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Which iMac is good for a graphic designer?

S

sourskittle

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Dec 17, 2008
10
0
Dubai, United Arab Emirates
Hello all,
I'm new to the forum and not very hardware-savvy so please bare with me!

I plan on buying a 24" iMac and I'm not sure if it's worth it pay extra for the 2.93 or 3.06 GHz because I think the 2.66GHz should be just fast enough with the 4GB ram for my needs..

I will mainly use it for graphic design work, at one time I usually have photoshop illustrator indesign and flash open with quite large files so the faster it can save and handle my files without slowing down when importing large files etc, it would be good.

Is it the processor speed that affects saving time, handling of large files etc or the RAM? And shouldn't the 2.66GHz be enough for that?

Note I don't play games at all, and neither will I be working in 3D

Also note that I live in Dubai, and the 2.66GHz will cost me around $2000 ($500 more than the US prices on the apple site!!) so trying to save money as well, I don't know why mac prices here are so much more :confused:

Thank youuuu
 
CPU affects intensive tasks such as filters. Difference between a 2.93 and a 2.66 won't be noticable. You'd be fine with a 1.8Ghz Core 2 to be honest.

HD speed, bus and memory speed affects opening files etc.

2D work isn't that demanding though - any iMac from the last few years will be fine.

I'd get the cheapest 24" iMac.
 
The low-end 24" will definitely suit your needs. I get along fine with the '09 20"

If money is an issue then just opt for a refurb prev gen.
 
The 2.66GHz C2D based iMac will be fine, what's more important is memory and you're purchasing the new iMac with 4GB - so you'll be just fine.
 
I think the 2.4 GHz would be fine. Can you get the refurbs in Dubai because that's the cheapest way to go.

I have a graphic design friend who recently bought the 3.06 w/8800 GS and she loves it. But admits it's overkill for her InDesign, Quark and Photoshop work.

Honestly, since I can't stand the glassy screen on the iMac, that would be my chief concern as a graphic designer over CPU. I'm a photographer and find my wife's iMac screen quite annoying. Unfortunately Apple doesn't offer iMac-class innards in a stand alone box so one has no choice but to get it.
 
i went with the 3.06 cpu for my imac. reason being is that from time to time i work with lots of filters such as drop shadow and blur, etc. in illustrator, and those can take a while to process if you have several of them in the same document. plus i'm also interested in doing some moderate gaming on it, so i upgraded to 4850.
 
I have the 3.06GHz 24" iMac at home and I find that it handles what I throw at it in Photoshop, Illustrator & InDesign (CS4) and the like with no problems, I feel that I may have gotten a bit more power than I needed at the time but no regrets.

I do a lot of design and Photoshop layer work and the iMac I have is more than enough, therefore I'd say the 2.66GHz w/ 4gigs of ram will be fine for your needs.

On another note, whats the graphic design / advertising job situation like over in Dubai, we were there for Christmas and have thought about looking at moving over there for a while? Thanks
 
thanks for your replies everyone!

@ eelpout: i was concerned about the glossy screen but i'll make my peace with it :)
unfortunately we don't get refurbished macs here, either buy a new one or find someone selling theirs..

@andychris02: dubai actually went thru a boom recently regarding advertising because EVERYwhere you look there's an ad due to new real estate projects being launched, all the big brands coming here, etc
i've worked at leo burnett and bbdo here and it was an amazing experience, very competitive, lots of business coming in to the agencies, it has definitely slowed down a bit due to the recession but not affected TOO badly, if u were to come and apply here, and they had an opening, you would stand a good chance because they're always looking for people with international experience :)

about the imac: as much as i would love the 3.06GHz, it will cost me approx.$3000 which bothers me since it's so much cheaper elsewhere!! and yeah, it might just be extra speed i'll never really need

my brother lives in montreal,canada, i could ask him to buy an imac from there and bring it when he comes to dubai in june.. not sure if it would get here ok tho, customs might make an issue, and damage? does anyone think that would be a good idea?
 
You could try it, but various things could affect this:
1. The power cables will be different, as may the voltages. I doubt this will affect, but it might.
2. Customs will have an issue and will probably make him pay dues. Just get him to mark it as a really low value (like $500).
3. You could get him to ship it as a family gift across to Dubai from Canada. Probably costly tho.
 
sourskittle, thanks for the info about the work situation over there.

I did some web searching and looks like I have to re-format my CV for the Middle East, is that something that is really necessary?

Also, are there any particular recruitment agencies over there that you can recommend?

Sorry about all the questions.
 
sourskittle said:
thanks for your replies everyone!

@ eelpout: i was concerned about the glossy screen but i'll make my peace with it :)
unfortunately we don't get refurbished macs here, either buy a new one or find someone selling theirs..

@andychris02: dubai actually went thru a boom recently regarding advertising because EVERYwhere you look there's an ad due to new real estate projects being launched, all the big brands coming here, etc
i've worked at leo burnett and bbdo here and it was an amazing experience, very competitive, lots of business coming in to the agencies, it has definitely slowed down a bit due to the recession but not affected TOO badly, if u were to come and apply here, and they had an opening, you would stand a good chance because they're always looking for people with international experience :)

about the imac: as much as i would love the 3.06GHz, it will cost me approx.$3000 which bothers me since it's so much cheaper elsewhere!! and yeah, it might just be extra speed i'll never really need

my brother lives in montreal,canada, i could ask him to buy an imac from there and bring it when he comes to dubai in june.. not sure if it would get here ok tho, customs might make an issue, and damage? does anyone think that would be a good idea?
Click to expand...

Lol, I know this is a stretch...but maybe you could have your brother in Canada purchase a referb iMac then ship it to you like somebody suggested above or even bring it with him when he comes in June.

I just UPS'ed the price and it says 485 ish to ship it. Well if you think about it, the brand new iMac in Dubai is 500 dollars more than Canada/US so the shipping from Canada makes the price almost the same EXCEPT for the fact that you could possibly saving a couple hundred dollars on getting the referb. You could save even more if your brother could bring it with him as part of his luggage. LOL! :p

Anyways, just a though. :)
 
I'm sorry to hijack this thread and I've asked this before so is it better to increase memory over cpu speed to increase 'zipiness' of opening files, loading timse of opening etc or do they both equally affect them? Just contemplating whether I should spend the extra money on the 2.9
 
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