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kipdent
19-Jan-2008, 18:14
I just returned from Macworld in San Francisco where I tested a 650MB photo in Photoshop CS3 running on Apple's brand-new 8-core Mac Pro desktop computer. Over the years I've seen incremental improvements but nothing like this--I was simply astonished. Manipulations such as filters, curves and profile assignments were mind-bogglingly fast on this quite large file. One of the Mac Pro design engineers was nearby and told me CS3 utilizes all 8 cores. I've never wanted a machine for working on digital files as much as this one!
Stephen Best
19-Jan-2008, 22:17
I just returned from Macworld in San Francisco where I tested a 650MB photo in Photoshop CS3 running on Apple's brand-new 8-core Mac Pro desktop computer. Over the years I've seen incremental improvements but nothing like this--I was simply astonished. Manipulations such as filters, curves and profile assignments were mind-bogglingly fast on this quite large file. One of the Mac Pro design engineers was nearby and told me CS3 utilizes all 8 cores. I've never wanted a machine for working on digital files as much as this one!

Curves, Assign Profile doesn't use much processing power. I haven't seen the processors hit more than an average of 50% across all eight with Photoshop. Xcode really flies though. For images this size, you'll need considerably more than the 2GB RAM supplied. I'm waiting on 8GB to see what this machine can really do. It's the best Mac yet and a lot cooler running than my old G5 with just 2 processors.
Pete Watkins
20-Jan-2008, 01:27
Thank God you're talking about computers, I thought that you'd visited a fast food theme park. Some of us are very sheltered over here.
Pete.
Steven Barall
20-Jan-2008, 22:26
My phone has a dial on it.
Stephen Best
23-Jan-2008, 18:07
Just a word of warning. These new Mac Pros with OS X 10.5.1 aren't ready for prime time. I'm experiencing kernel panics (twice) and sleeps which cause shutdowns. Also there's a number of Photoshop 10.0.1 glitches, including screen paint problems on scrolls. My G5 with OS X 10.4.11 and Photoshop 10.0.1 worked flawlessly. I'm hoping 10.5.2 will address some of these problems. Sigh.

Some grist for those poor dudes with steam powered computers ...
Asher Kelman
23-Jan-2008, 18:38
Just a word of warning. These new Mac Pros with OS X 10.5.1 aren't ready for prime time. I'm experiencing kernel panics (twice) and sleeps which cause shutdowns. Also there's a number of Photoshop 10.0.1 glitches, including screen paint problems on scrolls. My G5 with OS X 10.4.11 and Photoshop 10.0.1 worked flawlessly. I'm hoping 10.5.2 will address some of these problems. Sigh.

Some grist for those poor dudes with steam powered computers ...

What RAM are you using Stephen? Any chance it's 3rd party?

Asher
Stephen Best
23-Jan-2008, 18:44
What RAM are you using Stephen? Any chance it's 3rd party?

Asher

Still the 2GB that came with the computer. I have 8GB on order but it hasn't arrived. I took out the riser cards and reseated the DIMMs but I still get sleeps (both manual and automatic) that result in shutdowns. I ran the diagnostics but it didn't find any RAM problems. I plan to run with just the third-party RAM when it arrives to see if this fixes it. The sleep/shutdown problem seems like a hardware/firmware issue to me.
Asher Kelman
23-Jan-2008, 18:49
Still the 2GB that came with the computer. I have 8GB on order but it hasn't arrived. I took out the riser cards and reseated the DIMMs but I still get sleeps (both manual and automatic) that result in shutdowns. I ran the diagnostics but it didn't find any RAM problems. I plan to run with just the third-party RAM when it arrives to see if this fixes it. The sleep/shutdown problem seems like a hardware/firmware issue to me.
The other issue can be a faulty hard drive when a lot of file transfers are called for at the drives has errors. Did you add a non apple drive, especially a Maxtor? Do you have Applecare?

Asher
Stephen Best
23-Jan-2008, 19:00
The other issue can be a faulty hard drive when a lot of file transfers are called for at the drives has errors. Did you add a non apple drive, especially a Maxtor? Do you have Applecare?

Asher

Seems like the sleep/shutdown issue is a common problem:

http://discussions.apple.com/thread.jspa?threadID=1353551&tstart=15

I'm just about to try the PRAM/SMC resets.

As for the scroll/paint problem, no I/O's are involved. And yes I have replaced the shipping drive with a WD Raptor. I also have 2 Seagate 750GBs on order which I will use to stripe Photoshop scratch and mirror file storage. These new machines need a lot of work before you can use them for anything serious!
Stephen Best
23-Jan-2008, 19:15
Do you have Applecare?

Asher

No.
Doug Dolde
23-Jan-2008, 19:24
If it's new it's under warranty. I'd take it to the nearest Apple Store.
Stephen Best
23-Jan-2008, 22:48
If it's new it's under warranty. I'd take it to the nearest Apple Store.

I'm not sure this would achieve anything other than leave me without a new machine. The sleep issue would seem to be fixed.
Asher Kelman
24-Jan-2008, 00:44
No.
you must get AppleCare. It's a bargain. Also consider paying $99 for pasport serivce. That allows you to get priority service on repairs and to get free one on one training on any Apple program, for example Aperture.

Let them do the work. People don't know but wth Apple care, (maybe you need "Passport" too) you can have them come to your place to fix the computer.

If they try 3 times with the same issue, you get a new computer if they don't have a solution.

asher