Your thoughts on the new iMac 2.8GHz Quad-Core Intel Core i7 - PrePress Work?

[Zander]

Hi all, The company I work for is going to upgrade us and I wanted to get your input on the new iMac 2.8GHz Quad-Core Intel Core i7.

we use all the Adobe programs, and we also use Heidelberg software, I wanted to hear from someone that is currently using this version of the iMac and get your opinions on it?

Is is fast enough to do what we do? Have you experienced any problems or anything you don't like about the imac and using it for PrePress work? We do a lot of setting up files, printing to proffers, ripping files, Step and Repeat etc...

How does it handle screen refresh with drop shadows, Transparencies, etc?

 

[Jackie]

iMac

iMac

I've got a iMac 2.8 GHz with the old Intel Core 2 Duo with a modest 4 gigs of RAM, we run Prinergy Connect, Preps and all the usual Adobe products and have no problems what so ever. I imagine your new and improved Mac will fly.

J

 

[kslight]

My personal opinion would be to get a higher clocked dual core versus a slower clocked quad core...how many apps are really effectively capable of making good use of four cores today? If your only Mac option were the iMac, I would advise towards the fastest dual core and use the money saved versus a quad core to upgrade the memory, make sure it has a dedicated graphics processor (don't get one with "shared" memory), and as large of a screen as you can budget.

However the biggest problem with the iMac is that you can't really do much else to upgrade it in the future...can't replace processor/et cetera...not sure how long you expect the machine to last before you will need to replace it, but something to consider. And if you have any problems with failing components its not like you can go to the computer store and buy a replacement part and fix it yourself, your whole machine will have to be brought in to be repaired.

IMHO it might be a better buy to find an Apple Refurbished Mac Pro...for a little more money you get more power, longer expected lifespan, easy expandability...

 

[Zander]

Hey

Hey

Yea, I knew that they were not upgradable in the future.. I was wondering about the app speeds, like can you run all the Adobe apps at once with no problems? Stuff like that...

From the Benchmarks I have seen the i7 beat the Mac Pro by about 15 points...

This is the one I am looking at

iMac 27-inch
2.8GHz Quad-Core Intel Core i7
8GB 1066MHz DDR3 SDRAM
1TB Serial ATA Drive

 

[mattbeals]

They work great as a workstation. They've got video out too if you need to hook up an external monitor. I'd suggest you get at least 8GB of RAM and a 7,200 RPM or 10k RPM drive (if available). That's about all you can do to ensure a good long useful lifespan.

 

[Zander]

Cool, sounds good, I will wait a few and see if anyone else posts with some good or bad feedback..

Thanks for the replies!

 

[kaiserwilhelm]

We bought a 24 inch back two years ago...so, my info is a little outdated. We do a lot in Parallels and go back and forth constantly. We had 3 gig and the biggest, fastest made exactly two years ago.....it did not work.
We bought towers and never looked back. It was not even close. We have 8 gig in our towers.
We "donated" our Imacs to the art dept btw.
I was the one who wanted the Imacs and I found that they just did not have the oomph that I needed.
Just my outdated two cents worth.

 

[Stephen Marsh]

The glossy monitors in many new iMacs and Macbooks are receiving many negative reviews with regards to reflection, eye strain and other useability issues - not sure about ICC profiling.

There is one U.S. based company that will change out the glass for matt glass and put in a new bezel and make the whole hack look like a factory job...pretty much what Apple should have done in the first place.

EDIT: Just search around the common Mac related forums for glossy display issues...


Stephen Marsh

 

[rich apollo]

We have older Intel Core 2 Duo iMacs for PrePress. Would rather have towers, but this is the department I inherited. The iMacs have done okay, and I'm a guy who keeps a gazillion apps open all the time.

The newer iMacs with greater RAM capacity should do well. Isn't the system bus speed slower on the iMacs, though?

Guess it really depends on the kind of editing you do. At times, Acrobat can really bog our systems down. If you're serious about color editing, then you probably won't be happy with the monitor. One of the guys in another department has one of the aluminum iMacs with the glossy display - that can be a real irritant. If you're just pushing PDFs into imposition templates, then they should be fine.

The comment made earlier about the ability to maintain and/or upgrade is true. Forget about working on these things yourself - and I'm someone who has long done his own work replacing components, et cetera.

 

[geozinger]

We bought a 24 inch back two years ago...so, my info is a little outdated. We do a lot in Parallels and go back and forth constantly. We had 3 gig and the biggest, fastest made exactly two years ago.....it did not work.
We bought towers and never looked back. It was not even close. We have 8 gig in our towers.
We "donated" our Imacs to the art dept btw.
I was the one who wanted the Imacs and I found that they just did not have the oomph that I needed.
Just my outdated two cents worth.

