Recommended Posts

hi all,

i'm a graphic designer focused on web/multimedia designs for the last 3 yrs or so and have been working on intel PCs, but now moving towards print publishing and the intel cant handle the large HI RES files. therefore looking to buy a new pc now most of the industry ppl suggested go with MAC.

BUT most of the people said that the AMD 64bit athlon 55 fx is faster than a MAC, price aint the issue i just want to buy a PC soley for design work not for gaming purposes so can you ppl help me decide which to go for AMD or a MAC and with what configuration. The application i'll be using would ofcourse the ADOBE suite (photoshop, indesign, illustrator) so will these run faster on MAC or AMD handling file size from 700mb to 1gig. (typically posters, billboards n all)

your help would be highly appreciative.

Link to comment
https://www.neowin.net/forum/topic/312353-mac-or-amd/
Share on other sites

the comparison is of MAC system (with ofcourse Mac OS + G5 processor) and AMD system (winXp) since both are 64 bit, i wanna know which would be best for print publishing work. I've had a bad experience with intel so now that im willing to spend money i want to get a faster machine, dont like to spend big bucks only to find that it wasnt worth it.

Link to comment
https://www.neowin.net/forum/topic/312353-mac-or-amd/#findComment-585820736
Share on other sites

hmmmm........I dont think my opinion would be to good of input cause the only mac i have used was in the public libraries in my high school. they were fast at the time, but in todays time, to me nothing beats an AMD, no matter what the benchmarks say. I have a 3500+ and its awesome, video rendering and photoshop and what not are really fast.

Link to comment
https://www.neowin.net/forum/topic/312353-mac-or-amd/#findComment-585820765
Share on other sites

personally when having many windows open at the same time, OSX handles them way nicer. expose and the fact that each window is its own seperate entity...

with windows xp, photoshop images are limited to within the "photoshop application" where in os x you can do whatever you want with all the windows...

i don't know if that makes sense, but if you have used both systems i think you would understand...

Link to comment
https://www.neowin.net/forum/topic/312353-mac-or-amd/#findComment-585820780
Share on other sites

ADOBE suite (photoshop, indesign, illustrator)

None of these apps are 64-bit yet on either platform.

i wanna know which would be best for print publishing work.

A PowerPC based PC will be faster than an x86-64 based PC at multimedia work because PowerPC CPUs have faster vector execution units than x86 CPUs.

AMD or a MAC

That should be "AMD or a Mac". you really make yourself look ignorant when you call it a "MAC".

Link to comment
https://www.neowin.net/forum/topic/312353-mac-or-amd/#findComment-585820788
Share on other sites

this is POWER MAC config im aiming at i dont know about the display, APPLE display are just too expensive can anyone suggest a better alternative:

? Dual 2.5GHz PowerPC G5

? 1GB DDR400 SDRAM (PC3200) - 2x512

? 160GB Serial ATA - 7200rpm

? ATI Radeon 9600 XT w/128MB DDR SDRAM

? 8x SuperDrive (DVD-R/CD-RW)

? Apple Keyboard & Apple Mouse - U.S. English

? Mac OS X - U.S. English

I dont know about the AMD config, still need help on that

Link to comment
https://www.neowin.net/forum/topic/312353-mac-or-amd/#findComment-585820802
Share on other sites

Either AMD or Mac would be a good choice, but do tell about the bad experience with Intel... ;)

I do the same kind of work that you're planning to do, and to be totally honest, either platform would be fine. It depends on what you're comfortable with, and with what your clients use the most.

Both platforms have the same software, and as far as 64bit goes... forget it, I seriously doubt that Adobe will release 64bit versions of their software (in the near future) for either platform, when 32bit versions would run faster in either environment. Even Apple has said that their 64bit environment in Tiger is for command prompt apps and that even though Tiger is 64bit, the UI is still part of the 32bit system. The same with XP, you might find a performance degredation using 64bit XP with 32bit apps.

