[help] Useable Mac

A Few Questions:

I am looking to either buy a laptop or iMac from Apple, and I am just wondering which processor speeds/RAM combinations run smoothly when handling applications such as Photoshop or Illustrator CS. In addition, I can imagine myself running iTunes and a few other applications in the background.

What I am asking is for a recommendation on a Mac that will be able to run Photoshop smooth (No hang-ups waiting for Filters/Save for Web/etc.). I do not need a supercomputer, just something nice and lite, that can run at a useable speed

iBook, iMac, or Powerbook... Bring on the recommendations

-dav

#179892

I run PS just fine with Excel, Word, iTunes, Safari, iCal, Mail, P2P, and a whole slew of less intensive apps open in the background basically all the time on my 12" iBook G4 800 / 640. Of course my PS work is strictly amateur hour. And I run default Panther.

#179897

I am using a 15" 1.33 GHz powerbook with 768MB ram and it's *really* quick. I have just opened everything in my dock (safari, mail, itunes, cssedit, two mysql monitors, unison, photoshop, excel, word and a terminal window) and there was no lag nor stutter at any point.

#179918

A decent sized image takes years to render on my g4 800mhz ibook. 640MB of ram.

You are better off with a G5 or a 1.5GHz G4 at lesat.

#179937

well i have an old mac but its not too slow. its 66mhz and it runs photoshop macos 8.6 pretty fast though i only have photoshop 4 i believe. man i wish i had a new mac.

#179956

Thank you for all the replies

#180002

I have the exact setup as Ludge and I find that I can run Photoshop with a slew of applications and widgets and experience very few stutters.

#180009

Originally posted by n3urotic@Jun 21 2004, 07:05 PM

A decent sized image takes years to render on my g4 800mhz ibook. 640MB of ram.

You are better off with a G5 or a 1.5GHz G4 at lesat.

That's mostly CPU related, not a lot to do with RAM. Although only if you have enough to free some up (512mb+), having to use the swap file for things like that will slow things down quite a chunk. No-one seriously needs a G5 for work like he apparently wants unless you're doing posters and things at 300 DPI.

But still. There must be something up with your settings, I can render a 40px blur on a 1280x960 image in under 30/40 seconds. And that's while I'm usually running iChat, iTunes, Safari, Sherlock, Comictastic, TextEdit, Preview and lots of other stuff.

Don't listen to people that are going to say something as low as 128mb is "unusable" on Mac OS X - you can run a single 'intensive' application easily, but things will lag slightly with opening stuff (for example, opening a folder will give you a second delay or so with a large app open). If you want a nice working environment, get 512mb or more into your Mac. Things speed up a lot once you hit that mark because you're using less of your swap file. Plus if you're Mac comes with 256mb, another 256mb module is quite cheap (don't buy from Apple (duh)).

Concerning CPU speed.. Meh.. 1GHz is fine, but it really depends on how much you're willing to spend (and wait). If you've got the cash, sure go get a nice speedy PowerBook - if not I'd say buy an iMac and spend the spare cash on more RAM (and goodies of course).

Have fun!

#181132

Thank you for enlightenment

#181199

So right now I am saving up to buy a G5 Powerbook when they come out, and If I get, ohh, a gig of ram I should be set doing what I do for another few years I assume, speedwise. Im hoping I won't be trampled underneath the crowd in 6 months.

#183716