21.5 imac Nvidia or ATI Radion?

[ab1472]

So, i just got laid off...

I'm planning on purchasing an imac for use with adobe products (flash, illustrator and photoshop will be used most) and eventually final cut studio...

I'll be drawing with a Intuos4 drawing tablet, will mostly be making short flash cartoons, editing vids, tracing over still pics, etc...

Anyway, i was planning on buying a quadcore 27 inch, then i found out i was getting laid off, so i decided i would get the 21.5 ati radion mac...

then, today, i got laid off a month before i expected (although i did get an extra weeks pay)...

so, my question is...will i be able to use adobe cs4 products (eventually cs5) effectively on a entry level 21.5 imac (Nvidia/1/2tb), or should i take a chance and get the ATI radion/1tb one?

I'll be short about $350 on the software if i get the ATI radion imac or $50 short if i get the entry level...the kicker is that i have the #1 ranked fantasy team in a $500 league that would secure my budget by a hair...

any responses would be greatly appreciated...

ps...i'm going to be using whatever comp i get for 2-3 years then trade it in and upgrade to a top-of-the-line i mac or macpro and get serious with this sort of work...

 

[ravenvii]

All of the programs you say you plan to use will not depend on the graphic card. It doesn't matter what graphic card you get; the performance will be determined by your CPU speed and the amount of RAM in your machine.

 

[ab1472]

so will the entry level mac be sufficient? BTW, when i get some extra cash, i plan on upgrading from 4gb ram to 8.

 

[SOT DOC]

Apple has had both in the refurbished store lately. They sell very fast. Would save you a couple hundred.

 

[MacOSXGamer123]

this is a popular misconception.... graphics card doesn't really help the adobe cs4 range... graphics are what you need for gaming and CAD work... its ram and CPU that its most intensive on so my view is the Nvidia lowest spec one, especially if you are upgrading the ram