Congratulations on your purchase.
I hope you made the right decision on the graphics card. However, I still want to draw your attention to this article on the GeForce 8800:
http://www.barefeats.com/imp03.html
My 2 cents.
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Photographer moving from PC to Mac for stability and speed: config questions
- Thread starter MoWheels
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Congratulations on your purchase.
I hope you made the right decision on the graphics card. However, I still want to draw your attention to this article on the GeForce 8800:
http://www.barefeats.com/imp03.html
My 2 cents.
I must admit I made an optimistic semi-educated guess about which card to get. One of the primary Photoshop tools I use makes heavy use of the GPU. Rumors are that CS4 will too. I have no good understanding of how the GPU is actually used but understand more RAM is better. Guess you'd call it blind faith - not always a virtue.
Since you are a professional photographer, you might consider joining National Association of Photoshop Users. (NAPP). Benefits, at cost of $100 membership, are discounts on software and hardware.
You can save several hundred dollars by buying your Mac through their discount site. http://www.photoshopuser.com. For example, the basic Mac Pro is $2,575 vs. $2800. Even Applecare is cheaper. Refurbished computers, which I buy, are cheaper still but at the same price where ever you buy from.
You can save several hundred dollars by buying your Mac through their discount site. http://www.photoshopuser.com. For example, the basic Mac Pro is $2,575 vs. $2800. Even Applecare is cheaper. Refurbished computers, which I buy, are cheaper still but at the same price where ever you buy from.
You're quite right here! I've been a member of NAPP for a while. All my camera gear is puchased from B&H and NAPP members get free shipping. I did indeed order the Mac through NAPP's portal and got a significant discount. These perks much more than pay for annual membership fees PLUS you get Photoshop User magazine. It's a no-brainer to join if you frequently make purchases.
Two weeks into new Mac Pro ownership - loving it!
Thought I'd follow up with my Mac Pro honeymoon experience.
First, "thank you" to you folks who took the time to respond to my questions. Informed opinions are helpful in making a decision.
I bought the stock 2.8 GHz 8 core MP with 2 GB RAM, 8800 video, and 500 GB HD. Added 12 GB more RAM and 2 HD from Newegg.com. 2nd drive is a 750 GB and the 3rd is a 1 TB for backups/Time Machine. I installed VMware fusion and am running XP in a VM only (did not install Boot Camp). It was actually less problematic getting my peripherals installed in OS X than I expected. I have an Epson R1800 printer which, at first, printed crappily (is that a word?). I soon learned the default driver installed from OS X wasn't the correct one and a quick download from Epson's site and re-install fixed that problem. My old Epson 2450 flat bed scanner seems to work fine after downloading and installing OS X drivers. I did some research and found a workaround for installing my old Konica Minolta 2300DL color laser. This too works great. My Wacom graphics tablet, Pantone monitor calibrator, and memory card reader all are working as expected. I'm amazed at how easy it was to get everything working having never used a Mac previously.
Of course, the real measure of success is in the actual use of the machine. I've just finished processing my first wedding shoot with the new computer. I really didn't know quite what to expect with 8 cores. Watching Activity Monitor is actually a fun experience itself! From the outset this thing was fast! Transferring over 1700 RAW files (average 10 MB each) was several times faster than my old AMD X2 4400+ machine. Lightroom never glitched, nor did jumping between Lightroom and Photoshop every seriously tax the capacity of the machine. I was amazed to see no Page Outs with everything I was doing. With the old XP machine, I learned the hard way to not keep several things running at once while doing important work because sooner or later in a session, something was going to crap out on me. I'm sure fate will catch up with me at some point with the Mac, but so far it seems like there's no limits!
The user interface is taking some getting used to, but that will rectify itself soon enough. Still trying to master all the keyboard shortcuts. I don't really like the feel of the Apple mouse - may switch back to the Microsoft mouse from the old computer.
Guess you can count me in the group of happy switchers.
Thought I'd follow up with my Mac Pro honeymoon experience.
