power options for iMac

Patti,

Deciding on an iMac for critical photography work may not be the optimal solution, unless you have worked at an iMac and found the monitor to be acceptable to you personally.

A) the fastest video card, given two good choices 2.8GHz Intel Core 2
Duo or 3.06GHz Intel Core 2 Duo

B)the most powerful processor ATI Radeon HD 2600 PRO w/256MB GDDR3 or ATI Radeon HD 2600 PRO w/256MB GDDR3

lot of mix up in there. But maxing out RAM would be my first option.

I recently bought a 24" iMac for home. Computer works well for the limited photo editing I do there. But the display is very disappointing. A pretty extreme dark to light gradient across the monitor. Almost a full-stop difference in illumination from right corner to left third of the screen. From what I’ve read (after my purchase) that gradient is common with the 24" alum macs. Not good.

Of the options, which is the most important for Photoshop CS3

the most important option for Photoshop is to get a tower and not an iMac.

We are ready to order a new iMac.

The latest iMacs will accept 4 GB RAM and have a FW800 port to add the necessary external drives. Today such a configuration indeed will do an adequate job of just running PSCS3 – but just running the apps does not make a box the best choice.

For life cycle and for performance reasons IMO iMacs are much less good choices than towers for desktop graphics workstations. iMacs are subject to the very significant limitations noted below.

Just the RAM limitation alone is an obvious serious limiter even with today’s app versions, and as RAM prices continually fall modern apps and the OS are taking advantage of more and more RAM all the time. E.g. even though Photoshop can only directly address ~3 GB RAM, PS running under OS X has shown improved performance with 8 GB and more RAM for about 5 years now.

Boxes purchased today will be running the OSs/apps of the next few years, when the 4 GB limitation of iMacs will become even more significantly limiting. I consider RAM the bargain value performance enhancer today and it will only get better, so IMO limiting a graphics desktop box destined for 2009-2012 usage to 4 GB max RAM is poor life-cycle decision making.

I would also point out that, as consumer boxes, iMacs now only come with glossy displays. Matte vs. glossy is a matter of personal preference, but personally I find glossy unacceptable. Most graphics pros do not want their displays arbitrarily adding contrast and saturation to their work. That, for me, makes iMacs unacceptable at any price.

Some pros get around the iMac’s glossy display issue by having their second display a matte and just using the iMac for palettes. I guess that could work but it is not something I would want to do because frequently I compare images on both displays.

All Photoshop versions require a separate hard drive for scratch to achieve best performance. That starts an iMac with at least one permanently attached external drive limited to FW speeds. The SATA of MPs is far preferable. Note too that if DSLR batch image handling were to creep into the usage during the life of the box that single FW800 port will also be limiting as regards disk i/o.

Any new box should be planned for the apps and OS versions expected to be in use during the life of the new box in addition to current apps. That includes CS4, OS 10.6 and beyond. And, IMO when buying for the graphics-pro future we should be equipping folks with the ability to handle image management apps like Aperture because managing DSLR captures will become more and more prevalent a need over the life of most new desktop graphics boxes.

iMacs are nice consumer boxes and I have purchased them for family members, but they are much less-good desktop choices for graphics professionals. Better would be a refurbished Mac Pro, even the 2006 model. Note also FWIW that new Macs of various flavors will be announced between now and Mac Expo SF in January, starting with laptops tomorrow.

Allen gives good advice each time this topic is brought up. And each time, he recommends waiting for the new models to arrive. When can we buy a computer? 🙂

Patti, if you really want to know if an iMac would suit you, you could share what type of work would be done on it. Without knowing you, your workflow, or your personal preferences, no one here can make qualified recommendations on the ideal system for you. We can only say a stock response like ‘bigger/faster is better’.

Whether you buy an iMac or a tower, you really should find some way to test a system, especially if you have never used a Mac. I see some pretty powerful marketing in action if you are looking to purchase a system you have not tried.

share what type of work would be done on it I thought …for Photoshop CS3/digital photography work was clear enough. When can we buy a computer?

Sorry if …refurbished Mac Pro, even the 2006 model was not clear. I recommend such a purchase to folks who need a new computer now, not waiting. And now is a fine time to buy a refurbished Mac Pro for who need a new computer now.

…each time, he recommends waiting for the new models to arrive. Not true. The word "wait" was not in my post. I simply advised FWIW ("for what it is worth") that new models are coming fairly soon including laptops tomorrow. Note that iMac engineering is largely a subset of laptop engineering, so capabilities on new laptops announced tomorrow may help give us insight into capabilities of the next iMac generation. Since RAM is so important to …for Photoshop CS3/digital photography work and RAM maximums will likely significantly increase tomorrow, many of us consider tomorrow important.

However I have said "wait" as regards choosing a graphics card and other system optimizing until after CS4 tests are on the street in a few weeks. And on other forums I have said wait:

IMO January (Mac Expo SF) and OS 10.6 is the earliest that anyone with a currently good working system should consider upgrading to Mac Pro – – – unless a 2006 MP deal is too good to pass up :).

Note the important qualification "anyone with a currently good working system."

I thought …for Photoshop CS3/digital photography work was clear enough.

Yes, it is as clear as mud. If you have not noticed, everything is digital photography these days.

This is why I find these threads a continual source of amusement as regulars either copy/paste previous posts that the OP could have searched for – – or the regulars spend their time by retyping fresh, lengthy explanations since they do not have any specific info to go on in regard to recommending a suitable system.

I’m going to make a daring prediction that a system 2 years from now will be better than what you can find right now for the same price.

Allen, lighten up. The smiley helps convey that humor was attempted.

Sorry if I was tight. I do get that way when my analysis hat is on. 🙂

I’m going to make a daring prediction that a system 2 years from now will be better than what you can find right now for the same price.

Very true of course. However sometimes (e.g. Mac Pros) we can go two years or more with only moderate upgrades. Other times we may expect very substantial improvements in only a few days (e.g. laptops tomorrow). It does behoove us to keep in mind a general idea of what new boxes are likely to be when we are making purchase decisions.