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Finally, Mac

jaapv

By jaapv
in Digital Post Processing Forum

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jaapv

jaapv

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My trusty PC developed a fatal illnes, resulting in a motherboard infarct, so I have to get something new. Upgrading to MacPro. As I have to order the thing in a kind of meccano system, a question:

Running CS5, which did indeed suffered from lack of power on mPC, what do I need?

I was looking at a quad-core with 8 Gb of RAM. That should be enough - or?

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jaapv

jaapv

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Welcome to the Mac World Jaap!!!

Sounds like it'll be a great system.

A bit apprehensive for the learning curve - and the hassle of reinstalling everything...:o Fortunately the son of my head girl is a qualified administrator for both Mac and PC :)

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pico

pico

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My trusty PC developed a fatal illnes, resulting in a motherboard infarct, so I have to get something new. Upgrading to MacPro. As I have to order the thing in a kind of meccano system, a question:

Running CS5, which did indeed suffered from lack of power on mPC, what do I need?

I was looking at a quad-core with 8 Gb of RAM. That should be enough - or?

 

Quad-core, 8 Gb RAM and two fixed (hard) drives is what I use at work. It is just fine. For a while I had 16 Gb RAM and it was no better than 8. (Believe it or not, more RAM sometimes slightly decreases Photoshop efficiency.)

 

The two fixed drives are very helpful. Assign the second as the first drive for scratch files. Overlap seeks and writes like separate spindles.

 

As for the learning curve - CS5 is almost exactly the same on PC and Mac, but I HIGHLY recommend that you get a two or three-button mouse. It's plug-and-play. No problem.

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Marty

Marty

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Congratulations on a wise choice :)

 

Food for thought: if your CS5 is the PC version you might still not get all the performance you could have on a Mac with the Mac version. If anyone else here does this perhaps they could comment on that. And the PC licence is not also a Mac licence, so if you are interested in the latter it might be worth calling Adobe about it. I have read somewhere (possibly their forums) that Adobe will exchange them on certain conditions.

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Tim B

Tim B

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Hey, Jaap, me too.

 

I've had my iMac 27" 4 core 2.93 2Tb 8Gb RAM for nearly two weeks and installed my newly purchased CS5 upgrade straight away.

 

Yes, still on the up curve with the Mac.

 

Incidentally, when I was trying to buy the PS upgrade I had a problem with my credit card and ended up talking directly to Adobe. For a reason I'm not quite sure of, except that I told them I was still using a Windows laptop they gave me a Mac license and a Windows license and the option to install either on two computers. This is great, but unexpected. There was lot of stuff in the download about an enterprise edition, which I hadn't asked for and is a little confusing, but I'm not complaining.

 

But the Mac is great and I'm getting used to having so much screen space and a second monitor attached as well.

 

Good luck,

 

Tim

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zlatkob

zlatkob

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Macs are very secure but, like any computer, can have mechanical failures. With a MacPro you can have 4 internal drives. Something like this works well:

 

drive A = operating system and applications

drive B = daily backup of A

drive C = photo files, documents, music, etc.

drive D = daily backup of C

 

Here are some more quick tips:

  • You can buy the additional internal drives elsewhere and easily install them yourself.
     
  • I recommend using SuperDuper to make daily backups (A to B, and C to D). Drive B should be a bootable backup.
     
  • For additional backups, set up Time Machine to do an hourly backup of drive A to an external drive. All of your HD backups should run automatically, without the need for any input.
     
  • Backup photo files to DVDs using Roxio Toast Titanium.
     
  • The Mac's Finder may seem a little less flexible than Windows Explorer. The free Clone Window utility is a good add on for Finder that makes it just a little easier to transfer files from one folder to another.
     
  • Photo Mechanic is the quickest way to select keepers from a large number of photos. In the Preferences, set it to "render raw" when viewing M8/M9 files; otherwise you will get a tiny jpg preview. (Or shoot jpeg + raw.) When viewing files from other cameras, set it to show the built-in jpeg, which is much faster and will fill the screen.
     
  • Adobe offers an inexpensive "cross-grade" for Photoshop if the Mac version is replacing your Windows version. Call them about this. They may ask you to sign a document.
     
  • If you like the feel and functions of a Windows mouse, replace the Mac mouse as soon as possible. There is no need to suffer with it.
     
  • The Mac versions of Word and Excel work very nicely. Apple offers similar programs, Pages and Numbers, which work well too.
     
  • Lightroom works great on my Mac. I highly recommend it.

Give yourself a month or so to get used to the Mac OS. At first it may be a little frustrating, but after some time it becomes second nature. Also, don't expect the Mac to be faster; Macs are not inherently faster than PCs. But the added security is well-worth the learning curve.

 

Good luck!

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delander †

delander †

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Hi Jaap,

 

About a month ago I changed from a PC that was struggling with photoshop CS3 and Capture 1 to a 27 inch imac quad core with 4gb memory. At the same time I bought a photoshop CS5 upgrade for the mac which accepts the license code from CS3 (PC).

 

The imac is of course at least 5 times faster than my old pc but for me at least it has taken some time getting used to. It is not difficult but just different.

 

I've thought about getting another 4gb memory but the imac is so fast I'm wondering if it is really necessary.

 

It is a bit of a hassle changing over, and there is a software cost involved but I'm sure you will enjoy your new mac.

 

Jeff

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Nicoleica

Nicoleica

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[*]I recommend using SuperDuper to make daily backups (A to B, and C to D). Drive B should be a bootable backup.

 

 

[*]Backup photo files to DVDs using Roxio Toast Titanium.

 

[*]The Mac's Finder may seem a little less flexible than Windows Explorer. The free Clone Window utility is a good add on for Finder that makes it just a little easier to transfer files from one folder to another.

 

 

[*]If you like the feel and functions of a Windows mouse, replace the Mac mouse as soon as possible. There is no need to suffer with it.

 

[*]The Mac versions of Word and Excel work very nicely. Apple offers similar programs, Pages and Numbers, which work well too.

 

 

Give yourself a month or so to get used to the Mac OS. At first it may be a little frustrating, but after some time it becomes second nature. Also, don't expect the Mac to be faster; Macs are not inherently faster than PCs. But the added security is well-worth the learning curve.

 

Good luck!

 

May I make a few comments on the suggestions above?

 

If you a MobileMe member, then Apple provide a free Backup application that is very useful and versatile for making full or selective backups to internal or external drives.

 

I find that simply using the finder to make CD/DVD archives of my photographs via a Burn Folder is very easy and reliable. I haven't found any need to buy additional software to do this.

 

As mentioned above, it may take a little while to become familiar with the Mac OS, but when you have become familiar with it, the finder is perfectly fine for transferring files around. I've never felt the need for any add-ons. The Mac OS is very comprehensive in this respect.

 

I don't know why anyone would wish to replace the mouse. The Mighty Mouse and Magic Mouse are far more pleasant to use than any Windows mouse I've come across. The Magic Mouse is especially good with its ergonomics and functions. You just need to configure it correctly.

 

I agree that the iWorks package is very good. It's also quite a bit less expensive than Office. I use both on my Macs, and I prefer the Apple versions.

 

I also agree fully that it takes a little while to become familiar with the Mac. Coming from Windows, there will be times where you become frustrated at first. But after a short while, something will suddenly go 'click' inside your head, and you will then wonder why you spent so long struggling with Windows when the Mac does things so much better.

I do however think that Macs are generally faster than Windows machines, as the software and hardware are both generally more efficient and elegant in their execution.

 

But most important of all, ENJOY your new machine. :):D:cool:

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