Andy's Un-Official Unsolicited Mac Advice Thread

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  • DavidTODavidTO Registered Users, Retired Mod Posts: 19,160 Major grins
    edited October 19, 2005
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  • DavidTODavidTO Registered Users, Retired Mod Posts: 19,160 Major grins
    edited October 19, 2005
    from the above linked article:

    RAW images are maintained natively throughout Aperture without any intermediate conversion process, and can be retouched with stunning results using a suite of adjustment tools designed especially for photographers. Aperture's nondestructive image processing engine never alters a single pixel of original photos so photographers have the power and flexibility to modify or delete changes at any point in the workflow. As Aperture allows users to create multiple versions of a single image without duplicating files, photographers can experiment without risk of overwriting the master image or using up large amounts of hard drive space. Aperture images can also be launched directly into Adobe Photoshop for compositing and layer effects.
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  • patch29patch29 Registered Users, Retired Mod Posts: 2,928 Major grins
    edited October 19, 2005
    colourbox wrote:
    I'll just read the reviews.

    Same here, what does it do that PS does not do for me? ear.gif

    The one cool thing it might win with is if the new album and print offerings are really geared for the pro market and they can deliver a wide variety of albums and portfolios at a competitive price. I still don't know if that would sway me.

    It will be interesting to see some more info on this product though.
  • patch29patch29 Registered Users, Retired Mod Posts: 2,928 Major grins
    edited October 19, 2005
    andy can I borrow your credit card. ear.gifdeal.giflol3.gif :cry
    Cart Items for QTY (1)
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    Cart Subtotal: $17,724.00

    Should I at least get Aperture for free? ne_nau.gif
  • colourboxcolourbox Registered Users Posts: 2,095 Major grins
    edited October 19, 2005
    patch29 wrote:
    Same here, what does it do that PS does not do for me?

    Even from the PR materials, it looks like it has some features I'd like to see in the Adobe tools (Photoshop/Camera Raw/Bridge) yet Aperture is not capable of completely replacing them. The most likely scenario is that I never buy Aperture because Adobe will probably add Aperture's best features to its trio in some upgrade down the road.

    That's what I think is great about Aperture. There's nothing wrong with giving Photoshop some constructive competition so that all of our choices improve.
  • patch29patch29 Registered Users, Retired Mod Posts: 2,928 Major grins
    edited October 19, 2005
    colourbox wrote:
    Even from the PR materials, it looks like it covers a few gaps that exist between Photoshop and Camera Raw and Bridge. It has some features I'd like to see in the Adobe tools. The most likely scenario is that I never buy Aperture because Adobe will probably add Aperture's best features to its trio in some upgrade down the road.

    That's what I think is great about Aperture. There's nothing wrong with giving Photoshop some constructive competition so that we can have some choice.


    I would like to test drive it and see how the RAW retouching works, that David referenced above. I wish Apple had more info on their site. umph.gif
  • patch29patch29 Registered Users, Retired Mod Posts: 2,928 Major grins
    edited October 19, 2005
    I have been loading it for a while, unsuccessfully, but now they have made it live.

    http://www.apple.com/aperture/
  • DavidTODavidTO Registered Users, Retired Mod Posts: 19,160 Major grins
    edited October 19, 2005
    colourbox wrote:
    Even from the PR materials, it looks like it has some features I'd like to see in the Adobe tools (Photoshop/Camera Raw/Bridge) yet Aperture is not capable of completely replacing them. The most likely scenario is that I never buy Aperture because Adobe will probably add Aperture's best features to its trio in some upgrade down the road.

    That's what I think is great about Aperture. There's nothing wrong with giving Photoshop some constructive competition so that all of our choices improve.

    There are going to be features, or at least user interface features that PS will never copy. The question here will be if they are compelling enough to spend the money.

