iMac upgrade

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Beardy

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I've got a 2007 iMac with a 2.8 ghz processor and 4Gb Ram....it's really starting to creak now running things like Aperture 3 and certainly running multiple App's users has a significant effect on performance...the dreaded spinning ball. Haven't upgraded to Lion yet because not sure whether to upgrade or replace..will that make a difference?

Has anyone got one of the latest iMac's ? I am thinking about upgrading and am guessing it can handle anything thrown at it in terms of photo editing?

My other option is to upgrade the RAM to 6GB which despite Apple officially saying it can only take 4GB I've read it can take 6GB and there's a firm in the US that sells it with a money back guarantee if not satfisfied. That's $100 though and I wonder how much difference it will make.

Thanks
 
I have a 2010 iMac with a Quad core i5. It handles 28Mb files without any problem. I have it loaded with 8Gb of RAM and I can have several Photoshop files open at any one time without spinning beach ball.

You may like to run System Monitor when you have a lots of apps running and see how much memory is being used. If you have a reasonable amount of free memory available then an upgrade to 6Gb may not be a worthwhile investment.
 
I have the 2011 iMac, the quad core i5 with 8gb of ram also and it runs like an absolute dream - photoshop and aperture are a doddle to use when working with large files.
 
Chappers said:
You may like to run System Monitor when you have a lots of apps running and see how much memory is being used. If you have a reasonable amount of free memory available then an upgrade to 6Gb may not be a worthwhile investment.
Click to expand...

All those Dashboard widgets running use memory too, so check what stuff you really need running all the time.

I'm on a i7 2.8 with 12GB and its super smooth running aperture 3 :love:
 
Thanks for all the feedback!

Have had system monitor open, it's generally the processor that struggles with Apperture 3 but I need to run Parallels for something work relate that is not Mac compatible which is when the memory struggles.

Realistically I've had it for five years so have got very good use out of it. For general use it's absolutely fine...it's the odd application that kills it.

Anyone know when they are due to update iMac's ? Normally every six months or so I think
 
iMacs were updated earlier this year, around March if memory serves
 
Chappers said:
iMacs were updated earlier this year, around March if memory serves
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Pretty good memory! According to this it was May http://buyersguide.macrumors.com/

I might wait on that basis...if nothing else I may be able to get a current one cheaper when they update. Quite surprised 4GB of RAM is still standard on a new machine...would have thought 8GB would be by now!
 
I have the 2010 i7 with 16GB Ram and it flies with whatever I throw a it.

You could probably sell your image on for a nice deposit towards a new one. Never buy Ram from Apple though, crucial are the best place.

Also I bought refurb, and tend to do so with all things Apple. Same guarantee and everything I have bought is in perfect nick with not so much as a scratch, plus it saves you a decent bit of money.

They haven't got any iMac's at the moment, but changes day to day, just worth keeping your eyes open.
 
ding76uk said:
I have the 2010 i7 with 16GB Ram and it flies with whatever I throw a it.

You could probably sell your image on for a nice deposit towards a new one. Never buy Ram from Apple though, crucial are the best place.

Also I bought refurb, and tend to do so with all things Apple. Same guarantee and everything I have bought is in perfect nick with not so much as a scratch, plus it saves you a decent bit of money.

They haven't got any iMac's at the moment, but changes day to day, just worth keeping your eyes open.
Click to expand...


Absolutely exactly the same as me, mid 2010 I7 2.93ghz with 16 gig ram and it flies at everything. Rams also from crucial as it was a great price and would never buy ram from apple.

My machine was also a refurb and in prestine as new condition.
 
I'm using a late 2010 i5 quad core 27"Mac. I've upgraded the ram from 4gig to 12 gig and I may add another 4 gig later, but it's not phased at all by anything I throw at it.

I'm not a gamer, but I have a Mac version of Call Of Duty 4 which it runs very fast at full screen res and with every graphics enhancement enabled.
 
Be careful with upgrading the ram to 6th on your current iMac. I have a late 2006 20" iMac which will physically take 4gb of ram but will only ever use 3gb, the only place to check this is Activity Monitor.
 
I have an early '09 3.06 iMac with 4Gb - I 'think' it deals with Aperture 3 and raw files from my D90 fine. It may be perception or the slight upgrade from yours.

That said, Lion did make things run snappier than SL and I thought well worth the money.
 
Kasalic said:
Be careful with upgrading the ram to 6th on your current iMac. I have a late 2006 20" iMac which will physically take 4gb of ram but will only ever use 3gb, the only place to check this is Activity Monitor.
Click to expand...

Mine is maxing out at near the 4gb sometimes so the memory is definitely an issue.

I might just do a re-install of Snow Leopard and see if that helps.....I noticed when I plugged my iPhone in the other day it took an age to launch iTunes and iPhoto.
 
I have the 2011 i5 27" version with the standard 4gb of RAM.

I don't tend to do a lot of multitasking but it flies with photoshop CS5.5 and lightroom 3.

Andy
 
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