Sidebar Sidebar
Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.

Which Graphics program for my new MBP?

D

dcv

macrumors G3
Original poster
May 24, 2005
8,021
1
I've just got my new MacBook Pro, this is my first Intel machine and am wondering if you can suggest which would be the best "graphics" program for me to use. I'm no expert and I vaguely know my way around Adobe Photoshop CS but am worried it'll run quite slowly (under Rosetta) on the MBP... or is that a myth? I'm trying to keep this new machine as 'clean' as possible so would rather not be installing too many apps. Basically just need something for image resizing, touching-up photos, re-colouring stuff, creating basic images for websites, text-based graphics/logos etc (I bet you'll tell me to use Illustrator for some of this stuff but I never quite got the hang of it).

Should I just install CS on here or would you recommend I try something universal/intel such as GIMP or GIMPshop? I've got a really old version of Photoshop Elements but never really liked that compared to the full version, so would rather not buy the latest one of that, and the cost of CS3 seems a bit much.

Is Gimpshop any good? Or will my CS run okay on here?
 
I find CS2 usable, but certainly not fast. It can stall frustratingly at times and, in general, feels more emulated than, say Office which is fine once it starts. CS3 would clearly be perfect...
 
Cheers for the responses...

robbieduncan said:
I find CS2 usable, but certainly not fast. It can stall frustratingly at times and, in general, feels more emulated than, say Office which is fine once it starts. CS3 would clearly be perfect...
Click to expand...

Hmmm, okay, so still not sure whether to bother trying CS. I've deliberately downloaded NeoOffice rather than trying to install MS Office:mac on here, as I heard it was kinda slow.

If I decide to purchase CS3 I think a little trip to the US might be in order ;)

iGav said:
Pixelmator will do you dandy once it's released. ;)
Click to expand...

Oooo, that looks interesting. But as you say... "once it's released"...


So I've still got CS just on the PowerBook for the time being, hmmm.
 
dcv said:
Oooo, that looks interesting. But as you say... "once it's released"...
Click to expand...

Well... a Beta version is due this month, a version 1.0 release is expected soon after, and Apple will buy them up soon after that. ;)
 
Maybe it's just their pretty website but I'm definitely going to give Pixelmator a try once it's out. Their blog says late July for release at approx $59 USD, wow!

Pixelmator is based on Core Image technology that uses your Mac's video card for image processing. Core Image utilizes the graphics card for image processing operations, freeing the CPU for other tasks. And if you have a high-performance card with increased video memory (VRAM), you'll find real-time responsiveness across a wide variety of Pixelmator operations. Pixelmator is blistering-fast on the latest PowerPC and all Intel-based Macs.
Click to expand...

^Oooo yes please! I look forward to the beta, cheers iGav :)
 
I've been running the CS2 suite pretty nicely on my MBP with 2 Gigs of RAM. I usually have Photoshop, GoLive, and sometimes Flash or Illustrator all open and switching between them at once. Sometimes the odd one will crash though.

I'd say if you have enough RAM, running CS isn't as painful as you'd think. I find it fairly snappy, actually.
 
I have to say pixelmator does look very nice, I wonder if it supports graphics tablets :confused:

And $59 is like pennies in the uk so whether it works or not its not exactly going to break the bank. I can see it being useful as a secondary photoshop on less used systems :)

EDIT: yep graphic talet is supported :D
 
dcv said:
^Oooo yes please!
Click to expand...

I know. Imagine if Adobe could actually be bothered as well. :rolleyes: :(

If a viable and fully interoperable rival to Photoshop existed, I wouldn't hesitate in dropping Adobe from my workflow such is their apparent disdain at making use of such technologies.

I suspect Apple will somewhat surreptitiously be keeping a watchful eye on this app. They'd be fools not to.

dcv said:
cheers iGav :)
Click to expand...

:)
 
How do you think Pixelmator will be for light, professional use? Given the print places I've used seem to want pdfs of the materials, is there any point in buying photoshop? I currently use CS but looking to upgrade at the end of the year. Now if they come out with a brother for it that works along the lines of Illustrator . . .
 
Ish said:
Now if they come out with a brother for it that works along the lines of Illustrator . . .
Click to expand...

there are already some - inkscape is one option and theres another which I can't remember the name fully for, I think its seagull.


iGav, actually Apple adding it to iLife suite would be quite a nice add for the home user.
 
Photoshop CS3 since it's Intel native; otherwise go to Aperture since it does non-destructive editing. For page layout specifically, again CS3 would be my recommendation. Indesign is an excellent program, and well worth the $. If you have a MBP, get the best you can.

That being said, if you can pick up a copy of CS2, it should still run just fine ... don't go to CS, however. Too far back down the pipe.
 
LeviG said:
there are already some - inkscape is one option and theres another which I can't remember the name fully for, I think its seagull.

iGav, actually Apple adding it to iLife suite would be quite a nice add for the home user.
Click to expand...

I had a look at the website. It looks very promising. I noticed under the FAQ that there were questions comparing it to Photoshop, which was easy to answer, but they seemed to stay away of comparing it to Illustrator, which would be more appropriate.

Could anyone here that has used Pixelator and Inkscape compare them to Photoshop and Illustrator for me? What are the pros and cons, other than cost? Thanks.
 
dcv, put your CS on there. I'm still running CS on my MBP — for work — and while InDesign seems near unusable, the other two are OK except when you start getting into multillayered large (600mb+) Photoshop files. And then it's still usable but slow. ImageReady is very handy too.

For the kind of work I know you'll be doing, it'll be fine. And when you do get CS3 or later one day, it'll feel like a machine upgrade.

And use FontExplorer X — it's free — for all of those fonts...

http://www.linotype.com/fontexplorerX
 
Stampyhead said:
It will be interesting to see how it stacks up to Photoshop.
Click to expand...

I'm personally interested in seeing how it handles type, and it's general typographic capability. Something that Photoshop has always been a little... blah about.

And I'd be very surprised if it doesn't completely spank it in the speed stakes. Making it potentially very useful for on-the-fly mockups during pitches and client meetings.
 
miniConvert said:
You know you want CS3 really :p I could never justify it for personal use, but as a business purchase it's worth the money.
Click to expand...

I can't help but think that CS3 is probably a little overkill for anything other than professional designers, and even then... and speaking as one, I can't help but think that PS CS3 is overkill for 90% of professional designers. Heh.
 
Blue Velvet said:
dcv, put your CS on there. I'm still running CS on my MBP — for work — and while InDesign seems near unusable, the other two are OK except when you start getting into multillayered large (600mb+) Photoshop files. And then it's still usable but slow. ImageReady is very handy too.

For the kind of work I know you'll be doing, it'll be fine. And when you do get CS3 or later one day, it'll feel like a machine upgrade.

And use FontExplorer X — it's free — for all of those fonts...

http://www.linotype.com/fontexplorerX
Click to expand...

Ahh well that's good to know, thanks!

I am very tempted to not bother installing it though and just keep that on the iMac, then try out Pixelmator once it's released... hopefully that'll be very soon. Oh and yes, I do like FontExplorer X :)

iGav said:
I can't help but think that CS3 is probably a little overkill for anything other than professional designers, and even then... and speaking as one, I can't help but think that PS CS3 is overkill for 90% of professional designers. Heh.
Click to expand...

Yeah, I think it'd definitely be overkill for me then! :eek:
 
I think Illustrator CS2 and Photoshop CS2 are the 2 perfect programs for you to work. i use both of them, and i have wonderfull results. try it!
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Register on MacRumors! This sidebar will go away, and you'll see fewer ads.
Top Bottom
Back