iMacs: Are they good for Photo editing?

I am looking at switching to Mac for photo editing. I know photoshop needs lots of Memory. That is Fine. But my question is will a 17 or 20 inch iMac be good enough for photo editing with cs3? I am starting into my photography major at the University of Central Florida this fall. I need to buy a computer. I really want to switch to Mac. Do I need a Mac Pro? Or will an iMac suffice with lots of memory? Also are there places to get Ram for macs cheaper than from apple?

It is really between this or a Toshiba Sattelite. I was going to spend around $1700. My mom just got a sattelite with a core duo processor. I will definitely get a core 2 duo.

Is the monitor for the iMacs nearly as good as the Apple Cinema displays? Will it be good with color stable rendition? I want to get one so bad, but I am afraid it will cost me sooo much more.

imac will work great and you can get much less expensive ram from macsales.com

I would also get the 20" if I were you, 17 is tiny.

Thanx guys. I doubt I will be able to affor the 24 inch, but we'll see. I Like the20 inch, I think it is just right.

I checked that mack sales. Is there a difference between pc2-5300 or pc-5300 they show both for the mac I want, but don't say if they are the same.

Try here.
OWC

since you are going to school i would suggest that you look at getting a 15 macbookPro and an external 20" LCD. i personally have a similar setup (though with a windows laptop). it works great because you can take your computer with you to class, home, travel, ect. and then when you are in your dorm hook it up to the monitor/keyboard/mouse ect and its just as fast as a comprable desktop.

that said to answer your first question the iMac with 2 gigs or so of ram is definitly enough to handle photo editing very well.

Billginthekeys wrote in post #3063182
since you are going to school i would suggest that you look at getting a 15 macbookPro and an external 20" LCD. i personally have a similar setup (though with a windows laptop). it works great because you can take your computer with you to class, home, travel, ect. and then when you are in your dorm hook it up to the monitor/keyboard/mouse ect and its just as fast as a comprable desktop.

that said to answer your first question the iMac with 2 gigs or so of ram is definitly enough to handle photo editing very well.

If I can afford to do it I will. Thats a little more than I think I will be able to spend, but I will see. I want to buy cs3 when I get it too, so thats some more money. I am suppossed to get some kind of discount through the school when I enroll, so I will see what they offer.

An iMac needs the very expensive laptop memory (SODIMM). If you want to get say 4gb you're looking at an ebay purchase of about $700-800 for the good quality RAM. The late 2006 iMacs only address 3gb though...

If you want more than 4gb, you'll be selling your camera to fund it.

EOS MAN1 wrote in post #3063210
If I can afford to do it I will. Thats a little more than I think I will be able to spend, but I will see. I want to buy cs3 when I get it too, so thats some more money. I am suppossed to get some kind of discount through the school when I enroll, so I will see what they offer.

yes, if you school's pricing is anything like UM's bookstore then photoshop CS3 premium (which is all they offer) is $300.

Thats cheaper that buying it outright without there price.

EOS MAN1 wrote in post #3063246
Thats cheaper that buying it outright without there price.

im not sure wht you are saying. its not $300 off, the total cost is $300. i think retail its $700 or so.

cosworth wrote in post #3063218
An iMac needs the very expensive laptop memory (SODIMM). If you want to get say 4gb you're looking at an ebay purchase of about $700-800 for the good quality RAM. The late 2006 iMacs only address 3gb though...

If you want more than 4gb, you'll be selling your camera to fund it.

Why would anyone want 4 gigs of RAM for photoshop? It's not 64-bit, therefore it cannot address more than 3 gigs.

cosworth wrote in post #3063218
An iMac needs the very expensive laptop memory (SODIMM). If you want to get say 4gb you're looking at an ebay purchase of about $700-800 for the good quality RAM. The late 2006 iMacs only address 3gb though...

If you want more than 4gb, you'll be selling your camera to fund it.

At OWC currently a 2 GB ram stick is $218.

Billginthekeys wrote in post #3063270
im not sure wht you are saying. its not $300 off, the total cost is $300. i think retail its $700 or so.

I think we are on the same page. It is normally $700, but I should get it for $300 at school? Is that what you are saying? I think I understand. It sounds much cheaper at $300 then $700(thats what I was expecting to pay).