Hi rgustafs
Though both the Mac Pro and iMac are good for Graphic Print Design work, I would recommend getting the Mac Pro. This model is adequate for graphic design
http://store.apple.com/us/configure/MC560LL/A?
This is because Photoshop or InDesign would always need an assigned "scratch disk" or another separate physical Hard Drive as a "scratch disk" With an iMac, I would have to attached a separate external Hard Drive as the scratch disk but data would be transferred slower unlike if the Hard Drive was internal. With the Mac Pro, you can add more internal HDs and just have one of them as the "scratch disk"
The dedicated scratch disk is bordering on arcane at this point given that especially with CS6, we're hitting a point where you can throw ram at it. They are most likely dealing with 8bpc cmyk files with whatever layers, and that won't be difficult on modern hardware. Looking at the established storage system here, I don't think the internal drives will be a huge factor.
Okay so. 75% of what we CURRENTLY have slated for the graphic designer is only going to get as wild as designing print work that will be used online or in a PDF doc that gets shared electronically or printed on our office's HP color printers. The rest will be sent to a vendor for post-production and printing so the color correction issues are (mostly) moot. (right?)
Here's what I am thinking, and please let me know if you think I am on the right track:
iMac 3.4GHz Quad-Core Intel Core i7
16GB 1333MHz DDR3 SDRAM - 4x4GB
1TB Serial ATA Drive (since we're pulling/saving from network)
AMD Radeon HD 6970M 2GB GDDR5
Apple Magic Mouse (track pad can come later if needed)
Apple Wireless Keyboard (English) & User's Guide
Then with the $$$ we save -- we're going to get the designer a MacBook Pro because we are often a 24/7 operation. So then I guess we need to start thinking specs on the MacBook, but I think we'll get the desktop first. 🙂
Anyone think that's a bad plan? And what other peripherals would make you happy as a designer (doing this basic-ish design work)?
Many, many thanks, smart people of MacRumors.
RGUSTAFS
I agree with deconstruct that the designer may prefer a tablet. It can be much more efficient and ergonomic especially for free hand type work. It just depends how detailed. The extra vram may guarantee you some longevity there, as Creative Suite 6 recommends at least 1GB of vram. It may never be an issue. I'd probably order the ram separately, but I'd go from a place that guarantees it and tests on macs to ensure against downtime. Since imacs are annoying to service, I would run something like memtest on it and perhaps a few hours of prime95 to ensure that it's in good working condition when it arrives. I'd personally do the same with a mac pro as I like to verify that everything is in perfect working order on a new machine.
Also it sounds like a good setup. Not getting blasted by window lighting is important, but I'd still consider that important with a matte display. For anything visual, too much light hitting the display can be annoying. Either it's reflective, or you get to look at sparkles because LG uses cheap coatings
😀. Some of the older NECs used a softer matte coating, but even then too much light could have a subtle influence on the look. I don't think an SSD is critical. A modern HDD that isn't completely filled with work files + a lot of ram can provide excellent performance. I don't think you'd gain much in productivity for that $600 SSD option from Apple. OWC published some tests on ram a while back. Even with 10-15k (square) test files, above a certain amount of ram, it pushed gains from the SSD off the table. Getting 16GB of ram isn't even expensive anymore. You can buy it from one of the third party retailers for $100. If you're working at really high resolutions with many layers and extra channels, and/or many applications open at once, 32GB is cheap enough. Most people will be happy with 16.
This may/may not help if designer is being placed in some common bullpen cube with stereotypical overhead lighting.
http://www.photodon.com/p/112-IM27.html
It won't solve all lighting problems, but if it is just overhead lights that are the major glare problem it could help.
The way you describe things is still extremely funny. "Bullpen cube". "Thunderbolt + usb3 makes for a good family feud."
I'm going to turn one of these into my sig, because they're completely awesome.
Anyway on the wacom thing, size preferences vary. Most of the photo labs and studios here stuck with intuos 3 9x12s for a very long time. I'd probably look up reviews on the current large tablet. Medium is comfortable for some people. It's just on a large display a small tablet can feel weird in terms of mapping. You move your hand slightly, and the cursor jumps much further. The OP could ask the designer on this one. Medium is around $300. Large runs around $400-450. I'd look up reviews on the intuos5. The intuos4 had a lot of problems in that nibs and surfaces wore down really fast. You can replace nibs by pulling the original with a pair of needle nosed pliers, but it's annoying to do this frequently.
