I've decided to buy an iMac...

I've decided to jump on the apple band wagon and purchase an iMac.

I'm planning on ordering the 27-inch quad core i5 but I'm wondering whether it's worth upgrading the processor or increasing the RAM - does anyone use FCS 3 and if so, would it be better to increase the RAM to 8GB+ to run more smoothly.. or does the 4GB RAM basic run fine with FCP 7 and the like?

Thanks in advance.

James

If you do decide to upgrade the RAM or not, do it yourself, do not pay Apple for that. You can grab the 4G from OWC for around $120 and the installation only takes a moment.

If, however, you wish to upgrade to the i7, you will have to do that through Apple and conventional wisdom says always buy the MOST power you can afford. If you can swing the extra $200 to go from the i5 to i7, then definitely do it..

Regards

It's up to you if you want to upgrade the processor. More speed is more speed...but it always costs extra bucks. The faster processor may be better for resale if & when you decide to sell it in the future.

As far as the ram. Get the iMac with 4 gig of ram, use it for a while, and see if the performance meets your needs. If you then decide you need 8 gig, upgrade the ram yourself. Apple charges wayyy too much for ram...and doing the upgrade yourself is easy.

Good luck,

- Nick

Cheers fellas, thanks for the quick replies.

James