How are the new(er) iMacs for digital painting work?

[Zebz]

How are the new(er) iMacs for digital painting work? I'm in the market for a new PC and really want to make a complete jump over to Mac but I can't bring myself to pay the price for a Mac Pro. It just seems to be overkill for traditional artwork. I'm considering getting a 24inch iMac and just adding another monitor to it (probably Dell). How are these guys compared to other stuff out there? I'm kind of sick of using Windows and I don't really want to build my own machine at this time. I like the idea of just getting it and if I have any problems taking it in and letting Apple sort it out. On these newer machines will it be possible to run 3D apps like Maya and Mudbox? Just want to make sure my rig will be able to support this stuff pretty well before I take the plunge. Any thoughts would be appreciated. Thanks, everyone.

[wookiedabo]

I got a 24" imac last summer. Its gorgeous, fantastic bright screen and all that, but its colours are far from accurate, as I found out to my surprise when making some prints recently. The extreme brightness, and in some cases uneven backlighting makes it difficult to colour calibrate. Another monitor sounds like a solid plan, apparently dell monitors are much easier to deal with in terms of colour reproduction.

In terms of performance in all other areas, I can't really fault the machine. I don't know much about the ins and outs of computing hardware, but I upgraded my ram from 2gb to 4gb immediately, and it runs really well. Its also dead quiet, almost zero fan noise, great for concentrating on those fiddly details. I think apple only provides cover for problems for the first 90 days after purchase tho, so I wouldn't expect to be able to take it in without charge after that period.

Overall, if you get hold of another monitor, it's a good if expensive purchase, you can paint on the external monitor, have all your palettes and preferences displayed on the imac. There is however no support for 30 inch monitors, as the imac doesn't have a dual link dvi connection available, but thats not a problem if youre looking at a 24" monitor. Anyway, thats all I know, from research and experience.

[SIMPLEatLife]

I just bought the 3.06 ghz imac and put in the four gigs of RAM, well I bought it about three months ago. I also used my old iMac for about six years they both have out performed the PC market as far as stability using the creative suites. Now that is just my own opinion as I use both systems for design work everyday. Also the iMac really does well in multi task. I use Bridge alot doing photography and realtime editing using InDesign. I would not purchase the RAM from apple I got mine for 60 bucks and it work great. As far as hard core 3-D it would be a waste to build an iMac around this type of work get the Pro for that. And i'm pretty sure it will be able to use the OpenGL features in CS4. Be sure to get the new iMac just released on Tuesday as you can now put in 8 gigs of RAM. They are a lot of extra money but if you don't like buying new shiney things all the time then you will save on the 2 PC you would of had to buy in the meantime. And I just say that cause I don't really like rebuilding and getting into the whole this Gfx card is better than that thing. I just wanted a computer that works.

[Zebz]

Thanks a lot for the feedback, guys. I've heard that the monitors aren't fantastic but I'm finding more and more that there really is no "perfect" monitor. If I at least had the Dell next to it I could compare and contrast on both screens. lol I don't think I'll probably be getting into 3D stuff really. I don't game on my computer and mostly would just be doing 2D design work and illustrations. How big are some of the files you're working on and are you having any issues with them? Are you able to paint and sketch pretty smoothly? I keep hearing people say that the iMacs are just glorified laptops. I don't really want to shell out all that cash on a Mac Pro under the assumption that I MIGHT do some 3D work. If I do any 3D stuff it will probably just be light modeling and perhaps messing around in MudBox when it drops. I read the PC specs and and the Mac seems to exceed those by quite a lot. But the most important thing to me is that I can do professional level work on my iMac... at least as far as 2D stuff goes. I'm looking to order one in the next day or so. Any other feedback would be tremendous! Thanks a lot!

EDIT: I'm also in the camp that I just want a computer that works. I'm not into adding new features and having the latest and greatest. I just want to be able to design and paint on it with no problems. I can even get other monitors if needed. If I can do that then we're awesome. And if I need to upgrade 3-4 years from now that's fine. I do it professionally so it doesn't bother me to spend money on what makes me money. Thanks again.

[Zebz]

So I just placed an order for this monitor:
http://accessories.us.dell.com/sna/products/Monitors/productdetail.aspx?c=us&l=en&s=dhs&cs=19&sku=320-6272
And then I ordered the newest top tier iMac. It's the 3.06GHZ with 4gb of RAM, 1tb Hard Drive and 512mb video card.

I was contemplating just using the iMac monitor for a while but after using my fiancee's family's 20 inch iMac they bought a month or two ago I decided I'd need a nice matte one at least for my paintings. I wanted a dual display anyways and was going to spend 300 and on a used 20 inch Apple Cinema Display at a resale shop. But I saw those nice Dells were on sale and got it for about 550 shipped. Sure for the amount I spent total I could have gotten a Mac Pro. But just the Mac pro. And I would had to spend another 1200 at least on monitors and then some upgrades to get it up to RAM specs and such. I think it should be ok. I think for digital painting and 2D work it should be plenty powerful. Should have it next week. Looking forward to being all Mac! Thanks for the help. And any more input would be great!

[viizi]

You did the right thing. Your only other options would be macbook pro (more $$$ than imac), mac mini (less power), Mac Pro ($$$$ more money than imac and more power than you need). The dell screen is great and just think about it when you go to upgrade your computer you won't have to upgrade the screen :) Maybe by the time you do need to upgrade the mac mini will be the specs you need also lol. I know when my mac pro finally gets out beat and needs an upgrade I am planning to get the iMac to replace it.

[viizi]

PS. 3d work is fine on the iMac unless you are planning on doing full on productions then you will need to probably go to a render farm with your save file

[MiniGoth]

If you're not into the latest whatever, than the Macs probably aren't what you're looking for. That's not a dig, I have both. My current desktop works ok for drawing in PS and basic editing, and was about $400.

When I was initially looking for a machine to replace the Alienware that died on me (for full video production) I noticed that the PC's that I was scoping were the same price or more than a Mac of the same specs. So an equivalent PC spec wise will be the same price as a Mac machine - you simply get what you pay for. The difference being Mac has far fewer tiers to choose from.

I think that's one of the reasons people see them as the be all end all - they're great machines, and they don't build a budget model. It's not that one is better than the other - once you land in an area of certain specs, the Mac and the PC are the same price.

[Ian Barker]

I've got the 27" i5. It's beautiful, never short for screen space. The 20" with a second screen should work great for you though. I do both 2D and 3D work, both work smoothly. However I don't do any animation or heavy rendering so I can't comment on that.