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upgrading to intel imac -question

M

maccat

macrumors newbie
Original poster
May 24, 2004
5
0
Hi was wondering if anyone could help, have imac g4 800mhz with 768 ram and was thinking of upgrading to (intel)20' imac ( i like the intel because of the screen spanning and future potential). Was planning to get 256 of video ram and full 2gb memory. I have read up on the slowness with photoshop and none native apps, but how relevent will this be for me coming from the old imac.
I plan to use photoshop and some video work(and maybe some 3d!) I know don't tell me to buy a powermac!

I also heard the imac screen and even the 20' apple display can't be used for colour accurate work, is this true?

I'm sorry for the long windedness, but I'd don't post often.

I'd be grateful for any help
 
If you want to use the Intel Mac for professional graphics work then I would hold fire until Adobe release CS3 with native intel support. Photoshop emulated is very slow (probably slower than your G4).
 
I get a kick out of the difference in opinion and speculation of Photoshop on Intelmac Rosetta and PPC chips. Some say "It's way faster than my G4 ever was!" But then people who have never used one say "It's really slow, so hold off." Too bad we couldn't get some good reports from Barefeats on the actual answers. I'd say upgrade now. Chances are that it is going to go at least as quickly as your G4. Many sites have been reporting that Rosetta programs go approximately 70% of the native Intel speed, so that would still be probably better than your G4. But that's my opinion to add to the pile :p
 
Yeah Photoshop is about equal with my 1.5 GHZ G4 Powerbook.

I'm confident, if you put a lot of memory in the iMac Core Duo, it will outperform your iMac G4 in Photoshop. Then again, some people see things differently, but you'd probably be satisfied.
 
powerbook911 said:
Yeah Photoshop is about equal with my 1.5 GHZ G4 Powerbook.

I'm confident, if you put a lot of memory in the iMac Core Duo, it will outperform your iMac G4 in Photoshop. Then again, some people see things differently, but you'd probably be satisfied.
Click to expand...

I think Powerbook G4s tooks around 2:15 to do the Photoshop Test here on the forums. the iMacs (Core Duos) are taking around 59 seconds.
 
I just picked up a 17" intel imac last night and I will say with the stock 512mb ram it is slower to load photoshop. When it loads up, it's useable but still a little slower than my 1.5 pb with 1.25mb ram. Now once my 2x1gig ram comes in the mail it should hopefully be quite a bit quicker.
 
maccat said:
Hi was wondering if anyone could help, have imac g4 800mhz with 768 ram and was thinking of upgrading to (intel)20' imac ( i like the intel because of the screen spanning and future potential). Was planning to get 256 of video ram and full 2gb memory. I have read up on the slowness with photoshop and none native apps, but how relevent will this be for me coming from the old imac.
I plan to use photoshop and some video work(and maybe some 3d!) I know don't tell me to buy a powermac!

I also heard the imac screen and even the 20' apple display can't be used for colour accurate work, is this true?

I'm sorry for the long windedness, but I'd don't post often.

I'd be grateful for any help
Click to expand...

You are psychic, I have the exact same specs on my iMac G4 and am going to upgrade tot he exact iMac with the same configuration in a few weeks. How awesome is it that I don't have to make a new thread now?!?!:)
 
they arent putting photoshop on the iMacs...they dont want to have a non native app on there, besides Microsoft Office OSX. They want to portray everything as super fast..because it is..just its all native. Im a pro photographer and i asked them to put it on a machine and let me play with it..and the guy, who i have a relationship buying from him ( knows by name, etc etc) and he said no way they werent allowed to...


go figure...
 
If you are not going to be using this computer for the purposes of heavy graphics work with photoshop and other non universal apps and you want the computer to last as long as possible (ie not buying a new one every year or two) then go with the intel. If you are worried about some non universal apps running slower on the intel then get the G5. Software developers will be fully supporting the g5 and intel with the universal binaries and G5 support will be there for awhile considering how many current users have them and that the powermacs are still using it.
 
excalibur313 said:
Why not visit an apple store and try out photoshop there? You could bring some photos and manipulate them in ways typical to you.
Click to expand...
yeah, the imacs in the s.f. store only had 512mb ram in them...strange...i thought they'd at least put a gig in there.

imo, if you get the imac and have 2GB of ram, it will run most non-native programs very well. not as fast as if they were UB, but fast enough. if you're limited to the stock 512mb of ram, i'd wait...my imac was almost unuseable while it had only the 512.
 
kugino said:
yeah, the imacs in the s.f. store only had 512mb ram in them...strange...i thought they'd at least put a gig in there.

imo, if you get the imac and have 2GB of ram, it will run most non-native programs very well. not as fast as if they were UB, but fast enough. if you're limited to the stock 512mb of ram, i'd wait...my imac was almost unuseable while it had only the 512.
Click to expand...

I wouldn't say unusable but it is best to get as much ram as you can. The apple store in south coast store all had 1gig ram in them. I pretty much checked everyone of them trying to find out how bad only 512mb would be. oh well my 2gig should be here soon..:D
 
nosser said:
I wouldn't say unusable but it is best to get as much ram as you can. The apple store in south coast store all had 1gig ram in them. I pretty much checked everyone of them trying to find out how bad only 512mb would be. oh well my 2gig should be here soon..:D
Click to expand...
i wonder why different stores have different amounts of ram...

by "unusable" i meant that it was slow enough to be a nuisance. i still use a lot of rosetta-only apps like mac the ripper, toast, adobe stuff, etc., and they use a lot of ram. plus, having a couple of fw drives attached also took up ram when transferring files...i hate being limited to only a couple of apps running at the same time. 2GB has made a huge difference, as it should.
 
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