I need help

[Keith B]

The low end imac will do just about anything you need to, except edit HD videos smoothly. You also get a nice size screen with it, which is great for photos. They run about 1100 i think.

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Any iMac running Aperture is nice. You will still need Photoshop for advanced editing. Despite what I have seen on a few threads on here, Aperture and Photoshop play very well together.
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[SupraSonic]

iMac 24" with DUAL CORE Pentium, 4 GIG RAM and 400++ gig hard drive.[]

[Joel Bookhammer]

Thanks Rick for the info, weather it be a packaged PC or a "custom" built one as long as it meets my needs of editing a large amount of photos it works. The main reason I havent gotten away from Adobe and went to Aperture is that I do alot of graphic layer work on the photos as well, and as far as I know Aperture is sorta like lightroom in that regards.


Thanks Again


Joel

[Joel Bookhammer]

Im finding alot of systems out there for "gaming" are they also good for photoshop work as well?


Thanks


joel

[Bill W]

Joel....I haven't seen this specifically mentioned; get 2 hard drives but w/a C drive 10K spin rate....makes CS3 (all programs) work so much faster and as much memory as you can afford while adding 2nd HD w/a "normal" 7200 spin and again as much memory as affordable.


E.G. My C HD 150 GB and E HD 750 GB


I've been using this (custom built) config for over a year now (so you can probably get more memory for cheaper and stay w/in budget) w/out issues and that's w/Vista.


Have fun


Bill

[Joel Bookhammer]

Bill would that be 2 HD at 10K and 1 at 7200 or 1 of each?


Thanks


Joel

[Joel Bookhammer]

Ok so my budget just went up alittle its now $2500 US dollers. Let me know if this changes anything.


Thanks


Joel

[40Doodle]

Im finding alot of systems out there for "gaming" are they also good for photoshop work as well?


Thanks


joel
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Joel,


A "gaming system" will actually contain some of the same things that would be good for your system. A decent gaming rig will have decent Memory (performance &amp; capacity), Disk Drives with good performance/capacity, higher end video cards and a powerful processor that is Quad Core, etc. There can be a few areas of over-kill too for what you need. Things like SLI Video cards which means you are running two video cards that are communicating with each other and driving higher frame rates for video is one example. A Gaming rig may also come with a case that is over-the-top for you, but there too can be some goodness. These higher-end rigs can also produce a fair amount of heat, so a case that does a good job of dissipating heat is a good thing.


When I was at HP's website yesterday, I saw a very nice deal on their Voodoo Blackbird system with some significant savings that would fit your budget. Most PC Manufacturers will have systems that are a next notch below Gaming rigs and will be identified as high-end Media Systems or some such description. That is probably the target spot for you if you go with a PC.


I have never owned a Mac, but can tell you that most of the graphic designers I've encountered in business run Macs. Some of that has to do with the software they use in their profession and I think some of it is also related to having really good Monitors for color control, etc.


Rick

[Joel Bookhammer]

Thanks Rick I will have to look up that system (VooDoo).


Sense my budget has increased now is the time for all the Mac lovers out there. How is the Macbook Pros Screen? Another big concern of mine with the operating system is the screen. A laptop would be nice, but correct color is a big concern.


Thanks


Joel

[Tim]

Yeah the iMac is still your best bet. Not only is it great for handling photos, but its an overall great machine that will last you a while. If you get the 2.66GHz 24 inch one, you get a huge HD, 4 gigs of ram, a huge screen. its only 1500. Then PS CS4 which is 700 on apple's site. then an extra HD, probably external, would run you about 125 for 1TB. Thats about 2500 dollars and a pretty sweet setup.