I'm following this discussion as our company is somewhere in the window of time to replace existing tower G4's and G5's, and I was interested in the iMacs also. I'm in the prepress department of a mid-sized printer, we'd mostly be working with the Adobe Creative Suite, Quark and Rampage RIP stuff, not a whole lot of creative or other funky-ness.
What kind of work are you doing that was bogging down the iMacs?

TIA,
George

 

[Zander]

Thanks

Thanks

The glossy monitors in many new iMacs and Macbooks are receiving many negative reviews with regards to reflection, eye strain and other useability issues - not sure about ICC profiling.

There is one U.S. based company that will change out the glass for matt glass and put in a new bezel and make the whole hack look like a factory job...pretty much what Apple should have done in the first place.

EDIT: Just search around the common Mac related forums for glossy display issues...


Stephen Marsh

Hey, thanks for posting replies! Do you happen to know the name of that company that will switch them out?

Now that I have read these replies and looked at some issues with the glossy monitors, I think I will tell them to hold off or get the MacPros..

 

[Stephen Marsh]

I can't find the link for the company (I am sure that I bookmarked it), however here is the do it yourself hack -

http://www.fireandknowledge.org/arc...y-to-make-your-glossy-imac-screen-glare-free/

Reduce the high gloss on an iMac screen | PRODIG photography news

Anti-glare film over a glossy screen does not seem to be the way to go.


Stephen Marsh

 

[kaiserwilhelm]

We do a lot back and forth in parallels. I would give XP a gig of ram and the mac 2 gig. Beyond slowness, it was a craziness of crashes, strange font issues, etc.
I know my way around fonts in my sleep so it was not something we were doing - proved by the fact that the instant we went to the towers it all went away.
I think that some of it might have been in my head to a degree. I KNEW that this was it. Not one more ounce of oomph if I needed. The tower I can throw another 8 gig of ram into it if I want.
Price difference is just not that much. Get a refurbished tower from Mac. I have bought nothing but refurbished for the last decade and have not had one issue with Apple. They have the same warranty. Also, you can still buy the apple support package within the first 364 days for the same price.
Why wouldn't you save 15 percent?

 

[prepressguru]

For all the reasons posted here, is why Apple needs a Mid tower Mac. The Mac pros are great but way more pricey and to much expansion then needed. But as usual Apple knows best.....

 

[Stephen Marsh]

For all the reasons posted here, is why Apple needs a Mid tower Mac. The Mac pros are great but way more pricey and to much expansion then needed. But as usual Apple knows best.....

Apple do know best for their bottom line...they know that for many, the iMac would compete with the more expensive tower - which is probably another reason why there is no matt screen on the new iMacs, in order to force more tower sales.

Stephen Marsh

 

[rich apollo]

What kind of work are you doing that was bogging down the iMacs?

Doing PDF editing. Type edits, adjusting images, versioning, cropping, extracting pages, placing elements, replacing elements. A lot depends on how complex the PDFs are. I've seen speed improvements since upgrading to Leopard. Haven't played with Snow Leopard, yet.

 

[Zander]

Thanks, I think we will go with the MacPro Towers (I hope)!

 

[geozinger]

Hi Rich,

Thanks for your response. So this was taking place on OS 10.4.x? I know on my own machine at home (G5 iMac with Leopard) that moving to Leopard was an improvement, but of course, I'm not doing work-level editing there. It seems that many people have gone down this path, but kaiserwilhem brings up a good point about refurb Mac towers. We're not quite ready to pull the trigger on this expenditure, so I have plenty of time to research the pros and cons.

TIA
George

 

[rich apollo]

No, I've got my station running 10.5.8, now. I was doing some text edits on some PDFs yesterday and the machine was chugging. Acrobat is just calculation intensive. I can't say, with any certainty, that a tower would help. But given the opportunity, I'd stuff that thing with RAM and give it a try. The new iMacs, can hold 8GB of RAM. They should be sufficient. The towers will always be more expandable, though.

 

[gumbylives]

Imac thoughts

Imac thoughts

We have recently got a 2.93 Intel Core 2 Duo 4 gig of ram IMac. It has been great with all CS4, Dynastrip apps. The only thing I should tell you is you have to calibrate your monitor with something like an EyeOne as you cannot adjust the brightness to a workable level without special software (I have tried).
The new slender keyboard is a plus as well. I love it.
Good luck
Gumby