Will the lowest spec iMAC be enough?

Shaye87

Shaye87

Shaye87

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Will the lowest spec 2-" 2.6ghz iMAC be enough for a web designer who does mostly photoshop all day long?
Also it comes with a keyboard and a mouse? because I see you need to order it as "extra" from the apple store. + Are these good enough or a "separated" keyboard & mouse are needed?
 
Yes, mostly likely it will be good enough for your needs. But it will depend what you're doing in Photoshop I guess.

The Apple keyboard is excellent, but I would recommend getting a different mouse.
 
You don't need to order them as extra at all.
if you look at the spec page when buying you can see it comes with a :
Wired Mighty Mouse (no cost), Wired Keyboard (no cost)

You can change these around as you wish.

The iMac is fine for what you want to do but I'd suggest getting a better mouse.
 
Yep, should cope just fine. I would recommend a RAM upgrade to 4GB though, whether you do it yourself or through apple (yourself preferably and save £40).

Although all reviews seem to suggest you should go for the 24" model, and I would agree. £250 more gets you double the ram, 4" more screen space, a higher resolution, and double the storage.
 
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I cant really tell you if it will run PS ok, but I cant see why not thats of course how hardcore a photoshop user you are, but the only extra you pay for mouse/keyboard is for the wireless option.

C.
 
Well I will upgrade the ram to 4 GB if i will see it's needed, is it easy to do on an iMAC? that should definitely be enough for me.

Can I work with 2 monitors? e.g attach another external monitor to the imac?
 
The problem won't lie in CPU speed or RAM but the display. You can upgrade RAM and add storage afterwards but adding an extra screen is a bigger expense and still doesn't get round the fact that the 24" screen on the iMac is a hell of of lot better.

My advice is get the 24" model. Same advice I give to everybody is get the best Apple you can afford.

You can attach two monitors to an imac but I believe you will need an adapter (you can get one when you buy the iMac they are around £15)
 
Shaye87 said:
Isn't it exactly the same screen but smaller? :s
Click to expand...

Nope. I beleive (and I am not screen expert) that it is the same of the old MacBook (I.e the plastic ones) and the screens on them are not good for any kind of graphics work.

Trust me (and I suggest you go to an Apple store and have a look) that the 24" iMac is more than worth the extra price to entry.
 
Shaye87 said:
Isn't it exactly the same screen but smaller? :s
Click to expand...

Not even in the slightest. The 24" uses a H-IPS panel whereas the 20" Alu uses a TN panel. It used to use an IPS panel too (All white model) untill they realised they could increase the margins a little more. Now they're just nothing short of dire. If you're doing work to any level of colour accuracy you would be really shooting yourself in the foot with the 20". Though you'de be shooting yourself in the foot with either if you don't have a calibration device.

As a web designer I presume you'll only be working with low res files in Photoshop, which the base spec iMac should handle fine. But if you like to really layer up get 4GB of ram (Which i'de do anyway as the whole machine runs so much better with it).
 
Well if that's right I will go for the 24", although I have a spare 22" wide screen I thought I could use it with the "20 imac and then save some...

Are you talking about the new imacs btw? (Came out last month).

Thanks
 
the difference really is night and day, i don't think i've ever seen a better looking screen as the one in the 24" iMac - i'm sure they exist but i've never seen it...

just to buy a 24" apple monitor is about 600 quid i think so goes to show that even with apple premium prices it should be a lot better than decent 200 odd quid standard monitors...
 
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