Contemplating Apple

I'm thinking of getting an iMac for PP and simple design work. Any advice? My budget is very limited so looking at refurbished units. Is this a good deal Refurbished Apple iMac MB950B/A 21.5? Computer 4GB RAM 3.06GHz

4GB RAM will create a serious bottleneck if you want to do PP. I have about 3GB in use when I'm doing nothing at my Mac.

0any pc will do. depends how much patience you have for it to do the processing. make sure you have enough pringles with you.youll be waiting quite some bit between images. for 24mp images it will have a very hard life. "Release Date October, 2009"

thats like 1990 in real world years.

Consider what programs you want to use on the Mac and what their requirements are. It can get processor and memory demanding fast.

There are only a couple of programs that are exclusively Mac (and worth it) while the rest is available for about all systems.

I love my Mac but had to add (double) the Ram for processing. Not all that expensive and well worth it.

I use an iMac and you certainly need more memory if you want to do RAW post processing. Extra memory is not mega expensive but I would recommend 16GB. As said in other replies 4GB will be a major issue.

Also what version of OS X the operating system is included ? Updates are free to the latest release if your mac is running Snowleopard - 10.6.8 or later.
Some of the recent application software releases require latest versions of OS X to run so check this out.

Dunno what Macs go for in the UK, but based on US pricing, that seems awfully high for a core 2 duo iMac. In the states you could pretty much get a 27" quad core i5 for that.

Thanks for all the responses. I supported a handful of Mac IIs & SEs way back when and a network of MacOS boxes in the early 00's but been with Windows since the beginning so haven't a clue about the new Apple machines. Friends with modest computing needs keep urging me to go jump ship but I'm not convinced. Although having to hand edit the Registry last night to correct another corrupt Windows update got me wondering if the grass was greener on the other side.

rocketman122: agree with everything except the Pringles as my wife says the pain in my waist is not caused by my pants shrinking in the wash.

J-see: ditto, my old 8GB Windows box uses 2.5-3GB doing nothing and my configuration is fairly lean once Windows 8.1 finishes booting. Annoyingly, I keep coming across handy little programmes that are Apple only, the latest being Affinity.

Lawrence/Wornish: I maxed out my PC when I put it together 7 years ago but even with 8GB it's beginning to grind especially with the ever growing demands of Lightroom.

ScottinPollock: The price is better than some I've seen. UK prices for most things technical tend to be higher than anywhere else even after accounting for VAT (our sales tax). :-(

Looks like I'd have to spend around £1,000+ with Apple for what I want. For that kind of money I could buy a very good Windows box and not have to learn or buy anything new. Think I might stick with the devil I know. Thanks for helping me make up my mind.

Glevum Owl said:

J-see: ditto, my old 8GB Windows box uses 2.5-3GB doing nothing and my configuration is fairly lean once Windows 8.1 finishes booting. Annoyingly, I keep coming across handy little programmes that are Apple only, the latest being Affinity.

Click to expand...

Affinity required 64-bit and OS 10.7 (I think) so you want to check that first before buying.

I use a Macbook with 16GB and can't say it always is enough. Especially when I start uploading a large series of shots. I even managed to slow down Affinity (which is said to not happen) when processing D810 files.

Btw; I have always been a PC user and even when I do love certain software on the Mac, as a "computer", I still dislike my Macbook intensely. It's overrated and overpriced.

J-see said:

Affinity required 64-bit and OS 10.7 (I think) so you want to check that first before buying.

I use a Macbook with 16GB and can't say it always is enough. Especially when I start uploading a large series of shots. I even managed to slow down Affinity (which is said to not happen) when processing D810 files.

Btw; I have always been a PC user and even when I do love certain software on the Mac, as a "computer", I still dislike my Macbook intensely. It's overrated and overpriced.

Click to expand...

Core 2 Duo is 64 bit, and should run Lion no problem.

If your MacBook doesn't already have an SSD in it, slap one in and be prepared for a whole new experience.

ScottinPollock said:

Core 2 Duo is 64 bit, and should run Lion no problem.

If your MacBook doesn't already have an SSD in it, slap one in and be prepared for a whole new experience.

Click to expand...

The problem is the D810 files; if each file is around 70MB, it eats resources quickly. When I upload my D7200 or D750 files, it's already a whole new experience.

Glevum Owl said:

rocketman122: agree with everything except the Pringles as my wife says the pain in my waist is not caused by my pants shrinking in the wash.

Click to expand...

Come on!! Everybody knows that pants don't shrink in the wash.... They shrink a little in the dryer and a lot when they're on a hanger. Even more so when they're in a closet (or wardrobe) or a drawer!!!

Seriously, for PP, I find that 4 gigs of RAM is just far to little. Even 8 gigs doesn't always cut it. I'm going with at least 16 gigs of RAM the next time I purchase a new computer, which will likely be a 27-inch iMac.

When I get it, I'm going to lock it down with a password to keep away from all of the garbage that gets on it when the kids play games online with it. They'll complain and say I love the computer more than I love them, and I'll reply "That's right!!"

Whiskeyman said:

When I get it, I'm going to lock it down with a password to keep away from all of the garbage that gets on it when the kids play games online with it. They'll complain and say I love the computer more than I love them, and I'll reply "That's right!!"

Click to expand...

If you set up a 'guest account' for them, everything they do that causes a change to the file system will be erased when that account is logged out.

I get it, lots of RAM!

Of all the forums to which I've belonged, both professionally and personally, this is the only instance I can recall where mentioning a possible change of OS hasn't degenerated into platform holy war. Thank you.

Glevum Owl said:

I get it, lots of RAM!

Of all the forums to which I've belonged, both professionally and personally, this is the only instance I can recall where mentioning a possible change of OS hasn't degenerated into platform holy war. Thank you.

Click to expand...

We are very nice folk on here.

Glevum Owl said:

I get it, lots of RAM!

Of all the forums to which I've belonged, both professionally and personally, this is the only instance I can recall where mentioning a possible change of OS hasn't degenerated into platform holy war. Thank you.

Click to expand...

Thats because Nikon and Canon don't make computers or OS's!

WM