Computer Advice please

Discussion in 'Yellow Pages' started by StuBoy, Jan 3, 2018.

  1. wfcSinatra

    wfcSinatra Predictor Choker 14/15

    The M1 is rapid and beautiful.
     
    GoingDown likes this.
  2. El distraído

    El distraído Johnny Foreigner

    Good to hear yours is working well so far!

    What RAM and hard drive did you go for?

    Yes, lots of rumours. The loudest ones suggest that Apple will be doing away with the touch bar.

    As for me, I've been using the 13-inch model for 6 years now and am comfortable with it. I don't see why I would need a larger model.

    Agreed. This iis my conundrum though. Should I go for the Air with 16GB RAM or the Pro with 8GB RAM? Other than the fan helping maintain performance speed when pushing the processor with heavy/multiple apps, I don't really know what the difference would be.

    Ah ok. Interesting. I'm only a month into my UX course so am v new to the design world so that's interesting to learn you've seen a shift.

    I can't comment on PC's, but agree that Macs have excellent reliability and longevity!
     
  3. Bwood_Horn

    Bwood_Horn Squad Player

    Dunno why it doesn't move to OpenSource stuff: that immediately cuts your IT budget at least by half with no loss in capability. I know that G I M P (swear filter - seriously?) is a very powerful package for images and I would imagine that the linux video editing freeware must be approaching commercial package 'power' (review from 2018). If linux is good enough for NASA why isn't it good enough for Hertfordshire County Council.
     
  4. hornmeister

    hornmeister Tired

    The best time to buy a computer is 3 months after you've bought one.:D

    I always go for the most powerful I can afford but never the very top spec as that generally attracts a premium which isn't worth it.
    How mobile do you need to be? Can you do the majority of the donkey work on a desktop and retain your current laptop for the mobility? If so then there's more bang for your buck with a desktop and more ability to upgrade.

    Having supported Mac & PC professionally in the imaging world for 10 years I will always go PC. A lot of the Mac bias is pure snobbery because they used to look a bit more funky and there were a few programs that were not a polished on the PC, but this has changed now. Granted PCs might not be as user friendly initially and less reliable but these are compromises due to flexibility, upgradeability and cost. If you've a whole apple system then it's best not to change for compatibility of course.

    My desktop pc is 5 years old. I'm not a gamer but it kills it for pure maths and multi screen work. Mobile work is 95% consumption rather than production and an android tablet which does run Office is more than adequate for that.
     
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  5. El distraído

    El distraído Johnny Foreigner

    Hah true, such is the ever-changing world of tech.

    I've not worked a desktop at home for many years and don't want to start now tbh. I value portability and would like to stick to a laptop so I can move my work between London and home.

    There is snobbery in the Mac world. However, having used Macs at home for over a decade now, and having used PCs at work, I would say that YES the UI of PCs has improved, but for me, Mac is still light years ahead. I can't ever see myself going back to PC.

    I am really intrigued by the M1 chips and how lightning fast the new machines are, but am concerned about its compatibility with Adobe products, which I will be using a fair bit of in the next stage of my design process. Therefore, I think I might hold off until either:

    A) Apple and Adobe sort out these issues
    B) My laptop really can't go on anymore.
     
    iamofwfc likes this.
  6. StuBoy

    StuBoy Forum Cad and Bounder

    Never were truer words said!
     
  7. GoingDown

    GoingDown "The Stability"

    16GB and a 512GB SSD. It's more for longevity reasons. There's probably no reason to have 16GB with the M1 at the moment but I'm sure there will be in the immediate future.
     
  8. GoingDown

    GoingDown "The Stability"

    Fair point but I don't think they are 'issues' more as in optimisation. Premiere still runs fantastically even before the optimisation. It's Adobe's number 1 priority currently with Lightroom and (didn't realise) Photoshop already and Premiere and Audition in the next few months - which is just wonderful!
     
  9. I recently bought a HP Omen with an RTX 2080 super i7 10750H 16GB RAM. It absolutely slaughters anything I throw at it, and just as importantly for a laptop stays very cool snd quiet. And all for less than £2k.
     
    hornmeister likes this.
  10. hornmeister

    hornmeister Tired

    My PC was purchased 5 years ago. The first one I haven't built myself although I did spec it to component level. Heartilly recommend DinoPC.

    Currently running an i7 3.4Ghz with 16Gb (superspeedy)Ram Twin Nvidia graphics cards powering 2 24" monitors and a 24" TV monitor running off the motherboard graphics.
    Only a piddly 160 Gb SSD but all that has on it is System and programs, it;s a damn clean system. All files are on a 2Tb Synology NAS running RAID 1 which serves files movies and music as well as runs security cameras. Need to upgrade as I'm running out of space and eyeing up a couple of 8TB Seagate Ironwolfs to pop in it but funds tight at the mo as my Washing machine has blown up and my Fridge freezer is following it.

    I don't game on my PC so the graphics cards are a little long in the tooth, but do use multiple monitors for imaging and video work as well as spreadsheets.

    All in without monitors was just over a grand.
     
  11. El distraído

    El distraído Johnny Foreigner

    This is a useful link which shows the current compatibility between the M1 and Adobe products.

    https://helpx.adobe.com/download-install/kb/apple-silicon-m1-chip.html

    As you say, it looks like Lightroom is optimised for the M1.

    I know that InDesign and Illustrator are apps I'll be using in the common months. I might wait until they are optimised for M1, especially that there are known issues with these 2.
     
    GoingDown likes this.
  12. El distraído

    El distraído Johnny Foreigner

    Would you go for:

    1) The M1 MacBook Air with 16GB RAM

    2) The M1 MacBook Pro with 8GB RAM

    What's the difference between these two, other than the former not having a fan?
     
  13. hornmeister

    hornmeister Tired

  14. hornmeister

    hornmeister Tired

    I think the 13" Pro is a good compromise but looks like new models on the way so if you wait a bit you might get a discount on old stock.
     
  15. El distraído

    El distraído Johnny Foreigner

    By new models, do you mean the supposed M1 16"?

    Yes, lots of rumours about them. Lots of people seem to think that Apple will be doing away with the touch bar.
     
  16. El distraído

    El distraído Johnny Foreigner

  17. Where is the compromise by not having a fan? There must be one. CPU heavily throttled and not suitable for heavy work?
     
  18. StuBoy

    StuBoy Forum Cad and Bounder

    I took your recommendation meister and got my PC from Dino way back when I started this thread, and it's still going strong. In fact today I have just ordered an additional SSD 1TB hard drive for it, taking advantage if the two M2 SSD hard drive connections the motherboard has. So it should be pretty swift, I almost got a new SATA one like I currently have in there, but then it dawned on me I brought this with a bit of future proofing in mind and discovered it had these two M2 slots. So I'm interested to see how it goes/works. I may even move my OS system onto it, although it is still pretty swift booting up on my current SATA SSD. I might just save this one for all my games, whilst moving any pictures/videos to my old school hard drive I have as well. I noticed I have two additional slots for RAM as well, so that has given me food for thought too....
     
    hornmeister likes this.
  19. El distraído

    El distraído Johnny Foreigner

    An update on this.

    I went for the M1 Macbook Air with upgraded RAM and storage in the end.

    There are just so many great reviews about this machine from designers and non-designers that I felt I just didn't to spend the extra £ on the Macbook Pro. Great reviews on the Air from people on my course as well which was reassuring.

    Thanks for you help all!
     

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