Looking into getting a new computer (mac)

I'm looking into getting a new computer. Here's the thing, it has to be a mac. I know it seems weird asking here at a gaming forum about buying a mac but this is the only place I can turn for help. My wife is a photographer and has programs like photoshop cs4 that she purchased for mac and we have other programs that are mac only. I'm not thrilled about spending 1600 bucks on something I can't game on.

Anyway, here is my quick question. I have it narrowed down to two set ups and I know practically nothing about mac stuff and want to figure out which one will be worth it. I may be doing some basic video editing but most of the work on it will be running memory intensive programs like Photoshop. We want to make sure it will be able to do a lot of things at once. Her laptop mac tends to freeze up and really bog down when doing an action in one window then trying to do something else at the same time.

I know this isn't the most relevant question but if a few people could please take the time and let me know which of the two posted computers are better. Thank you guys so much!

http://store.apple.com/us/product/FB953LL/A?mco=MTU3ODQ4Mjg
http://store.apple.com/us/product/FB952LL/A?mco=MTU2MzE1ODI

The processor in the cheaper one is an older model, but has a higher clock. The graphics card in the cheaper one is older and has less vram than the one in the more expensive machine, but more than adequate.

It seems like the cheaper one will be better for your needs. Processing power + ram are more important than the graphics card for stuff like photoshop.

Whatever you buy, get the one with the highest processor and RAM. Max out the RAM.
Macs aren't like PCs, you can't swap out the motherboard and upgrade the processor.

Good news though, Steam's coming to the Mac I can't freaking wait. I hope it gets as many games as Steam for PC gets.

Exactly what I wanted to hear. Thanks a ton guys. I wasn't too worried about the graphics card on this thing, not like I'll be able to play MW2 or anything like that on it, but thank you very very much for confirming that.

If no one wants to answer this follow up question that is fine, I may be able to figure it out myself when it comes, but would a certain ram upgrade be better than others? I've seen a lot of different kind of 1 gig pieces for example with wildy different prices. Will one type get me more bang for my buck or will one gig of ram do the same thing provided I'm not doing crazy high end tasks? Thank you again so much!

I'll just throw out there that you can dualboot Windows and Mac on a PC. It's cheaper and can be upgraded down the road. Would allow you to get the best of both worlds and honestly isn't really difficult to do especially with the amount of tutorials out there on the web. But like I said, I'm just throwing that out there.

[quote name='iemcj']Exactly what I wanted to hear. Thanks a ton guys. I wasn't too worried about the graphics card on this thing, not like I'll be able to play MW2 or anything like that on it, but thank you very very much for confirming that.

If no one wants to answer this follow up question that is fine, I may be able to figure it out myself when it comes, but would a certain ram upgrade be better than others? I've seen a lot of different kind of 1 gig pieces for example with wildy different prices. Will one type get me more bang for my buck or will one gig of ram do the same thing provided I'm not doing crazy high end tasks? Thank you again so much![/QUOTE]


Actually, the graphics card in the cheaper model could definitely run MW2, just maybe not at the highest settings. You could probably even do Crysis at a lower resolution (1024x768) and low/medium settings, which still looks great. You'd have to install a windows partition through Boot Camp. If you want to do that, I recommend you do that immediately. If you put the hard drive through a lot of use before installing Windows, it scatters unmovable files everywhere, making it a pain to make a partition. Otherwise, Steam is coming for Mac soon...

As for RAM, you need to match it with the kind it already uses. You can find that out by clicking the Apple on the upper left then "About this Mac" then "More info..." on the pop up, then "Memory" under hardware. Then find that type at Newegg. If you buy it from Apple it'll be a ridiculous price. Not sure what the installation price is for the iMac, but even buying your own then paying the Apple store or Best Buy to install it might be cheaper than buying it from Apple...look into that.

