Help spend someone else's money on a new workstation

[txcynna]

Dear dear Forum,

I work in a small print shop. When I say small I mean... pre-press/graphics department=ME. While I do know how to use lots of programs, I am so beyond clueless about hardware it's not funny and yet... I am the one they are turning to to gather all this info. Apparently I have more of a clue than they do..? Or perhaps they know I will ask the right people... and the right people in my mind are you guys.

We will be needing a new MacPro (so we can upgrade to CS5) and after looking at the specs at the apple store I'm thoroughly confused. Quad-core, 6-, 8, 12-core... What does this mean? I mean obviously more cores = more people jealous of your machine.. I mean.. more expensive. I know it has something to do with speed. I'm going to guess that since we deal in print and web design I'm not going to really need the processing speed that someone dealing in video and audio editing would need so less-core might be sufficient? Good guess or more to it than that?

Other issues I need to know about are things like the ability of the new machine to speak to the existing servers. Are there problems in that realm? At the moment we have servers on both PC and Mac machines. It will also have to be able to 'print' files to the RIP server as well as to the digital server but I think that those right now are taken care of by regular printer drivers. I could be wrong and probably am. They act like regular printer drivers anyhow. (so clueless...)

Thank you for any insight.. I would love any REALISTIC recommendations as to what I should put on their shopping list cause hey.. it's not MY wallet, right? And YES. I said realistic. I've seen how snarky you guys get. Small shop. There IS a budget.

 

[zoran]

Imac would do you just good, from my experience, however knowing how budgets work and how often you get things, it is better for you to get as much as you can for your buck, because who knows when will be next time you will get upgrade.
Any Mac Pro you buy will be more than good enough to cover you, where you want to spend money is make sure you have at least 4Gb RAM (I would go for 8Gb if possible).
Also depending on your workflow if you keep files on your server, you don't need huge hard disk in which case you might consider upgrading to SSD or 10 000 RPM Hard drive.
HD is where I see most of difference in upgrade.
While you are there pickup another Windows license than you can use your MacPro like a Windows machine, in dual boot scenario or through virtual machine.

 

[JasonFF]

More cores mean more ability to run multiple applications smoothly at the same time. Your new machine should be able to communicate without problem with your older servers, unless your older servers are not correctly set up. At a small print shop, this most certainly could be the case.

I'm used to building computers myself, which means I pay closer to the actual cost for parts. If you're buying a mac from the mac store then you might get lower value on increasing things such as RAM and hard drive space. But no matter where you buy the processor and video card you will get decent value because these are the truly expensive to make parts.

My honest opinion is to increase all aspects of the computer equally - processor, video, ram, hard drive - until you hit your budget cap. I would not try to come in under budget unless you want to kick yourself later.

 

[txcynna]

Thanks guys! That cleared up some questions I had.

PS... Thanks for the cool air from Canada. I hated the 100-107 degree days of the past few weeks

 

[Ultimate]

While shopping for a MAC, check Staples as they have just started to sell MACs and they might have good deals.

Ray Duval
Ultimate Technographics

 

[Happyprinter]

I agree with all that's been said but would like to also add one point. You may already be aware of it but our experience has been that whenever we upgrade our computer, we also end up with a few rips that will not communicate with it. Old software, etc... Just be aware, especially in a small shop, you may end up upgrading more than the computer. Good Luck.

 

[txcynna]

@ Ultimate - Will check into Staples. I love that place. Thanks!

@Happyprinter - I have been through that before at other shops. I already told the powers that be that there is a possibility that other stuff will have to be upgraded. We use some software that hasn't been updated since '09 so I have emails into several places inquiring as to possible issues with this upgrade. I figure if anyone knows about that the people that are fielding the tech calls should, right? Thanks!

 

[pcmodem]

Your new mac will come with Snow Leopard. Snow Leopard does not support Apple Talk printing any more. So if you are printing to your RIP or digital device using Apple Talk. You will need to change your workflow.

 

[giant1958]

The new Imac's are the way to go......we have had one for about a year and works great!....I run all the high-end programs and havent run into a problem.but use Leopard not Snow Leopard

 

[mattbeals]

A customer/friend of mine just bought a 27" iMac for their one person prepress department. They couldn't be happier with the iMac. But... There's always a but... The heat this thing throws off is incredible. After a day of operation the iMac is enough to heat the room. When the winter comes it will be a god send for them. Along with the Dell PowerEdge 2800 server right next to it...