Birthday guy dilemma

[s.hoz]

So I'm trying to decide between:

20'' iMac 2ghz 1gb ram, 250 hd
+
Photoshop CS3

OR

20'' iMac 2.4ghz 1gb ram, 320 hd
and no cs3


Both iMac's are aluminum refurbs. Should I go with the faster processor and bigger HD or get something not as great with Photoshop? I have a 500 external at home I can use as well....
What do you think?

 

[MarkMS]

So I'm trying to decide between:

20'' iMac 2ghz 1gb ram, 250 hd
+
Photoshop CS3

OR

20'' iMac 2.4ghz 1gb ram, 320 hd
and no cs3


Both iMac's are aluminum refurbs. Should I go with the faster processor and bigger HD or get something not as great with Photoshop? I have a 500 external at home I can use as well....
What do you think?

HDD space shouldn't really matter if you a 500GB external at home. I'd go with the CS3 deal. Just upgrade the RAM to the max, if possible. That said, I'd rather have more RAM (like 4GB) than a processor that's only 400MHz faster. But that's just me.

You can always learn how to use GIMP.

 

[s.hoz]

I have GIMP on my PC and it's a good program, but I'd rather try out Photoshop....

And yes, I'm planing on getting maxed out ram from macsales.
People have said that their photoshop works fine on their 2ghz iMac so....

 

[dibara2003]

get the mac and CS3. the system should run it fine

 

[Squareball]

If the choice really is to get a computer without CS3 or to get one with and the only difference was minor speed and storage space I would choose CS3 no matter what and here's why.

1. CS3 makes your machine worth more as you're actually using it for something other than just surfing and whatnot. If you are just learning it also gets you learning something you otherwise might not be able to.

2. CS3 doesn't use that much CPU all the time. In fact, right now it's in the background and is using 3.3% CPU and 2.57GB of ram. I have never seen CS3 use more than 40% CPU on my MacPro although if you are doing advanced image manipulation (doesn't sound like you are) a faster processor is of course going to get it done a little quicker but what's 20 seconds? And if you have the faster machine, you don't have CS3 right?

3. I learned to use photoshop on a 5x86 233 with 32MB of ram and a 1GB HD. Even though Photoshop requires more performance these days, percentage wise it requires a lot less than it did back then and I learned just fine.

Enjoy your 2ghz with CS3! It's your best option IMO.

 

[s.hoz]

Wow, thanks Squareball. I think that's the way I'll go. CS3 sounds like an amazing program, and a lot of fun. Sure, I won't be using it for MAJOR editing, but so what? I'll just be creating pictures, artwork for my personal use. Maybe sell it. Who knows? And I'm pretty tech savy, I would say so learning how to run it won't be a huge task. I'll be able to apply what I've learned in later life if I do go into photography/graphic design or whatever. Ok...so not so much a "dilemma"; but...