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Do I need an iMac

wvuwhat

wvuwhat

macrumors 65816
Original poster
Sep 26, 2007
1,157
37
So, I graduated this past May with a degree in Communication Studies. I thought I was going to come out and fall into a great job...not the case. So, I've gone back to a local community college to take some design courses. Not only because the jobs I want, you need to know Dreamweaver, CS, etc., but because I need to stay under my parents insurance, because I'm diabetic.

CS4 with everything I need is 398. I have a 2.2 Macbook with 1gb ram and when I had the CS trial it was slow and I got the beach ball.

Here arises the problem, my current notebook doesn't want to work well with CS. I am looking for a computer, the cheapest option, that is not Windows. I am looking into the 1499.99 (1399.99 w/student discount) 24" iMac. 4gb ram, 2.66 ghz, etc. Will this be enough to run PS and keep me happy? Is the 20" alright? I really want that extra 4"'s because I will probably put it in my room as a tv/computer.

What would you do, I have to buy the software. I don't want to upgrade my plastic MB. I'm looking for the best option, because I can't stand the 13.3" MB, especially if I'm looking for PS ability.

Last question, would a 13"/15" Unibody MBP be ok? If I can get away with a 13.3 MBP, I'd probably just go ahead and get an external.

If you we're going through this and trying to save money (without upgrading my current computer), what would you do?
 
My white early 2.4 MacBook was quite okay with Photoshop and 12MB RAW images, but I had 4GB of RAM, four times of what you have, which will make a big, big difference.

Maybe just try it first with upgrading your MacBook's RAM, it's cheap, around 70$ for 4GB (2x2GB) RAM. If that is not enough, you can sell the MacBook and get one of the faster MacBook Pros, a 15" with the dedicated 9600 graphics card should suffice.
 
Personally, I would get the 2.53GHz MBP 13" or 15". Sell your old Macbook to make up some of the difference. Compared to the iMac you're looking at, you only lose .13GHz, and some hard drive space. Screens smaller, but you get the portability which is important for school. You can get a decent external if you need to.

You could also try to find a good Apple refurb, here's one that could save you a couple hundred.
 
You'll get more power for your buck with an iMac because you're not paying for miniaturization and portability. Max out the RAM. BT the software.
 
You'll get more power for your buck with an iMac because you're not paying for miniaturization and portability. Max out the RAM. BT the software. :rolleyes:
 
1 GiB RAM is too little. Just a bit of Safari will eat that.

Before you buy a new computer, I would put 2x2GiB if possible now that it is cheap, or if the machine can't take it, upgrade to 2 GiB total, to see if the performance is then acceptable.
 
Just a piece of advise...

wvuwhat said:
So, I graduated this past May with a degree in Communication Studies. I thought I was going to come out and fall into a great job...not the case. So, I've gone back to a local community college to take some design courses. Not only because the jobs I want, you need to know Dreamweaver, CS, etc., but because I need to stay under my parents insurance, because I'm diabetic.

CS4 with everything I need is 398. I have a 2.2 Macbook with 1gb ram and when I had the CS trial it was slow and I got the beach ball.

Here arises the problem, my current notebook doesn't want to work well with CS. I am looking for a computer, the cheapest option, that is not Windows. I am looking into the 1499.99 (1399.99 w/student discount) 24" iMac. 4gb ram, 2.66 ghz, etc. Will this be enough to run PS and keep me happy? Is the 20" alright? I really want that extra 4"'s because I will probably put it in my room as a tv/computer.

What would you do, I have to buy the software. I don't want to upgrade my plastic MB. I'm looking for the best option, because I can't stand the 13.3" MB, especially if I'm looking for PS ability.

Last question, would a 13"/15" Unibody MBP be ok? If I can get away with a 13.3 MBP, I'd probably just go ahead and get an external.

If you we're going through this and trying to save money (without upgrading my current computer), what would you do?
Click to expand...


You didn't said what kind of MacBook you have. To keep ahead of the future, it should be Intel loaded. If it is not, sell it ASAP and do your best to buy one. Now, if it is and you just need more real state ( more viewing area ), you could find very decent 19" video monitors ( $ 160.00 retail ) to hook to your miniDVI connector. This kind of unexpensive monitors wouldn't be class "A" for video or photo post, but you will have a large area to work.

Why Intel? actual and next generation of OS and apps are willing to live there. Invest in your future... Add as much RAM as your MB could handle and buy a large external hard drive to keep all your media and leave your main HD with OS and apps. Both RAM and external HD are not expensive.