    I've seen it with Motion/After Effects. The interface that you can see on the Aperture page looks the same. It will be different...we'll have to see if it's better!
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  • patch29patch29 Registered Users, Retired Mod Posts: 2,928 Major grins
    edited October 19, 2005
    Aperture

    cool feature.

    shuttle/jog control for faster scrolling.
    rapid and easy 100% view from thumbnails for part of an image. (very cool)
  • patch29patch29 Registered Users, Retired Mod Posts: 2,928 Major grins
    edited October 19, 2005
    DavidTO wrote:
    I've seen it with Motion/After Effects. The interface that you can see on the Aperture page looks the same. It will be different...we'll have to see if it's better!

    I watched a couple of the videos. It looks good so far and very easy to use. I wish the rest of the videos were live. They seem to have some broken, or improperly directed links. I would also be curious to see how the final image quality, noise etc is handled by Aperture vs CS2 and Capture One Pro. I certainly do not want to spend $500, but if it makes my life easier and faster, I will look into it. Give me a trial download now. umph.gifrolleyes1.gif
  • patch29patch29 Registered Users, Retired Mod Posts: 2,928 Major grins
    edited October 19, 2005
    I wonder why the dual cores top out at 2.5 ghtz and not 2.7? headscratch.gif
  • DavidTODavidTO Registered Users, Retired Mod Posts: 19,160 Major grins
    edited October 19, 2005
    colourbox wrote:
    Well, that was quick. I don't have $500 and they don't list the Rebel XT as supported RAW. I'll just read the reviews.

    They list it as supported here.
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  • patch29patch29 Registered Users, Retired Mod Posts: 2,928 Major grins
    edited October 19, 2005
    Who will be first to give us some data on the speed advantage of a dual core DP vs just DP? We need some PS tests. :D


    Well of course Apple has some specs vs 2.7 here.

    43% faster for their tested PS action.

    I feel the need for speed. :D
  • DavidTODavidTO Registered Users, Retired Mod Posts: 19,160 Major grins
    edited October 19, 2005
    Two things I can't find in Aperture:

    CMYK
    Curves
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  • DavidTODavidTO Registered Users, Retired Mod Posts: 19,160 Major grins
    edited October 19, 2005
    The thing that separates Aperture from PS and Motion from After Effects is the use of Core Image. This is a huge advance in the level of interactivity you will have with the app, and ultimately, the image. I've seen Core Image in action with Motion, and it's amazing. Dashboard uses Core Image to make the little ripply thing when you activate a new widget.

    This is far and away the most important thing about Aperture. I believe it will provide us with a level of interaction with the image that we've never seen before.

    The RAW workflow looks solid. If you watch the interview with the SI photographer on the site, even he says he may start shooting RAW because of this software. If ever there was a field that needs the speed of jpeg, it's sports photography. I am very interested to see that in action. Having all those versions available without actually writing files...could be very cool.
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  • patch29patch29 Registered Users, Retired Mod Posts: 2,928 Major grins
    edited October 19, 2005
    I hope this means we will be seeing Apple at more National Photo Trade Shows. They have been absent for far too long.
  • AndyAndy Registered Users Posts: 50,016 Major grins
    edited October 19, 2005
    patch29 wrote:
    andy can I borrow your credit card. ear.gifdeal.giflol3.gif :cry



    Should I at least get Aperture for free? ne_nau.gif


    patch, add on 5 grand for a pair of 30" apple cinema displays, which the beast now supports, and your at 22K lol3.gif
  • patch29patch29 Registered Users, Retired Mod Posts: 2,928 Major grins
    edited October 20, 2005
    Some interesting tech specs out there.

    The new G5's support 16gb of ram, both single processor/DC or the dual/quad G5. So will we see a DP quad that will some day handle 32 gb of ram? ear.gif



    The Powerbooks now have a build to order option of a 100gb 7200 rpm hard drive. clap.gif Anyone interested in my Ti PB? ear.gifdeal.gif
  • CatOneCatOne Registered Users Posts: 957 Major grins
    edited October 22, 2005
    DavidTO wrote:
    Two things I can't find in Aperture:

    CMYK
    Curves

    There are a number of things that aren't in Aperture that are in Photoshop, where editing is concerned.

