Mac Users

Hey, I'm planning on getting a iMac next month and I need some input. I plan on doing a lot of photo editing via photoshop and some iOs programming. The former is my main concern as it will require a lot of power to run efficiently. I planning on picking up the high-end model w/ the following specs:

27-inch: 3.1GHz
3.1GHz Quad-Core Intel Core i5 - (I'm going w/ the 3.4GHz Quad-Core Intel Core i7 upgrade)
2560 x 1440 resolution
4GB (two 2GB) memory - (I'm going w/ the 8GB RAM upgrade. I want 16 GB but I hear it's cheaper to upgrade the memory myself. I'll decide later if I need it.
1TB hard drive
AMD Radeon HD 6970M with 1GB

I really want the 1TB Serial ATA Drive + 256GB Solid State Drive but that $500+ price increase is killing me.

Anyway, I just wanted to get suggestions from the MAC users or PC users who may have some input. Thanks.

P.S. There's slim chance that I'll be doing some video and/or music editing later down the road. The above is my main concern at this time though.

Sounds good I was looking to make a very similar purchase not to long ago but put it on the back burner for now. The 27 inch iMac is a beautiful machine. I think the build you have above should be very good. If you are not familiar with putting in Ram and opening up computers it may be easier to upgrade the ram now. But yes in general ram is cheaper after when bought and installed on your own. If you are going to be doing lots of picts/ photoshop and video stuff you may want to consider a 2TB HD I know 1 TB is a lot but it is always better to have more than you need.

Hey, from my experience doing professional graphic and web design I can tell you right now you want as much RAM as possible from the start. PS is extremely intensive on your RAM especially on bigger images and you will be much happier with more early on.

Yeah, I've watched a few vids on adding RAM to an iMac. There's also some instructions on the Apple support site, I think I can do that w/o error. The 2TB hardrive may be the best way to go. Sucks though b/c that SSD drive w/ a 1TB HD is so tempting, the cost is just crazy. The money I save on not upgrading the RAM w/ Apple doesn't make much of a difference when trying to go for the 1TB HD/256 GB SSD combo, sigh.

I do a ton of pro photo editing, and I use a 2TB external drive w/a 2TB backup contingency.

I shoot in RAW which is as clean and big as you can get with an image. I've shot thousands of photos and have barely cracked 1TB.

Look into a multi-bay external drive enclosure--I usually like higher-end ones like Drobo. But you can get some deals from Newegg.

Most photo, video, and music pros I know recommend external drives for storing your work. If you need to move to another machine in the future, you files can easily come with you.

2 things to consider:

1. Like Atrum said go with more RAM whenever possible.
2. If you can, hold off on your purchase. Word is that Apple will be announcing all new designs for iMac and Macbook pro lines.

Now as far as software...go for photography specific software for easier smoother processing:

Photoshop Lightroom - http://www.adobe.com/products/photoshoplightroom/

Apple's Aperture - http://www.apple.com/aperture/

Both allow you to switch over to regular Photoshop if you need to do something more detailed or specific. However, if you're simply doing photo enhancements and clean up, either of these tools is perfect. As far as which one is better--neither. it all depends on what you use first and get used to. I'm an Aperture guy because that's what I got used to first. But Lightroom is pretty sweet.

Also look into plu-ins from Nik software that work with either of the above photo editing solutions. http://www.niksoftware.com/index/usa/entry.php?