Hi everyone. First thanks for helping me out. Here is the deal. I have a macbook (not a pro) and well I love it but as I am sure you know the thing is slow. I just got the opportunity to get a new mac (hubby is sick of me crying going why why just doit already), but I am unsure what to get. I most likely just use this machine for editing so it is possible that it could be a desktop type unit.

So if you had the free reign to get whatever (within reason) - what would you get? I really love that 30" monitor, but should I get a tower, imac, macbook pro or wait on that one and get a desktop first. I only get one right now and will have to wait about a year to switch out my laptop if needed I would imagine.

Thoughts? Advice? I already went to the mac store and I am just more confused...

Hey Stacy we are going through the same decision right now. I really like the 30" monitor and the MacPro, but wow that is so expensive. So I think we have decided to get the 24" iMac, and maybe get a 5D with the money we save. I think the iMac will be powerful enough for editing and album design, and I think the 24" screen will be big enough. I know how you feel though because that 30" screen is pretty freaking nice. Good luck with your decision, talk to you soon.

I know I know but what if you could get a tower at the imac price...hmmmm

I read once somewhere about the glossy screens being bad for editing - does anyone know about that?

thanks andy you always rock! See you in a couple of weeks buddy!

Hey Stacy!, go to the Mac shop in Boulder to check out the new imac. They are plenty fast and big enough to edit on but...the screen is REALLY glossy! It looks great for slide shows, and movies and all that but it has a ton of glare on it! I have the last version of the 24" before they switched to the glossy screens and I love it! I have it maxed out with 3GB RAM and an internal 500GB drive. It's plenty fast for everything I do...even some video editing.

The other issue with the screen I've heard is that with the glass on the front, it's hard to get an accurate calibration.

All that said, the 24" iMac both last version and the newest versions are plenty big and fast for all your photo editing needs.

I'd say if you get a machine primarily for editing, go big! Don't get a laptop...it's not worth it unless you have big editing machine already.

The Mac PRo's are really nice and super fast now with quad cores and the nice thing with them is they are easier to upgrade so over time, you'll be able to keep them longer than the imac. The imac's (due to their all in one shell) can only be upgraded with RAM by yourself. Anything else has to be ordered right off the bat-if you don't order the 500 GB HD, you can't upgrade later.

I think, given the new imac's screen, I'd go with a Mac Pro and possibly the 23" screen (unless you can afford a 30"-then go for it!) or even a non Apple screen (I know, the horror!) But the Mac Cinema screens are WAYYYYY overdue for an overhaul to their lineup.

I think though, if you wanted the older, non-glare screen 24" iMac, they can still be found for a bit less, just search around the net.

Just my 2 yen..

I would highly advise going with a tower for your primary editing machine, they are much more powerful and expandable than a laptop or iMac.
For a monitor, there are better choices for less money than the 30 inch Cinema Display, IMO. For about $1100 you can get a NEC 26inch LCD monitor that is fully color correctable (even more so than the ACD). Put the difference in more RAM for the computer. I believe the model is LCD2690WUXi --could be wrong, I would have to double check.
For the tower, get one of the new quad cores with 4 slots for hard drives. I REALLY wish my mac pro had 4 slots for internal drives! Save your money on memory and buy after-market, buying it from Apple is like throwing your money in the trash, it is double or more what you pay from anywhere else, same goes for drives.

Thank you so much scott - the calibration is honestly my #1 concern with the iMac - also I mean if I can keep upgrading the mac pro over time it may be a bit better...I WISH they offered the matte screen. What about a macbook pro laptop hooked up to a bigger screen? Would that work?Thank you Colin. That was exactly what I needed to hear. I knew about the ram and HD but not the screen. Can I ask if you were to upgrade anything what would you do? Would you do the graphics card?I upgraded my laptop but it was like putting a turbo booster in a pinto...

Stacy, if I were to get the Mac Pro, I'd start with a basic config, plus wireless + bluetooth (not included) and get a faster graphics card and 1 500GB HD, that's it. Like Colin said, buy aftermarket RAM-it's MUCH cheaper and really easy to upgrade yourself.

Also like Colin said, even though the ACD's look nice, they're almost outdated in terms of specs. They are nice to look at but there are better, (and MUCH cheaper) alternatives out there (for now). I fully expect Apple to upgrade their displays any day now...but I'm not holding my breath. But they are at the end of their life span and are in danger of being surpassed.

The iMac is nice (I have a 24" white G5), but I honestly don't think it's a great editing machine. That's why I'm soon going with either a tower+ACD (upgrade happening anytime soon Apple???) or a MBPro+ACD.

If I could get a tower at the iMac price and then get a less expensive screen, I would consider that. I didn't think much about the upgradeability (is that a word) of the iMac vs. the tower; I will have to take that into consideration.

Check out apple refurb too... they have the previous generation iMacs on there from time to time that you can buy without the glossy screen.

Apple Refurbished Macs

No need for much in the way of upgrades. Photo editing really only takes 3 things: processing power, memory and hard drive space.
Do exactly like J said, get a stripped down quad core then add in hard drives and RAM after-market.
Figure on getting 6GB additional ram and I would put in 4 500MB drives.

