Hi All, we are considering replacing all our G4's with new 20" iMacs. But I have a concern that the iMac isn't robust enough for a commericial Ad setting and Pre-Press shop enviroment. They seem like they are just disposable gagets. Am I right on this? Or are they truely solid to use as a work horse?
Thanks for any replies. Scott

Disposable gadgets? They're computers like any other! They'll work fine, as long as the specs cut it for you.
If speed & RAM are important (if you were using PowerMacs before, it could be), get a few Mac Pro's and nice big monitors

iMac will do the job fine, id go the 24" if you can afford it though

mac pro imho is overkill for anything other than video editing, 3d, audio etc

you will also need to consider if your software is univeral but im assuming you would use CS so you would have to factor in the upgrade to CS3

Disposable toys???

Im using an 24" 2.33 iMac for CAD and survey software. It's faster than my previous dual proc G5 (By a long way) and is faster than any system I've come across in any survey office so far.

They definitely are not toys.

They'll become obsolete like all other computers but they are not a low end machine.

lscottg: I do similar work to you (prepress). In the past your comment would have been completely valid... the only Mac worth having was a PowerMac (or the equivalent top of the line Mac at the time) as there was a huge disparity between consumer and pro models.

Times are changing though... The MacBooks are VERY quick (pretty much as quick as a MacBook Pro) and the iMacs are every bit as capable as their specs suggest. I'd have no problems kiting out a design studio with iMacs. The only issue is that you'll be replacing the display as well as the Mac when you swap them over in 3ish years (or whatever your normal duration is).

Just get lots of ram and Adobe CS3 and you'll be right

I'd probably be using an iMac myself if I didn't use the same computer for music.

The impression I have of iMacs is that they are like having a desk-mounted notebook with a desktop hard drive in them.

I'm the "IT Manager" for a small magazine where I live which runs essentially on 4 17" G5 iMacs. With a couple of gigs of memory, they are fantastic machines.

That being said, if you're serious, buy all the same model of machine, including at least one spare. If you are buying many machines, make that 2 or 3 spares. Then, if a machine fails** you can swap the HD with one of the spares quickly and have lost, at the most, 30 minutes (allowing for the usual mucking around).

** Note here: Most failures are software, followed by RAM, so having someone with a serious clue around will make all the difference, but at least you can swap things over while the IT person figures out WTF is going on with the faulty machine.

The only issue I have with iMacs in a work environment is that it's not easy to get at the HD when one fails. Besides that I think they're a fabulous machine.

We have a couple of the 20" INTEL iMacs in my studio, they all have 2gb Ram etc... but all the software we are using is still running under rosetta, photoshop, illustrator, after effects, flash, dreamweaver.... and its so dam SLOW, you have to wait like 3 seconds when switching between programs... wait until the UB's are out, i guess its only a month or 2 now