sorry, I meant the new iMac. I think this Thunderbolt port will prove out to be really good. Problem is, what's out there that can utilize it?

So, perhaps waiting for Lion and more periphials to come out before getting it might be the better idea. Especially in the hard drive area. That's where it'll come in handy.

Best scenario: get the...wow, just seen the price of a 256GB SSD card! Yikes!

But, since this is a work machine that should last you 5-6 years at minimum, I would recommend this setup:

21.5 inch iMac
2.7GHz Quad-Core Intel Core i5
4GB 1333MHz DDR3 SDRAM - 2x2GB
1TB Serial ATA Drive + 256GB Solid State Drive
AMD Radeon HD 6770M 512MB GDDR5

You want something that will run fast? There you go. And then later on get say a Drobo or whatever that utilizes Thunderbolt.

And by getting the smaller one, you can get a Apple LED Cinema Display (27" flat panel) as a second monitor. I think having 2 would be better than one large one especially for apps like Photoshop.

Remember that Lion is dropping Rosetta. Cocoa apps only.

I have a 20: Cinema display that will be used with the imac.

As far as the SSD.. wouldn't that be in place of the SATA drive? Not in conjunction with it... or can they do both at Apple?

And Acumowchek.. I don't think I even use any Rosetta apps...

You can get both installed by Apple, that's an option with the top 21.5" and the 2 27" iMacs.

If you aren't sure, you can check if you have any PowerPC apps on your mac by going into System Profiler and choosing Applications on the left. These are what I have left that are running PowerPC (Rosetta)

Click for large view

You are correct good sir. I did not see that... but for an extra $600.00 I will opt for a 3rd party external via TB and a eSATA adapter or some such.

Wow... Lion is going to be a problem for me. I have 64 apps that are PPC only.
A lot just need weeding out or updating... but not all we be "transferable".
So maybe I shouldn't use Lion as a reason to wait....

A phone call from Reboot ... he talked me off the ledge.

Gonna do the refurb and max out the ram from OWC for $208.00 for 16 GBs.

The refurb only has 2 cores... but I guess I don't need more than that right now... maybe after a couple of years I'll upgrade. TB will be more mature by then anyways...

Cool.. I'm back up to 3 Macs again....

Way to go.
Refurbs are the best deal.

Hey Moderator!
How come after a minute or so, I decide to delete a post, because it's too smug, and it says it's too late to delete?
What's my time frame? 10 seconds? 5?

16 gigs? I've never had more than four!

Is there that much advantage to having that much? I ask, because I have my eye on one of the new iMacs and I'm debating between four or eight. 16 seems kind of extreme.