[Karpfish]

currently i have a blackbook and imac core duo, 17 ". My macbook beats the imac in everything except graphics. Before i got my imac i seriously considered a g5 dual 2.0, but the money wasnt there. I see an apple refurb dual 2.0 for 1599, and im sure i cud get one a lot cheaper used here or on another board. How much of a performance increase will i see IN APERTURE going to the PM, if any? i would need a good increase to justify it, and eve then im not sure my parents would be ok with me spending a few hundred bucks to upgrade. just looked around and i see systems with a gig or 2, upgraded hd's and stuff going for just over a grand, i hink this looks good

[MichiganRich]

This whole aperture thing has become an interest of mine lately as well. I don't currently use it, but I think that we're going to implement it into the workflow at the studio in the near future. Having talked to some other people who do use it, I have a sneaking suspicion that Apple might as well call the Mac Pro's the Aperture computer, as it's probably the only machine they make that wouldn't feel 'sluggish' while running it. I doubt that a dual G5 would feel that much different than your blackbook. Take this with a grain of salt of course, just my opinion.

[Karpfish]

MY only problem though is that HD space is limited on the macbook. I also wouldnt mind having the abity to have a ton of internal HD space(4 bays?)

[G5man]

Karpfish, with the G5 PowerMac, you only have 4 bays and I would advise against it due to the fact you already have switched to Intel and I would fly the caution flag if you look back on an older model IMHO.

[Karpfish]

why so g5man? the aperture performance on my imac is not great, and i see g5 duals go for just mroe than what i could get for my imac. I am feeling like i should do it, but what you say makes me think about it lol

[G5man]

Oopsy, the PowerMac G5 I meant had 2 HD bays. If you really want to, get a Core 2 Duo Merom Chip and stick it in your iMac and save yourself a bundle.

[mduell]

How much RAM does the iMac have?
Depending on how much it has, upgrading the RAM in the iMac may be much more cost effective than buying a PowerMac (and possibly a display).

Which dual 2.0 PowerMacs are you looking at? The original with 8 RAM slots and PCI-X? Or the next generation with 4 RAM slots? Or the final generation with PCIe?

The PowerMac G5 only has 2 hard drive bays, not 4.

I can't find any benchmarks that put a dual 2.0 powermac against a 2.0 Core Duo in Aperture, but I have a feeling Core Duo may have a slight lead with the same amount of RAM in both machines.

[Karpfish]

currently i have a gig, do you think that adding another gig would do it?

[neverskatewsandles]

Originally Posted by MichiganRich

This whole aperture thing has become an interest of mine lately as well. I don't currently use it, but I think that we're going to implement it into the workflow at the studio in the near future. Having talked to some other people who do use it, I have a sneaking suspicion that Apple might as well call the Mac Pro's the Aperture computer, as it's probably the only machine they make that wouldn't feel 'sluggish' while running it. I doubt that a dual G5 would feel that much different than your blackbook. Take this with a grain of salt of course, just my opinion.

Now when you say there isnt much difference are you saying that the blacbooks have dual 2.0's in them so in the end it comes out to 4.0? Look i know this is a stupid question but i dont know much about core duo. I had assumed that it was 2ghz per core.

[mduell]

Originally Posted by Karpfish

currently i have a gig, do you think that adding another gig would do it?

Are you swapping? Check in Activity Monitor. If so, definately. If not, possibly.

Originally Posted by neverskatewsandles

Now when you say there isnt much difference are you saying that the blacbooks have dual 2.0's in them so in the end it comes out to 4.0? Look i know this is a stupid question but i dont know much about core duo. I had assumed that it was 2ghz per core.

It is 2Ghz per core and there are two cores. For some applications that will perform like a 4Ghz CPU, for others it will perform like a 2Ghz CPU.

I think what he's saying is that the ~2Ghz Core Duo is about as fast as a pair of 2Ghz G5s for Aperture.

[Cadaver]

Aperture eats tons of RAM. More is better with Aperture - it'll cache thumbnails and it'll use up all the RAM it can get when doing batch processing.

If you can upgrade to 2GB, it'll help.

My advice, if as long as the screen on the iMac Core Duo 17" is acceptable to you, is to stick with it and upgrade its RAM. I find my 2.16GHz MacBook Pro equal or faster in speed compared with my 2.5GHz dual G5. Plus, the G5s make a whole lot more noise.

In the future, you could also swap the iMac's socketed Core Duo processor with a Core 2 Duo (Merom), giving you up to 2.33GHz (or more) of 64-bit dual core goodness. The G5s are a dead-end in terms of processor upgrades.

[Karpfish]

screen is an issue, but i think im gonna stick with what i have. too bad you cant connect another monitor to an imac.

[mduell]

Originally Posted by Karpfish

screen is an issue, but i think im gonna stick with what i have. too bad you cant connect another monitor to an imac.

Good news: you can! Any DVI monitor up to 23/24" HD.

From the iMac Tech Specs:
# Mini-DVI output port with support for DVI, VGA, S-video, and composite video connections via adapter
# Support for external display in extended desktop
* Digital resolutions up to 1920 x 1200
* Analog resolutions up to 2048 x 1536

[Karpfish]

ok, im keeeing my imac, and adding a dell 2007 monitor! sweetness@@!!!!!

[neverskatewsandles]

Thanks mduell i was a bit in the dark about that one.