    We'll see how much I need to flip back and forth... and I'm very curious as to how the workflow works with PSDs with lots of layers (as Aperture says it supports only single-layer PSD documents... I don't know specifically what this means with "support.")
  • patch29patch29 Registered Users, Retired Mod Posts: 2,928 Major grins
    edited October 23, 2005
    Anyone seen this trick with Safari via the download window? ear.gifthumb.gif
  • DavidTODavidTO Registered Users, Retired Mod Posts: 19,160 Major grins
    edited October 25, 2005
    Here's an interesting article about PPC, X86 and Mac Pricing. We could all be in for a big eye opener once the MacIntels get launched.
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  • cabbeycabbey Registered Users Posts: 1,053 Major grins
    edited October 26, 2005
    DavidTO wrote:
    Here's an interesting article about PPC, X86 and Mac Pricing. We could all be in for a big eye opener once the MacIntels get launched.
    Oi. That article is mind boggling. I'd accuse him of spreading FUD if I could just tell who's pocket he's in. I'd love to see him justify a few of the wild assertions or over-generalizations he's throwing around, like:
    1. IBM's workstation is fundamentally designed for the Power4 generation.
    2. IBM's machine, in contrast, is limited to AIX
    3. Microsoft has said the PowerPC is its future
    4. that the PowerPC line is the world's highest volume line overall and correspondingly dirt cheap
    5. Microsoft expects ... a custom three core PowerG5 derivative running at 3.2Ghz,
    Since he's not backed up much of anything, I'll provide some counterpoints to the above:
    1. Actually the system in question was designed for the Power5, as Power5 has some requirements on the rest of the CEC that Power4 didn't. The rest of the system however does have a lot of design elements that go back a long way, some farther than Power4 even. IBM typically doesn't re-invent the entire system every new version (at least we got smart and stopped doing that a few years ago.) So the hot plug DASD cans are the same as from Power4 (actually they're compatible with ones from even older boxes) but not much of the rest of the system.
    2. Actually, the system will run Linux just fine. IBM doesn't sell it that way, or support it. Neither does Apple support running Linux on the G5 hardware. IBM does employ a lot of people (myself included) to make sure Linux works on power hardware. Apple however appears to go to great lengths to force the Linux community to constantly have to re-engineer things like thermal and fan controls if they don't want their chips running at 50%.
    3. EH?! They killed off the PowerPC ports of their operating systems a LONG time ago. Like shortly after we stopped helping with them due to OS/2 technology cross licensing. Now if he means the XBox 360... and I bet he does from another comment in here... I'd hardly call that the future of the entire company; one division maybe. And it's hardly a prime example of PowerPC in the mainstream usage.
    4. HAHA. While it may be true that over the entire powerpc line, and all the derivatives, there are more of them fabbricated than there are pentiums or opterons; that's not saying quite what it might imply. You see there are litterally hundreds of variations of the PowerPC and it's kin. They include incredibly low power embedded chips (drive a ford? wanna guess how many ppc chips are in that car?) and absurdly high performance chips ("Check mate Mr. Kasparov") and just about everything in between. (Including a fair number of image processing chips in some cameras, though I've never been able to get the chip heads to tell me which camera company actually buys them.) The fab run for Apple's uses is a drop in the bucket. Go back and read the official IBM corporate response when Apple moved off PowerPC and you'll see what the fab guys thought. (Oh good, one less annoying low volume customer, we can do X more cell chips for the game consoles)
    5. "three core PowerG5 derivative" Oh. My. Gawd. yelrotflmao.gif Not sure where to even begin on that. Let's just say that demonstrates a complete lack of understanding of the lineage of these procesors.
    Then there are a few minor issues with his oranges to rhubarb comparisons. The first two that come to mind:
    1. The Apple box has ZERO hot pluggable parts inside the case. The IBM system has hotpluggable: drives, power supplies, pci cards, cooling fans. There's also a growth path to go from that box to a 64 processor system, with out re-installing your operating system or applications. Simply plop down the cash and be upgraded; many of the interim steps between a little p285 and one of it's bigger siblings allows you to have upgrades dynamic without even rebooting. The larger boxes also allow you partitioning and a whole world of features you can't even imagine on any apple hardware.
    2. The p285 has nearly double the L2 cache, and 36M of L3 cache. While the apple maybe clocked slightly higher, in a LOT of use cases it's going to be blocked on memory a lot more than the Power5+ will.
    Ugh, it's late and I'm ranting.

