help upgrade to a used mac mini

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Hello,
I am not quite ready yet to spend top dollar or a brand new mac system as I'm still not sure if I want to invest in a laptop or desktop; but I am currently doing my main photo editing on a g4 powerbook that is maybe 4 years old (12" hooked up to a CRT monitor for editing and I love it's portable size).
I'm guessing it has the old single processor and it has a 1.5ghz and 1.25GB Ram.

This has been my main editing device with Raw images from my Canon 5d 12.5MP camera and Lightroom 2 and Photoshop 3. The g4 does the job, but I find myself waiting way too long for the system.

Soon I will put in the cash for a top line new desktop or laptop but for the remainder of the year, I think I am going to hold off on that top dollar purchase.
I'm wondering if I would be able to pick up a mac mini maybe a couple years old that was a duo core for a couple hundred bucks. Are the used mac-mini's due core heaps faster than my current desktop?
Doess the duo core have that much of a factor in combination with my programs?
thanks,
M
 
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The Mini likely is a fairly faster machine than your PowerBook G4 is. My main concern though is if Photoshop 3 will run natively on an Intel Mini. If I'm not mistaken, PS3 is pretty old and PowerPC-only (not a Universal binary), so running it on an Intel-based Mac, if it even runs under the Rosetta emulation, will be pretty lousy. If so, you could just consider maxing out the RAM on your PB to 2GB. It's possible you could benefit from a defrag and optimization. iDefrag works wonders in some cases.
 

pigoo3

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Hello,
I am not quite ready yet to spend top dollar or a brand new mac system as I'm still not sure if I want to invest in a laptop or desktop;

The g4 does the job, but I find myself waiting way too long for the system.

Soon I will put in the cash for a top line new desktop or laptop but for the remainder of the year, I think I am going to hold off on that top dollar purchase.

If you get a "faster" used Intel Mac Mini running Photoshop 3.0 (a 1995 program)...I can almost guarantee you that you won't see much if any of a speed increase.

Running a non-native (non-Intel optimized) 1995 version of Photoshop on an Intel core duo or core 2 duo Mac-mini is not a combination for a speed increase in your photo editing.

If your going to purchase an Intel based Macintosh, your best bet is to get a much newer version of Photoshop so it will run faster on an Intel Mac.

Otherwise you will just be wasting your money on a newer used Intel Mac Mini...IF...photo editing with Photoshop (version 3.0) is your main concern.

Obviously with a faster Intel Mac Mini...other things you do on your computer will be faster...but also obviously, a Mac Mini does not have the portability of a laptop!

The bottom line (IMHO)

- purchasing a newer used Mac Mini & still using Photoshop 3.0 will be a waste of money (if photo editing is your main concern)

- If you purchase an Intel Mac Mini & purchase a newer version of Photoshop, then you will see a speed increase.

- Even if you wait (and don't purchase a used Mac Mini), and then buy something better like a new desktop or laptop in say 6-9 months...you will still need to purchase a much newer version of Photoshop to get a decent speed increase with a new Mac.

I would say...unless your photo editing is "job related"...I would save the money you use to purchase a used Intel Mac mini (an interim solution)...and spend it later when you are ready to purchase the new laptop or desktop.

Hope this helps,

- Nick
 
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Just to add

Photoshop 3 will not run at all. Photoshop 3 will only run in classic mode (OS 9) and classic is no longer supported on intel macs. In fact you would be running it under 2 levels of emulation, translating PPC code to intel and running an emulation of an older OS inside OS X

If buying Photoshop is out of the question, you could always use GIMP

GIMP - for Mac OS X
 

pigoo3

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Just to add

Photoshop 3 will not run at all. Photoshop 3 will only run in classic mode (OS 9) and classic is no longer supported on intel macs. In fact you would be running it under 2 levels of emulation, translating PPC code to intel and running an emulation of an older OS inside OS X

Yeah...I was wondering about that as well. I wasn't 100% sure, and didn't have the time to double check when I posted earlier. I know that I have Photoshop 3.0 on my Powerbook 1400 from the mid-late 90's...but then I'm also running OS 9.2 on that computer.

Boy...what a disappointment that would be to buy a used Intel Mac Mini with the intention of running Photoshop 3.0 & being able to do faster photo editing...and then find out the darn program won't even install or run!!!

But then that sort of thing should be expected (or at least a concern) when running a 14 year old software program!

- Nick
 

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