Longtime PC User looking into IMac- Advice Needed

Hey everyone,

As the title states, I'm a longtime PC user. Using my whole life. I'm seriously considering switching to an IMac. I'm not that worried about too many factors associated with the switch. I was curious to see which configurations to the IMac you guys would get if you were building yours. I've read some places that it doesn't make sense to add RAM through apple and a cheaper alternative would be to install your own. Any other thoughts? What speed processor and HD size would you get?

Also, what program do you use on the Mac to burn DVD's?

You don't need any software to burn DVDs. the ability is built into OS X via Disk Utility. You can however buy a 3rd party app if you really want to.

Personally I don't think you could go wring with the 24" 2.8ghz stock model and then add your own ram to it if you are so inclined. It comes with 2gigs of ram though which is enough for most people. It also comes with a 500gig HD which is also fine for most. You can upgrade that up to a terabyte but keep in mind that any custom configuration you make to it at time of order (and buying it from the online store in general) will only make any support needs take longer then tey would with a stock model. Also if you buy it from a retail store you can just take it in and exchange it if something is wrong with it when you buy it. Can't do that if you buy it online. Have to send it in.

I just switched. I got the 24" 2.8ghz w/ 1gb RAM and 320GB HD. I plan on upgrading the RAM asap. I couldn't be happier with it. In fact it is making me want to get one for the office as well. The burning of CD's and DVD's is very easy and there really is no need for any 3rd party software, imo.

I'm mostly concerned with storage space as I store a lot of digital media. Does it make sense to go with 500GB from the get go? How difficult is it to swap out hard drives on the IMAC?

realhiphop said:

I'm mostly concerned with storage space as I store a lot of digital media. Does it make sense to go with 500GB from the get go? How difficult is it to swap out hard drives on the IMAC?

Click to expand...

Swap out? Get an external hard drive.

Buy some ram from another company.. it's easy as pie to install and you can get 4GB for just under £100 from crucial, if you look around you can get it cheaper. i heard it was about £70 from overclockers.

realhiphop said:

I'm mostly concerned with storage space as I store a lot of digital media. Does it make sense to go with 500GB from the get go? How difficult is it to swap out hard drives on the IMAC?

Click to expand...

Get a decent sized internal and a huge external for all the beefy stuff.. Fill the machine with RAM from a company like Crucial.com. Miles cheaper than Apple's comical prices and no worse necessarily.

The last two years have bought the best iMac's. The newest 24" is a seriously humming machine...

Were there any issues with the 20" IMac? I seem to recall people having problems with that monitor.

I just switched in Nov. I went w/ a stock 24" 2.4 320 hd. That should last me for 3-4 years. Didn't want to spend too much since things at Apple are changing fast.

DVD burner: Toast Titanium 8 *This is a must have* (Don't waste your time w/ the OSX burner)

Get a massive external HD. I use Paragon NTFS for Mac OS X 6.0 so I can read and write files for both Mac and PC.
;D

Regarding the 20" I got the 20' 3 months ago, I love it, no problems on mine, I'm a switcher, and I'll never go back. Van

I'm one year into the "switch" and have never looked back. I have the 20" and absolutely no problems. I still have to do work on a company provided tablet pc when I travel, and dread every minute of it. Fighting with windows errors, restarts, and constant security issues make me appreciate my iMac more than ever. I'll be buying a macbook next!