[Leica] OT - Best PC Setup for Photoshop Question

[jbm at jbm.org (Jeff Moore)]

2006-11-22-21:42:42 GREG LORENZO:
> I don't want a Mac as I have some business applications which are not Mac 
> friendly.

Well... I'm coming to this late, and you've probably already pushed the
button on this purchase;  or you may just not find this suggestion
helpful.  But...

Do consider (seriously) an Intel-based Mac, and Parallels Desktop
(hosting the Microsoft OS of your choice) to run your business apps
which require Windows.

I just find day-to-day use of a modern Mac so much more trouble-free
and, yes, just technologically and aesthetically pleasing than tussling
with Windows that I would no longer consider using a dedicated Windows
machine as my main desktop;  but there are a few pesky applications
which only run in a Microsoft world.  No problem -- I installed XP2
Professional in Parallels Desktop, and can fire that environment up as
needed for those apps, but I don't have to suffer with Windows the rest
of the time.  I invited a friend who does use Windows every day to time
some of his resource-intensive apps on my Core2-Duo-based Macbook Pro
under Parallels;  he said things ran as fast as he was used to on
machines with comparable clock speeds.

  http://www.parallels.com/en/products/desktop/

The only fly in the ointment is that the official Intel-Mac-native CS3
release isn't out yet, and you wouldn't get all the speed you paid for
until running Photoshop and kin natively;  but I've been running the new
CS3 beta on my Intel Mac, and so far (touch aluminum) what I've tried
has been fast and correct.

Note also that, contrary to the usual assumptions, current Macs aren't
outrageously overpriced compared to the likes of Dell -- several writers
who've done the exercise have found that once you even up the feature
set, adding back the memory and ports and CPUs and such Dell deletes
from its bargain offerings, Macs can cost less than
comparably-configured Dells.

  http://www.apple.com/macpro/