I'd concentrate on a fast processor, great video card, FAST hard drives and lots of ram. Btw... what kind of files would be 700mb to a gig?... getting them run out to film would be a nighmare and costly...

Hope my 2 cents worth helps :)

Link to comment
https://www.neowin.net/forum/topic/312353-mac-or-amd/#findComment-585821011
Share on other sites

hmm get either samsung or viewsonic and 20inch or more. well crts have better colour accuracy and are able to display mulitple resolutions. but they have greater eye strain and consume more power. lcds have dvi, perfect geometry, take up less space. so its up to you to decide which you prefer. a good crt would be the LaCie ElectronBlue

Link to comment
https://www.neowin.net/forum/topic/312353-mac-or-amd/#findComment-585821067
Share on other sites

If you use adobe suite, I really suggest you get a Mac, in my studio, we used have two powermac, with adobe, it runs really much faster on mac, and mac is much easier to operate.

Then my stupid manager wanted avid, then we changed to one intel xeon and one athlon fx, ye, the avid seems better then final cut, but photoshop runs much slower.

My home computer is a powerbook, compare to my flatmate's centrino adobe runs faster, colour is more correct, but macromedia doesn't run well on mac.

Link to comment
https://www.neowin.net/forum/topic/312353-mac-or-amd/#findComment-585821335
Share on other sites

I use my iBook for lots of photoshop and illustrator work. It runs them perfectly. Only complaint is that I could do with more memory.

Am considering getting a powermac, but would need to take on more work than I can at the moment due to Uni. Is over in a few weeks, so we'll see how things are going then. :)

In reply to what Hanxu said about macromedia apps, I would say they run just as well on the mac. In fact, I get extremely annoyed with them running slowly on the 3.4Ghz P4 one of my clients has!!

Dougal.

Link to comment
https://www.neowin.net/forum/topic/312353-mac-or-amd/#findComment-585835088
Share on other sites

My vote really really really goes for the Mac in this case. I've been working in and out of some major blueprint restoration in which Im dealing with massive, high res, uncompressed images. While the "old" Macs I have will open these files with ease, it took several resolution-drops to get the images to even open on my AthXP machine. Maybe it was just an isolated, odd event and had I played with it more things would have worked. But I think that for really big files, the Mac is gonna have an edge, just because of the way it handles memory.

Link to comment
https://www.neowin.net/forum/topic/312353-mac-or-amd/#findComment-585835577
Share on other sites

Consider it carefully. Try out OS X and see if you like it more than Windows.

For me, I have an Athlon 64 3000+ w/ 1 GIG of RAM. Its supposed to make me 'more' productive, but I find Windows holds me back. The software isn't as powerful in some cases (iCal kicks Outlook), the Unix stuff kicks the DOS shell..... I find I'll be more productive with OS X.

Its a purchase I regret making and will be selling my PC.

Link to comment
https://www.neowin.net/forum/topic/312353-mac-or-amd/#findComment-585835684
Share on other sites

At my current job I'm using a Dual Xeon 2.8 with 2GB of RAM. It belonged to one of the other designers who switched for a powerbook. At my last job I used a dual 1.42 GHz G4 with 1.5 GB of RAM (or maybe it was 2 GB?I can't remember anymore). My current system has some sort of flashy SATA 10k RPM hard disks in it, my old one ran SCSI drives. The machine on my desk is woefully inadequate but that's another thread.

The faster computer?and in terms of raw number crunching power my PC is much quicker than my old Powermac in most circumstances?has made me less productive. Part of it has to do with the software I take for granted on a mac not being available on a Windows PC (skedit, the command line environment, applescripts), and part of it has to do with the general clunkiness (IMO) of the Windows GUI. "Business Instant Messenger" is completely unintuitive compared to Adium or in the case of 10.4 iChat. Photoshop's stupid MDI interface is a pain. Zend Studio seems crappier on Windows than on any other platform, but then it's always been a pig. Task management is nightmarish: I find the taskbar completely lacking for multi-monitor window management, etc. etc. etc.

