Are you using CS2 on intel macs? Then I'd suggest that you upgrade to CS3
I don't know what "heavy print work" is to you. But CS3 on my MacBook 2GHz 2GB has been very snappy for everything I've done so far, and an iMac is even faster.
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What's the likelihood of there being an iMac Pro
- Thread starter stimpycat
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Are you using CS2 on intel macs? Then I'd suggest that you upgrade to CS3
I don't know what "heavy print work" is to you. But CS3 on my MacBook 2GHz 2GB has been very snappy for everything I've done so far, and an iMac is even faster.
Highly doubtful. Although if the rumors are true & they do come out with a brushed aluminum iMac that would be awesome.
The processor / RAM Capacity upgrades in the new iMacs will almost certainly make them powerful enough to handle most print & web designer's needs, but it will be interesting to see what LCD's Apple uses in them.
The foremost concern for graphic design pros doing heavy photo and print work is the color accuracy of the display. Apple's Cinema Displays are 8-bit displays that accomplish 16.7M colors without dithering. Most consumer LCD's, and all laptops including MBP use 6-bit panels that have faster response time and are better for gaming and video, but dither colors to achieve the look of 16M colors. I believe 20 & 24" iMacs use 8-bit panels but the recent 17"s reportedly use 6-bit.
Apple did that with recently with the PowerMac G5, the short lived single CPU variant was an iMac G5 in a PowerMac G5 case.
Note: while there were 2 single CPU versions, one was the dual CPU board with 1 CPU and the other was the iMac variant.
Even though I suggest "low-end Mac Pro", doesn't mean I think its likely. I do have reasoning though:
1. I don't think the line-up needs another headless Mac. However, some rumours suggest they may be dropping the Mac Mini so this may be a moot point.
2. You're going to need a tower enclosure to house components that are considerably more powerful than the current specs. My Core Duo runs hot as it is; putting an 8800 GTX in there just isn't going to happen. Aside from the beefy cards being massive they're hot and draw a lot of power. So you'll need a bigger PSU too. More heat.
And for those who say Apple have all the bases covered - they don't. I'm considering moving back to windows/linux simply because what they offer is under-par or overkill. Which is a crying shame because the operating system is brilliant.
1. I don't think the line-up needs another headless Mac. However, some rumours suggest they may be dropping the Mac Mini so this may be a moot point.
2. You're going to need a tower enclosure to house components that are considerably more powerful than the current specs. My Core Duo runs hot as it is; putting an 8800 GTX in there just isn't going to happen. Aside from the beefy cards being massive they're hot and draw a lot of power. So you'll need a bigger PSU too. More heat.
And for those who say Apple have all the bases covered - they don't. I'm considering moving back to windows/linux simply because what they offer is under-par or overkill. Which is a crying shame because the operating system is brilliant.
don't care what it is called, give me a 30"!
I am a professional who uses my 24" iMac every day. I work in CS2, CS3, run Aperture with 15k photos, and never regretted my decision not to purchase a pro tower instead. For about half the cost I can buy a "new" one in 2 1/2 years, and be assurred that it will be way faster, more powerful, probably about the same cost as the 24", and have a bigger screen than what I am using today.
Sure there are trade-offs, it would be nice to have at least 4gb of ram (but 3gb seems ok), and I have to use external HD's instead of internal bays for extra storage. I don't do video, but I DO work on 150 page publications, huge billboard files, and routinally handle large pshop files that push upwards of 1bg. This is one of my favorite macs that I have had over the years, and it takes up a LOT less space than my g4 tower did. The pro I was looking at would have run 6500-7000, the iMac I bought instead was literally HALF the cost. I purchased it the SAME day it was announced, and for me it was a sound investment. For 90% of my work the speed differences would not even be noticable, but then again I have been in this field for about 20 years. Long enough to remember paying 700.00 for a 40mb (yikes, lol) hard drive from Jasmine... and also long enough to remember waiting 45mins for a syquest drive to copy 45mb of information.
