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Help buying Mac that will run CS3 XP version
I’m purchasing a new Mac that will be used for the CS3 Production Bundle and Squeeze 4.5.7. All of my software is for PC so I’ll run XP via Bootcamp. Does this affect the suggested hardware configuration for a Mac running only Mac apps? Also what’s the recommended video card for a Mac running these apps? Thanks all!
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4 Replies
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That setup sounds rather silly to me. I would suggest using your mac, as a mac. I know in the past when I “switched” Adobe allows you to replace your software. i.e. call them, and for 5 software titles, you are permitted to get a free copy for the other OS. They simply ask you to pay shipping on the new version, and destroy your old copy. They then take your serial and black list it and walla, you will now have CS3 for mac, on a mac!
hope that suggestion helps.
I’m not sure about squeeze though.
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if you don’t already have windows xp64, then you are probably better off cross-grading your cs3 apps. with only 32-bit xp you will only be able to use 3gb of ram, with osx after effects will be able to use all the ram that you can fit into your mac (32gb if you get an 8-core, 16gb if you get a 4-core).
actually, you could use even more ram if it was with a 64-bit application, but the adobe apps are currently only 32-bit.
if you have xp64 then it’s your choice… i’ve heard good reports on ae running in bootcamp.
you may need to make sure you can get the windows drivers for the graphics card you choose, or you may need a windows graphics card…. i’m not sure. try googling ‘boot camp windows mac’ to see if you can get more specifics, or search the cow, some of this has been discussed before.
but as far as ae and graphics card, with multiprocessing, you won’t miss opengl acceleration, so an expensive graphics card won’t help too much in ae, the stock card or one notch up will be fine.
Kevin Camp
Senior Designer
KCPQ, KMYQ & KRCW -
Go for the baseline 2.8Ghz Mac quad. Most apps won’t even use 8 cores yet, in fact most apps won’t even use 4 so unless you do a ton of extremely render intensivec After Effects work, you won’t get much for your money with an 8-core. Now that 8-cores are standard for the Mac Pro, the quads have been reduced in price and have better specs than before. It’s a killer deal.
You will want to add RAM to bring it up to at least 8GB (the quads now come with 2GB). You can purchase this separately from Other World Computing – they sell Apple certified RAM for a fraction of the price that Apple charges directly.
As for the video card, it doesn’t matter at all. The Radeon HD 2600 XT that comes standard will do just fine. If you want to do a lot of gaming on this rig, maybe step up to the Nvidia 8800GT that is offered, but other than that the Adobe apps don’t make good use of expensive graphics cards.
Brendan Coots
Splitvision Digital
http://www.splitvisiondigital.com -
Thanks everyone for your advice, especially the tips on RAM utilization (I didn’t know XP on the Mac was still limited to 3GB), the 8 core processors issue and the video card. I can use the savings to invest in storage!
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