Tech Friday: A New iMac has replaced an old G4 and PC
Posted By RichC on March 29, 2013
I’m still adapting to a new computer and trying not to burn out my eyes on this bright and large 27” monitor, but after the adjustment I think I’m going to enjoy using the new iMac for both OSX and Windows 7 chores (via Parallels Desktop 8). The new four cored 3.4 GHz Intel i7 chipped iMac is replacing both my old G4 Mac (not used much) and my older Dell desktop … both which still had large CRT displays. I’ve yet to retire my Mac Mini since it is still functioning satisfactorily … but doubt will see much use after a few weeks of using this speedy machine (I contemplated a new Mac Mini but opted for the iMac).
The big plus at first glance is the clean Apple design and giant crisp display – this one is my second computer since the first last week had bad pixels. The tremendous speed is also something of an eye-opener and I’m sure it will be appreciated when I start crunching a little video. Boot and program load times are lightning fast and helped by the 1TB hybrid Fusion drive.
Unfortunately not all is perfect since the machine doesn’t come with an optical drive or run much of the aging but expensive software I had previously invested in. It is hard to justify a powerful 64 bit machine if I’m only running apps in the cloud or a few light duty programs. I may as well start budgeting for an update to Final Cut Pro X, some new Apple downloads (Aperture perhaps?), Adobe’s Creative Suite (CS) upgrades and maybe the old standby Microsoft’s Office products – the later I might hold off on. For now, I’ll limp along with the versions I can figure out how to install and the online apps.
Another surprise was how much virtual machines have improved. I was use to running from Bootcamp on my Mac Mini, and I can say Parallel’s Desktop 8 is shockingly great. For those of you needing fingers in both Apple and Microsoft’s operation systems (or Linux for that matter), Parallels on a high performance Mac is the way to go. It might be because I’m use to my old slow Windows machines, but Windows 7 running on the iMac is amazing. Stay tuned for more pluses and minuses.
Comments