Best Budget Aperture/Photoshop Station?

tontontonton
Posted:
in Mac Software edited January 2014
Ok... since I finally got a DSLR (Sony Alpha) I'm hoping to get back into photography in a big way.



But my MacBook just isn't going to cut it. Until I get a desktop for photo purposes, I'm going to have to keep on using JPEG files and iPhoto.



I need a workstation with a big hard drive, that can run Aperture and Photoshop.



I want to know what the cheapest solution would be. I don't have a monitor so I'll have to get one, likely a Dell 20". Or I could get an iMac...



Are the Minis powerful enough to run Aperture? I could get a big external drive. And I'd have to get the CS2.5 beta.



Is a used Dual G5 powerful enough? Then at least CS2 will run well.



I really can't afford a Mac Pro.



Thanks for your suggestions. Remember, budget is most important, but I'd like the thing to at least be usable speed-wise.



I suppose I could use my MacBook, and external drive and second monitor, and keep all my RAW files off the internal, but it'll be SLLLOOOWWW...

Comments

  • Reply 1 of 1
    sarge_sarge_ Posts: 6member
    If you're going to use aperture the most important element is the graphics card. I'd recommend checking the Apple discussion forums for more info.



    I've been using Aperture since it was released, and it has improved dramatically. However, it is still clunky with regard to 'fluidity' of the controls unless you have a very high end graphics card. RAM is of secondary importance, and of course then also the hard drive speed, which will further punish you on most laptops.



    I wouldn't advise using Aperture on a laptop at all. I have a Macbook but haven't even tried to load Aperture - it's already too slow on my quad G5 with GeForce7800GTX card. The speed is more acceptable if I only run Aperture on one monitor, but part of the beauty of Apt is its ability to run on two screens.



    I will be upgrading to the new Mac Pro with a Quadra 4500fx card soon, I'm just waiting for MWSF in hopes of going straight to the new processor, if it is released then. Not to dissuade you from using Aperture on a budget system, but you'll want a GeForce7800GTX card in it, and at that I would say that a dual processor G5 2.3 or 2.5 would otherwise be sufficient, along with 4GB RAM and at least one spare 750GB drive to use for the Aperture Library.



    Photoshop is not a problem on that setup, whatsoever.



    Hope this helps!



    Quote:
    Originally Posted by tonton View Post


    Ok... since I finally got a DSLR (Sony Alpha) I'm hoping to get back into photography in a big way.



    But my MacBook just isn't going to cut it. Until I get a desktop for photo purposes, I'm going to have to keep on using JPEG files and iPhoto.



    I need a workstation with a big hard drive, that can run Aperture and Photoshop.



    I want to know what the cheapest solution would be. I don't have a monitor so I'll have to get one, likely a Dell 20". Or I could get an iMac...



    Are the Minis powerful enough to run Aperture? I could get a big external drive. And I'd have to get the CS2.5 beta.



    Is a used Dual G5 powerful enough? Then at least CS2 will run well.



    I really can't afford a Mac Pro.



    Thanks for your suggestions. Remember, budget is most important, but I'd like the thing to at least be usable speed-wise.



    I suppose I could use my MacBook, and external drive and second monitor, and keep all my RAW files off the internal, but it'll be SLLLOOOWWW...



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