pablogrollan Posted July 30, 2014 Share Posted July 30, 2014 The iMac monitor is beautiful. And the iMac is incidentally a work of art in itself. It is regrettable that Apple is bent on preventing user upgrades, but adding RAM to the current 27" takes just seconds, no tools required. The iMac monitor is beautiful, for granted. But it is still the same LG manufactured IPS panel that you can find under many brands, some expensive (HP, Dell) and some cheap (Hazro). Like the rest of the iMac and MacPro it is a standard, not very powerful generic PC in a beautiful enclosure, and even that remarkable design has its cons (upgradeability/expandability). I cannot bring myself to work on a PC/Windows machine again and enjoy the simplicity and finesse of OSX systems. It's obvious you have not been in touch with your PC side lately. I use both and some Apple solutions work better (email management) and some are far superior on PC (sorry but Finder sucks!!). If you must go the Mac way -which I cannot understand nowadays since the reliability gap between Mac and PC is nonexistent both in HW and SW- Hackintosh is probably the best solution config-wise, and it'll save you Apple's markup. Unfortunately, Apple's standard configurations never had the editor in mind: you either get a fantastic display with a poor GPU, or a super fast SSD with insuficient storage capacity for editing or a decent CPU with hardly any RAM. That's why a hackintosh is the closest to what you would configure should you choose to build a tailored PC. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Quirky Posted July 30, 2014 Share Posted July 30, 2014 I may just go for either the 21.5" or 27" iMac. I am not sure if I should get the 27" so I can upgrade the ram and HD myself through watching videos or just max out a 21.5". Any input on the most cost efficient way to get a decent mac system configured would be highly appreciated! I haven't heard of an iMac where you cannot change RAM yourself. A one may exist, and I may have not noticed it, but the general rule of thumb is that you can change at least RAM yourself within minutes, and in some cases HDD, too. The MacBook Air is of course an exception, and in some cases, like with the latest mini, changing the HDD is a bit tricky. Doable, but tricky. My suggestion would be just to buy a stock iMac which you can afford with some change, then buy a matching pair of 3rd party RAM. Not that hard to find. Just make sure you always use a matching pair of RAM modules, if both banks are in use. That will save you enough money to buy an external HDD. Or, go and buy a fast, and the biggest one you can afford. You know, for your FCPX projects, photos and stuff. That way the size of the internal HDD of the iMac is not that critical. That's about it. My knowledge on such topics are limited and was curious if anyone had suggestions, even for prebuilt machines or distributors. If I was the owner of this forum, I would make sure not to touch that particular topic. Not that there's anything wrong in asking or discussing the topic, but don't be surprised if the practical suggestions won't come from the forum owners or even moderators. Instructing where and how to abuse a software license might be on the hazy side of legally and morally smart things to do. Sure it's harmless to the normal punters, but for forum supervisors it's another matter. Potentially, at least. I'd say a hackintosh may be an ego booster or a political statement of a sort for some computer nerds, but for any practical use and for work it wouldn't be worth the hassle. Just get the real thing, new or used, and then max out the memory yourself. jonpais 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jasonmillard81 Posted July 30, 2014 Author Share Posted July 30, 2014 Quirky I agree...I also liked the suggestion and rationale why a Hackintosh is a great idea in previous posts...but for me I think stock iMac 27" it is with upgradeable RAM (32gb) However...where I am stuck is the actual storage workflow. There are 3 basic variables: 1. Intern HDD for OS and software 2. External Raid 0 for editing 3. External HDD for backup I am not sure if internal HDD is that important compared to the external Raid 0? For example...if I kept the stock 1tb 7200rpm SATA internal but got a GRaid usb 3 (4TB) for editing/importing/exporting HD video and pictures then put the final product on my External HDD for backup and deleted the raw riles etc on the Raid 0 is that a good solution? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Quirky Posted July 30, 2014 Share Posted July 30, 2014 Quirky I agree...I also liked the suggestion and rationale why a Hackintosh is a great idea in previous posts...but for me I think stock iMac 27" it is with upgradeable RAM (32gb) However...where I am stuck is the actual storage workflow. There are 3 basic variables: 1. Intern HDD for OS and software 2. External Raid 0 for editing 3. External HDD for backup I am not sure if internal HDD is that important compared to the external Raid 0? For example...if I kept the stock 1tb 7200rpm SATA internal but got a GRaid usb 3 (4TB) for editing/importing/exporting HD video and pictures then put the final product on my External HDD for backup and deleted the raw riles etc on the Raid 0 is that a good solution? Hard to say for anyone else. As for those variables, my version could be something like this: 1. Inernal HDD for OS and software 2. External HDD for editing 3. External Raid 0 for backup I know some people are editing straight on Raid 0 systeems, but since I haven't got one right now I have no comment on that. Suppose it's a matter of taste. My current system is pretty simple. I've got a couple of external hard drives. One that has the main FCPX projects and events folder and a bunch of other important stuff, and a HDD toaster (two, actually) where I can swap several drives, whenever necessary. One of those has the raw clips and final version when it's done. Or backups. Whenever the drive gets full I either delete unnecessary stuff or get another drive and start filling it. I'm not saying that's particularly good or fast a system, but it's simple and rather inexpensive. There's a separate Time Machine disk for any stuff on the internal HDD, too, of course, but that's another story. I think it boils down to your personal preferences, your preferred workflow and the thickness of your wallet. Suppose there's no wrong way to do it, as long as it works for you. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sudopera Posted July 30, 2014 Share Posted July 30, 2014 Affordable and good RAM for iMac, Macbook Pro etc. OWC - http://eshop.macsales.com/shop/apple/memory/ - I have it and it`s great in my mid 2011 21.5 iMac and they tested and verified that you can put 32GB(4x8) no matter that Apple says 16GB CRUCIAL - http://uk.crucial.com/gbr/en OWC also has external thunderbolt raid storage with good prices: http://eshop.macsales.com/shop/Thunderbolt/ Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sunyata Posted July 30, 2014 Share Posted July 30, 2014 Once you go Linux, you won't go back. That's because you're too busy trying to write configuration scripts to see your monitor so that you can reboot a different operating system. But I do everything, minus the occasional Adobe job - in which case my life took a wrong turn - in Linux. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
leeys Posted July 31, 2014 Share Posted July 31, 2014 I'm not a computer expert, but I don't think CPUs today are the bottleneck in editing. It's more prudent to invest in extra RAM and storage. With the proper drive connected to the thunderbolt 1 port, you can get read and write speeds of over 800MB/s. The iMac monitor is beautiful. And the iMac is incidentally a work of art in itself. It is regrettable that Apple is bent on preventing user upgrades, but adding RAM to the current 27" takes just seconds, no tools required. Well, more CPU speed never hurt, if you ask me. With 4K workflows it's definitely good to have more, along with faster GPUs, the latter of which is underpowered in comparison in an iMac. The only problem is not having Thunderbolt connectivity, which I am thinking about. If you're just using it for backups, a USB 3.0 drive is plenty fast. It's obvious you have not been in touch with your PC side lately. I use both and some Apple solutions work better (email management) and some are far superior on PC (sorry but Finder sucks!!). If you must go the Mac way -which I cannot understand nowadays since the reliability gap between Mac and PC is nonexistent both in HW and SW- Hackintosh is probably the best solution config-wise, and it'll save you Apple's markup. I hate hate hate hate using any OS from Apple. It always does my head in; I'm guessing there will be people who are on the opposite end. Once you go Linux, you won't go back. That's because you're too busy trying to write configuration scripts to see your monitor so that you can reboot a different operating system. But I do everything, minus the occasional Adobe job - in which case my life took a wrong turn - in Linux. There's always that one Linux guy... :P sunyata 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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