For all the "problems' I have with the PC I use, the one thing that has never really been an issue is the performance. When I'm working the slowest part of the equation is almost always me. If you gave me a 10,000 GHz system I wouldn't be able to work any faster: creative work goes at it's own speed and for me a dual 1.25 is capable of getting the job done.

If you work is paying for your machine then use whatever you enjoy using. I'll be switching over to a powermac reasonably soon - not because it's faster but because it means I'll get more work done in a day. Most of the other people on my team will be moving to macs over the next year, so will the systems department but there's only 3 of them. Developers still prefer the Dell workstations they've been on: I'm not sure what their reasoning is - but they're smart people so I'm sure they know what they're doing.

Link to comment
https://www.neowin.net/forum/topic/312353-mac-or-amd/#findComment-585835737
Share on other sites

Guys, we need people with experience with top-of-the line Macs AND top of line PCs with AMD processors.

585840511[/snapback]

If you really want I'll go over to one of the developers and ask to borrow their machine (they use HP 9300s) but it's not going to matter one bit. As long as the computer doesn't run OS X I'm not going to be as productive as I am on a Mac. Likewise, if you sat one of those guys in-front of a powermac or sun workstation they'll get less done than if you gave them a Windows XP machine.

Once you pass a certain point?a point that varies from person to person & job to job?creative work stops being hardware bound. The software is what really makes the difference, so when money is not a concern you should always use what you like.

Link to comment
https://www.neowin.net/forum/topic/312353-mac-or-amd/#findComment-585840785
Share on other sites

I'm using only a dual Opteron myself - a friend of mine is into pre-press and design, he has a dual G5 at work. He prefers to work at my machine for it's way faster compared to the Mac (according to him - makes sense, the Opteron is faster according to most benchmarks), and he currently tries to convince the company he works at to replace all Macs with Athlon64 and Opteron systems (depending on the workload). He mostly uses Mirage instead of Photoshop (which is available for Windows and OSX), and the Mirage OSX port is somewhat premature, but he also tells me all the time how crappy Adobe software like Illustrator and Indesign performs on the Mac compared to the Opteron. He's not really into PC's, just wants to get his work done, and he doesn't like OSX for it's 'toyish' look and feel. He doesn't really like Windows, too, used to use Linux-based workstations where he worked before, but that's a different issue - at least, on an AMD64 system, you'll have the ability to use Windows _and_ Linux (with Xen and future CPUs even at the same time, without a performance penalty - and yes, I know that it's possible to use Linux on a Mac, but there's no commercial software - like VivaDesigner, Softimage|XSI or Apples very own Shake - for Linux/ PPC)...

One thing also to consider is that Adobe officially stated that Windows is the platform of choice for their software, and due to the recent Macromedia deal, there might be no other alternative soon!

Link to comment
https://www.neowin.net/forum/topic/312353-mac-or-amd/#findComment-585856485
Share on other sites

