System vs System for Photoshop

[DanF]

Which of these do you think is best for Photoshop? I've got an answer in mind but I won't say it... not to mix your opinion Also, the Dell is obviously a notebook.

Some say the Apple OS works best, but:

Inspiron 17R - N7110

Processor
2nd Generation Intel® Core™ i5-2450M processor (2.50 GHz with Turbo Boost 2.0 up to 3.10 GHz)
Operating System
Windows 7 Home Premium, 64bit, English
Memory1
8GB Dual Channel DDR3 1333MHz
Chipset
Mobile Intel® 6 Series Express Chipset (HM67)
Video Card
NVIDIA® GeForce® GT 525M (128-bit) 1GB
Display
17.3" High Definition (900p) LED Display with Truelife™
Audio and Speakers
SRS Premium Sound™ - 2 speakers @ 2W each
Subwoofer @ 3W
Hard Drive
Up to 750GB2 SATA hard drive (5400RPM)
Optical Drive
Internal tray-load DVD+/-RW
Power
6-cell 48WHr Li-Ion Battery
9-cell 90WHr Li-Ion Battery (Sold Separately)
Camera
1.0MP Integrated 1280x720 native HD Webcam
Wireless
Wi-Fi Bluetooth Options:
Intel® Centrino® Wireless-N 1030 (1x2 bgn + Bluetooth)
Ports, Slots & Chassis
Externally Accessible

(2) USB 3.0
(1) USB 2.0
(1) USB 2.0 with E-SATA & Power Share
HDMI v1.4 Port
VGA Port
Integrated network connector 10/100
LAN (RJ45)
AC adapter connector
Audio jacks (1-line out, 1 Mic-in)

8-in-1 Media Card Reader

Digital (SD) Memory Card
Secure Digital Extended Capacity (SDXC)
Secure Digital High Capacity (SDHC)
Multi Media Card (MMC)
MultiMedia Card plus (MMC+)
Memory Stick (MS)
Memory Stick PRO (MS Pro)
xD Picture Card (xD)

Dimensions & Weight

SWITCH by Design Studio enabled Laptop
Width: 16.50" (418.4mm)
Height: 1.23" (31.3mm) front / 1.40" (35.6 mm) back
Depth: 11.30" (286.8mm)
Starting weight of 7.14 lbs (3.24 kg)

OR

iMAC

Processor & Memory
Processor speed: - 2.66 GHz
Processor Type: - Intel, Core 2 Duo (Penryn)
Number of Cores: - 2
Bus Speed: - 1067 MHz
Cache: - 6 MB L2 cache
64-bit Support: - Yes
Turbo Boost: - No

Installed RAM: - 2 GB
Max. Amount: - 4.0 GB
Amount of Slots: - 2
RAM Speed: - 800 Mhz
RAM Type: - PC2-6400, DDR2, SO-DIMM.

Storage and Media Graphics
Hard Drive: - 320 GB, 7200rpm.
Drive Bus: - Serial-ATA.
Optical Drive: - This unit has an 8x SuperDrive built in.
Optical Bus: - Ultra-ATA/100
Other Media: - None

Display Size: - 20-inch
Graphics Card: - ATI Radeon HD 2600 PRO
Card Memory: - 256 MB
Max. Resolution: - 1680 x 1050
BLU / Coating: - TFT LCD, Glossy.

Networking & Ports and Expansion
AirPort: - Built-in Airport Extreme (802.11 a/b/g/n).
Ethernet: - 10/100/1000BASE-T (RJ-45).
Bluetooth: - Built-in Bluetooth 2.1 + EDR.
Infrared: - For use with Apple Remote only.
Modem: - Optional Apple USB Modem.

USB: - 4 ports (USB 2.0)
FireWire: - 2 ports (1xFW400 and 1xFW800)
Display port: - Mini DVI
Card Slot: - None
Thunderbolt: - No

Operating System and Software
Original OS: - 10.5.2 Leopard.
Maximum OS: - Latest Release.
Recommended OS: - Latest release of Mac OS X


Misc information Repair and Support
Introduction: - April 2008
Discontinued: - March 2009
Diagnostics: - Apple Hardware Test 3A138
New Price (base): - Coming Soon

 

[YeOldeStonecat]

First order of business...dump the budget glacially slow 5,400rpm drive that cheap entry level model laptops come with..and get a 7,200rpm drive. Graphics programs like to work the hard drive.