ok first i'd go with the quad, i mean it's a quad, 'nuff said. but the big thing if you ask me is the graphics board, there is no swapping that out, so go big, you'll always regret not getting more umphhh. in general what jh6269 said is correct, there is no point swapping out a motherboard, but not all of today's macs use processors soldered to the motherboard, for example a mac pro you can swap chips but a macbook/pro have soldered in chips. typically swapping out memory and hard disks is the same as a pc, it's sometime even easier.

as for your last question, for macs go to macsales.com, they've been around a long time, they guarantee their memory works in a mac, which is not usually a problem, but sometime it can be. they typically don't charge that more for the memory. and good for you, never pay apple more for memory, they make fine machines but they gouge on memory upgrades. but it looks either way you are getting 4gb, that should probably be ok no matter what you end up doing.

wow, i missed the words "quad-core" in the first link. derp.

For RAM, it's best to upgrade in pairs (at least on PC, I'm pretty sure it's the same on Mac). So if your Mac can have 8 GB total with 4 slots, it's best to get it with 2-2GB RAM chips. However, if you do not have the option to buy 2-2GB (i.e., 2 - 1GB), then buy the least amount of RAM with the machine, then buy the RAM separately. Otherwise, if you ever decide to max out the RAM, you'll end up wasting chips you do not need. For example, if your machine can hold up to 8 GB, but has only 4 slots, and it comes with 2 - 1GB chips, those take up 2 slots. For you to max the RAM out, you'd have to pull out the 2 - 1GB chips and replace with 4 - 2GB chips--you'll have 2 extra 1GB chips that just go to waste (unless you can sell them, or use them in another machine, I suppose). So, if it's not an option to buy 2-2GB chips, buy only 1-1GB chip (or less if possible). Then you only waste 1 chip.

DDR3 RAM I believe is the fastest out right now, and it's expensive, however I could be wrong about that, I bought my Mac a few months ago, and DDR3 was the fastest Apple offered (not into PCs or Macs too much anymore).

Also, keep in mind how fast the bus speed is. Oh, and the motherboard thing, the last I checked, you can't buy new motherboards for Macs. Apple doesn't sell them separately (AFAIK). You may be able to find 3rd party ones that aren't Apple though, or find some from someone selling parts. So it's best to just buy the top of the line now--that way you'll be able to use it longer.

[quote name='iemcj']I'm not thrilled about spending 1600 bucks on something I can't game on.[/QUOTE]

[quote name='Draekon']I'll just throw out there that you can dualboot Windows and Mac on a PC. It's cheaper and can be upgraded down the road. Would allow you to get the best of both worlds and honestly isn't really difficult to do especially with the amount of tutorials out there on the web. But like I said, I'm just throwing that out there.[/QUOTE]

Yup. I play games on my Mac fairly regularly, but aside from Blizzard stuff and one or two other things, all this gaming is done on my Windows partition via Boot Camp. Everything, including Steam, runs as well with this setup as it would on a standard Windows PC.

Also, something that might be helpful for your wife: a dual-boot setup means you can run older versions of Adobe apps as well as the CS4 ones, if she ever needs them (the compatibility situation with older Creative Suite apps and the more recent versions of OSX is... not good). You will need to get the Windows versions separately, though, if you don't already have them.

I'm a graphic designer and went with a Mac Minis and bought a separate monitor (it does have a DVI hookup). I went this way and saved a couple hundred dollars. I got a 19" Viewsonic which I see the 24"(?) was on sale from Macmall (also where I got my computer with several discounts) for about $200. I'm also running Windows XP professional on it, but haven't tried any big games on it, just the small free ones from that free game of the day site. I went with this over the iMac since I could always get a bigger screen or if the monitor died I could replace with out replacing the whole computer. When I ordered I just had them max out the ram on it. If you have the money though get a pro tower, I would have gone that way but $2,000+ was a little too much at the time.

A co-worker picked up one of the iMacs and she never turned it off, and it ended up frying the logical board(?). It was out of warrenty and would have been about $700 to replace

I would definitely look into a Mac Mini before shelling out for the iMac. My wife wanted a Mac so I have the Mac Mini and a PC hooked up to a switch ($20) that allows the monitor/mouse/keyboard to switch between the two with the press of a button.