MacBook Pro and graphic design applications

Comments

• Reply 1 of 6

  tag me back Posts: 121member

  June 26, 2006 11:46AM

  Quote:
  

  
  Originally posted by Johan Siebke
  
  I will need to run the following software:
  
  Quark XPress 6.1,
  
  Adobe Illustrator CS2,
  
  Adobe Photoshop 7 (upgrade to CS needed?),
  
  MS Office vX 10.1.4 - mostly MS Word (upgrade to 2004 needed?)
  
  Adobe GoLive 6 (upgrade to CS needed?)
  
  Adobe Acrobat Reader
  
  
  

  
  

  
  
  Quark 6.1 seems to start up and run ok under rosetta, but I haven't given it any hammering yet. Illustrator CS2 is fine if a little slow. Photoshop 7 I haven't tried, although I imaging it is a little more stable than the demanding CS2. Acrobat reader is cool. The rest I have not tried. Creative Suite 2 will run well except for cue under rosetta, albeit on the slow side.
  
  
  
  Bear this in mind:
  
  There are NO native intel versions (for mac) of:
  
  Creative Suite (Release of intel version said to be early 2007. Will be no free upgrades)
  
  MS Office (Release of intel version also said to be early 2007. No free upgrades either)
  
  Quark (Intel release scratched last time I heard, although knowing quark, a v7.1 will probably be a free upgrade)
  
  
  
  Three solutions:
  
  1. Put up with rosetta being flakey on your apps
  
  2. Get a PPC laptop. (your old machine if it is a laptop would be as good as it gets I think.)
  
  3. Buy windows, and windows versions of your software, and run those on your laptop in the interim. It'll work blazing fast, but this is costly, and daunting for the new user.
  
  
  
  I wouldn't pay money for new obselete (ppc only) versions of the software. It'll get you nowhere but frustrated.
• Reply 2 of 6

  johan siebke Posts: 26member

  June 26, 2006 3:27PM

  Thanks, Tag Me Back - it calms my nerves somewhat.
  
  I am quite happy to run the old versions of software if they work, so I will try that first.
  
  Which brings me to my next question: How do I go about it now? I am somewhat technically challenged, but since I am starting from scratch (as I mentioned, the MBP is so new I haven't plugged it in yet), I might as well try and do it the least painful way.
  
  
  
  Shall I configure my MBP with set-up assistant and using my old tower G4 as target disk in order to transfer files, applications and settings? If applications don't work, should I install them on my MBP from the old G4 (the MBP being a target disk) or just install straight on to the MBP from the software cds?
  
  Or something else?
  
  
  
  As for your solutions:
  
  I will not buy Windows versions of my software, rather buy a 2nd hand PPC laptop (my other machine is a tower). So I'll risk the headache and try the Rosetta route untill intel-friendly versions appear. Quark Tech Support, by the way, said a Universal 7.01 will come but not when (which they never tell).
  
  
  
  Cheers,
• Reply 3 of 6

  mr. h Posts: 4,870member

  June 26, 2006 6:49PM

  Hi Johan,
  
  
  
  Although Tag Me Back reports ok performance of these apps under rosetta, given that all the apps you want to use are PPC only, I would strongly recommend that you get yourself a second-hand PowerBook G4 until Intel-native versions come out. The G4 will definitely run all this PPC software better than your Intel Mac.
  
  
  
  If you do decide to stick it out with rosetta, I would recommend installing the apps directly from their install CDs.
• Reply 4 of 6

  johan siebke Posts: 26member

  August 29, 2006 10:03AM

  I'm revisiting this thread as I am now back from my trip and can report how it went.
  
  I stuck to the newly purchased MBP and installed the relevant software from discs, all of them non-Universal running under Rosetta. I haven't done any heavy-duty work, so didn't really put it to the test, but my impression is only positive.
  
  I mainly used Quark XPress 6.1 and Photoshop 7 and a touch of Illustrator CS2 + a little of MS Office vX. I had no unexpected quits, the performance was good, I would say to some extent faster than on my G4 PPC with dual 1GHz processors. Especially when opening and rasterising a very complex Illustrator file in large size in Photoshop it went much faster.
  
  In addition, the MBP is totally silent and beautiful! I have mostly used it from mains power, so not sure how warm it gets when using it extensively on battery only.
  
  
  
  So, conclusion: I am very happy with it indeed!!
• Reply 5 of 6

  mr. h Posts: 4,870member

  August 29, 2006 3:05PM

  Hi Johan,
  
  
  
  Thanks for the update. Glad things went O.K.
• Reply 6 of 6

  Marvin Posts: 15,326moderator

  August 29, 2006 3:33PM

  I was worried about the PPC apps under Rosetta too but I've just been comparing CS2 (illustrator, photoshop, indesign), Macromedia suite, Office 2004, on an Intel imac compared to a G5 imac and it holds up pretty well. I definitely think it's faster than a G4. Launching the apps is actually faster on the Intel machine.