A few months ago, I posted about my plans to buy a new iMac around Christmas. Well, that time is just about here. I'm only trying to decide whether to buy an iMac this week or wait until Apple might unveil a new model. According to Mac Rumors, if one follows Apple's iMac unveilings over the past few years, a new one should be due by the end of Janury.

Meanwhile, whether I buy now or later, I am interested in calibrating the monitor on my new machine. Does anyone have any advice on what hardware or software to buy... and how to use it?

EDIT: I must apologize... I typoed (or had a mental misfire) in the headline for this post. Let me be clear: I am talking about the iMac, not the iPad. I can't change the headline... or can I?

__________________
Panasonic G5 and Panasonic GX1, Lumix 14-45mm f/3.5-5.6, Lumix 45-150mm f/4-5.6, Lumix 100-300mm f/4-5.6, Lumix 14mm f/2.5, Lumix 20mm f/1.7

Olympus E-PM2, Zuiko 9-18mm f/4.0-5.6, Zuiko 14-42mm f/3.5-5.6 II R, Zuiko 14-150mm f/4.0-5.6, Zuiko 40-150 f/4.0-5.6 R, Zuiko 15mm body-cap lens, Zuiko 17mm f/1.8, Zuiko 45mm f/1.8

I have used a Spyder 3 Express that has worked very well. I have a Mac mini with a Samsung monitor, and they synchronize well with my Canon printer.

Afaik Datacolor has very bad quality control, at least it used to, there were many reports of Spyders being total crap. They "work very well" until you check the same setup with a spectrophotometer.. to find out that you've got like 5-15 deltaE difference. For some people they actually do work well though. Anyway, X-Rite has just updated their colorimeter and you'd better get i1 display pro: http://www.xrite.com/product_overview.aspx?ID=1454
That is, if you don't need to profile a printer.