advice for getting first Imac

Hi my current computer is a hp pavilion dv7 laptop and i am leaving windows and switching to Mac. Friday i am going to buy an imac and a ipad 2. im a computer technician.mostly what i do is light music and video editing.so im thinking about getting the 21.5 inch imac with 256 mb of video ram.i would like to know is this model pretty fast or what?

"Fast" is relative. Is it fast compared to a Mac Pro? No. Is it fast compared to a netbook? Yes. In short, it's comparable to a middle of the road desktop. For your stated purposes, it should be more than sufficient.

A rough analogy to cars, if you will - it's not a Ferrari, but it isn't a a Yugo either. Somewhere around an Accord

Thanks, i just dont want to get one and it be really slow. i will more than likely upgrade it to 8 or 16gb of ram and i should be good to go.

If you're going to buy an iPad 2 on Friday, it may be a good idea to get there real early. The last time iPads went on sale at Apple stores they were swamped. This time will be worse seeing how popular they are.

maclover248 said:

Thanks, i just dont want to get one and it be really slow. i will more than likely upgrade it to 8 or 16gb of ram and i should be good to go.

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I'd be shocked if you needed more than 4GB. Very few programs can actually address memory above 4GB. Keep in mind that all of the Macs are premium products, you won't find a Mac that's bogged down or hobbled in some way from the factory.

thats true i will get there a few hours early maybe more.and yeah most people i know that have macs even the lowest cost ones runs without a problem.but i was really thinking of the memory upgrade for more of a future proof kind of thing.

maclover248 said:

thats true i will get there a few hours early maybe more.and yeah most people i know that have macs even the lowest cost ones runs without a problem.but i was really thinking of the memory upgrade for more of a future proof kind of thing.

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Keep in mind that memory is an easy upgrade after the fact and that third party alternatives are usually far cheaper than Apple.

I had an interesting discussion with a guy that I bought a Magic Trackpad from last week. He said that he bought his iPad 1.0 on the first day (release day) last year. He said that he hadn't planned on getting it the first day...but here's what he said happened.

He was at the mall where the Apple Store is located...and saw the long line snaking around waiting for the 5pm release for the iPad. He said he asked the guy first in line how long he was waiting...and the guy said since 5am. So as the story goes...5pm comes, and the doors open. By 5:20pm (just 20 minutes later) everybody in line has gotten their iPad. The guy I'm speaking with said he (at around 5:20pm) just walked up to the counter...got an iPad...and was on his merry way.

I'm betting that just about all Apple Stores will be VERY busy on iPad 2.0 release day. And the story I mentioned above probably won't be typical of many stores. Like "chscag" mentioned...the popularity & visibility of the iPad 1.0...may make the iPad 2 release day more "exciting" for folks wanting to purchase one the 1st day!

- Nick

I'm currently using the previous model of the 21.5 inch and it's awesome nothing else to say

I love my iMac, but it is NOT blazingly fast. My friend who works at the store said his newer one and the brand new ones are not much faster. So for blazing speed you might want to consider one of the towers, or pony up for the top dog quad-core 27" (I saw refurbs are now $400 less which some take as an indication of new models to come). Also 27" seems better for video editing.

My old unit has 2GB or RAM and it can start to run out with a bunch of Safari windows and Excel and iTunes open, so from another thread I'd say you should be at 8GB.

Unlike PCs, whose constantly greedier software obsoletes the machines quickly, Apple software is much more compact. One result is a Mac is "Still usable" for far longer than a PC-six years plus in my case. So don't be penny wise and pound foolish-spend the money for a really good machine.

You know what I'd do in your case? Forget the iPad for now (do you really *really* need one?) and invest the money you'd spend on that in a higher-spec iMac. A larger screen and more video RAM will help no end, particularly in video editing.