Gettin' the iMac...any pointers for a 1st timer?

I am transitioning to the iMac from a 4 year old Dell laptop. My system will be the iMac 20", 2.33 duo, 256Meg vid card, and 2GB ram.

I use CS3 and LR for all processing and do my own printing. I already have the Mac versions of the software, so I am ready. I will calibrate with the Monaco XR pro.

I am curious of any suggested setups for efficient photo processing and printing for my new Mac system.

Thanks to any and all for any comments to get me going on the right foot.

Congrats. I now have al all mac office, minus bootcamp and one test machine in the corner.

You will want to get really familiar with automator, as it makes my workflow much simpler.

You will also want some pretty snazzy software addons. Personally i recommend the following, some free, some shareware.

Transmit FTP (shareware)
Quicksilver
Adium
iCal events widget
perian codec pack
chronosync backup (shareware)
VLC

when you transition from a PC to a mac, you no longer need to worry so much about how to tweak the computer or the details of what it's doing. It just works, and it frees you up to spend more time on your photos.

enjoy, and congrats.

Other sites for software: (the price is right )

http://www.freemacware​.com/category/photo/
http://www.freemacware​.com/
http://xfreeware.com/
http://www.opensourcem​ac.org/

I also strongly recommend you get Onyx for maintenance - to run the unix cron maintenance scripts.

To set up:
Open box
Place iMac on desk
Plug in power, keyboard & peripherals.
Press power button.
That's it essentially.

To get ready for your mac, you should get the most recent OSX drivers for your peripherals (printer, scanner, etc). Then after you power up, install the drivers & you should be good to go.

I second Onyx and VLC. I use SMARTReporter as well.
Other software that might be usefull:
Fetch
NeoOffice
SuperDuper!

Thanks for all the suggestions. I, being a bit of a techy, will want to learn all the intricacies of the OS and other things. This will be a lot of fun to finally not have to wait for PS to process a 500MP file for 10 minutes!

after buying a mac the only thing that is left to do is enjoy it. I made the switch 6 months ago. smooth as butter.

col4bin wrote in post #3062545
after buying a mac the only thing that is left to do is enjoy it. I made the switch 6 months ago. smooth as butter.

Thanks. I am getting more excited all the time.

If you want to know the in's and out's of the OS, I would suggest picking up the appropriate OS Missing Manual.

David Pogue is an excellent writer. His missing manuals are very good.

In brief, how would a missing manual help me?

canoflan wrote in post #3063751
In brief, how would a missing manual help me?

You mentioned you want to know all the intricacies of the OS. The Missing Manual will tell you all you need to know. I bought mine from overstock.com for less than $20 shipped.

http://www.overstock.c​om …=missing%20manu​al%20tiger