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Archive 2013 · Mac advice please.

  
 
Sunny Sra
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p.4 #1 · p.4 #1 · Mac advice please.


Imagemaster wrote:
Should I interpret your reply to WAYCOOL as a personal attack on him?


You should not butt into other peoples business. Yes, its the internet but you should still exercise proper etiquette..after all you've been around long enough. If the comment is not directed at you, leave it alone and move on.

I know Doug (WAYCOOL) personally..he is waycooler. so if i make a comment at him, its non of your beeswax.

Lets just agree to be cordial on the forums and not get personal over computer stuff.

The ball is now in your court Tony.

p.s. now you see how you took the topic...offtopic.
oh..and it gets personal and snarky when one makes a sarcastic comment and puts a smiley or next to it...like the "did you forget..."

i'm sure you want the last word...so go for it.



Apr 10, 2013 at 01:56 AM
Ian.Dobinson
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p.4 #2 · p.4 #2 · Mac advice please.


Ok moving things on slightly

So I'm comming to the conclusion that if I was to buy a 27 imac then I will likely pay the extra and get a new one . Will still keep my eyes out for a very well speced previous model but have ruled out anything before that .

So now the question is if I am the one specing the machine what should I add to the base .

I know I will add as much ram as I can but I know that as I can do it after purchase much cheaper than thru apple I will do that . The imac comes with 8gig (2x4) and the max in each slot can be 8 gig (giving 32gig) but can I mix ram amounts in the slots ? EG keep the 2x4 and add 2x8 giving 24gig or are my options just 4x4 or dump the original sticks and use 4x8 (don't see any point in dumping the original sticks and just adding 2x8 )

Which version?
The base model uses an i5 2.9 ghz and 512mb video . The next model is £200 more and comes with an i5 3.2ghz and 1gb video . The i7 is another £160 .
Is the really a big difference between i5 and i7? And if I stayed with the i5 would I really be held back by the 512mb video card (not sure I'd see that much difference in the i5's so if I stayed with the i5 it would most likely be on the base model which saves me £360). I don't play games , the main use of the machine for me is using Lightroom (or aperture ) and photoshop . But it will also be used for playing movies etc . (Having played with a base model very quickly it seems to play HD video very well)

Next up is the question of the hard drive .
Having looked online at how to user replace the drive and have decided that while its in warranty that's not an option . So the question is of the hard drive options 1tb, 3tb, 1tb fusion, 3tb fusion (the SSD option is just way too pricey) is the fusion drive worth the cost ? Fusion seems to be a £200 upgrade and the extra 2tb is a £120 upgrade ontop of either the standard drive or the fusion drive . (I pressume the 3tb fusion has no more SSD memeory than the 1tb)


Last question is apple care .
Its £130 for 3 years cover (which is really only 2 as they have to warranty the 1 st year) . Now having worked on a help desk for a company that dealt totally in selling extended warranty for computers on the high street . that was for tiny PC , (now long gone ) and the company I worked for covered the machine for upto 5 years if you took out the (very over priced) cover. My head says these policies are not worth it (I never normally do any extended warranties) , but maybe its worth doing on an imac .
Does anyone know if an apple store (as opposed to online) will cut a deal and throw in apple care if I buy the up speced model ?

Thanks in advance again.

Oh and I relly don't mind any of the 'banter' that has gone on in this thread . We are all allowed to have an opinion (even if as my wife says 'yours is wrong' ) . If nothing else banter like that keeps the thread high up in the pile , so its more likely to be seen and then someone who has something different to offer/add can be more likely to see it

Cheers , on the whole your all good guys (I do reserve judgment on a few FM members but so far none of them have posted )





Apr 10, 2013 at 06:33 AM
WAYCOOL
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p.4 #3 · p.4 #3 · Mac advice please.


Yes you can mix memory sizes.

