Switching: Advice required on hardware and software?

Hi everyone,

I am a photography and film student and am also looking to record music which I can make into a demo CD.

I intend to change to a Mac because I think this would probably be the best system for this type of use?

I will be using it for:

Photo editing
Video production
Music Production
Website creation and design
Flash animation development
Making podcasts

and then general word processing, web surfing etc and I wont be gaming.

So could I have reccomendations on Specs ? should I get an iMac or Mac pro (ideally I would like an iMac for size and cost) ? and which software would be good for the above uses ?

Thank you

An iMac would work. Not as well as a Mac Pro, of course, but it will work fine. I'd recommend a 2.4 or 2.8 GHz processor and max the ram out to 4GB.

iMac should be your choice, 24' no doubt (i have one and it was a smart choice) at least 2.4 Ghz processor, and ram 2 - 4 gb (i have 2, but don't do video editing)

as for the apps: If you have money

Aperture (Apple Product)for photoediting or,
Lightroom, although i prefer Aperture.

Final Cut Express (or pro) (Apple Product) for film editing or,
After Effects.

GarageBand is included with the hardware (not the os) and should do fine, but theres always,
Logic Studio Express/Pro

Dreamweaver is probably the answer to Web dev. but then theres always Coda

Flash for Flash... duh lol

and again garageband for podcasts.

word processing:
iWork, or Office '08 (go with iWork), or NeoOffice (free)

Go for the 2.8. If you are going to do video, you will want all the "umphhh" you can get.

As mentioned above id go with the 24 inch iMac...at least 2.4 ghz, but whatever you do dont buy your ram directly from apple (They are waaaaaaaay to expensive), buy it from crucial or newegg and install it yourself, you will save tons of money

MrJoeaverage said:

I intend to change to a Mac because I think this would probably be the best system for this type of use?

I will be using it for:

Photo editing
Video production
Music Production
Website creation and design
Flash animation development
Making podcasts

and then general word processing, web surfing etc and I wont be gaming.

So could I have reccomendations on Specs ? should I get an iMac or Mac pro (ideally I would like an iMac for size and cost) ? and which software would be good for the above uses ?

Click to expand...

Speaking as a design professional myself, if you are serious about doing all of what you list, the Mac Pro would be the better choice.
iMacs are fine computers, but that sort of workload would wear thin on them.
They are consumer level machines after all.
Plus, you would likely outgrow it quickly. The Mac Pro has the ability to grow with you and has far more expansion capabilities than a consumer-level machine like the iMac would... not to mention the added bonus of dual-processors... which come in very handy with audio/video rendering.

To paraphrase another poster, you will need all the "umphhh" you can get. Don't skimp on things now by getting the iMac when your professional needs seem to outweigh it.