Mac Users - How Much is Enough?

[Ed Richards]

You can speed things up on your current machine by turning off history and reducing the number of undos that are saved. You have to be more careful about saving your work so you can revert if you need to, but it makes a big difference while you are saving for that new machine.

[dan nguyen]

- yes you will see speed jump by going from G4 to G5 (dual proc is even better

- the more ram the better

- dedicated empty hard drive for scratch disk to PS

- always start PS first when you boot up the computer

[Ken Lee]

What a few folks might not realize, is that Photoshop usurps your ram, and chokes the Mac OS. There is a huge memory leak in all current versions of Photoshop, which is a cumulative leak...

Jim -

I have just experienced this behavior, using Photoshop CS. As you point out, using more RAM and additional drives for scratch disks, only delay the inevitable. Heavens !

Do you know whether the newly published CS3 beta suffers from the same bug ?

Where did you find out about this bug ?

[Jim Ewins]

I have a iMacG5 and found after loading over 10,000 images that it was getting slow. I moved those files to an external hard drive and the work speed is again fast, although not so different from a iBookG4.

[jim kitchen]

Ken,

I am a developer within Apple's network of application programmers, where I practice this binary art form, to reroute my attention from other real world corporate tasks...

This memory leak issue is a long standing bug within Apple and Adobe, and unfortunately I cannot discuss programming topics openly, since Apple religiously enforces and exercises an NDA. I can tell you, I am led to believe the memory leak is either addressed, or being addressed for CS3.

You are correct in stating the issue will not disappear until the memory leak is addressed properly. Adding incremental ram is the only viable solution for the moment, which allows the Mac OS to function and breathe properly, until Photoshop finally usurps all the available ram. Faster hard drives, dual processors et al, will bring value added benefits to a power user immediately, but these hardware related items cannot over come an application that requires periodic attention.

To eliminate this slowdown and, or prevent the endless spinning beachball, you must restart your computer periodically to clear the corrupt memory stack.

jim k

[Ken Lee]

Thanks Jim Kitchen - I understand about the non-discosure agreement, and am grateful for what you have shared already.

Jim Ewins - In my experience, the problem arises when editing large files: my 4x5 and 5x7 negatives scanned at high res. When working on the (comparatively) small files generated by my point-and-shoot digicam, I haven't seen any problems.

[Lenny Eiger]

I agree with much of what has been said. G5's are way faster. RAID arrays (fast hard drives) make a big difference as well. Yes, CS3 on Intel chips should outdo everything. Altho' we ought to have this info by now since the beta is out... I don't thinak Adobe has fixed all their memory issues, either. When they can use more than 3Gigs of RAM, a lot of things hsould open up...

There was one thing you didn't mention, however, and that is what you consider a large file. I consider it large when it gets over 2 Gigs. some people consider it large when it gts over 30 megs. There is a big difference...

Lenny
eigerphoto.com

[Ken Lee]

Good point: My large files start out around 200 MB. I use a Powerbook, but I may have to eat my words about Windows and go back to using my PC until Adobe gets their bug solved.

[Ken Lee]

Jim Kitchen - Many thanks for your suggestion about limiting the % of RAM allowed to Photoshop. That has really cleared up some problems for me.

Another question: To what extent will it be advantageous to get an Intel-based Mac, when Photoshop CS 3 is finally released ? Will things be optimized for the Intel chipset, to the detriment of older Power-PC based machines ? (I have a G4 PowerBook)

[Marko]

Jim Kitchen - Many thanks for your suggestion about limiting the % of RAM allowed to Photoshop. That has really cleared up some problems for me.

Another question: To what extent will it be advantageous to get an Intel-based Mac, when Photoshop CS 3 is finally released ? Will things be optimized for the Intel chipset, to the detriment of older Power-PC based machines ? (I have a G4 PowerBook)

Ken,

CS3 for OSX is Universal Binary, which means that it should run natively on both the Intel and the PowerPC. FWIW, I'm running CS3 Beta on Intel CoreDuo iMac and it is running circles around CS2 on the same machine (running under Rosetta).

I don't normally process really big files (close to a gig or more) but I cannot imagine that the advantage would be any smaller with those.