[art_director]

I'm looking to hear experiences and impressions about the latest MPs from professional users. Specifically, I'd love to hear from designers and art directors using the usual tools of the trade:

• Adobe CS3 Design Premium Suite
• Adobe After Effects
• Quark
• Extensis Suitcase Fusion

Will happily accept and consider input from others but iLife apps are not part of my work environment or consideration set.


Now...

I'm currently using a Dual 2.5 G5 as my primary machine and a MBP 2.16 Duo as my mobile unit. I'm considering upgrading the G5 to a Mac Pro and am curious to hear about real world performance with respect to the world of design. Anyone willing to help a brother out?

For obvious reason I'd like an Intel processor so as I can take advantage of CS3 in all its glory. Sure, it runs fine on my G5 but I'm looking for the speed bump. In addition, I would like to add drives for storage and intend to run multiple OSs -- Windoze (spare the ridicule, I have my reasons) as well as a Linux flavor. I'm guessing I'll go ahead and throw five drives in the MP. Anyone else done that yet? Any upsides / downsides to be aware of?

In my current desktop I'm running 6.5GB RAM which is quite nice. In a MP I would imagine I'd install at least that much RAM. How much RAM are other pro users equiping their MPs with?

Apple offers a nice lineup of graphics card options. I'm not the dual monitor type, I prefer one large monitor. Based on that, what card might other users suggest as being my best bet?

To Quad or not to Quad. While the Dual Quad 3.0 processors makes the testeroserone in my body surge, will I notice the bump given the apps I run day to day? Is it worth the jump in price? Will Duos be better for my particular needs? I'm not much of a gamer so that can be eliminated from the mix.

Anything else I should consider as I look into possibly upgrading? I'm not in a hurry and have the luxury of waiting until after WWDC. Needless to say there may / may not be upgrades at that time. I'm not the type to whine if I buy today and they bump processor speeds tomorrow -- that's life.

Thanks to any and all for responses / advice / feedback.

[imitchellg5]

My school uses a Quad 2.5GHz G4 with 4.5 Gb of RAM and a Mac Pro 3.0GHz with 4 Gb of RAM for Quark and CS3 and CS2. The MP is faster at everything except CS2 obviously. Not hugely faster, but enough to notice. I'm not sure about the graphics the Quad, but the Mac Pro has the XT1900 I think it is. I think what I would do in your situation would be get a Quad 3.0 GHz with 6 Gb of RAM and a 30" Cinema Display with the ATi card.

[SierraDragon]

Wait until after WWDC.

CS2 MacIntel performance is irrelevant for CS3 users, since CS3 does not require Rosetta's large overhead like CS2 does.

Adobe still fails to take advantage of optional better graphics cards but the Mac OS and many other graphics apps do. Today the X1900XT is a good choice but 2 weeks from now there will likely be better choices.

Adding 2x2 GB RAM to Apple's 1 GB is a minimum; adding 4x2 GB is better still. IMO only 2 GB sized DIMMs make sense.

Mostly, wait until after WWDC and we can continue this discussion with more info. Hopefully I will be buying a new MP for similar needs then too.

-Allen Wicks

[dankar]

I am using a MacPro 3ghz, XT1900, 1.25TB HD and 8GB ram, running CS3 premium suite. My productivity and workflow have shot up almost 50%. Projects like packaging design, print ads and etc, are in and out of my office to client very much faster, as the time spent waiting in the past for the data crunching to be done have been reduced significantly.

If you are not in a hurry or have clients breathing down your neck. Wait for WWDC. A 8-core processor, 8800 graphic card and CS3 would allow you a breather and coffee break more often.

[art_director]

Originally Posted by dankar 

I am using a MacPro 3ghz, XT1900, 1.25TB HD and 8GB ram, running CS3 premium suite. My productivity and workflow have shot up almost 50%. Projects like packaging design, print ads and etc, are in and out of my office to client very much faster, as the time spent waiting in the past for the data crunching to be done have been reduced significantly.

If you are not in a hurry or have clients breathing down your neck. Wait for WWDC. A 8-core processor, 8800 graphic card and CS3 would allow you a breather and coffee break more often.

Productivity up 50%? What were you using before the MP?

[dankar]

My old work horse was the Dual G5 2ghz 4gb ram using CS premium suite. You know some of our projects can run up to easily 1gb with their respective links and all. Or for an example, a 1/4 scale artwork of a huge wall mural (20 metres by 15 metres), converting to PDF for cross platform compatibility. My old set would have died from this acerbic exertion, while the MacPro just troopers on.