Mac Mini Graphics Card

[mojopixel]

Hello,

Does the graphics card on the more expensive Mac Mini have enough gusto to cope with the demands of photo editing using Photoshop?

Does anybody here use graphics applications on a Mac Mini and if so, has your experience been a positive or a negative one?

cheers,

MP

 

[robbieduncan]

Photoshop is not accelerated at all by the graphics card so no worries there.

 

[jamesi]

you will be fine, i doubt you will notice any hiccups really on a mac mini. i say this only b/c most users wont notice a difference, they just pretend like a mac pro is infinity better

 

[mojopixel]

coolio

you will be fine, i doubt you will notice any hiccups really on a mac mini. i say this only b/c most users wont notice a difference, they just pretend like a mac pro is infinity better

cool, so what you're saying is that I can get a Mac Mini, use all of my current peripherals, save a bunch of cash to spend on wine and women and still edit photos in in photoshop and create flash movies???

MP

 

[robbieduncan]

Erm, maybe. You didn't say anything about peripherals before. What have you got?

The wine and women? Great plan.

 

[mojopixel]

so here it is...

Erm, maybe. You didn't say anything about peripherals before. What have you got?

The wine and women? Great plan.

I've got a logitech wireless mouse and keyboard, which I got with my Mesh computer 5 years ago. I've also got a microsoft plug 'n' play laptop mouse.

As for the wine and women, I've got lots of one and not too much of the other but I think that that topic is for another forum.

 

[robbieduncan]

Mice and keyboards should work without issues. I was worried about old unsupported scanners or SCSI drives and the like!

 

[Blue Velvet]

Photoshop is not accelerated at all by the graphics card so no worries there.

While true of earlier versions, Photoshop CS3 does have 3D acceleration, which in their words 'enhances performance of graphics display and rendering', and will use your video card. Check under Performance in Preferences.

 

[robbieduncan]

While true of earlier versions, Photoshop CS3 does have 3D acceleration, which in their words 'enhances performance of graphics display and rendering', and will use your video card. Check under Performance in Preferences.

Ah, my mistake. I'm still stuck on CS2, my copy of CS3 is in the US still I think...

 

[liveexpo]

On a related note, I've just bough a 2.0 MacMini, upgrading from my trusty ol' G3 iBook, which I've been using intensively to run CS1 - trying to edit 200MB+ TIFF files !

Now, I'm not so hot in understanding the Rosetta performance malarchy....I've heard some say that CS1 will run at about the same performance as on a G4. If that's the case, would it be more worth my while upgrading to CS3? What differences in performance can I expect between CS1 and CS3 on the MacMini, and also, how would this compare to my old G3??

Cheers!!

 

[AlexisV]

While true of earlier versions, Photoshop CS3 does have 3D acceleration, which in their words 'enhances performance of graphics display and rendering', and will use your video card. Check under Performance in Preferences.

Yep, but even the oldest 3D card will have enough oomph for what Photoshop requires.

On a related note, I've just bough a 2.0 MacMini, upgrading from my trusty ol' G3 iBook, which I've been using intensively to run CS1 - trying to edit 200MB+ TIFF files !

Now, I'm not so hot in understanding the Rosetta performance malarchy....I've heard some say that CS1 will run at about the same performance as on a G4. If that's the case, would it be more worth my while upgrading to CS3? What differences in performance can I expect between CS1 and CS3 on the MacMini, and also, how would this compare to my old G3?

200Mb TIFF files will be slow to edit on any machine, although the 5400RPM hard drive on the Mini will mean it is slightly slower than on an iMac say.
Using CS1 through Rosetta isn't terrrible, but you get a lot of the spinning wheel when you flip between PS and other programs. You will notice a difference with CS3 definitely though and will be miles better than on your G3.

 

[TheStu]

Yep, but even the oldest 3D card will have enough oomph for what Photoshop requires.



200Mb TIFF files will be slow to edit on any machine, although the 5400RPM hard drive on the Mini will mean it is slightly slower than on an iMac say.
Using CS1 through Rosetta isn't terrrible, but you get a lot of the spinning wheel when you flip between PS and other programs. You will notice a difference with CS3 definitely though and will be miles better than on your G3.

It's always been my understanding that PhotoShop smoothness is much more dependent upon CPU and RAM than it is upon the GPU. So the Mac Mini might not be as capable as the iMac, but it is cheaper, and is not that much less capable (at least I wouldn't think that it would be)