Optimum spec for Photoshop CS

faizal

faizal

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Hi all,

My first post here :D. My name is Faizal from Malaysia. This coming weekend i'm going to get my iBook 12.1" and become a Mac user ! [Yay!!] :D after all those years as a windoze user.

I have searched through the threads on this forum on optimum spec to run Photoshop CS. I'm a freelancer photographer and most of the time i'd spend quite a number of hours in front of a PC (soon in front of a Mac!! :D) doing post processing. My PC at home running on Athlon 1.7 with 512MB DDR RAM Win2K OS, which is running just so-so.

Therefore, I'm thinking to add more RAM to iBook by adding another 512MB to the on board 128MB thus becoming to 640MB.

So, would 640MB would just nice? RAM here in Malaysia is a bit expensive :confused:

Thanks all and looking forward to participate more in here :D
 
Ram is very important for Pshop. If you are doing heavy stuff then I would suggest you max out your ibook to as much as it will take - it will be worth the money.

On a side note, I would be surprised if the ibook would perform as well as the 1.7 athlon, the ibook is more of a consumer product than professional. I would go for a powerbook instead, if you can afford the extra costs, this will then run Pshop very well, you can chuck in 2 gigs of ram too.

how important is portability? because the G5 desktop is where Apples performance is...
 
thanks! :D

well, the reason i choose ibook is due to portability. i can just slot into my camera bag and on with shooting, therefore the ibook 12" would be my first choice. i'd love to get the desktop but since i already have a PC at home, suffice to have just one desktop. BTW, correct me if i'm wrong but i've read somewhere that max RAM for iBook 12" is 1.25GB only, no?
 
the 12" iBook can support 1GB RAM sticks. Get as much RAM as you can afford.

On behalf of the people on this board, I wish you 'selamat datang'.
 
I read that the G4 ibooks would max out at 1.25g of ram. I dont know if it is with one or two chips though(plus the onboard ram). I have the g3 500 ibook and it maxes out at 640 (mine has 640). I have psd 7 and it works good with it but i have noticed that it would better if it is the only program open when i am using large files or alot of smaller files. Obviously my dual g4 slaps the files around better but a G4 ibook i think would do very good with the maxed out ram. Here is how i would view the ram for that machine. If it takes two 512 chips to max it out, get one 512 now and the other when you can afford it or feel you need it. if it only takes one chip like the g3 model then get the 1gig chip to start with, it will be much cheaper in the long run.
 
I find Photoshop CS on my iBook (640 RAM) to be "tolerable".

Everyone is going to perceive it differently, but in general, I find the iBook just a bit too sluggish. PCS is no different. It's not terrible, you can certainly get work done, but it's just so, well, ho-hum speed-wise.

Depdning on how you like to work on your photos, you may find it just fine. If you like to have lots of high res photos open at once, prepare to be annoyed. If you like to just have one or two open, work on them, then close them, you should be fine. Admittedly, I have a very low tolerance for sluggishness, so I am probably a bit pickier than most.

Having said that, I still love the little bugger. It's light, quiet and small. Best feature: being able to just plop the lid down to go to sleep (which all Mac laptops do I'm sure). Way cool.
 
Even the 500 iBook will take 1.25 gig. The specs that say "only" 640 were written before the gig sticks were available. I put a gig in my 800 g3 - It is also "tolerable" with photoshop, but only barely - kinda.

Denial is not necessarily a bad thing... :)
 
Ugh..PDS, the G3 iBooks only support a max of 640mb of RAM, that is unless someone's developed PC133/100 SODIMMS in 1gb sizes. I've never seen anything larger than 512mb chips myself. I do wish they made them though...could definitely use one in my iBook.

The newer G4 models accept DDR ram (PC2700) which does have 1gb sizes available, though they're not very cheap ($250 to $400 US range).
 
mdnky said:
The newer G4 models accept DDR ram (PC2700) which does have 1gb sizes available, though they're not very cheap ($250 to $400 US range).
Click to expand...
Um, did you check out OWC RAM? It's around $230USD for 1024MB.
 
Thanks Viro for 'selamat datang'-ing me :D

Anyway, IFAIK the iBook only have one slot for memory and that is the max RAM is 1GB. But the brochure said that the max that the iBook can have is 1.25GB and the onboard RAM is 128MB. So appreciate if anyone can clarify me; where does the other 122MB comes in?

PS: Really excited to get my iBook this weekend :D hehee.... :p
 
It's too bad you got the iBook that only had 128 MB soldered to the motherboard. Yours will only go to 1.125 GB.

Incidentally, I love my iBook. It's old and slow (500 MB G3 processor) but it's also small and portable. Plus, it's a Mac!

Doug
 
Thanks!

But still where does the other 122MB comes in if the soldered RAM is 128MB and the max RAM that iBook could take is 1.25Gb as specified here : http://www.applemalaysia.com.my/ibook/specs.html

Unless the soldered RAM is 256MB :D as specified here
256MB of PC2100 (266MHz) DDR SDRAM (256MB built-in and one available SO-DIMM slot) with support for up to 1.25GB
Click to expand...
.... Did i miss something here? The latest iBook comes with 256MB soldered? :D
 
Yes, the new iBooks sport 256MB of built-in RAM. Get a 1GB RAM stick (the largest available for that model) and you'll be at 1.25GB.
 
yes...i also confirmed with apple malaysia that the on board RAM is 256MB and plus that with a 512MB (total 768MB) i think it would be ok to run PS CS :D. i'd love to get 1GB of RAM but due to the pricing, i have to make do with 512MB.
 
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