac, you will need a UPS that outputs a true sinewave under battery power such as their Smart-UPS range rather than the Back-UPS ones but experts here can confirm.

 

[mdoyle]

rather than start a new thread i'll as my question here. im thinking of upgrading the ram on my imac i5 late 2009 2.66ghz. Will ddr3 1066 ram run in this machine or does it have to be 1067 which seems harder to find unless you use amazon or ebay. many thanks

 

[Orange™]

rather than start a new thread i'll as my question here. im thinking of upgrading the ram on my imac i5 late 2009 2.66ghz. Will ddr3 1066 ram run in this machine or does it have to be 1067 which seems harder to find unless you use amazon or ebay. many thanks

Surely you jest! ... They are the same product! 1067 is just 1066 rounded up.

 

[garcia2ko]

That is wonderful news - welcome to Macdom.

By the way - have you investigated external drives for automatic backups with Time Machine (it is included with Snow Leopard)? .

Yes, I have a newish Seagate external drive that when I hooked up to the Mac, it prompted me with a question about using it for Time Machine. I certainly will. But I opted not to for the moment and I'll ask a question related to it:

I wanted to move pictures and music stored on the external drive to the iMac. If I then run "time machine," in advance can I just delete the items from the external drive (because they are being backed up)...is it a redundancy? Or should I leave the files on the external drive since I should have enough room.

I will look into the UPS, too. Thanks!

 

[rkaufmann87]

I wanted to move pictures and music stored on the external drive to the iMac. If I then run "time machine," in advance can I just delete the items from the external drive (because they are being backed up)...is it a redundancy? Or should I leave the files on the external drive since I should have enough room.

In theory yes you could do that however it would be more wise to get a second external HD and use it for your media leaving the internal HD for the OS, applications and files you access frequently. Personally I have all my media (photos, movies and music) on an external HD, use TM on a second HD and have a third EHD that I use for a bootable clone.