If, hopefully, Apple comes out with a 30" iMac, with 4gb+ of ram soon, I will likely purchase one to replace an older 17" lamp-arm iMac. I don't care if it comes in white, black, brushed metal, or even has the "dreaded chin"... people go on about those severe "design" flaws way too much. Apple is light years away from the competition in terms of style, features, and performance. If you want a Yugo, buy it... but don't complain that the BMW is overpriced, or even that the Yugo lacks features. Apple is a premium niche brand, and you pay for it. I gladly pay for it, but am pretty happy I could sneak out the door with a 24" iMac for half the cost of the Pro, with little downside...
cheers, mlbl
I am a professional who uses my 24" iMac every day. I work in CS2, CS3, run Aperture with 15k photos, and never regretted my decision not to purchase a pro tower instead. For about half the cost I can buy a "new" one in 2 1/2 years, and be assurred that it will be way faster, more powerful, probably about the same cost as the 24", and have a bigger screen than what I am using today.
Sure there are trade-offs, it would be nice to have at least 4gb of ram (but 3gb seems ok), and I have to use external HD's instead of internal bays for extra storage. I don't do video, but I DO work on 150 page publications, huge billboard files, and routinally handle large pshop files that push upwards of 1bg. This is one of my favorite macs that I have had over the years, and it takes up a LOT less space than my g4 tower did. The pro I was looking at would have run 6500-7000, the iMac I bought instead was literally HALF the cost. I purchased it the SAME day it was announced, and for me it was a sound investment. For 90% of my work the speed differences would not even be noticable, but then again I have been in this field for about 20 years. Long enough to remember paying 700.00 for a 40mb (yikes, lol) hard drive from Jasmine... and also long enough to remember waiting 45mins for a syquest drive to copy 45mb of information.
If, hopefully, Apple comes out with a 30" iMac, with 4gb+ of ram soon, I will likely purchase one to replace an older 17" lamp-arm iMac. I don't care if it comes in white, black, brushed metal, or even has the "dreaded chin"... people go on about those severe "design" flaws way too much. Apple is light years away from the competition in terms of style, features, and performance. If you want a Yugo, buy it... but don't complain that the BMW is overpriced, or even that the Yugo lacks features. Apple is a premium niche brand, and you pay for it. I gladly pay for it, but am pretty happy I could sneak out the door with a 24" iMac for half the cost of the Pro, with little downside...
cheers, mlbl
You miss the point completely. Apple is trying to distinguish them self from the normal pc, A major selling point is the fact the imac is a all in one. You take away that all you have is a PC running osx. If you want more space use a external drive and surely there will be a standard FW800 on the new imac's so it shouldn't be slow.
One of the biggest draws of the imac in apples recent success is the all in one package, people can't seem to believe it is all in there and it draws people not just for the look but for the fact you save so much space something that many of us don't have. So people tend to upgrade their imac every 3 years with every penny going to apple. If apple brough out a tower version people would use third party companys to upgrade them, making them like I said into a glorified PC taking money away from apple.
Now I have been a PC user for many years and I once was mad on upgrading, a few years back a spent £425 on a new graphics card, but just plain power and being able to upgrade isn't as important. I no longer want a tower that gets in the way and the mess of wires that clutter my desk. The idea of a computer all inside a 24" moniter is brilliant.....
I doubt it that we'll see an iMac Pro but I can see the 'i' being dropped, tie it in with the rest of the lineup.
Its the only model to have the same name as when we were on PPC.
But then when someone says 'Oh yeah I've got a mac' then we won't know whether they mean the new iMac or just a 'mac'.
We'll see.
Cfour
Its the only model to have the same name as when we were on PPC.
But then when someone says 'Oh yeah I've got a mac' then we won't know whether they mean the new iMac or just a 'mac'.
We'll see.
Cfour
