To iMac or not to iMac?

[jasevk]

Hey all, I've been using my wife's macbook and I think I'm converted, anyway it's time to update the pc and I was wondering if there's any reason to veer away from an iMac? I'm assuming the monitor can be calibrated with the printer?

[DAdeGroot]

Hey all, I've been using my wife's macbook and I think I'm converted, anyway it's time to update the pc and I was wondering if there's any reason to veer away from an iMac? I'm assuming the monitor can be calibrated with the printer?

No real reason not to do it. They're a well built machine and work as expected.

[jev]

I'm not sure about the new series, but the smaller old one (20" was it?) was not very good for photography - it suffered from colour reproduction issues. The bigger one (24") was okay. I guess this was improved in the new series, but make sure you check! Other than that, it's a great machine to work with. I calibrated mine using a colormunki, used the same for the printer and they are a perfect match.

[MarkW]

Instead of an iMac, why not a MacBook or MacBook Pro. Add in a Cinema Screen and BT keyboard and mouse and its a great bit of kit. It what I use.

[Analog6]

I love my 24" iMac and the calibration stays set really well. I first did it about 2 months ago and have checked it fortnightly and it has not needed recalibration yet. I use Spyder 3 Pro.

[Calxoddity]

Another vote for the iMac - mine's a 24" as well. It's a pleasure to work with. My laptop is work provided, so portability is not a consideration.

Just make sure you plan your migration - identify all data and apps and confirm whether there's a conversion required prior to migrating. For each existing app you use, identify the functional equivalent on the mac - this will prevent tears later.

Regards,
Calx

[Raven]

I love my iMac! I love how it works and I love it's speed and it's super 27" screen. I've had calibration issues but I think that's more an ambient light issue and I'm working on resolving that.

Just make sure you plan your migration - identify all data and apps and confirm whether there's a conversion required prior to migrating. For each existing app you use, identify the functional equivalent on the mac - this will prevent tears later.

Good tip!

My tip is to ask for a package deal with applecare and office mac. You'll only get the trial versions of microsoft office which I believe is the same for many PC's anyway. I saved about $300 all up

[peterking]

iMac! iMac! iMac!
Got my 27in two months ago and love it. Still have the PC here but haven't plugged it in since the iMac moved in, let alone fired it up.
Need to get a Spyder or something to check the calibration although there is a calibration utility built in. Only con I have about it is "SH*T IT'S BIG!!!"

[Analog6]

iMac! iMac! iMac!
Got my 27in two months ago and love it. Still have the PC here but haven't plugged it in since the iMac moved in, let alone fired it up.
Need to get a Spyder or something to check the calibration although there is a calibration utility built in. Only con I have about it is "SH*T IT'S BIG!!!"

Yeah, they're big all right! Peter, your calibration won't be far off, it made very little adjustment to mine. I'm attaching a grey scale gif, if you can see here all 20 levels of grey clearly separated, your monitor is calibrated correctly!

[jev]

if you can see here all 20 levels of grey clearly separated, your monitor is calibrated correctly!

Not really. The grayscale of course is no replacement for calibration, it just says you will be able to see differences in black and white. But that's no guarantee of colour accuracy, overall brightness and gamma for example.

Having said that, I found the screen of the iMAC too bright overall but other than that the colour reproduction was quite good from the factory.

[Analog6]

I've found if the greys are good, the calibration is good too. Mine was good straight up too, and I bought it used (11 months old) and the previous owner had not calibrated, so Apple have obviously got it fairly right.

your comment on brightness is interesting as I've had some comments my shots are too dark, I'll have to try to see some on another screen. They look OK on my Dell PC at work, though.

[enigma82]

I had an iMac and loved the way it performed - I used it for audio recording and it performed almost perfectly. It's been a while since I've had it, but make sure you have the apple care plan - I think that's what it's called. My network card was fried, I sent it off for repair and was told it would be a $1400 part. Don't think I had apple care at the time - so that's just a tip, make sure you're covered for repairs.

[jasevk]

Thanks all.... I went and got one today! Loving it.... How do I go about calibrating it to my printer?

[peterking]

I went looking for the advice I found when I started to do the same thing and this is the best link I can find.
http://forums.whirlpool.net.au/forum...fm/592941.html
Hope it helps.

[Calxoddity]

If you want to spend some money and get a spot-on (or near as dammit) screen to printer match, you could get a Colormunki Photo, but they're around $600. (there are cheaper good (Spyder, Eye 1 Display 2 etc) calibration units, but they focus on calibrating the screen. The Colormunki does screen and printer)

The el-cheapo way of doing it is to get yourself a printer evaluation photo and tweaking your screen settings until the on-screen look matches the printed output. This approach assumes you have good colour vision!

The first thing to do with your iMac is to reduce the default brightness, as they're too bright out of the box. The actual calibration out of the box is usually pretty good, so start with comparing your printed output to screen, then reduce brightness, then decide what colour casts need sorting.

Here's the image I use: http://www.outbackprint.com/printing...048/essay.html

Also, if you want to OD on colour management, you might enjoy this:
http://www.outbackphoto.com/myforum/...read.php?tid=8

Regards,
Calx