Aperture on Intel iMac

[skippy64]

OK so now aperture has been out in universal for a few days can anyone comment on using aperture on a Intel iMac,either the 17" or 20" model. I only ask coz I'm thinking of getting a iMac and hook it up to my 20" ACD( previous version) and use it in extended screen mode. I currently have a G5 1.8Dual which I intend to keep for Photoshop but I'm currently finding Aperture sluggish so the impulsivish nature that I have keeps nagging at me to go and get an Intel imac and create a dual computerset up for my photography business doing all image selection & storage on the iMac & exporting across to the G5 to do any Photoshop work.
So my questions are is Aperture 'flying' in operation on a iMac or would I just be better saving my money and benefit from just upping my current Ram from 1.5Gb to the max my G5 can take which is 4Gb, or at least increase it to 3Gb.
TIA, Steve

 

[Willy S]

If you find it sluggish on your Powermac, I doubt you would be happy with in on an Intel iMac.

I would max out the ram since it is not that expensive and rather upgrade to the Intel Powermacs when they come out.

Have you tried Lightroom? I did and use it on my Rev A iMacs, and although it is lighter than Aperture, Lightroom eats up all of my 2GB ram...

 

[BlizzardBomb]

I seriously doubt you'll see a (large) performance gain. Keep the PM for the expandibility options.

 

[FocusAndEarnIt]

I'd say get the Intel iMac - it'll probably only be faster.

 

[skippy64]

Yes I did try Lightroom but to be honest I haven't given it as much use as what I have done with Aperture. I appreciate the info & suggestions and I have got to admit the best bet at the moment is to max out on the Ram on my G5. I'm going to have a look at Aperture in action on a friends G5 Quad in a couple of days. Although he only has 2Gb of Ram on that at the moment it will still be nice to see it in action on a Quad. As I said it was the nagging 'buy a new Mac' gremlin sitting on my shoulder constantly whispering in my ear that is bugging me at the moment ( well thats what I would tell the wife if I did go out and buy a new iMac ) thats causing the problem !!!!

 

[nutmac]

If you manage large projects, you may be better served with more RAM and better GPU on your Power Mac. I have 20" iMac Core Duo with 128 MB VRAM and 2 GB RAM. And while Aperture runs okay, it's far from flying, particularly when dealing with lots of images. In general, it's definitely usable under Intel Mac, but it still does not immediately respond when adjusting an image or selecting different projects/albums.

 

[skippy64]

Thanks for that Nutmac, it definetly is worth considering as a more practical solution.

 

[FocusAndEarnIt]

If you manage large projects, you may be better served with more RAM and better GPU on your Power Mac. I have 20" iMac Core Duo with 128 MB VRAM and 2 GB RAM. And while Aperture runs okay, it's far from flying, particularly when dealing with lots of images. In general, it's definitely usable under Intel Mac, but it still does not immediately respond when adjusting an image or selecting different projects/albums.

Are you running a UB?

 

[Grimace]

I would disagree with some of the above posts.

A Dual-Core 1.83 or 2.0Ghz not much faster than a Dual 1.8 G5? Hardly!!

Keep the Powermac if you need PCI slots, but the new iMac with 2 GB of RAM and either the 128MB or 256MB video card will have a significant impact on Aperture performance, compared to your G5. I run a DC 2.3 G5 with 3.5GB RAM and I get almost the same performance from my new 20" iMac at work (256MB gpu + 2GB ram).

 

[nutmac]

Are you running a UB?

Yes. 1.0.0 and 1.0.1 would not even run.

Since I have not used Aperture under Power Mac G5, I cannot vouch for relative performance improvement. What I can say with certainty is how Aperture feels on my iMac. Don't get me wrong, it's definitely usable enough, but nowhere near flying/snappy/screaming. For instance, dragging the exposure slider is not silky smooth -- initial dragging is not immediate, perhaps a quarter second delay. It's infinitely smoother than what I've seen at Arstechnica's Aperture 1.0 review, however.

 

[Grimace]

Yeah, Aperture used to be *horribly* slow on G4s and many G5s. Only the high end machines seem to make it useable. Version 1.1 has made things a little better, but even on the Intel Macs, there isn't the "instant" response that we all hope to see in the next major update.