I just got my new iMac 24″ 2.8GHz 4GB 750GB HD machine and I’m in love all over again. Sad…bad true…I love this machine…just don’t tell my wife. Opening the box, I felt like a little kid opening up his gifts in Christmas, though, in my case, to be more accurate, it would be Hanukkah.

Anyhow, I own (but I’m selling…so if you are interested in purchasing…email me!) a G5 iMac with 1.5GB of RAM with lots of software and content in it. Migrating everything into the new machine is usually the part that I hate doing (both on the Mac side and on the Windows side…I go both ways!)

Read below to learn what it was like going through the upgrade process, which was sometimes fun and sometimes frustrating.

My hope is that by you reading this, you will be able to see some potential places where you can improve the migration process and save you some potential headaches.

So here was my day with my new iMac:

1. Got the new iMac from FedEx. I could not wait for the guy to get it off his truck. But I waited.
2. Opened the box and a spot light came on, the room got dark and there was music. Everything slowed down. Ok, it was not that dramatic, but it was cool. Seeing my new iMac in my possession.
3. After opening the box, I looked at the content:
   • Keyboard (very flat…I mean really very flat). It will take some getting used to. The keys are very flat, so sometimes, I have to look down to make sure I have my fingers in the correct position, thought it’s getting easier and I like the feel of these keys over the old keyboard.
   • Mouse (though I have a wireless one, so I won’t use this one)
   • Power cord
   • The remote control for front row. Except, this one won’t stick to the iMac on the right hand side like the old one. No magnet in this iMac.
   • Of course, the iMac itself
   • A nice cleaning cloth (for the beautiful monitor).
   • A book called “Everything Mac”. Very nice small book.
   • A small box (the size of the book) that stores the 2 Mac OS X install CDs.
   • Your standard Apple stickers which you can put in your Minivan to tell the world you are a Yuppy Apple Geek (It seems so 80’s).
4. When pulling the iMac from the box, it seemed a bit heavier then I thought it was going to be. But it felt really nice. I love the new aluminum case and the beautiful glass of the monitor. My kids saw it and said “Wow…your new computer is huge!”. However, after moving my old 20″ iMac out of the way, the old iMac seemed heavier then the newer 24″ one.
5. I noticed that the Apple logo is now black. Also, there is no “blue light” on the bottom right hand side of the iMac telling you it’s on or in sleep mode. I liked that light.
6. I plugged the new iMac into the wall and plugged in the network cable. I connected the keyboard to the iMac and then the mouse cable to the keyboard. Then…it was time to turn it on baby!
7. After turning it on, of course, you get that lame (in my opinion) “we are all part of this world” welcome screen in 10 (or so) languages with some cool music.
8. Then the system guided me easily and quickly through the configuration process of the Mac OS X. This took me no more then 10 minutes (probably less) and then I was in! Funny thing is I just purchased a new machine for my wife (Windows Vista) and had to go through its configuration process, which was much longer and less friendlier then the iMacs.
9. The wizard also asked me if I wanted to transfer data from another Mac, I said no because I wanted to do a clean install and transfer manually.
10. Once I was in the Mac OS X, I started doing OS and application installation / configuration:
    • I went to Software Updates to get latest updates for the Mac OS X.
    • I installed my printer driver which on the Mac is a major PITA. I mean major. That’s where Windows is much better. I have a Samsung ML-2510 set up on a wireless transmitter with IP. It’s always a pain to get it to work, but I did.
    • I went into Safari and set up my preferences the way I like to have them set up.
11. Then I started installing the applications:
    • Final Cut Studio 2.0 Upgrade. Warning, it will ask you for your previous full version serial number, so have it ready. Also, this will take a long time (like 3 hours) to install everything.
    • After I installed FCS 2.0, I did another software update to get the latest fixes for the Pro Apps.
    • Installed Techsmith Ensharpen which I use for my screen capture (Camtasia) videos on the Windows side, so that I can edit them in FCP on the Mac side.
    • Digital Juice 3 and all of it’s content because it’s one of the best motion graphics packages out there.
    • FireFox because I do web development and I need to test all browsers on both platforms (Windows and Mac)
    • Sorenson Squeeze because I like it better then Compressor 2.0, but now I’m going to start experimenting with Compressor 3.
    • MS Office 2004, because Apple’s iWork sucks! I don’t care how many emails I get from people telling me it does not, it does!
    • Adobe Lightroom 1.1 because it’s the best Photography application out there (yes…much better then Aperture and I used Aperture for over a year before switching).
    • Parallels 3 because Quicken on the Mac sucks and I do web development on the PC side (I need IIS).
    • Shake 4 because it’s a cool compositing program.
    • Celtx because it’s the best (and free) pre-production application out there.
    • Audio Hijack Pro and Skype because with both of them, I can conduct podcast interviews with people on the other side of the world.
    • Filezilla, because it’s the best (and free) FTP client.

Of course, there were a couple more things to do, including getting my bookmarks over, moving my backgrounds, setting up my microphone, headphone, speakers, organize all of my Entourage folders, because the archive importing / exporting is not perfect, plus a lot of other little things to make this new iMac MY NEW iMAC.

Of course, I still have to install Windows XP in Parallels 3.0, but I decided to wait because I will document that entire process in a different blog entry.

A couple of things I noticed about this iMac versus the older one:

1. The keyboard rocks, but some keys have changed, specifically, all fo the DVD/media keys like brightness, volume, play, stop, etc. are in a different location (where the F keys are).
2. The aluminum casing looks really cool, however, it gets hot, depending on how long it’s been on, it can get very hot. I left both the old iMac and the new one on for the same amount of time, and the old one was not as hot as the new one. I wonder if the ventilation is not as great on the new one or if it’s because the casing is aluminum.
3. The machine is fast. I mean really fast. I love that.
4. The “boot up sound” is different, almost like it’s being filtered through a cup. It sounds strange.

Well, that’s my experience with the new iMac, which, by the way, lasted over 8 hours. It’s mostly done already, but there are still some things I need to finish up. I definitely recommend this new iMac over the older one and if you don’t need mobility, over the Mac Book Pro.

Cheers!

- Marcelo Lewin

The Digital Media Dude

http://www.thedigitalmediadude.com