Better yet...get a decent model Dell laptop...a Latitude. Or better yet...a model designed to work with graphics....a Precision laptop.

At least you'll have a more fair comparison....a good model laptop with a 3 year warranty and better components under the hood, to compare against an Apple product which by default starts with better components.

Else, you're making the mistake I see people frequently make...comparing el cheapo model WIntel computers against Apple products...it's not a fair comparison.

If I felt like touching an Apple...I'd choose the 2 year old Apple against a cheap Inspiron model with a 5400rpm drive. Just like I'd rather choose a 2 year old well built business grade model computer over a newer el cheapo model. Even if the el cheapo model had a newer processor and twice the RAM. I'd just add some RAM to the Apple...it's cheap enough.

 

[DanF]

The individual we're talking about is a cousin of mine, who runs a business, and uses a lot of photoshop for his marketing.

That laptop is what he is using right now to work on while doing business, office, home, and wherever he is. However, he feels like it's slow while working on Photoshop. Yes, it has quite a lot of things going on.

The iMAC belongs to a person he knows, and is obviously wanting to sell it. He asked me if it's worth getting it in order to use it for Photoshop purposes.

 

[James_S]

That's a tough comparison since you're comparing an older iMac to a new Dell laptop. I think performance won't be drastically different but I would give the edge to the Dell since it's Sandy Bridge vs Core 2 Duo and it has more RAM.

I agree with Stonecat that this is comparing apples to oranges (pun intended) because you really need to decide laptop vs desktop and OS X vs Windows before deciding on particular models. Photoshop licenses are not normally cross-platform so if you're on Windows now and switch to OS X, you'll have to deal with that.

EDIT: Just read your reply to Stonecat after I posted this. Since it's an older iMac and doesn't have the nice IPS panel I don't know if it would be worth upgrading. The big problem I see is even if he gets the iMac for a good deal, his Photoshop license won't transfer right over. He could cross-upgrade (upgrade to a new version for a different OS) but that involves calling Adobe and agreeing to destroy the old copy, buy a volume license (can only use one at a time but allow for both platforms), or get the new Creative Cloud subscription service. Anyway he goes, you would have to factor in the cost of that in addition to whatever the cost of the Mac is.

 

[DanF]

What I'll most probably end up doing is give him an example using cars, and tell him that if he gets the iMAC it's like getting an old Porsche while the laptop is like one of the new VW or any other brand... meaning the new car would still have a much powerful engine, but the old car would still be a Porsche. Now I know absolutely nothing on cars though haha

 

[YeOldeStonecat]

That laptop is what he is using right now to work on while doing business, office, home, and wherever he is. However, he feels like it's slow while working on Photoshop. Yes, it has quite a lot of things going on.

The iMAC belongs to a person he knows, and is obviously wanting to sell it. He asked me if it's worth getting it in order to use it for Photoshop purposes.

With this new information...he already has the laptop, and is considering purchasing an older Apple...I would recommend this:

Keep existing Dell Inspiron..and get rid of that achilles heel...that pokey 5,400rpm drive. Pickup a Seagate Momentus XT "Hybrid" drive. 90 bucks at newegg. Very fast! And still economical and of decent capacity.

 

[DanF]

YeOldeStonecat... if he does that would it be possible to simply clone the old drive to the new drive? I'm pretty sure it's possible, just asking cause I never cloned a drive to a hybrid, and to be honest I only clone drives as a backup before working on client's systems, but never had the request to clone a drive to another (they always ask to re-install the OS).

 

[YeOldeStonecat]

Yes Seagates latest version of diskwizard (based on Acronis) does a great job of cloning ..including to their hybrid drives.

At our office we usually use the hard drive brands own software to clone clients systems to new drives. Desktops and laptops. Western Digital as well as Seagate have their own free software to do this, both are based on Acronis.

6 or so weeks ago I replaced the HDD in my wifes laptop with one of those Momentus XT hybrid drives, got it at Newegg for 88 or so bucks. She is a power user with her real estate 'n office software...always has tons of things open at the same time. The drives cloned, I put the hybrid in her laptop..booted up...which went quite fast. Logged in...Windows 7 detected new hardware, prompted for a reboot, I rebooted again....it booted up fast, and was very responsive from then on. Her prior drive was a 7,200. No special "tricks" needed just because it's a hybrid.

While not as fast as a 100% SSD....it is a great blend of capacity and price and performance. Faster than a standard HDD, yet still quite inexpensive.