What to buy, what to buy

[BakedBeans]

I'm a photographer and a creative photo retoucher, and in desperate need of a new machine as Im struggling with an emac which is really not cutting it.

My photography often comprises of multiple images composited when creating artwork (the retouching often includes lots of images) so as you can tell the eMac is often slowing so much its going in reverse as these are often lage files.

I need help choosing which machine to get. I was all set to get a quad and 30inch but im not sure i can stretch to that so am looking at the dual core 2.3 with a 20/23 inch display.

So, I went in to the store today and looked at the powermacs but couldnt help noticing the beauty of the iMac, and its not just the beauty - with a 2.1 g5 and a 20inch monitor its almost an all in one pro machine in pretty clothes. After all, i know pros that bought the single 1.6 g5 with a 20inch screen when the powermacs first came out.

My question is should i seriously look at the iMac 20inch (power and a great price) or should i go ahead with the powermac (even more powerful, desirable and not that cheap). The powermac would probably last longer but IS more expensive... both tempting but would the iMac fulfil my needs?

also, when the intel processors are standard will they still code the software for powerpc? or will they need to be emulated, this machine will need to last me a while

thanks in advance for your help

 

[Lacero]

Get a PowerMac if you're thinking of using Aperture. Eventually upgrading to 16GB RAM looks promising to get the most life out of the machine. And you can upgrade to a 30" monitor at any time. Wouldn't that be lovely.

 

[BakedBeans]

Get a PowerMac if you're thinking of using Aperture. Eventually upgrading to 16GB RAM looks promising to get the most life out of the machine. And you can upgrade to a 30" monitor at any time. Wouldn't that be lovely.

say i got the dual 2.3. what would you have, dual 20s or 1x23?

 

[Kace]

the imac kicks. although i havent yet used a dual core, but i can tell you the 2.1 imac with 1.5gig ram is pretty darned fast. looking at what you are currently working on i would say that this would be a worthy upgrade.

about the intel switch, contrary to what you believe or are aware of, initially the intel machines would run ppc apps on a native emulation envorinment. which means a performace loss, expect rev a. products do be as fast as current power pc chips (on most machines). and expect PPC support for atleast the next few years (universal binaries///). so next time you want to upgrade (2 to 3 years), timing would be perfect -> intel transition complete, rev b. or c. products would be out and about, most apps like photoshop would be by then native on both prosessors. its a win win.

as far as the decision b/w a powermac and a imac is concerned. it does come down to your personal preference. any system would be great. powermac is a bit expensive im my opinion. you could always do what i did. was sort of facing the same dilemma untill my TiPb got stolen. i got the imac 20" and a 17" pb for the same price as a dual 2.3 with 2gigs and a 23" display, with 1.5 GB ram on each machine. frankly, i couldnt be happier. bear in mind the 20" only has 1 upgradeable ram slot.

 

[ipacmm]

say i got the dual 2.3. what would you have, dual 20s or 1x23?

I would get the one 23", I really like having one big display compared to dual 20s, plus the 23" is HD. I would also upgrade the ram in the dual 2.3 from crucial or newegg.com.

 

[pionata]

I'm a photographer and a creative photo retoucher, and in desperate need of a new machine as Im struggling with an emac which is really not cutting it.

My photography often comprises of multiple images composited when creating artwork (the retouching often includes lots of images) so as you can tell the eMac is often slowing so much its going in reverse as these are often lage files.

I need help choosing which machine to get. I was all set to get a quad and 30inch but im not sure i can stretch to that so am looking at the dual core 2.3 with a 20/23 inch display.

So, I went in to the store today and looked at the powermacs but couldnt help noticing the beauty of the iMac, and its not just the beauty - with a 2.1 g5 and a 20inch monitor its almost an all in one pro machine in pretty clothes. After all, i know pros that bought the single 1.6 g5 with a 20inch screen when the powermacs first came out.

My question is should i seriously look at the iMac 20inch (power and a great price) or should i go ahead with the powermac (even more powerful, desirable and not that cheap). The powermac would probably last longer but IS more expensive... both tempting but would the iMac fulfil my needs?

also, when the intel processors are standard will they still code the software for powerpc? or will they need to be emulated, this machine will need to last me a while

thanks in advance for your help

Honestly, the best value for the price is the iMac at the moment.
Since your not doing any Final cut pro or music, I dont think the dual processor is realy necessary for you.

+ The screen on the Imac is better than the current 20" cinema display.

The only reason I would get a powermac if I were you, would be to keep the monitor when (if) you choose to switch to intel in a few years.

But the iMac is certainly good enough for your needs, I would get one, but I realy need a 23" or 30" screen for video and music. Maybe if they ever do a 23" Imac...

 

[BakedBeans]

Ive decided to go for the iMac 20inch with 1.5gb ram and a 12 inch ibook, i will be getting them ASAP... will post photos

 

[tekmoe]

go with the powermac. it has a lot more upgradibility compared to the imac. new monitors, more ram, better video cards. you can upgrade those whenever you want without any effort.

 

[Bear]

Go with the 23" Display.
Try and stretch to the QUad.
And start with at least 2GBs of memory.

I find that using Nikon Capture and Photoshop at the same time requires about 4 GB of RAM for things to run smoothly. But work styles vary, so who knowswhat you will need.

I might need less if I didn't have all the other standard applications running at the same time. (Mail, IM Client, Web Browser, iCal, iTunes, etc)

Adding the 2GB dimm to the iMac will wind up costing so much that you might as well get a PowerMac and use pairs of 1GB dimms.

 

[Clix Pix]

About a month or so ago I bought the Rev B iMac and immediately stuffed it with 2 GB RAM, installed PS CS2 and so far it's been working a treat! At some point in the future I may decide to get a PM and ACD, too, but I felt that for my first venture into the Kingdom of Apple and Mac it would behoove me to proceed with caution. I found that I loved my new iMac so much that I very soon after went out and got a 15" PB (again maxing out the RAM to 2 GB) to use for travel and such. For the money, the combination of the two definitely provides me with a lot of flexibility and that's important. I think you'll find the same with your two. You will love the 20" monitor on the iMac and the appearance of the machine itself is delightful. It's a work of art just sitting in the room, never mind how functional it is!

According to what I've seen and read I *should* be able to use Aperture with both of my machines, but of course won't really know until that software is actually available and installed in them. I suspect that further on down the road more RAM would probably be advisable, in which case then I would need to move on to a PM. PS CS2 works fine right now on both the PB and the iMac. I don't use Nikon's software at all -- never did like it -- and I tend not to have too many other programs open while I'm working with PS CS2. So I'm definitely enjoyng my real-world usage of both the iMac and the PB with PS CS2 right now and looking forward to Aperture...

OTB