This topic is now closed to further replies.
  • Recently Browsing   0 members

    • No registered users viewing this page.
  • Posts

    • Disabling open on hover, great! That was so stupid! They need to do a fix, where if a network share is disconnected, it doesn't hang when opening "This PC" for 20 seconds.
    • Microsoft releases major feature updates for stock Windows 11 apps by Taras Buria In addition to releasing new Windows 11 preview builds, Microsoft announced that inbox Windows apps now have dedicated release notes in the official documentation. At long last, users have access to all the release notes for each app, with changes listed in chronological order. Microsoft used to announce feature updates for stock apps with each build. Now, with Windows Insider release notes hosted on the Microsoft Learn website, each app has a dedicated space for its changelog, which is very useful for those who want to track new features and improvements. Alongside that, Microsoft dropped massive feature updates for six stock apps: Clock, Media Player, Calculator, Voice Recorder, Photos, and Paint. Each app packs quite a lot of changes and new capabilities, so here are the release notes. Here are quick notes so that you can jump to the app you are interested in the most: Calculator Camera Clock Media Player Paint Photos Sound Recorder Here is what is new for the Calculator in version 11.2605.9.0: More accurate square-root results — Fixed rare cases where a calculation that should equal zero (like sqrt(2.25) - 1.5) returned a tiny leftover value instead. Readable text in High Contrast themes — Settings text now shows the correct colors in the High Contrast Aquatic and Desert themes. Fixed layout for right-to-left languages — For languages like Arabic and Hebrew, the graph, number pad, equation fields, and scroll buttons now appear correctly oriented. Reliable launch after upgrading — Fixed an issue where upgrading from much older versions could leave outdated settings that stopped the app from opening. Here is what is new for the Camera app (version 2026.2605.7.0): Zoom slider works on more cameras — The zoom slider now works on the latest cameras, respects your system zoom settings, and updates instantly when you change those settings. Full range of zoom levels — Fixed an issue where the zoom slider only showed three steps on some devices that zoom in finer increments. Front camera works on more devices — Resolved a problem that blocked the front-facing camera on certain wide-angle devices. More video resolution choices — You can now pick video resolutions that were previously hidden; the app shows a heads-up warning instead of removing them. QR links you can still use — When a scanned QR code points to something with no matching app, the link is now copied to your clipboard (with a notification) while still offering a Store search. Smarter default settings — When you haven't set a preference, the app now follows your system settings by default. The Clock app has a massive changelog with the following improvements in version 11.2605.9.0: Timers keep counting after they hit zero — When a timer runs out, it now keeps counting up (for example, -00:27:31) so you can see how far past the time you've gone. You can turn off the daily goal — Focus Sessions now include an "Off" option so you can skip setting a daily goal entirely. New 15-minute snooze option — Alarms now offer a 15-minute snooze interval. Run up to 3 countdowns at once — The Countdown Widget now supports three simultaneous countdowns, up from two. Timer Widget notifications now appear — Fixed an issue where the "timer finished" notification didn't show when the timer was started from the widget. Less clutter in Focus Sessions — Tasks you've already completed no longer show up in the Focus Session task list. More accurate focus progress — Fixed a rounding issue that could show your daily focus progress as a minute short (for example, 49 minutes instead of 50). Smoother World Clock comparisons — The World Clock compare page now loads dates as you scroll, so it feels more responsive. Up-to-date World Clock locations — Refreshed country and city names to match their current names. Correct sun and moon icons during midnight sun — Fixed an icon that wrongly showed a moon during all-day daylight in polar regions. Fixed back-button behavior in clock comparisons — Pressing back once now takes you back as expected, instead of jumping the date to 1926. Corrected the Newfoundland time zone — Newfoundland now uses the right time zone (St. John's). Disabled alarms stay looking disabled — Editing a turned-off alarm no longer makes it appear turned on. Cleaner timer cards — The expand button is now turned off on timer cards that have no time set, preventing actions that wouldn't do anything. Clearer theme setting — Updated the wording to "Choose your preferred app theme." Smoother Settings links — The "About" links in Settings no longer trigger an unexpected "switch apps" prompt. Fixed spacing in Spotify settings — Corrected uneven spacing in the Spotify settings card. Better focus visibility in High Contrast — The focus highlight in World Clock is now clearly visible in the High Contrast Aquatic and Desert themes. No more double announcements — Screen readers no longer read the timer value twice. Countdown names read correctly — Screen readers now properly announce the name of each countdown. Keyboard focus stays put — Focus no longer disappears after you press the Timer Reset button. Clearer alarm toggle for screen readers — Tidied up how the alarm on/off switch is announced. The Media Player app received plenty of changes as well (version 11.2605.14.0): Custom captions — You can now personalize how closed captions appear, with caption styling tied to your Windows caption settings, plus a quick link to open those settings directly. "Indexing" banner in the play queue — When your media library is still being scanned, a banner now explains why some items may not appear yet. Fixed the look of selected items — Corrected a layout glitch with selected items in lists. Fewer playback failures — Improved how the app recognizes supported file types, so more files play without issues. Playlists need a name — You can no longer accidentally save a playlist with a blank name. Cleaner look for empty playlists — Improved how a playlist appears when it has no items yet. More stable play queue edits — Fixed a crash that could happen when changing the play queue while the app was switching between sessions. Clearer "missing codec" message — Improved the dialog that appears when a file needs a codec you don't have, with clearer guidance on what to do. A big update is also available for Paint in version 11.2605.61.0: Adjustable eraser transparency — You can now control how transparent the eraser is. Cleaner stamp brush strokes — Fixed visible color shifts and artifacts when using stamp-style brushes. JPEG photos save in place — Opening a rotated JPEG and pressing Save now overwrites the original instead of unexpectedly prompting "Save As." No more crash on bad image files — Opening a damaged or invalid image, from within the app, by double click, or commandline, now shows a clear error message instead of closing the app. Classic selection behavior restored — The selection outline now hides while you move, resize, or rotate a selection, just like in classic Paint. Tidier AI image panel — Fixed missing spacing at the bottom of the AI image generation panel for a cleaner layout. Visible button hover in light theme — Toolbar split buttons now show a clear hover highlight in the light theme. Snappier toolbar — Streamlined how the ribbon lays out, giving a small speed boost at startup. Fewer background crashes — Fixed a crash that could happen while background tasks were finishing up. Stable app shutdown — Prevented rare crashes when closing the app. Fixed layer removal glitch — Deleting the active layer no longer leaves the layers list in an inconsistent state. Here is what is new in the Photos app (version 2026.11060.2004.0): AI watermarking — AI-generated or edited images can now carry a visible Copilot watermark. You choose Never, Always, or Ask Every Time in Settings, with a confirmation when saving. The watermarking is off by default in settings. Better viewing of small images and pixel art — Tiny images (like 16×16 pixel art) now zoom in far more to fill the screen and stay crisp instead of looking blurry. Select scanned text with the keyboard — When text is detected in an image, you can now navigate and select it using the arrow keys, Shift+Arrow, Home/End, and Ctrl+A, with a clear focus highlight. Fixed a crash in text recognition — Resolved a crash that could close Photos while detecting text in images; the app now recovers gracefully. Easier keyboard navigation — Tabbing through the navigation bar no longer stops on hidden controls, so it takes a single Tab to move past it instead of three. And finally, here is the Sound Recorder (version 11.2605.1.0): Waveform shows with Bluetooth mics — The live waveform now displays correctly when you record using a Bluetooth audio device. No more stray scrollbar — A non-working horizontal scrollbar no longer appears at the bottom of the waveform unless you've zoomed in. Mark button ready right away — The Mark button no longer looks grayed out until you hover over it after opening the app. Markers hidden for WAV files — Markers are now turned off for WAV recordings, since that format can't store them — so they're no longer lost silently. Smoother deleting — Quickly pressing Delete and Enter to remove several recordings in a row no longer triggers a "file doesn't exist" error. Fixed a memory issue — Resolved a memory leak that occurred each time a recording started. You can find all these changelogs in the official documentation here.
    • again, an article about Microsoft Edge and ridicules hater's comments
    • From this very same article: "For organizations that prefer a “more deliberate pace”, the Extended Stable channel remains an option."
    • Or every other browser, because they all behave the same, at least the mainstream ones. Firefox does exactly the same: background updates, restart to install them. Haters gotta hate, I guess.
  • Recent Achievements

    • Very Popular
      AndrewSteel earned a badge
      Very Popular
    • Veteran
      Taliseian went up a rank
      Veteran
    • One Month Later
      Clizby earned a badge
      One Month Later
    • One Month Later
      Timaximus earned a badge
      One Month Later
    • Week One Done
      Timaximus earned a badge
      Week One Done
  • Popular Contributors

    1. 1
      +primortal
      512
    2. 2
      PsYcHoKiLLa
      170
    3. 3
      +Edouard
      162
    4. 4
      Steven P.
      85
    5. 5
      ATLien_0
      78
  • Tell a friend

    Love Neowin? Tell a friend!