I use a white MB with 2Ghz Intel Core 2 duo, 2Gb of RAM and an internal 360Gb HD which I changed by myself. ALL my media lives in a 500Gb Firewire portable external drive. I run CS4 apps without trouble (large layered docs are a little slow), but if delivery time is not an issue, works fantastic for me. It's not a PRO delivery machine but it surely works fantastic when I'm on the road.

As a student, I would try to keep a portable machine, iMacs are great but they are not really easy to take on your backpack.

I Hope all these helps.
 
wvuwhat said:
So, I graduated this past May with a degree in Communication Studies. I thought I was going to come out and fall into a great job...not the case. So, I've gone back to a local community college to take some design courses. Not only because the jobs I want, you need to know Dreamweaver, CS, etc., but because I need to stay under my parents insurance, because I'm diabetic.

CS4 with everything I need is 398. I have a 2.2 Macbook with 1gb ram and when I had the CS trial it was slow and I got the beach ball.

Here arises the problem, my current notebook doesn't want to work well with CS. I am looking for a computer, the cheapest option, that is not Windows. I am looking into the 1499.99 (1399.99 w/student discount) 24" iMac. 4gb ram, 2.66 ghz, etc. Will this be enough to run PS and keep me happy? Is the 20" alright? I really want that extra 4"'s because I will probably put it in my room as a tv/computer.

What would you do, I have to buy the software. I don't want to upgrade my plastic MB. I'm looking for the best option, because I can't stand the 13.3" MB, especially if I'm looking for PS ability.

Last question, would a 13"/15" Unibody MBP be ok? If I can get away with a 13.3 MBP, I'd probably just go ahead and get an external.

If you we're going through this and trying to save money (without upgrading my current computer), what would you do?
Click to expand...

You will have more fun with CS4 on Windows machines with a lot of RAM running a 64-Bit version of Vista or Windows 7, because at least Photoshop CS4 is a 64-Bit app on Windows ONLY. You have to wait for CS5 to get that technology on the Mac platform. Since Adobe software basically looks and behaves the same on all supported platforms, this is a strong argument for the Windows platform.

Besides that, maybe you should just try adding as much RAM as possible to your existing computer. It will do miracles for the performance. CPU power is not everything. Although, of course, apps like Photoshop, Lightroom and Aperture love to have - and use - as many CPU cores as possible. But in order to benefit from a multi-core machine, you also need to have an appropriate amount of RAM in your system.

Actually, when you talk about CS4, you usually don't want to talk about iMacs or MacBooks. The Apple Mac Pro or Dell Precision league of computers is where you should be looking if you intend to use that software professionally.
 
You will have more fun with CS4 on Windows machines with a lot of RAM running a 64-Bit version of Vista or Windows 7, because at least Photoshop CS4 is a 64-Bit app on Windows ONLY. You have to wait for CS5 to get that technology on the Mac platform. Since Adobe software basically looks and behaves the same on all supported platforms, this is a strong argument for the Windows platform.
Click to expand...

If you're happy to work in isolation. Sure, it might be slightly nippier (will you notice?), but the flexibility of OS X more than compensates.

Anyway, nobody in industry uses Windows for design.
 
Overall My Mid-2007 Macbook (2.0ghz plastic model) was able to run PS CS4 Extended edition just fine. But either way I would Highly recommend going for the iMac if you have the money since the MacBook has some serious issues (mine went through 4 hard drives in 2 years) and has serious heat issues.
 
My Macbook is a 2.2ghz Late 07' model, 1gb ram, etc. It doesn't run it, and I really don't want to upgrade.

I'm really not concerned at all with portability. I have come from a big university where portability was needed. Now that I'm back home, I'm looking for something to put into my room as a tv with an eyeTV. That's my thinking for the 24", it's just a bonus that the screen seems to be better than the 20".

For portability, I'm going to grab a Lenovo s10-2 netbook in the near future and sell my MacBook, so I'll have that covered.

So...I guess what I'm getting at, is the 24" 2.66 iMac a good choice for my needs? I'm looking to get the cheapest possible option and don't think I would gain anything by going to the higher level iMacs. The Photoshop and Dreamweaver course I am taking is only 8 weeks and CS4 may just become a hobby after that time.
 
if you have enough money.
IMO it's best to buy the fastest 15" macbook pro and the 24" LED Display..
you get the best of both world..

portability + dual screen while at home or office.. :cool:
 
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