I want to buy iMac. Need tips and answers

I think no one has answered this long post because... it’s rather long! And no one may have all the answers that you’ll find satisfactory. But I’m young and foolish so here’s my comments:

Yes, if you can afford it, go with the i7 processor option over the i5. It appears Apple is only supporting hyper-threading on the i7 processor so not only will you have a faster processor in terms of GHz, you’ll have a faster Turbo Boost and hyper-threading which means you could double your processor performance.

4 GB of memory for things you want to do will not run as quickly as it would if you installed another 8 GB of memory. Just leave the original 4 GB memory alone in the slots and add two 4 GB memory sticks in the empty slots.

You should not need the 2 GB memory card if you are not playing games, The 1 GB card should be fine.

You need a Firewire 800 to Firewire 400 cable and you should be fine although if you have the option, you might just want to plug Toslink optical cable into your sound system directly. You know best if the external sound card has additional functions you need.

The iMac 27” 2011 machines have two Thunderbolt port. To each port you can connect up to six daisy-chained devices with the connection to the monitors being the end of the chain. So no problem, you can have three high definition displays if that’s what you want as well as other devices like the Thunderbolt external disk drives in the chain.

I use Logic Pro running multiple samples (VSL Symphony & Choirs) from external HD connected by FireWire800. I recommend getting as much RAM as the machine can support because you will have fewer issues with samples, multiple tracks using many effects and plug-ins. My best advice: the fastest CPU, the most RAM that you can afford at the time of purchase. RAM is an easy after-market upgrade but not so the CPU. Best to get the highest specs right at the start to avoid disappointments on your early projects.

Kalimullah Khan wrote:

I'm a bit confuse.

1. You mentioned to install another 8GB. Are you trying to say the total memory will be 12GB??

How's the situation. Is it like this

1st Slot - 2GB

2nd Slot - 2GB

3rd Slot - 4GB

4th Slot - 4GB

Yes if the way the slots are numbered result in matched pairs of memory, i.e. nothing to worry about if the Apple-supplied memory is not touched as they’ll be a matched pair; just add the two 4 GB sticks in the two empty slots.

If you don’t install the memory in matched pairs, it will work but you won’t have dual path access to the memory so the memory will be slower.

When you sum up, you get total of 12GB, which I don't think so can be configured in apple store. The options are 4GB in each slot, when you plan to upgrade from 4GB to 8GB or 16GB only.

Yes, the total would be 12 GB and you buy the additional 2x4GB memory sticks from either Apple at the time you purchase the computer or from a third-party vendor - but you must be careful to get the correct type of memory. Sites like OWC can be very helpful guiding you. If you buy from Apple, you cannot add to the device via the configuration options as you pointed out. But once you initiate the online purchase, you’ll be able to Continue Shopping for other items such as memory to Add to Cart before you Checkout. It’s easy to install memory yourself. Just be careful to buy the memory exactly designed for your machine! Any tiny variance and the memory won’t work; it’s not too difficult but read the specifications carefully.

2. You mentioned that I don't need 2GB memory card, however, my question is, by splitting the monitors into another 2 additional monitors, will the graphic display will be compromised or not? To be more clear, will I have an accurate display or a bit less quality display?

I am sure that graphics card with 1 GB will support the three displays if you are not using the computer for gaming. If you are gaming, then you might want the 2 GB card. You can prudently call Apple to discuss if you like.

All the hardware I use is standard Mac hardware that came as the original configuration from Apple. I do not use an external sound card. Here are two screen shots showing my hardware & graphics which I use to run Logic Pro 9 quite successfully:

The Vienna Symphonic Library samples are stored on two different external drives both having FireWire800 ports, daisy-chained together and connected to the iMac using a FireWire800 cable. I hope that this clears up some of your questions. If you have more don't hesitate to respond.

Kalimullah Khan wrote:

Well, what RAM does APPLE actually uses, and what RAM do u recommend me to buy? Perhaps I can just go for basic RAM which is provide by the APPLE (2GB x 2) and get the OWC RAM of 16GB, and take uot the 4GB ram which is provided by the Apple. What is your concern and opinion??

If you are on the OWC site, they describe the models of Apple computers supported by a given memory stick. Just be sure it says something like “compatible with iMac (2011)" if you buying the latest iMac model. It needs to be 204 pin, non-ECC, etc. but OWC knows all this and you just need to verify the memory stick is compatible with your iMac model by year.

If you want to use the full 16 GB, that’s fine. OWC will even give you some trade-in allowance for the 2x2GB sticks that Apple supplies but check their site to see if you need to return the Apple memory at the time you buy the OWC memory - sorry I’m not overly familiar with the details.

In the rare event you might have a memory problem or some other weird things happening on the iMac in the future, to me it’s worth keeping the original Apple memory sticks. If you have a future problem, Apple may ask you to reinstall your original Apple memory before they’ll agree that the third-party memory is not the cause of the future problem.

I bought 16 GB from Apple for added peace of mind, so that’s why I don’t know all the details, but for a small risk, you certainly can save money buying elsewhere.

It is the logic board that supports the RAM. A pro application like Logic needs quite a bit of that because the samples alone often require an enormous amount dedicated just to run one sample. An example from my workflow, setting up a project for a full-size symphony orchestra with choir, requires that Logic have access to the following amounts of RAM. In order to serve one Flute track the part requires only 7MB; one track of Double Bass needs 5MB. But when I call for choral tracks here are the requirements: one track representing a section of 16 Sopranos = 23MB; one track for 10 Altos = 24MB; one track for 10 Tenors = 23MB; one track for 8 Basses = 27MB. For the orchestral parts there are Flutes 1&2; Oboe 1&2; Bassoon 1&2; Clarinet 1&2 + Bass Clarinet; and so on throughout the brass section and percussion section. This is required just to access the samples. Your computer has many other tasks to run at the same time. You shouldn't have your browser running nor should you run your email editor, but the system still needs to run and requires resources. You will have to drive multiple displays ( I use an external 20" Cinema Display in addition to the iMac screen). You will be adding effects on the fly and tweaking EQ, Compressor, Limiter settings and so on; this can all be done with no stuttering with an i7 Quad-Core since you have 4 cores + 4 virtual cores. I have not encountered problems on my iMac with the hardware configuration that I posted above. I can understand your hesitation about such a big change from Cakewalk on Windows; I think that you will find a large measure of satisfaction in reliable performance from the iMac that you are considering to purchase.