    And to think, the whole reason I dropped to the end of the thread was to suggest Adium for all your IM needs, and Colloquy for all your IRC needs. Anyway, welcome to the best of both worlds Andy (only about 9 months late) and Jeff, and Kevin, and anyone else that switched in the thread I missed as I glossed over pages. (And by best of both worlds, I mean you get the rock solid foundation of UNIX, and all the eye candy spewing user coddling hand holding you could ever want, done far better than Microsoft ever has.)

    Oh, and of course you probably already knew about it, but one of the best mac tools I've seen in quite awhile is probably here. thumb.gif
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  • DavidTODavidTO Registered Users, Retired Mod Posts: 19,160 Major grins
    edited October 26, 2005
    Hey, good news!

    At least two mac users here that I know of use Adium. Me and Andy. Probably more.

    Thanks for the tips.

    Thanks especially for clearing the air on that article. I have no idea about that kind of stuff, read it, and thought, dang, that sounds bad...
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  • AndyAndy Registered Users Posts: 50,016 Major grins
    edited October 26, 2005
    cabbey wrote:
    Oi.

    (techno stuff snipped)

    And to think, the whole reason I dropped to the end of the thread was to suggest Adium for all your IM needs, and Colloquy for all your IRC needs. Anyway, welcome to the best of both worlds Andy (only about 9 months late) and Jeff, and Kevin, and anyone else that switched in the thread I missed as I glossed over pages. (And by best of both worlds, I mean you get the rock solid foundation of UNIX, and all the eye candy spewing user coddling hand holding you could ever want, done far better than Microsoft ever has.)

    Oh, and of course you probably already knew about it, but one of the best mac tools I've seen in quite awhile is probably here. thumb.gif

    thanks cabby - really appreciate it!
  • cabbeycabbey Registered Users Posts: 1,053 Major grins
    edited October 26, 2005
    DavidTO wrote:
    At least two mac users here that I know of use Adium. Me and Andy. Probably more.
    You can make that three minimum. icon10.gif Though I did only survive the default sound set for about 30 minutes the first morning I was running it. (My "buddy list" at work has over 300 people in it, as they all started logging in around 9am, the constant quacking nearly drove me to 1drink.gif.)
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  • DavidTODavidTO Registered Users, Retired Mod Posts: 19,160 Major grins
    edited October 26, 2005
    cabbey wrote:
    You can make that three minimum. icon10.gif Though I did only survive the default sound set for about 30 minutes the first morning I was running it. (My "buddy list" at work has over 300 people in it, as they all started logging in around 9am, the constant quacking nearly drove me to 1drink.gif.)


    I just wish it did file transers, though. :(
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  • SteveFSteveF Registered Users Posts: 466 Major grins
    edited October 26, 2005
    At least two mac users here that I know of use Adium. Me and Andy. Probably more.

    I've thought about it, but my prescription plan doesn't cover it. :tough
  • AndyAndy Registered Users Posts: 50,016 Major grins
    edited October 26, 2005
    anyone see the apple site today? very nice and cool of them to do this:
  • DavidTODavidTO Registered Users, Retired Mod Posts: 19,160 Major grins
    edited October 26, 2005
    Yes, it is.

    It was up yesterday, too.
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  • JohnRJohnR Registered Users Posts: 732 Major grins
    edited October 26, 2005
    I prefer iChat to Adium. Tried it way back when and still prefer iChat.

    For those who want it, my ID on there is jbr123064
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