I'm a get the fastest computer possible kind of guy, but the difference is ghz is not so great, but if you use Lightroom I would get the I7 as it will use all the cores you can give it I5 is good for Photoshop.

SSD stand alone or in a fusion is the way to go. Both the 1 an 3 tb fusion use the same 128gig ssd. Get the 1tb and if you need more storage get a USB3 drive.

Computers tend to fail quickly so I don't buy extended warranties apple care or not. But this a call that can go either way.

Unless the Imac is a jump up in specs I don't see the need to move from your PC/Mackintosh but I don't need to do I. Enjoy your new Imac however you configure it.



Apr 10, 2013 at 10:18 AM
15Bit
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p.4 #4 · p.4 #4 · Mac advice please.


I think it is questionable how much boost Hyperthreading gives for LR. We discussed this in the LR performance thread and i think were undecided. LR also doesn't seem to suck up vast amounts of RAM, so 8 is probably enough (though i went with 16Gb on my last build, just to be sure). What LR does crave is raw horsepower, so give it as many full cores and as many Ghz as you can afford.

As of version 4, LR has no video card acceleration for processing still images (it has some for watching videos though). Phase One have been using graphics card acceleration via OpenCL in Capture One for two versions now though, and Adobe use both OpenCL and OpenGL in Photoshop, so i would be quite surprised if LR5 did not come with some form of graphics card acceleration.

I am generally with you on extended warranties - i never buy them. Applecare might be worth considering though. I don't know how Apple Europe are, but there are a lot of US customers with very positive stories of Applecare. A good "purchase model" here might be to buy the 3 year Applecare to ensure the machine lasts 3 years, then sell it whilst it is still fairly valuable.



Apr 10, 2013 at 10:46 AM
Sunny Sra
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p.4 #5 · p.4 #5 · Mac advice please.


Ian,
definitely go with apple care, it give you that peace of mind when dealing with apple build items. The apple stuff i own (Mac Pro, mbp, mcair, ipod, ipad) 3 of those died within months of the 1yr warranty expiration (all these were bought in late 2011, early 2012). I did have apple care extended and was able to get most of them replaced and or repaired fairly cheap.



Apr 10, 2013 at 11:02 AM
15Bit
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p.4 #6 · p.4 #6 · Mac advice please.


Sunny Sra wrote:
Ian,
definitely go with apple care, it give you that peace of mind when dealing with apple build items. The apple stuff i own (Mac Pro, mbp, mcair, ipod, ipad) 3 of those died within months of the 1yr warranty expiration (all these were bought in late 2011, early 2012). I did have apple care extended and was able to get most of them replaced and or repaired fairly cheap.


3 out of 5? That's not exactly a glowing recommendation to buy Apple hardware....



Apr 10, 2013 at 11:05 AM
Ian.Dobinson
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p.4 #7 · p.4 #7 · Mac advice please.


Sunny Sra wrote:
Ian,
definitely go with apple care, it give you that peace of mind when dealing with apple build items. The apple stuff i own (Mac Pro, mbp, mcair, ipod, ipad) 3 of those died within months of the 1yr warranty expiration (all these were bought in late 2011, early 2012). I did have apple care extended and was able to get most of them replaced and or repaired fairly cheap.



What ones of those died ? . You have 3 computers and 2 consumer entertainment devices (as much as I love my iPad its still a big iPod touch really ) .so if 3 dies was it the 3 computers ?



Apr 10, 2013 at 11:33 AM
DanBrown
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p.4 #8 · p.4 #8 · Mac advice please.


15Bit wrote:
3 out of 5? That's not exactly a glowing recommendation to buy Apple hardware....


This is precisely why aggregate data provide the best measure of hardware reliability. Relying on anecdotal reports of hardware reliability is almost worthless. For example, my own personal experience, being an Apple user since 1978 and a Mac user since 1984, is that I've owned more than 30 Apple computers and only ever had to take one in for repair. Does that mean that someone else will have the same experience? Hardly, but if you look at the surveys done by PCWorld annually (which in 2012 surveyed 45,000 readers), you'll see that Apple has a 9.3/10 score for reliability. This is much better data to use in making buying decisions than relying on hearsay.




