12MB DDR3 RAM Is Loaded

My new 8GB of DDR3 RAM arrived this afternoon and I've already got it installed in my iMac bringing it up to 12GB of memory.  The installation process was way easier than I was expecting it to be and much, much easier than any memory install I ever performed on a Windows based desktop machine.  From the time I unplugged the iMac to when I plugged it back in was under ten minutes.  Nice.

So far the boot up process is a few seconds faster and programs are starting up quicker as well.  The real gain from the memory comes with multi-tasking (running multiple programs at once).  It's nice having a couple of web browser windows open, iTunes running, and Aperture and not have to deal with delays.  The gains while multi-tasking alone is worth the money I paid for the memory.  I really should have done this a while back but I hate to get in a rush about anything.

iMac Upgrade Time

The time has finally come to do a bit of upgrading to my iMac.  I just ordered an extra 8GB of RAM for my baby from Other World Computing at a very good price.  This will bring it up to 12GB of RAM which should help a lot with multi-tasking, photo and video editing, and a bunch of other stuff that I do on a daily basis.  I had planned on doing this upgrade earlier but I kept putting it off for a variety of reasons with the main one being laziness on my part.  This computer is heavy and it's a pain to disconnect everything to install memory then hook everything back up.  Yes, I tend to be a slacker at home.

Seeing as how I'm posting about upgrading the internal hardware of my iMac I thought I would take this opportunity to lay out the upgrade path for my iMac hardware over the next 12 months as well.

When I originally purchased my iMac back in July I did so with the intention of keeping her for at least 18-24 months before upgrading to a new machine.  When the time came I planned to move up to a newer model and sell this one to recoup some of the costs and a memory upgrade was part of that plan as it would increase the resale value.  Now I'm thinking that I will not be selling it off at all but will instead keep her as either a second computer for myself or install it in place of the Windows PC I built for my mother a couple of years ago with the latter option more attractive to me.  That way I could be rid of Windows once and for all in my life outside of work.  The time frame for a complete computer upgrade is still the same with March of 2012 being the target.  By that point there should be at least one more round of iMac refreshes from Apple, possibly two rounds, that should include some nice new features such as Thunderbolt and maybe even a larger screen size (yes, I know that my current 27 inch screen is pretty large but you can never have enough screen real estate!).

I have to say I love my iMac and I'm looking forward to seeing how the added memory works out.

iMac Four Months Later

It dawned on me this morning that it's been four months since I got my iMac and I've yet to do any sort of progress reports or updates on how life has been with "The Beast" (my name for it).

Well it's time to fix that!

Click to read more ...

Personal iPhone Thoughts

I thought I would touch a bit more on my most recent post about the prospects and logic behind a CDMA version of the iPhone.

If the improbable happened and a version of the iPhone 4 became available on the Sprint network I think I would be tempted to buy it.  Now before you all go and call me an Apple Fan Boy let me point out that I have been a fan of Apple products going back to my first computer back in 1984 which was an Apple IIc.  I am still a fan of Apple products.  The ones that I would use I like and this includes the iMac that I'm using to write this post, my iPad that I use daily around the house, and other products such as the iPod.  And this does not mean I would give up on Android.

See, I'm eligible for a phone upgrade from Sprint come February (just four months away) and being able to snag up an iPhone for new customer pricing would make sense to me.  I could then have a second phone handy which would then free up my Evo for the testing of custom ROM images.  In fact, I like having more than one phone handy for those "just in case" moments.  At one point I had a Blackberry 8330, the HTC Touch Diamond, and Palm Pre at the same time.  I sold the first two eventually (I wanted rid of that damn Blackberry so bad I sold it so dirt cheap it wasn't even funny!).  If Cole from work reads this he'll probably start drooling thinking about buying my Evo from me the second I buy a second phone.

I'd been toying with the idea of picking me up another Android phone for a couple of weeks ago just for the above stated reason of being able to play with some custom ROMs anyway.  Now I'm thinking I may hold off on a second phone until my February upgrade.

So, just why would I consider an iPhone now of all times.?

First off, being an iMac and iPad owner I'm closely tied to the Apple eco system.  Right now there are a bunch of downloaded TV shows purchased via iTunes in HD as well as a few HD movies I either purchased on limited sale or that I just plain wanted versions of in HD (I admit to being a picture quality snob).  As for my music purchases I still prefer the Amazon MP3 music store over the iTunes music store.  I honestly prefer my music in MP3 format over the AC format that iTunes pushes and for the past three or so years DRM protection via both stores is a moot point.  Having an iPhone would give me some more options in my Apple only content.

The second reason for an iPhone 4 is a simply one aesthetics.  I really like the way the iPhone 4 looks and for me in some instances looks do matter.

This may all be a moot point anyway until we know if Apple will expand beyond AT&T and possibly Verizon with their iPhone.  I'm not prepared to leave the nice rate plan I have with Sprint any time soon.

Time To Think Upgrades (iMac Edition)

Well, the time has come where I'm getting an "itch" to start a round of upgrades on the iMac.

Don't look at me like that!  I had always planned on getting an 8GB memory upgrade to bring the iMac up to 12GB of installed memory.  However I don't think I'm going to be going that upgrade route just yet.  It seems I'm in need of maybe acquiring another hard drive. 

One cannot forget that I'm a digital pack rat of sorts and at the moment I've about filled up my existing farm of drives with all sorts of digital medium with my current "addiction" being video content from iTunes.

While I normally am not a big fan of "closed" digital ecosystems I cannot deny both the ease of acquisition and quality of content found with the iTunes store.  I LIKE good, high def quality video and that's where it's at for me right now.  My home computer IS my home entertainment system and I've been living that way for years now.  Currently my iMac serves as my music player, radio, and home theater.  Why not?  That 27 inch screen just screams to have HD content played on it.  Both HD movies and TV shows look incredible, certainly much better than my 37 inch LG HDTV (720p).  My THX Logitech speakers are the perfect compliment to this setup.

The downside to this crazy HD video consumption is that I have A LOT of downloaded files that are rather large and take up quite a bit of hard drive space.  Considering that I am currently downloading five separate TV shows weekly it begins to add up.  I won't even get into the HD movies I've been purchasing (except to say I love Iron Man 2 in HD!).

My plan is to pick up another 2TB hard drive that is on sale this week at Best Buy (same model as the last that currently serves as my Time Machine backup drive) and transfer my entire iTunes library over to it.  That should be at least a month or two to figure out where to go from there.  At some point in the future, probably mid-2011 I may have to seriously look either setting up a server or some sort of network attached storage such as a Drobo unit.  I'll slide the memory upgrade further along to around the December time frame.