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davidp158
Guest
I'm about to buy a G5 for my graphics work (graphic design, lots of Photshop, some 3D and illustration) and have a few questions that the sales guys at the Apple store couldn't help me nail down:
1. I want a dual 2.5 gig, but as I'm replacing A LOT of peripheral gear and software upgrades, the dual 2 gig fits my budget better. Is there a major speed/performance advantage to the dual 2.5 gig machine that warrants the cost and would benefit my work environment? At this point I'd rather save $500 and put that towards more RAM.
2. I don't do any gaming on my Macs, but do some 3D illustrations and wonder if any of the video card options will help me. I read some performance reviews that suggest Apple's Quartz display technology hands off some on-screen rendering tasks to the video card. I couldn't tell WHICH tasks, so I can't tell how this will, or won't, effect my work. For design and image editing, will a better video card matter?
3. I want to use two montiors for my work, and wonder if all the video cards from Apple offer this. The Apple sales guy said he thought I could use two monitors with an adapter, but when I explained that I wanted to move windows to specific screens (ie: within Photoshop, the image window in one screen, and the tools palettes in another), he wasn't so sure. That led me to believe he wasn't familiar with dual screen operation.
4. As Photoshop work is disk intensive, I'm wondering if the stock ATA drive(s) will be up to the task or I should invest in a fast SCSI card and a SCSI drive. I'm wondering if the SATA drives will be close enough in speed to SCSI for my needs.
5. I have some legacy hardware (DAT archive drive, image scanner) that require SCSI connection. Neither of these devices are "fast" SCSI, but if I get a fast, dual channel SCSI card for a SCSI hard drive, will I reduce it to a slower speed by having the DAT drive and scanner connected to it?
If anyone has answers or links to information regarding these questions, I'd appreciate it.
thanks for your time,
Dave
1. I want a dual 2.5 gig, but as I'm replacing A LOT of peripheral gear and software upgrades, the dual 2 gig fits my budget better. Is there a major speed/performance advantage to the dual 2.5 gig machine that warrants the cost and would benefit my work environment? At this point I'd rather save $500 and put that towards more RAM.
2. I don't do any gaming on my Macs, but do some 3D illustrations and wonder if any of the video card options will help me. I read some performance reviews that suggest Apple's Quartz display technology hands off some on-screen rendering tasks to the video card. I couldn't tell WHICH tasks, so I can't tell how this will, or won't, effect my work. For design and image editing, will a better video card matter?
3. I want to use two montiors for my work, and wonder if all the video cards from Apple offer this. The Apple sales guy said he thought I could use two monitors with an adapter, but when I explained that I wanted to move windows to specific screens (ie: within Photoshop, the image window in one screen, and the tools palettes in another), he wasn't so sure. That led me to believe he wasn't familiar with dual screen operation.
4. As Photoshop work is disk intensive, I'm wondering if the stock ATA drive(s) will be up to the task or I should invest in a fast SCSI card and a SCSI drive. I'm wondering if the SATA drives will be close enough in speed to SCSI for my needs.
5. I have some legacy hardware (DAT archive drive, image scanner) that require SCSI connection. Neither of these devices are "fast" SCSI, but if I get a fast, dual channel SCSI card for a SCSI hard drive, will I reduce it to a slower speed by having the DAT drive and scanner connected to it?
If anyone has answers or links to information regarding these questions, I'd appreciate it.
thanks for your time,
Dave