How to Buy an Apple iMac for Photography

This morning I was perusing Photography Life's website and I came across an interesting article. Now I am a PC guy, but my Son has been trying to get me to go to a Mac the last few years so when I came across this article on buying an iMac I had to check it out.

This could be old news to iMac users but I found it interesting and if I had not JUST bought a PC I might well have considered an iMac because the article got me past some strugles I have with iMac like price. Thought I would share it. The person who wrote the article had done a lot of research and had some good cost saving advice and a check list of sorts.

https://photographylife.com/how-to-buy-imac-for-photography

I’m also a long time pc user. I bought wifey a 21.5” iMac 4K a couple of years ago. I was well impressed by the clarity of the display and the relatively small footprint....there no stand alone pc as I have with my HP Pavillion pc.
So for Xmas 2018 I treated myself to a 27” 5k iMac and I couldn’t be happier. It’s a great fit to replace my old 32”screen, plus, there’s a free app that allows me to seamlessly connect to my pc, while using the Apple keyboard and trackpad. So all my pc specific software is still available to me without needing a 2nd monitor for the pc. And actually, one can add further displays to the iMac —- you can even use the iPad screen as an extension to the iMac screen.
.so if you’re thinking about it, I’d strongly recommend the purchase of the iMac 27” 5k


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Patrick Molloy said:

I’m also a long time pc user. I bought wifey a 21.5” iMac 4K a couple of years ago. I was well impressed by the clarity of the display and the relatively small footprint....there no stand alone pc as I have with my HP Pavillion pc.
So for Xmas 2018 I treated myself to a 27” 5k iMac and I couldn’t be happier. It’s a great fit to replace my old 32”screen, plus, there’s a free app that allows me to seamlessly connect to my pc, while using the Apple keyboard and trackpad. So all my pc specific software is still available to me without needing a 2nd monitor for the pc. And actually, one can add further displays to the iMac —- you can even use the iPad screen as an extension to the iMac screen.
.so if you’re thinking about it, I’d strongly recommend the purchase of the iMac 27” 5k


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I very well might replace my PC with an iMac 27 when I am next in the market. Especially if I could keep use of my windows based products. I have a blog that I write that I use Word for and Excel for some documenting things like photo gear and weapons etc. More things to consider.

Danno said:

I very well might replace my PC with an iMac 27 when I am next in the market. Especially if I could keep use of my windows based products. I have a blog that I write that I use Word for and Excel for some documenting things like photo gear and weapons etc. More things to consider.

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You can get MS Office for the Mac, but I’m like you, I’ve got them on the pc.
All I do is click on the icon for the pc, and a window on my Mac opens to a screen that’s a duplicate of my pc, so very easy.


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I switched from PC to Mac years ago, and now own one MacBook Pro and two iMacs (21.5 and 27). The MacBook is for use when I travel or want to work away from my desk, and on tasks not requiring much in the way of video demand. The iMacs are shared by everyone in the family when they're home, but I usually use the 27, with its 5k Retina video for anything to do with photo editing and review. For the extra money, the 27 is, IMHO, the only way to go if you buy an iMac for photography.

One item the author of the article overlooks is the used market for purchase. He discusses how a computer is not going to retain its value after you purchase it, but fails to discuss using that to your advantage. OWC (Macsales.com), for one, sells used and refurbished Mac products, often at considerable discount over new, and I've experienced very good service when dealing from them. If you balk at purchasing a Mac product due to the price, you might keep an eye on their used iMac section (https://eshop.macsales.com/shop/App...01.279435236.1588606498-1841914302.1588606498) for a good deal. Many of their offerings can be customized with RAM or hard drive upgrades at reasonable prices, as well.

WM

\That is a good point @Whiskyman. I still have a pretty new PC but between you and Patrick you make a good case for switching. I have to admit that I kind of came along with PCs when they did not have a hard drive and there was one in the engineering department. Apple is a bit of a different beast.

Danno said:

... I have to admit that I kind of came along with PCs when they did not have a hard drive and there was one in the engineering department.

