Devildog

Reading a post on another thread from Swiss T has, rather embarassingly , reminded me that I forgot to properly thank those of you for your extremely helpful words of advice and encouragement in my recent deliberations prior to aquisition of an iMac.

So, a thanks to Swiss, Markus, Ian, Steve, Michael T, and Dan for suggesting I get a another windows pc and making me really think about it - oh, and not forgetting Matt for alerting me to the dangers of confusing a computer with a hair removal product

And anyone else I've missed.

Great advice guys, thanks

Ps - everything works, it was extremely easy to do, all my non Apple centric software is (with the appropriate Apple updates) working great, and I absolutely made the right choice

Markus

You are more than welcome

Dream Weaver

Hopefuly I will be next, just found this thread whilst searching for iMac.

Realised that these days all I need is software to build websites/databases and email/calendar/contacts/browser to keep in touch and surf.

iMac looks like a very nice and tidy way of doing this, without having to mess about installing new hardware, and buying a multitude of other software!!

Off to the Apple shop tomorrow for a closer look.

SwissTony

iTrader: (19)

Dreamweaver - any questions you have just yell

Just remember one thing, get the spec you want without the extra memory from Apple



Devildog- you are welcome but the title should read 'the light side'. Being fruity is entirely your own business

JackClark

When you're there go to Sharing in Preferences, you'll see a tick box for web sharing. Full Apache web server which will no doubt help you no end. And yes, all you do is put a tick in a box.

IWatkins

Dream Weaver, you'll be sorted.

I use my mac Mini for my photography, but in work more use it for web site stuff, mainly Flex/Flash and it has never missed a beat, is fast, a local testing using built in web server is cool too. And that is on the lowest spec. mac mini (with 2GB Ram), so an imac will have no problems at all.

Cheers

Ian

Dream Weaver

Swiss - what's the memory thing?

SwissTony

iTrader: (19)

Buying the mac with memory online or from the apple store is akin to having your pants pulled down and your **** slapped for good measure.

It is bad enough paying out the wedge for the mac but not the extra memory at their prices. get the spec you need then simply order online from www.crucial.com/uk and you will save a bundle.

That way you can ram the mac up to the hilt ( that sounds rude )

Dream Weaver

So there is some scope for adding memory etc, I thought they would be factory sealed etc.

SwissTony

iTrader: (19)

imac can be upped to 8GB if you so wish

RichB

You wont be building ASP websites though...... Unless you go down the VMware/Parallels/Boot camp route which defeats the object of going Mac.

I don't use ASP, I'm all php/mysql and if you go down that route, look for MAMP and Coda (from Panic) for a good, cheap alternative to Dreamweaver ( ;-) )

RichB

4gb is plenty for most I would say, my designer colleague has an iMac (not latest) with 4gb in and he uses all of CS4 without memory problems. My MBP has 4gb too and is fine. 8gb is stupidly expensive still.....

We dont do any video or music though.

Dream Weaver

Rich - you do similar stuff to me on a day to day basis so would the iMac suffice or not?

When you mention ASP, in what context do you mean?

ScoobyDoo555

Glad you're enjoying your new toy

Devildog

DW - the wireless mouse and keyboard option is a must, imo.

the connection is bluetooth, they work brilliantly, and its a very cheap upgrade

RichB

If you build static websites the iMac will be absolutely fine.
If you want to use ASP then unless you run windows on the iMac you can't.

Unless you are wanting to process large amounts of video then the iMac will be fine. It will still do it but would be slower than a Mac Pro.
You could look at a Macbook Pro, I got a refurb MBP for £1200 inc vat which was less (or very similar) to the iMac. I already had a Apple Cinema screen so I have dual screens which is a must.

Dream Weaver

ASP is only code though, and is all written in a basic Notepad style editor, surely the iMac has something for that? All testing is done server side, I don't have ASP running on anything here, just basic code editing.

It's by the by though, as I had a play with an iMac on Saturday - nice kit, but at £1750 it's a bit too steep for something which isn't essential - will be cheaper just to buy some new memory and a 24" monitor for my current setup.

Iain Young

It's never a good idea developing and testing on a "live" server. best practice is to develop locally, then deploy once your code is working correctly.

Could you not start up a basic XP virtual machine (with ISS/ASP etc installed) and use that to develop with? You'll definitely need something like this if you want to move onto something like asp.net. Alternatively, use jsp

RichB

OK, if you uploading to a windows server each time you save (or save over FTP) then yes you will be fine.

I run everything local in PHP hence my comment. MAMP is a fully self contained Apache, mysql and PHP server than runs an as application.

Macs have TextEdit but it's not great and I think there are issues surrounding carriage returns and built in styling etc. I would not recommend using it.

I would recommend Coda, BBEdit or Textmate for hand coding. All are good, none are free, I use Coda. If doing as a business they are worth the £30-50 they cost.

See if you can find the previous revision of iMacs anywhere, Apple hiked the price up, we got ours through MacWarehouse and the savings were quite large or the new model which didn't add much for our needs.

I think we paid £1200 ish (perhaps + vat), contact AllanB to see if he has any left. Unlikely though.