[X4U] (POT) Graphic Artist Question

[Ralph]

That's a lot of computer for a "GREEN Graphic Artist"!

A 20-inch (or better, 24-inch) iMac with 3GB of RAM would do just  
fine (that's better than any artist in our shop has to work with; I  
do all my design and production work on a 17-inch 1.67 GHz G4  
PowerBook with 1GB of RAM). For a catalog project, HD space will be  
the big issue (what with photos and so on); the 750GB option Apple  
offers should do it. You can add an external later if need be.

In short, go for greatest screen real estate and storage capacity  
first and foremost. Just about any current processor will serve well  
enough; especially for catalogs, the machine doesn't need to be a  
speed demon.

Software: either Quark xPress or Adobe InDesign for page layout  
(depends on what the designer trained on; these days, InDesign is  
preferred); Photoshop for working with product shots, etc.;  
Illustrator for line drawings and other vector graphics (like logos);  
and Acrobat Professional. If they'll use InDesign, get the Adobe bundle.

For someone who's new to the game, this system will provide room to  
grow for years, and won't overly tax your budget.

Ralph Jones
Avatar Community Business Center
Fairfax, California
ralph at avatarbiz.com


> You know it really depends on what they are going to be doing.
> Just page layout? Page layout and Photoshop and Illustrator stuff.
> Most require that Graphic Artists kind of know everything now.
> So given that I would probably recommend this:
>
> A 3 GHz Dual Core Intel Xeon
> 8 gig of memory, graphic users can never get enough
> At least a 500 gig hard drive
> You probably would want to get a more than standard graphics card,
> this system comes with 6 options, mid option would probably due