Colin - can I ask you where you get your after market hard drives and RAM? I'm looking at getting a mac pro, but was going to buy everything from apple since I'm a computer dummy.

I have the 24" iMac prior to the glossies (didn't know they are all now glossy, bummer). I also have the MBP. Honestly, because of my life as a homeschool mom who's always on the go with my children's activities, if I were to do it all over I would just buy the MBP and hook it up to a bigger screen when at home because I can accomplish much while waiting. Oh the flexibility of a laptop for someone like me is a God send. Also working on 2 computers gets a little confusing. I've thought of using an external drive so I can work from either computer but since I use LR I just haven't found a way to make this seemless in my workflow.

I would not advise getting a glossy screen. For me it gives the images a false "pop" confusing the eye when editing. Just my take. HTH

Karen, DON'T DO THIS!!! There are tons of places to buy RAM online...some of my favourites are:
Crucial: http://www.crucial.com/promo/index.aspx?pr...cfrsfagodriodew
Edge: http://www.edgetechcorp.com/memory/apple-memory.asp

And for just about anything computer-wise for great deals..as well as camera mem, printers, electronics in general
Newegg http://www.newegg.com/

Just do a search on the web for what you're looking for and you can usually find it sooo much cheaper than what Apple will offer. Like Colin said, buying memory from Apple is like throwing away money. They are ALWAYS the highest price for it..sometimes by $100.

Just poke around on the net and you'll find great deals to fill your MacPro. I'm really thinking of getting one one of these days...soon...just wish the Cinema screen line would be updated, I wouldn't waste my money on them now as they are overpriced compared to other comparable screens out there.

Thanks so much - that's a big help.

Just saw this, go with J's places, you can't go wrong with them.
And then enjoy the SPEED!!!

So I think you guys have persuaded me away from iMac and towards buying the MacPro. I like the idea of having more flexibility to upgrade; and I think the extra speed will make a huge difference in the long run.

What are your opinions of going with one quad core or two quad cores? Will there be a noticeable difference in processing power?

Thanks for everyone's input. Stacy have you decided what you're going to do?

FWIW, I have the 24" iMac now, and it's pretty quick, but not a speed demon with Lightroom and 5D RAW files. The screen is gorgeous, as is the form factor.

That said, I'll be selling it soon to get a Mac Pro. Now that the 8-cores are standard, they're a good deal for that much speed (and they make the 4-cores even more affordable).

in my opinion, you'll be fine with the quad core. i currently run a powermac G5 quad 2.5ghz, which is basically a mac pro without intel processors... its the version before.

when you get a mac pro, there are a few things i'd like to give you tips on. as colin said, you'll have slots for four hard drives on even that quad core machine, but DON'T fill them with drives that you buy from apple. simply pick which drive you want in bay 1 (500gb or so is pretty decent and will last you a longgg time) then buy other drives to fill the bays from 3rd party stores like newegg or transintl.com. Hard drives are easy to install, and as long as you're careful, it's not a big deal. takes about 3 minutes on the mac pro, and maybe another 3 minutes to format the drives to apple's file system.

secondly, buy RAM from transintl.com. configure your mac pro with whatever the LOWEST amount of ram is possible... i think you can get that quad core with 1 or 2 gigs. the rest is CHEAP from transintl.com and easy to install yourself. their RAM is covered by a lifetime warranty, and it's made to match the RAM in each system, so you have no worries of messing anything up with 3rd party RAM. i decked my G5 out with 5 gigs from transintl.com and it's blazing fast.

As far as graphics cards go, just go with the one that's set by default. all of the mac pros now have cards that support two dual-link DVI connections, meaning you can run up to two 30" apple displays (or 3rd party displays if you wanted to). 256mb is plenty if you aren't doing a heavy load of HD video editing etc, which i doubt you are, so just stick with the default.

having two optical drives is extremely desirable to me, and if i were you, i'd get that second drive for the extra 90 bucks.

hmm other than that, just make sure and get applecare, and you're set. if you're familiar with apple's educational discounts, use that and save yourself $$$$$ (you can get the mac pro quad with default configuration + 2 drives & applecare for around $2500 or so)

if you're going to buy apple displays and you know how to use the educational discount, you'll see that they're considerably less, and i'd personally go for two 23" cinema displays if you've got the cash. 1 30" wouldn't hurt either but i ran my system with one 23" for a long time and it was plenty. i now use a cheapo 17" dell monitor as a second uncalibrated monitor for throwing programs out of the way.

whew! you're probably sick of me now, but just thought i might step in and help ya out. you're going to love that mac pro. please feel free to hit me with any questions you might have.

happy valentines day!

Trevor thanks for all the information, I really appreciate it. And thanks everyone else for all your input. (Sorry to steal the thread Stacy.)

What are the educational discounts you are talking about Trevor? It sounds like a great way to save some money.

well ironically anyone can use them. you can access educational pricing by going to store.apple.com, going to the left side toolbar and clicking on "education store." from there, put in the name of a city and state of a community college perhaps in your area, or even the college you went to. select the school and enter the educational store from there. apple does not verify your academic status through a school online, they only require academic verification if you do this in person in a store.

let me know if you have any questions. it certainly is a great way to save some money.

Thanks Trevor for the information. What about monitors? Colin you mentioned an NEC monitor, what are some other good brands to look at?