Which Mac to buy

**Andy Liakos** · 3-Feb-2006, 18:58

>>>I have a 1 gig Windows XP Dell computer with an 80 gig external hard drive that cost about $120 IIRC. I scan my 4x5 negatives at 2400 ppi. I've never waited five minutes or even close to it for anything.<<<

I'm running currently a 1.6, w 1 gig of memory and using a 200 gig external as a scratch disk, and after working with several files (usually scanned 35 mm slides around 180MB with a Minolta 5400 film scanner... haven't gotten the LF scanner yet) the system slows down quite a bit and even clearing the cache stops being effective after awhile. I've also had the same experience on the laptop, except worse because it does not have the same resources as the desktop. Perhaps is only seems like it takes 5 minutes for an image to resample after using a filter (I'm not the most patient person). My previous experience with Macs had me thinking that I would buy a Mac for photography and graphic arts, and use the XP unit for regular business stuff, for which it works absolutely fine.

I think the suggestion of waiting for CS3 and the new intel machine, and going for the dual processor is what I'll do. I can certainly wait and muddle through with the XP for now... I'll just reboot more frequently. In the meantime I'll be working on making more use out of that old Linhof...

**Andy Liakos** · 3-Feb-2006, 19:03

>>>Hi there,

Andy, go to ebay, at the top right is a logo 'Java powered by Sun', just click on it to find the computer you really want.

Just a thought<<<

Yep, bet that'll speed things up! Thanks, Paul.

**Ted Harris** · 3-Feb-2006, 19:47

Two more comments ... Frank is right about Small Dog, a great company and a total sketch to visit in person. Usually about a dozen dogs running around in addition to the people.

Another great place form memory is Data Memory Systems ... www.datamem.com ... if you are an educator ask for Bud and you will get an additional small educational discount. I have bought almost all of my memory from them and have been doing so for close to 20 years. They are knowledgable, ship fast and at reasonable prices (free if you want to use the US Mail) and honor warranty returns and replacements quickly. In 1989 or 1990, when eveer the first Powerbooks came out I ordered additional RAM for my Powerbook 140 from them. Was a bit unsure on installing it so I called them and they walked me through it on the phone. Went to reboot the machine and the RAM went up in smoke,they had a new chip out to me via FedEx overnight before we hung up and I had it in the morning .... and if you have installed enough memory you know this can happen. Also had a Transcend 1 GB CF card that put all six legs up in the air after a couple of years of hard use. They replaced it with a new one without a blink. Ontopof tht their prices are as low as you can get for certified memory.

**Kirk Gittings** · 3-Feb-2006, 20:51

"I have a 1 gig Windows XP Dell computer with an 80 gig external hard drive that cost about $120 IIRC. I scan my 4x5 negatives at 2400 ppi. I've never waited five minutes or even close to it for anything."

My sentiments exactly. I run two Dells each with 4 gig of memory dual internal HDs plus external storage blah blah etc and another Dell just to keep my wife and daughter off of mine. Every summer when I am at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago I use Macs and am not convinced that they are worth the extra money.

"the system slows down quite a bit and even clearing the cache stops being effective after awhile"

PC's do "clog up" after working on image files for awhile and I agree clearing the cache only does so much. For the past 6 months I have been running Registry Mechanic www.pctools.com/ which clears all this crap that builds up in the registry from CS2 Bridge in particular. I run it every two or three days and it speeds things right up again. I was leary of it at first, but it has turned out to be very helpful and after 6 months I am running it on all my machines and feel confident in reccomending it.

**paulr** · 3-Feb-2006, 21:45

"Every summer when I am at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago I use Macs and am not convinced that they are worth the extra money."

have you actually compared prices of current top of the line desktop macs to comparably equipped dells? i've seen comparisons done by more than a couple of websites (including non mac-zealot sites) and in all cases the dells came out a bit more expensive.

one example is here: http://www.systemshootouts.org/shootouts/desktop/2005/1022_dt5300.html

i've used windows a bit lately, and found it to be perfectly functional (not always the case in the past). what i can't stand is how unbelievably ugly the interface is. i really doubt i'd be able to stand looking at it all day long. those guys have some money in their pockets--why can't they hire a decent designer? reminds of the "why won't bill gates pay for a decent haircut" brain teaser.

**Kirk Gittings** · 3-Feb-2006, 22:21

Paul,

That turn around must be a fairly recent event. I have not done a price comparison since last summer, when even buying refurbished mac with my educator discount was not comparable.

**paulr** · 3-Feb-2006, 23:28

even the high end macs? it seems to me that the pro desktops have been competitive for a while now. it's laptops and home computers where the macs have been extra pricey.

**Kirk Gittings** · 4-Feb-2006, 01:28

To be honest with you I never look at one of those $5,000 computers. They are way out of my price range.

**Christopher Keth** · 4-Feb-2006, 06:36

Yeah, I'd love to get a new G5 but it's just too much cash. ANyway, I wanted to chime in with my feelings from quite a bit of experience in the professional digital video editing and effects field. It doesn't particularly matter which platform you buy, as long as you spend a comparable amount. This sounds pretty counter-intuitive given what everyone says but it also seems that the Mac/PC comparison is always done with a brand new G5 and a PC that's fairly run-of-the-mill. If you were to spend 5 grand on building a PC (read building, you'll get LOTS more for your money) and compare it to a 5G mac, they'd be *roughly* equal in performance.

**Ted Harris** · 4-Feb-2006, 07:25

BTW, another thought at the low end if you are in the market for a new computer and do NOT have intensive scanning requirements ... then a look at the Mac Mini or the iMac's might be worthwhile from a space saving point of view in addition to technical considerations. The Mini particularly takes up only a few inches of space on a desktop and is priced ~ $500.