Apr 10, 2013 at 11:41 AM
Sunny Sra
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p.4 #9 · p.4 #9 · Mac advice please.


Ian.Dobinson wrote:
What ones of those died ? . You have 3 computers and 2 consumer entertainment devices (as much as I love my iPad its still a big iPod touch really ) .so if 3 dies was it the 3 computers ?


the ipod/ipad died. the mbp had a motherboard issue that was replaced. I can take a laptop (pc) apart to the last piece fix it and put it back together...i did that for several years so i'm very comfortable with it. I'm new to Apple world so i have limited experience with the mbp (replaced the hd with ssd, replaced the dvdrom with hard drive and upgraded memory). Macpro i upgraded video card, memory, hard drives ...its more and more of a pc now.

Apple does make good products..and since you are venturing new into appled..specially with iMAC...not many things are fixable in it

Edited on Apr 10, 2013 at 11:53 AM · View previous versions



Apr 10, 2013 at 11:46 AM
15Bit
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p.4 #10 · p.4 #10 · Mac advice please.


DanBrown wrote:
This is precisely why aggregate data provide the best measure of hardware reliability.



Absolutely. And the fact that he is still recommending Apple reflects well on Applecare too. Personally though, I probably wouldn't buy again from a company if I suffered that sort of fail rate on their products.



Apr 10, 2013 at 11:51 AM
Alan321
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p.4 #11 · p.4 #11 · Mac advice please.


15Bit wrote:
... LR also doesn't seem to suck up vast amounts of RAM, so 8 is probably enough (though i went with 16Gb on my last build, just to be sure). ...


While Lr never seems to use much of my 16GB, if you have Ps running (or sitting) in the background then it will grab a big chunk of RAM and deny it to other programs. That's when having more RAM is beneficial as Lr will still have enough to run.

At present it is often cheap to grab extra RAM - depending on the computer model and the size of the RAM chips - and in that case it is not worth the risk of running short. However, a while ago I could get 8GB for my MBP for about $200 or 16GB for about $1600. I got the 8GB and upgraded to 16GB a year or so later when it was also down to under $200. You could look at that as $200 wasted or $1200 saved but I knew that I would not need the full 16GB in that first year because it would be a while before I got stuck into the likes of Ps. On the other hand, if you leave a RAM purchase for too long then there is a risk that the RAM modules you need will go out of fashion and become somewhat more expensive as production ramps down.

- Alan



Apr 10, 2013 at 11:52 AM
Imagemaster
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p.4 #12 · p.4 #12 · Mac advice please.


DanBrown wrote:
This is precisely why aggregate data provide the best measure of hardware reliability. Relying on anecdotal reports of hardware reliability is almost worthless. For example, my own personal experience, being an Apple user since 1978 and a Mac user since 1984, is that I've owned more than 30 Apple computers and only ever had to take one in for repair. Does that mean that someone else will have the same experience? Hardly, but if you look at the surveys done by PCWorld annually (which in 2012 surveyed 45,000 readers), you'll see that Apple has a 9.3/10 score for reliability. This
...Show more

Ditto.

Bought my first Mac (PowerMac 7100) in 1996 and have never had a hardware problem on any of the later models that I owned. In my case, Apple Care would have been a waste of money.

I find it is a good policy to join a local Mac Users Group. For a small annual fee, you can attend monthly meetings to discuss all Mac-related topics, with presentations from reps from Adobe, Apple, etc. Also, if you have any software problems, you can simply present them online and more than likely one of the Mac experts will solve your problem. Well worth the annual membership fee.

I won't discuss Apple non-computer products, as that is off-topic for this thread.

For those that don't understand Smilies, signifies a happy, humorous comment was made.


means, I'm out of here.



