Should I run Quark Xpress 7.0x on my G4 PowerBook?

[Squonk]

I have a 1.25GHz G4 PowerBook with 1.25GB of RAM and a fast hard drive in it. I have a license to Xpress 4.0 that I'm considering upgrading to 7.0 to use on the PowerBook. My needs are fairly simple layouts with a small amount of graphics. Will it perform OK on my PowerBook? I have been using *cringe* PowerPoint for simple text layouts and I really want to move back to Xpress. And for $249 upgrade, this seems like a no brainer.

I have not been using 4.0 as there are some serious printing problems with 4.0 in Classic going to my desktop printer (a Canon inkjet). The margins are hopelessly screwed up. I'm hoping that 7.0 will play nicely.

Thanks much!

 

[Mydriasis]

It will work fine, but remember you need tiger to run QE7.

EDIT: saw your sig.: your good to go

 

[G.Kirby]

Make sure that you run any updates as well (7.0.2) we were having some bizzar print results form some printers. Things like you get 2 copies even though all the settings are set to 1 copy. Happy Quarking

 

[Blue Velvet]

Depending on whether you purchase a disk or buy by download, make sure you download and install the 7.02 updater before even launching v7. This is what I have read elsewhere...

 

[giffut]

I ...

...

 

[giffut]

I ...

...wouldn´t recommend Quark XPress 7. It is way overkill for what you are actually are doing and planning in the future. Especially that XPRess is mainly meant to be used in highly proessional print/press environments and grows its power from the PlugIn system and integration in printing technology.

You would be much more happier in getting iWorks from Apple for –I think – US$79, which includes a page layout word processor bread called "Pages" and a very beautiful powerpoint substitute called "Keynote". Both of which produce incredible nice, but easily done layouts. It saves you money and you save lots of time, too. Think of it like that: XPRess makes easy things very complicated to implement, but is actually meant to make complicated things much easier to produce.

Give iWorks a try, and forget XPress for as long as you are not producing at least something comparable as a magazine like VOGUE or a newspaper the size of the Washington Post ;-)

Those are the projetcs you would count in XPRess and its competitor Adobe InDesign - but this is not home user stuff, forget it. Don´t drive a MAC when a Honda Civic is sufficient.

 

[Blue Velvet]

^I think if the original poster has a license for Xpress 4, he or she is well-qualified to make that purchasing decision for themselves... if any of their work is going to press regardless of complexity, then Pages is not the appropriate tool for that kind of work.

 

[Squonk]

Follow-up

Thanks all for your feedback.

I used to work in the graphics industry supporting the prepress department for a national printer in the US. As a long time fan of Macs, when I could swing a copy of Xpress for my home business, I went for it. Do I truly need Xpress for me needs, probably not. But, I like it and it makes sense for me. Back in the day I used PageMaker (from the Aldus and then Adobe days).

I'll be honest, I have not played with Pages. I think I have an iWork 06 trail CD that I should play with. If it handcuffs me like iWeb does for it's website creation, I know I'll be frustrated. And for that matter, I'm going to download the trial version of QXP 7 too.

Is $249 the best price I'll do on an Xpress 7 upgrade? Might anyone know of a less expensive vendor? I'm just frugal...

 

[dpaanlka]

XPress 7 will run fine on very fast on your system, much better than 4.0 for sure

I don't even think 4.0 is PowerPC native, perhaps only partially PowerPC optimized.

 

[Squonk]

XPress 7 will run fine on very fast on your system, much better than 4.0 for sure

I don't even think 4.0 is PowerPC native, perhaps only partially PowerPC optimized.

Yeah, 4.0 fires up Classic to run. That right there is bad enough...

I'd imagine I'm in for a bit of a learning curve jumping from 4 to 7, but it sounds fun to me!

 

[Blue Velvet]

I'd imagine I'm in for a bit of a learning curve jumping from 4 to 7, but it sounds fun to me!

http://www.quark.com/service/desktop/training/quarked.cfm

 

[dpaanlka]

This is literally Quark's fourth logo in three years. They should just go back to the old one.

