What image editing alternatives does Allen recommend for the laptop if he thinks Photoshop is not ideal?

No alternative to PSCS2 was asked about or discussed. We are discussing PSCS2 performance expectations. I used PS on G3 laptop and PS performance sucked, but that did not mean there was a better laptop solution.

I'm struggling to understand Allen's point. The OP is asking about a laptop in Iraq. Is there an Apple store there where the buddy can pick up a G5 tower?

Sorry I appear to be miscommunicating. The OP:

my buddy in Iraq has a 2month old MacBook. he is looking to get to Photoshop CS2 for his Mac. are there any issues that I need to be aware of with the new intel Macs, or have they all been resolved.

Could be that the MB user has used PS before on a tower, now wonders about PSCS2 on a MB; hence the warning about relative laptop performance.
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I said:

...new laptop PS users should be aware of general laptop graphics performance limitations. For instance a G5 tower PSCS2 user moving to a laptop would very likely be disappointed with the relative performance of PSCS2 on a MacBook.

Phil asked:

Please point me to information suggesting that has anything to do with graphics performance.

PS is a graphics app that I have been using for more than a decade on both towers and laptops. Laptops (as compared to towers) have always been relatively weaker for PS usage. I am simply making the user aware of that, particularly since the user is asking about using use of one of the heaviest graphics apps made on the current lowest end Apple box, a laptop.
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Unless you know something no one outside of Adobe could possibly know, and they substantially change the way that Photoshop works (utilize CoreImage? I'd be very surprised.), PS CS3 will likely require no more GPU performance as it always has - not much, relatively speaking.

Phil we agree that PSCS2 does not currently utilize GPUs much. However I will be surprised if with PSCS3 Adobe engineers are not moving to utilize the heavy graphics power now available on pro MacIntels.

Apple's new hardware is (IMO) oriented toward powerful new graphics capability. Certainly OS 10.5 will be using those GPU capabilities and Adobe's usage of system calls and the like will tie PSCS3 performance to GPU strength even if Adobe does not specifically address the GPU. Also it seems to me that the UB tools Apple is providing to developers do generally link app performance to graphics hardware.
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it seems you base all you theories and recommendations around the requirements of Aperture

I did not mention Aperture in this thread. I do consider Aperture to be illustrative of the direction that Apple seems to be going. Of course anyone may disagree.

My opinion that the hardware, OS and some major apps will be moving in the direction of heavier usage of graphics hardware and RAM is not simplistically based around the atypical requirements of Aperture.
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I often use PSCS2 on a G4 with less than a GB of RAM. Not everyone uses Photoshop in RAM-intensive applications. Lighten up on your Apple hardware sales pitches. The question is about buying software; not hardware.

The question was regarding expected PS performance on a laptop. IMO folks using PS will be happiest with 2 GB or more of RAM. Folks on lowest end laptops in particular are well advised to max out the RAM.

Of course some folks will choose to use PS on low end boxes and/or with minimum RAM, and PS will usually run. That is any individual's choice but not something I intend to recommend when asked.

whymeintroube

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CS2 and Intel Macs