Computer: upgrade to 16GB....no gain in speed?

[capice]

Gonna give it a go next week, thanks...or I will wait for your show on grading...don't want to miss that..

[creativeretouch]

I agree with Chris. If you have an express card slot you can connect your external drive via eSata.

I found this older thread:

http://www.retouchpro.com/forums/har...cbook-pro.html

I ordered my RAM and eSata express card from OWC and I must admit that I was very happy with their service. This card is even bootable and you can install second system on an external hard drive.

http://eshop.macsales.com/item/Other.../EXP34SATA2F1/

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[capice]

This 2010 Imac doesn't have a express cardslot so firewire800 is the fastest external way

[plugsnpixels]

Originally Posted by cricket1961

Install the new OS on a separate HD if you have one available, then you don't have to worry about reverting anything. Its easy and quick on a mac. You also need to dedicate a HD to JUST being a scratch disk. Nothing at all on it. You'll see a big difference in response times with scratch intensive duties. Also if you can, purchase a video card with at least a gig of VRAM on it....

Chris

Great advice on the external drive boot option, very easy and painless on a Mac. Great way to experiment without harming your main system. In fact, I have Lion installed on an external bare hard drive for access should I need it (I haven't switched to Lion yet for everyday use because it breaks a couple of older apps I need).

As for the video card upgrade, unless one has a Mac Pro, switching it out is impossible (without a trip to an Apple certified repair shop). The G5 iMac was the last model users could pop the back off of. (And good thing, that way you could check and see if the notoriously bad capacitors were Jiffy-popping!).

[creativeretouch]

Originally Posted by capice

This 2010 Imac doesn't have a express cardslot so firewire800 is the fastest external way

Unfortunately, company that made this computer doesn't support professionals as they used to anymore …

http://www.appleinsider.com/articles...essionals.html


Edit: How much $$$ is enough?

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[plugsnpixels]

Great article, thanks.

And you're right, with all their money, there's no reason Apple can't cater to everyone, consumer to pro. Maybe, "It's not personal. It's business."

[creativeretouch]

Originally Posted by plugsnpixels

Great article, thanks.

And you're right, with all their money, there's no reason Apple can't cater to everyone, consumer to pro. Maybe, "It's not personal. It's business."

thanks …

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[capice]

So my switch to CS5 gave me a significant performanceboost. About the scratchdisk...I now have all my workimages on the (only) internal drive on my mac which I also assigned as scratchdisk...would it be better to have all my workimages on an external drive or use an external drive as scratchdisk? What would give better performance?

[creativeretouch]

Originally Posted by capice

So my switch to CS5 gave me a significant performanceboost. About the scratchdisk...I now have all my workimages on the (only) internal drive on my mac which I also assigned as scratchdisk...would it be better to have all my workimages on an external drive or use an external drive as scratchdisk? What would give better performance?

Capice, is your workstation fast enough now or do you wish to make it work even faster? If you are happy with your configuration, leave it as it is … Some people work with really huge files - it means they need to optimise their computers & their workflow as much as possible. I would say that for average use you should be fine.

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[capice]

Hi Filip, ...I am working on big files so I would like to optimize as much as possible

[creativeretouch]

OK Capice,

what is your current setup like?

- Do you have SSD internal hard drive?
- Do you have Thunderbolt or FireWire port (I guess you have at least two FireWire 800 ports)?
- Have you upgraded to Lion?

Regards, Filip

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[capice]

My current setup is:
Mac 27"/3.06 ghz intel core 2 duo/16GB 1067MHz ddr3/1 TB internal sataHD, no SSD/ FW800/Snowleopard.
Upgrade to Lion is not yet an option for me
http://roaringapps.com/apps:table
I save all my images on the internal HD and backup to an external HD and a second backup to a NAS.
I am curious what would be better, having an external HD as scratchdisk or having my workingimages on an external HD? (as my internal HD is getting full)

[creativeretouch]

The basic rule is that you should always keep at least 20% of your internal hard drive (system & applications) free.

If you will change your internal hard drive to SSD it will speed up your computer for sure. But I have heard that Lion has a problem with SSD. Also you need to do your research and choose the right one as not all of them are same. Also I have heard that it is good a practice to reinstall your system & format your SSD hard drive each ten months.

I would suggest to keep your system & apps on your internal hard drive with no files on it & connect two external hard drives via FireWire (one for scratch disk and one for your files). You can use your current internal hard drive as one of your new external drives.

Perhaps other members of this forum will have better suggestions.

Regards, Filip

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[capice]

thanks Filip, SSD is not an option at this point because of the cost of building it in by an Apple sercice Center, crazy prices for what is done...I used to build my own windowssystems....

[girlsfather]

Originally Posted by capice

thanks Filip, SSD is not an option at this point because of the cost of building it in by an Apple sercice Center, crazy prices for what is done...I used to build my own windowssystems....

If your Mac is not covered by apple care any more (as you have the fall 2009 model this could be the case) you would not have to go to apple direct.