from Len Whistler - Mac or PC?

[admin]

Greg.......do you use a Mac or PC? I assume you use a Mac, and do you have a dual monitor set up?

Also does Photoshop really run better on a Mac, or is that just a myth? I hear that NT and Photoshop is a good combo.

[Greg Vander Houwen]

I use both but prefer the Mac. It is more of a touchy feely thing. It seems to me that Photoshop 6... is also a little more stable on the Mac. But I am not a tester so this is pretty soft data.

As to speed I haven't compared the current high end on both platforms. So I have nothing to offer here. I am running on a G4 and I work on some pretty large files, gig+ in scratch and rarely need more speed. But then I am doing creative work and spend most of the build time deciding what I want to make rather than making it.

PC vs. Mac is like Ford vs. Chevy. It has more to do with the person than with the platform. I have driven both a great deal and I like Mac for my work but it is a subtle thing that is hard to pin down. I think both platforms will work perfectly fine. Take some test drives, talk to some friends, pick what you like.

All things being equal I would chose Mac because I like to support the underdogs of the world. Bill has enough cash to get him through the winter ;)

Greg

[Brent Roberts]

I've just started using the MAC on a P4 Titanium notebook.

It's a dog compared to the 1GHZ plus PC notebooks. The latest has just caught up to the PC's with 48 GB hard drives which is good for graphics and portable.

One thing I really miss is the ability to manipulate files from the
OPEN menu. I like to edit the names after saving a file to relflect
the size and resolution etc. Can't ( or haven't found a way ) to do that on a MAC.

$0.02 worth.

Brent

[Brooks Ayola]

<<One thing I really miss is the ability to manipulate files from the OPEN menu. I like to edit the names after saving a file to relflect the size and resolution etc. Can't ( or haven't found a way ) to do that on a MAC>>

Ahh...I have the answer to all your problems. It's called Default Folder by St. Clair Software. Default Folder is one of those small control panels that, after using it for a while, you just can't stand to be without it. Not only does it let you rename files and folders from the open save dialog boxes, but it also keeps track of all the most recent folders you have accessed and lets you go directly to them without navigating through many levels of directories to get where you want. It works a little better outside of Navigation Services open boxes, but also allows you to turn off Navigation Services in some programs. It's $25.00, but I bought it way back when I was running system 7 and I've been getting free updates ever since. You can get it at their website or at any of the shareware sites like Tucows. Hope this helps.
http://www.stclairsoft.com/DefaultFolder/

[Stevos]

Originally posted by Brent Roberts

It's a dog compared to the 1GHZ plus PC notebooks. The latest has just caught up to the PC's with 48 GB hard drives which is good for graphics and portable.

Do you have some strange love of dogs? I hope you're not saying that the TiBook is worse than PC notebooks.... obviously it's a matter of opinion, and I'll state right now I am a Mac bigot..but..

Most PC notebooks don't have CD/HD/Modem inside of them, so while they may be 'smaller', you end up lugging about more baggage. And if you have any sort of a decent amount of RAM, you shouldn't have any problem doing graphics work. I thought artists were usually intelligent people, but saying that it's a dog because it has less MHz is simply crazy. I can't stress this enough, MHz are simply NOT comparable among different chipsets. A 600MHz G4 TiBook can usually kill a P4 1.2GHz+.

Sorry for my rant, I have trouble keeping a leash on myself...
Stevos

[Hannu Hurme]

That's a good boy :D.

I've got one question about macs and photoshop.

How much does it cost to buy good mac which would be used as a photoshop platform? What kind of display adapter would it have? Online shops seem to like Geforce awfully lot but is it good enough?

[Raphael]

Hannu,

Price entirely depends upon what sort of Mac your after:

iMac (built in 14" monitor);

Tower;

Laptop.

For PS work my personal preference is always for a tower with a decent sized monitor.

The Geforce card that the standard G4 Towers now come with are plenty powerful enough for all your PS needs. the one thing you MUST get though whichever option you go for is plenty of RAM. You can never have too much memory.

You can get iMac's from £500 upward, G4 Towers from £1,100 upward. I Don't know about laptops, I don't like them, sorry.

I suggest you visit:

http://store.apple.com/Catalog/US/Images/intlstoreroutingpage.html

and dig out what your after from there.:)

Raphael

[Hannu Hurme]

Yeah I tried that. The final price I counted for something I might like was begining to reach 40 000$, outs :).

[Stevos]

yeah.. I have that page bookmarked as my *dream machine*.

Anyways, I'd suggest this:

For a REALLY good PS machine, you're going to want the DP. It's an extra $1000, but it might be worth it. I personally have a 867 so I do not know. If you get the DP, you must run OS X because otherwise it is a serious waste of money.

On RAM, the more the better, but there are sites on the internet where you can get it MUCH cheaper than Apple. I will go look up this link and report back, but you can get RAM for like .30 / MB, compared to 1.50/MB at Apple.

On the monitor, once again, if you can do it, grab the Cinema Display. If not, the 17 inch one should suffice.

On video cards, I'd suggest you get the cheapest one they have and buy the Radeon 8500 when it comes out (at your local compusa or whatever). The 8500 is supposed to be completely amazing.

Also, take note: MWSF is Jan 7, and the potential product list is AMAZING. Flat panel iMacs, the G5 processor, and I predict Apple's next peripheral (perhaps Apple Cell Phone?) will be released. All of these things have a chance to affect your decision (for example, if they G5 is released, it stands for common sense that the iMac will grab a G4 proc, making it plenty fast, and enabling you to save thousands of dollars and still get a very fast machine). So I would wait until the seventh.

[Hannu Hurme]

Well I wont be buying any new hardware for at least six months, after that it's still just maybe. But Radeon is good news, I think it's supposed to have better image quality than Geforce. I recently switched from Voodoo 3 to Geforce 2 and the degree my image quality dropped was quite big.

[Brooks Ayola]

Well, I have to agree that new Apple products are always exciting news, but the real advantage to new stuff is when the stores try to get rid of the old stuff. Anyway, I think the money spent on a new Photoshop station should be spent on RAM and a second monitor. Don't spend all the money on Apple Cinema displays when a good CRT will beat it in image quality and price too. I run a 733 G4 with a 19" and a 15" for palates. I'll be running this system for a while and it will do the job just fine. I would like to get a 21" for a main monitor, but I've been doing just fine with the 19" for years. Unless you guys are just rich kids with no business bottom line to worry about then spend wisely. RAM, two monitors and a good monitor calibrator. Oh... And I always buy the bottom line processor when new machines come out. It's less depressing when the next batch comes out and you no longer have the fastest machine on the planet, because this way, you never did. Think about it. Are we all so busy that the couple seconds saved with the next fastest processor will make us a lot more money?

[Smurf]

well, poor little me only has one monitor! :(

-S

[please send spare monitors/donations to The Smurf Fund, Ireland :p ]

[Rick Miller]

Smurf.

You wrote:

[please send spare monitors/donations to The Smurf Fund, Ireland :p ]
Everytime one of us US folks sends money to Ireland, we're kinda scrutinized.
;}

Looking at the pictures of Wicklow, I'd love to go hiking along the Wicklow Way.

Rick