 

[Squonk]

http://www.quark.com/service/desktop/training/quarked.cfm

Thanks much Blue Velvet - that rocks!!!

 

[G.Kirby]

I'd imagine I'm in for a bit of a learning curve jumping from 4 to 7, but it sounds fun to me!

Other version jumps through 4, 5, 6 and 6.5 not a fat lot changed so it was easy to fudge your way through the new features, quickly discovering which to use and which to avoid. However, QXP 7is a totally new puppy with loads of new features to aid designers and art directors right through to repro houses and print specialists. I can recommend the training highlighted by Blue Velvet.

 

[giffut]

Why ...

... being so stiff. If working with Powerpoint was acceptable for either his private or professional work, I think iWorks is just what he might want to try before checking on any expensive XPress upgrades.

For his description of workload he has and which I took as a basis for judgement I still believe XPress is way too much overweight. And US$250,- is still a hefty pricetag if you keep doing simple work with it. Well, you even could grab a hand on a Corel Graphics Suite 11 for Mac for around US$35, getting something quite professional, but awesome cheap for moderate to advanced layouting and/or graphics; the learning curve is much easier, too. Finally: Adobe Indesign ergo Creative Suite is the definite future of print/multimedia design, I strongly believe, so putting learning effort there would be much more worthwhile.

The final decision is up to himself anyway – I couldn´t care less ;-)

^I think if the original poster has a license for Xpress 4, he or she is well-qualified to make that purchasing decision for themselves... if any of their work is going to press regardless of complexity, then Pages is not the appropriate tool for that kind of work.

 

[G.Kirby]

Adobe Indesign ergo Creative Suite is the definite future of print/multimedia design, I strongly believe, so putting learning effort there would be much more worthwhile.

A bold statement. Indesign will be part of the future of print design but it won’t be the be all and end all.

 

[dpaanlka]

Adobe Indesign ergo Creative Suite is the definite future of print/multimedia design, I strongly believe, so putting learning effort there would be much more worthwhile.

I strongly believe Quark XPress will be a major player for a long time, and the XPress vs. InDesign war is far from over.

 

[CrackedButter]

Indesign has an advantage as well for being included in a suite. A lot of people online say Indesign is selling well and loads of people have said they are happy with it but I doubt it made a huge dent for Quark.

 

[B&Wtoon]

QXP 7 is a big package – you can stumble through the same way as you can from v4 but there are so many new bells and whistles that are included – a big jump from v6. I will have to set time aside to train I thinks (thanks for link BV).
I installed it a week ago and am slowly introducing it into production (as well as running v6.5). Everything seems to work well except I had problem with printing via a fiery so I contacted Quark support (free nowadays) and explained problem he (‘Ken’!) asked me to send ppd which he changed coding to, and returned within 24 hours, which works fine.

It does run slow on certain documents but am still testing its limits, I will have to get more RAM. Other thing is the ‘manic morse code’ noise I get when processing print or pdf’s and also when pressing save on style sheets instructions – strange!
IMO InDesign employ people to sabotage QXP forums whereas QXP users work for a living and know the truth...QXP still king

 

[Squonk]

Thanks much!

Thanks to everyone for the discussion and other viewpoints.

The fact that I was using PowerPoint was that I needed to do a business card for my Mom's business and that is when I discovered that QXP4 was not playing nice on Tiger - so I gutted it out in PPT. It was not what I would have liked to do.

I hear you that InDesign is growing in popularity quite nicely, but since this is really a low usage tool for my home business, if I can upgrade my QXP license to be current for $250, that is great for me. I'm not willing to pop for $800 or whatever InDesign would run me. Well, I do have a license to Illustrator 7 or 8, I wonder if that would get me a cheap upgrade path into CS2. Hmm, another thought to consider.. I'll check into that.

And I would like to revive my QXP skill set to be able to be able to take on some additional side projects.

 

[Squonk]

Upgrade to CS2

It looks like you can upgrade Photoshop into CS, but not Illustrator into CS based on what I saw at the Adobe website. Bummer... Oh well, that upgrade would be $499 anyway. And yes, you get a whole suite for that price as opposed to just one application.