The 27inch monitor is massive.
16GB ram upgrade.
A week ago I ordered a new iMac to replace my dead PC (virus + dead motherboard). I couldn’t justify spending close to $6k for a fully loaded all in one mac so I opted for a basic configuration. After doing some research I realised that the $1k extra Solid State Drive (SSD) was an expensive option but one I really wanted. 4 times faster than a normal hard drive and dead silent too (no moving parts). I was too late to get Apple to edit my order so I had to refund the mac I initially ordered, get TNT to pick it up (Apple paid for this!) and then order my new mac with SSD.
I did even more research and it turns out that Apple overcharges for their ram upgrades. Apple charges $1400 for 16gb of ram. My research led to many people having problems with cheap aftermarket ram in the 16gb configuration (read up here) so I went for Apple factory ram (Samsung ram) but I bought it from OWC in the USA for $384.70 delivered (via FedEx in 1 week). $1k cheaper. That’s a massive saving huh?! Basically I’m getting my SSD for free. What’s more the Samsung ram I bought is made in Korea, the ram inside my mac was made in China.
A few things:
– Starting up is ridiculously fast. Never seen a computer start up so fast in my entire life. I’m thinking it might slow down once I bog it up with more applications? We’ll see.
– This new Apple mouse is retarded. You go back and forth through web pages by putting 2 fingers on top of the mouse and swiping the surface like you do with an iPhone. I can just imagine the apple guys sitting around the office in a creative meeting about trying to avoid having to put 2 more buttons on a mac mouse. Silly!
– The monitor and resolution is massive. I’m a 2 monitor fan (one for work, one for email) and I think 21inch monitors are nice in terms of being just big enough and having better legibility but I’m pretty sure I’ll get used to this set-up pretty quickly.
– USB ports on the back are a little annoying to get to and when you plug something in or out the entire monitor tilts (too heavy for the hinge on the stand).
– I’ve been told to be sure to eject discs. That means digital cameras, external drives etc. If you don’t do so macs will corrupt shit.
– MSN 8 for mac crashed within 2 minutes of operation.
– This tiny flat keyboard is missing a forward delete button (I love that button!).
– I’m starting to do mac things and sound like a mac person. I cashed in an iTunes voucher Caryn gave me years ago and I bought myself Kanye’s latest album (Track 10, Hell of a Life = awesome) through the iTunes store. iTunes even found album cover art for all the songs I’ve got, nice.
Ditch MSN for Mac and use Adium
Try using an application called ‘Adium’ instead of MSN. It’s much better.
Nice one!
I always thought u were a Mac person though, being a designer and all
16GB!! holy crap! The mouse issue can be fixed via preferences. Turn left and right buttons on. You can add more screens too. You should also eject disks on a PC.
Such a nice machine! Enjoy! 16GB…..lol!
About the eject thing, something happened one day and my camera didn’t eject cleanly and I had to format the card. Fortunately all the photos were already copied off. The next time it happened, I just did a chkdsk on it (it’s fat32) and it was fine.
Mac’s can’t repair fat32 so they’ll just tell you you need to initialize the disk.
You baller.
I hate the glass screen :( How’s the glare for you?
No glare in my office so everything is AOK so far!
The lights & iMacs at work aren’t friendly. You should post up some pics of your workspace at home!