Apr 10, 2013 at 12:09 PM
Alan321
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p.4 #13 · p.4 #13 · Mac advice please.


Ian, regarding an iMac:
- be sure to get one that has thunderbolt for speedy external storage options. That will compensate for the limited internal upgradability.
- get the Applecare because an iMac is relatively hard to fix compared with an average PC.
- at least some iMacs use special Apple-only HDDs that cannot be replaced as cheaply as HDDs in other iMacs. Another point for the thunderbolt expansion.
- some iMacs had an unduly high bottom limit on screen brightness that could only be overcome by manipulating the range of available data values from the graphics card during profiling. Others give more control over the backlight for calibration.
- iMacs have a limitation common to laptops - that the screen must be replaced when the computer is replaced, and vice versa - without the compensating benefit of portability and battery backup.
- I assume that you prefer the glossy screens of the iMacs. I don't think there is non-glossy version.

I'd recommend anything but an iMac simply because I think a photographer would benefit more from a good quality wide gamut screen for photo work - especially for images from a camera that can easily capture far more than sRGB or even aRGB can deal with.

- Alan



Apr 10, 2013 at 12:24 PM
Brit-007
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p.4 #14 · p.4 #14 · Mac advice please.


Where Apple Excels is their support. You do need to invest in Apple Care. I had an iMac a couple of years ago and it was starting to pixelate the screen. I thought it was the video card. The machine was 2.1/2 years old and was still covered, just. I took it in to the Genius Bar and they checked it out. They concurred that it was probably the video.

They swapped it out and contacted me saying that it was still giving issues and they ordered a new card along with a couple of other things that needed replacing. It was approaching a week now and the second card did not resolve the issue. They called me and gave me an option. I could continue with the repair and they would replace the system board or I could go to the store and pick up a brand new machine. I actually got a full credit and put that towards a Mac Pro. They told me to call support and they would provide a refund for the balance of the warranty.

I would suggest you would not get that support from someone like Dell.



Apr 10, 2013 at 02:38 PM
Ian.Dobinson
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p.4 #15 · p.4 #15 · Mac advice please.


Brit-007 wrote:
Where Apple Excels is their support. You do need to invest in Apple Care. I had an iMac a couple of years ago and it was starting to pixelate the screen. I thought it was the video card. The machine was 2.1/2 years old and was still covered, just. I took it in to the Genius Bar and they checked it out. They concurred that it was probably the video.

They swapped it out and contacted me saying that it was still giving issues and they ordered a new card along with a couple of other things that needed replacing. It
...Show more


That does sound like a good deal from apple.
And yes I agree that someone like Dell would not be doing that . Infact the continuing saga of dell support my bro in law is having supports that fact . 6 week old ultra book has now crapped 3 hard drives and they don't seem bothered . Last tech that visited him told him to call a different support number and quote the distance selling law (90 day unfit for purpose) . When he gets it sorted he won't be getting another Dell .



Apr 10, 2013 at 03:04 PM
k7xd
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p.4 #16 · p.4 #16 · Mac advice please.


Ian.Dobinson wrote:
So I'm comming to the conclusion that if I was to buy a 27 imac



You do realize it is a consumer grade 6 bit/low gamut monitor?
Not really suitable for doing color work.




Apr 10, 2013 at 04:45 PM
Ian.Dobinson
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p.4 #17 · p.4 #17 · Mac advice please.


k7xd wrote:
You do realize it is a consumer grade 6 bit/low gamut monitor?
Not really suitable for doing color work.



Same can probably be said of the person sat in front of it . I'm as colour blind as they come



Apr 10, 2013 at 04:59 PM
Imagemaster
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p.4 #18 · p.4 #18 · Mac advice please.


k7xd wrote:
You do realize it is a consumer grade 6 bit/low gamut monitor?
Not really suitable for doing color work.






Apr 10, 2013 at 05:24 PM
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