Need help choosing iMac.

Damian B said:
You can't upgrade the processor in an iMac. I'm pretty sure you can only upgrade the RAM.
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Fuuu- that's what I thought.

Would it be better to just go all out?
Plus I do want snow leopard and the i7 comes with "OS X" and doesn't specify Lion or Leopard.
 
Any new mac will come with Lion, now that mountain lion is released they will start coming with Mountain Lion so you will have to pick up a copy of Snow Leopard separately if you want to use it. If you have the money and need the CPU power then get the i7 but don't buy their ram since its way overpriced. You can get 16GB Ram from most computer sites for a third the price of what they charge and its simple installation. If you still want a another boast you can install a third party SSD but that requires a lot of tools and know how.
 
i'm kinda in the same situation. i'm thinking of holding off until they release the new batch of imacs though - should happen this fall.
 
Don't take the i5, it's already old enough and in a few years it will be completely outdated. I would suggest the i7 and updating RAM yourself as stated by the others. Just be sure you choose the correct RAM, you can also research if they accept faster RAMs (in some cases you can put some RAM that is superior to what the unit is officially supporting).
 
Yeah, get th i7 model and upgrade the RAM yourself. THis is what I did and I have 32GB on board working great here! (Apple only confirms that it works with maximum of 16GB, but 32GB works fine too). And don't even think about PC hackintosh, it is shit, I went this way until it fucked up several times and I sold that machine added some more money and bought an iMac which is fantastic.
And you will always be able to sell your outdated iMac in a few years for a good price while PC will become just a piece of garbage.
 
FWIW, I have the older i5 (27") and with a quick ram upgrade (I think I paid like $100 for 16GB from Crucial) it's been rock solid for the last two years. I run Reaper with a good amount of AU/VSTs going - the usual stuff like Superior, Trilian, Waves - and have never one had a problem, knock on wood.

Just make sure you pair it with a decent interface. I run a MOTU 828 over FW400-800, and again, nothing but good things to say about it.

That said - as others have already noted, definitely go for the i7. Macs make fantastic recording workstations.
 
there's also the core i7 mac mini server to think about. It is $999 and comes with 2 500 gig 7200rpm hard drives, nice for recording, Benchmarks show it out performs all the i5 imacs for audio
 
Thanks for all the advice guys, I've actually been looking into buying parts for a PC and maybe saving some money that way. Atm I'm on the edge of what I want lol.

Is there anyone that can help me or tell me who I should ask to find PC parts? Including EVERYTHING I'll need (mobo, processor, hard drives, windows 7, monitor, ect.) I'd like to spend 1400 at the most.

I use Reaper 64 bit with a Focusrite Saffire Pro 40 btw.
 
Blacklight_Studio said:
And don't even think about PC hackintosh, it is shit, I went this way until it fucked up several times and I sold that machine added some more money and bought an iMac which is fantastic.
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Just came in here to say that is not true.. if you build a hackintosh with compatible hardware and don't do system updates if you don't know what they are doing, they work perfectly and are just as stable as a real mac. 1 year here with no problems at all and spent approx $900 for a spec'd out mac (hack) pro. They are definitely not for everyone though, until you have built a couple there can be some trial and error involved with installing OSX.
 
What is wrong with Lion or Mountain Lion? Why do you need to use Snow Leopard?

I own a i5 2500, 21.5", 4GB RAM iMac and it slays at the moment. Maybe it'd be a good idea to spend more money to get the i7, but I've never had an issue with mine so far.
 
Erik Monsonis said:
What is wrong with Lion or Mountain Lion? Why do you need to use Snow Leopard?

I own a i5 2500, 21.5", 4GB RAM iMac and it slays at the moment. Maybe it'd be a good idea to spend more money to get the i7, but I've never had an issue with mine so far.
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Idk, I've just heard countless people saying SL is better than lion for audio work? Plus PC is a LOT more convenient as far as finding compatible plugins that I use daily.

I really just don't know what I want anymore lol. I think I'm leaning towards building my own PC I just don't know what parts I should get lol. I know I want an i7 processor, at least 12GB ram, 1000W power supply. I don't know what would be a good fit for this for my budget?
 
^ I don't see why SL would be better. Every new OSX is faster than the previous one, and what you read was probably people stuck with SL when L arrived because of ProTools or interfaces drivers not yet available. If you don't have any specific consideration to have, just take Mountain Lion like everyone else instead of following something you randomly read. The difference was huge in terms of system speed when I updated a few days ago on my macbookpro and everything works fine on my system. If you plan in using protools or cubase or any very specific hardware, go check before if the drivers are available and if people have switched to Mountain Lion with no problem.

To be honest with my experience now, I would pay the same price in the mac world than the PC world, even if the specs are a little bit lower, because the specs aren't the only thing to consider. If you can wait a month to get 200 dollars more, then do it, you will NOT regret it in the long term if that's the only thing that refrains you from buying an iMac. And for the record, I have had PCs all my life before and used to think Macs were a pain in the ass and not worth it.
 
LeSedna said:
^ I don't see why SL would be better. Every new OSX is faster than the previous one, and what you read was probably people stuck with SL when L arrived because of ProTools or interfaces drivers not yet available. If you don't have any specific consideration to have, just take Mountain Lion like everyone else instead of following something you randomly read. The difference was huge in terms of system speed when I updated a few days ago on my macbookpro and everything works fine on my system. If you plan in using protools or cubase or any very specific hardware, go check before if the drivers are available and if people have switched to Mountain Lion with no problem.

To be honest with my experience now, I would pay the same price in the mac world than the PC world, even if the specs are a little bit lower, because the specs aren't the only thing to consider. If you can wait a month to get 200 dollars more, then do it, you will NOT regret it in the long term if that's the only thing that refrains you from buying an iMac. And for the record, I have had PCs all my life before and used to think Macs were a pain in the ass and not worth it.
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That has NOT been my experience at all.

Pro tools 7.3 On 10.4.11 on a Mac pro was the tits.

Lion Is a HUGE downgrade in terms of system speed for me; especially on my Core 2 Duo laptop.
 
I just upgraded to lion and for me it was slightly faster than SL. No issues so far. Most of the people that have issues with OSX updates are the ones that update immediately after a release before all the bugs are worked out and software has been updated for compatibility.
 
Nice, I'll update then :p

OP: I was considering the same thing, until my father bought himself the cheapest iMac available one year ago. I went for a visit and saw it, used it, and then stole it from him :lol:

I have never experienced a single error message, crash, sluggishness or anything like that, and I've turned it off about 10 times in a year (instead, i just put it to sleep).

It took me a little while to get used to the interface, some differences with the keyboard shortcuts, and replacing all the software I had that was just for Windows, but in the end I'd never go back.

At the same time as my father got the iMac, he got an awesome i7 W7 setup for my brother. Needless to say he's constantly dealing with BSOD, crashes, bugs, errors... He's now an expert in solving everything while I don't need to :D

Just my 2c
 
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