First, "thank you" to you folks who took the time to respond to my questions. Informed opinions are helpful in making a decision.
I bought the stock 2.8 GHz 8 core MP with 2 GB RAM, 8800 video, and 500 GB HD. Added 12 GB more RAM and 2 HD from Newegg.com. 2nd drive is a 750 GB and the 3rd is a 1 TB for backups/Time Machine. I installed VMware fusion and am running XP in a VM only (did not install Boot Camp). It was actually less problematic getting my peripherals installed in OS X than I expected. I have an Epson R1800 printer which, at first, printed crappily (is that a word?). I soon learned the default driver installed from OS X wasn't the correct one and a quick download from Epson's site and re-install fixed that problem. My old Epson 2450 flat bed scanner seems to work fine after downloading and installing OS X drivers. I did some research and found a workaround for installing my old Konica Minolta 2300DL color laser. This too works great. My Wacom graphics tablet, Pantone monitor calibrator, and memory card reader all are working as expected. I'm amazed at how easy it was to get everything working having never used a Mac previously.
Of course, the real measure of success is in the actual use of the machine. I've just finished processing my first wedding shoot with the new computer. I really didn't know quite what to expect with 8 cores. Watching Activity Monitor is actually a fun experience itself! From the outset this thing was fast! Transferring over 1700 RAW files (average 10 MB each) was several times faster than my old AMD X2 4400+ machine. Lightroom never glitched, nor did jumping between Lightroom and Photoshop every seriously tax the capacity of the machine. I was amazed to see no Page Outs with everything I was doing. With the old XP machine, I learned the hard way to not keep several things running at once while doing important work because sooner or later in a session, something was going to crap out on me. I'm sure fate will catch up with me at some point with the Mac, but so far it seems like there's no limits!
The user interface is taking some getting used to, but that will rectify itself soon enough. Still trying to master all the keyboard shortcuts. I don't really like the feel of the Apple mouse - may switch back to the Microsoft mouse from the old computer.
Guess you can count me in the group of happy switchers.
Congrats.
As for the mouse get a Logitech MX310, honestly the best mouse I ever owned. I have been using mine for 4 years and still have not found a better one.
You will have to download drivers from Logitech.
As for the mouse get a Logitech MX310, honestly the best mouse I ever owned. I have been using mine for 4 years and still have not found a better one.
You will have to download drivers from Logitech.
just make sure that if you use a logitech mouse that you don't install the logitech control center or whatever that app is called. It is supposedly mac compatible, but it has single-handedly taken down entire college graphics labs.
I haven't had any issues with it, 2 computers, 1 keyboard, 1 joystick, and 3 mice later.
MoWheels, dude, that is one awesome setup, glad it is working out for ya
I dug up an old wireless Microsoft Intellimouse Explorer 2.0 and plugged it in. Downloaded the OS X drivers from MS and seems like it's working okay. Doesn't have the best feel to it, but I do have to admit it is much better feeling than the wireless Mighty Mouse. I still may look for something better next time I go shopping.
Slightly off topic, but what's motivating your preference for SeaGate HD's? I'm in the market for some extra storage and was just curious.
Also, why put music and apps together?
Congrats on your switch!
As a fellow photographer who made the switch to nearly the exact same system 4 months ago (but only 6 GB RAM so far in my system, upgrading soon), I can tell you it is a nice ride from here on out. Also use LR extensively, and CS3 - as well as a Nikon shooter!
It stinks you have to switch to XP for that single program, but sounds like it isn't too painful. I have resisted, and really only needed to change to a different business software for Mac in the end.
Mark
As a fellow photographer who made the switch to nearly the exact same system 4 months ago (but only 6 GB RAM so far in my system, upgrading soon), I can tell you it is a nice ride from here on out. Also use LR extensively, and CS3 - as well as a Nikon shooter!
It stinks you have to switch to XP for that single program, but sounds like it isn't too painful. I have resisted, and really only needed to change to a different business software for Mac in the end.
Mark