Potential new owner

I've been an Intel/Windows person for the last 15+ years but when I saw the iMac 24" I changed my mind

Is there anything I should be aware of before buying one ie minimum RAM/HD requirements. Reliability etc?

Cheers

David

Welcome to Mac-Forums!

Check out the Switcher Hangout forum on this board. There are some sticky threads at the top. The sticky: Mac-Forums Switchers FAQ and Information thread probably would answer many of your questions. The other stickies would give you another leg up, as well.

But don't hesitate to ask anything that those threads appear to have missed.

Hello and welcome to Mac-Forums!

The 24" iMac is one sweet machine. I don't think you'll be disappointed with your choice. OSX is a fantastic computing experience and the iMac is pure eye candy.

Hard drive specs are purely subjective. If you have a lot of data (ie. movies, photos, projects etc.) you may opt for a larger hard drive. If you're just a general internet, word processing, family photos type of person, the standard size will be plenty.

External drives are a very popular option. I would recommend at least one external drive for Time Machine (new auto-backup function in Leopard).

I ran my iMac with 1 GB of RAM for a while and it ran just fine. I think 2 GB is your best option. It's a good balance between speed and cost effectiveness. You will notice an increase in performance with 2 GB. Programs will load faster and it will be smoother overall.

I would recommend that you buy RAM form a third party. Apple charges way to much for RAM. You can get an additional 1 GB stick for 20 to 30 bucks. It takes maybe 1 minute to install. A monkey could do it. No, it won't void your warranty.

Also to add to the good advice above. Don't throw out your old XP and vista discs if you have them. As they will allow you to use windows on your new imac should you buy it as well as the mac system OS X.

Thanks guys. I am looking forward to it.

I was a little concerned to see a spate of emails in another forum related to display issues but they seemed to have been limited to older iMacs.

I run a lot of specialised software for my astronomical research - only available under windows so I like the idea of being able to run apple and windows stuff on the same machine. BUT, I do rely on Windows VNC to control my observatory PC but see no Apple equivalent (free anyway). Do iMacs have the ability to "remote control" other PC's on a basic network?

Cheers

David

What type of RAM does the iMac use. From the pictures it looks like Laptop RAM.

The imacs use DDR2 SDRAM, in 1GB sticks.

I know with iChat, you can setup a mac to control another mac, but I don't know of an option to control pc's. Although, I imagine you can setup remote desktop options after booting windows on the imac in boot camp.

higginsdj said:

What type of RAM does the iMac use. From the pictures it looks like Laptop RAM.

Click to expand...

Yes, the iMacs use the SO-DIMM laptop RAM.

On your question about controlling other PCs think Remote Desktop Connection.

I can connect to my computer at work from home using either Mac or XP version of Remote Desktop. Connection via VPN and voila instant happiness. I installed Parallels and love this setup. I have connected a second monitor and have XP on the main screen and Mac on the secondary. Yes to the laptop memory requirements - it will come with 1x1gb and add 1x2gb and you will be set.

Ah - so using Parallels I should still be able to use VNC!

RAM costs in Australia are high. I wonder if I can order direct from OWC at 1/2 the cost - even after exchange rates.....