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I hear you, Danno. My first real computer was an IBM PC, purchased in the early 1980s. It had the upgrade of two double-sided, high-density floppy drives and an extra 64 kB of RAM for a total of 128 kB. No hard drive; they weren't even available at the time. I had speed issues with some of my school assignments on the thing, so I went out and purchased another 64 kB of RAM, for a total of 192 kB, which led to several of my school mates wanting to use my computer for the same assignments. Yeah, I had the hottest desktop computer around for a little while. And I didn't have to wait forever to use it like the ones at college.

That machine was a tank! It was still working over 20 years later. I left it with my parents so my younger brother could use it and then never got it back from them. They finally gave it to a local animal shelter that needed one to run some old software on. Supposedly, it was still working ten years after that, and I'd bet that it still is if it hasn't been exposed to a power surge.

WM

My first pc ... it wasn’t called that back then....was an HP desktop computer running HP Basic and used 2 x 8” floppy 250kb disk drives!! 1976-77


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@Patrick Molloy, I remember seeing the big 8" floppy disks. I do remember the punch cards as well. As I type this response a small tremor went up my back as I remember carrying the boxes with fear of spilling them all over the ground. @Whiskeyman I do remember the tanks as well, with the slightly smaller floppy disks. When I cleaned out my desk I found several old floppy disks in back files that had old engineering routines on them.

It is funny to look back at that stuff now. When we got the first PC with a hard drive in out department I think it had 20 or 40 meg. We never thought we would fill that thing. My watch has more storage than that old PC had and the CRT monitor... no color monitor... Now I am thinking about jumping ship to a PC put together in a guys garage when I need a new one.

I've always been an Apple guy. Teachers used to get great discounts, and that's how they hooked me. My first Mac was a 512K. It had only 512K of RAM. You had to insert a system floppy to start up, then a program floppy for the application you were using. Those were the days! LOL.

There are rumors that the new 2020 crop of iMacs will no longer use conventional hard drives, and will switch completely to SSD, or perhaps fusion drives for the base models. The biggest slow down on my 2013 iMac is certainly the hard drive.

Danno said:

... as I remember carrying the boxes with fear of spilling them all over the ground.

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Danno, I saw that happen a time or two, once that I really remember was just before the deadline to turn an assignment in. I really felt badly for that guy. We learned to use multiple rubber bands to keep sections of the cards together, to speed up debugging and to make sure that the cards weren't ever scrambled.

I also remember when I went to purchase my first PC with a hard drive. It had a 5-MB HDD, but it was upgradable to 10 MB. The salesman asked why I would want to do that because "there's no way you're ever going to fill up a 5 MB hard disk drive." LOL!!!

WM

Woodyg3 said:

There are rumors that the new 2020 crop of iMacs will no longer use conventional hard drives, and will switch completely to SSD, or perhaps fusion drives for the base models. The biggest slow down on my 2013 iMac is certainly the hard drive.

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That doesn't surprise me at all. I've been told that SSDs are going to be cheaper to build than a platter-based one and the consumer expection is that they'll pay more for the SSD's performance increase. So Apple gets more profit if they so choose.

WM

Woodyg3 said:

I've always been an Apple guy. Teachers used to get great discounts, and that's how they hooked me. My first Mac was a 512K. It had only 512K of RAM. You had to insert a system floppy to start up, then a program floppy for the application you were using. Those were the days! LOL.

There are rumors that the new 2020 crop of iMacs will no longer use conventional hard drives, and will switch completely to SSD, or perhaps fusion drives for the base models. The biggest slow down on my 2013 iMac is certainly the hard drive.

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Woody, I just went out looking around after @Whiskeyman mentioned some things and pretty much everything I looked at was SSD. I have a few years left before I need to make the investment. I have a new laptop and tablet, but looking at the iMac models for 2019 surprised me, especially after reading the article about how you could save money upgrading memory and such yourself. The big RAM number really surprised me.

Ive been a Mac user for over 4 years now, my old one got wet and I had to downsize from 15" to 13" and its a learning experience. The old one still works I just have to use a remote keyboard. I was super hesitant to get a Mac, now we are a Mac household. Just got Adobe Lightroom so lets see where this journey takes us