Is a 27" imac necessary

[thepominlaw]

This is the second attempt at this post, my pc just crashed

As a long term PC gamer i am about to hit 40, something funny happened 6 months ago, i got bored with games! Now my pc is used for photography and video. Problem is my son is always gaming on the pc and I worry I could lose all my images (even thought its all backed up).

Then it hit me have an iMac for my 40th and give him the pc for his "homework" so off i went to the shops to have a look, wow what can i say i fell in love with the 27" monster, unfortunately as my wife put it (I can always dream)! So I dont know what to do now would the bottom end 21.5" model be suitable for me? As its more in her price range

I own autocad (for work), photoshop and lightroom all pc versions and i would need to continue using them would this be possible i believe with bootcamp? Sorry but i have never owned a mac so its completely new to me I have no idea if it will compare with my 3.4ghz pc.

would i regret going for the smaller one? Also is the apple care 3 year thing worth it, I have been reading some horror stories or so it seems with the new imacs would i just be heading into a workd of hurt?

 

[ViViDboarder]

This is the second attempt at this post, my pc just crashed

As a long term PC gamer i am about to hit 40, something funny happened 6 months ago, i got bored with games! Now my pc is used for photography and video. Problem is my son is always gaming on the pc and I worry I could lose all my images (even thought its all backed up).

Then it hit me have an iMac for my 40th and give him the pc for his "homework" so off i went to the shops to have a look, wow what can i say i fell in love with the 27" monster, unfortunately as my wife put it (I can always dream)! So I dont know what to do now would the bottom end 21.5" model be suitable for me? As its more in her price range

I own autocad (for work), photoshop and lightroom all pc versions and i would need to continue using them would this be possible i believe with bootcamp? Sorry but i have never owned a mac so its completely new to me I have no idea if it will compare with my 3.4ghz pc.

would i regret going for the smaller one? Also is the apple care 3 year thing worth it, I have been reading some horror stories or so it seems with the new imacs would i just be heading into a workd of hurt?

Autocad would have to run in Windows, not sure about lightroom, but there is a mac version of PS, but you don't want to buy a new license I'm sure.

The 21.5" iMac is really nice. I have the one with the ATI card (the one that's not the lowest level) and it's great! For 2D stuff you're not going to see any added benefit form the GPU, but I believe it's a bit faster.

If you're worried about the 27" being overkill, it probably is. Although for what you like to do the bigger screen would probably be nice!

Either way, you're going to need to run Bootcamp, which means you'll also need to buy a Windows license as well unless your programs run on Crossover, which is probably worth checking. http://www.codeweavers.com/products/cxmac/ It lets you run Windows programs IN OSX. So you don't have to buy Windows or reboot.

Good luck and I hope you enjoy your "switch"!

 

[Hellhammer]

As you are buying it for YOU, not for your wife, your opinion should matter more. If money isn't the issue (like you don't have to take loan, get rid of something or somehow reduce the quality of life), you should get what you want. I know women are picky with electronics as they rarely understand them and the differences between different models and brands.

Performance wise there won't be difference though but you get the amazing screen!

Adobe allows you to switch the license from PC to Mac for a small fee (something like 20$) and vice versa, so unless you still need to use them in Windows as well, just switch the license to Mac, because in my opinion there is no reason to buy a Mac if you have to run Windows for over 50% of the time.

You don't have to buy AppleCare yet because you have a full year (1) to buy it after you have bought it (AppleCare can be registered while you're inside the one (1) year of limited warranty), so I wouldn't hurry yet.

 

[thepominlaw]

Money is the issue really was planning on selling my new Windows Home Server to help fund the purchase. Wife wanted to get me the Leica DLUX for about £600 so the 27" is over double that, the 21.5" is the cost of the camera and the server's sale price i hope.

 

[HLdan]

Autocad would have to run in Windows, not sure about lightroom, but there is a mac version of PS, but you don't want to buy a new license I'm sure.

You don't have to buy a new license for the Mac version of Photoshop. Adobe will transfer his Windows license to Mac OS X for a small fee, however it's much less than paying for an upgrade.

 

[ViViDboarder]

You don't have to buy a new license for the Mac version of Photoshop. Adobe will transfer his Windows license to Mac OS X for a small fee, however it's much less than paying for an upgrade.

Yea, someone else mentioned that too. Good to know!

 

[ajohnson253]

you wont notice a difference in speed. The 27" screen is beautiful you wont ever want to get off you're mac.