| 10 July 2006, The combination of Mac hardware | | | | - with PCI Express graphics. That may be a |
| and software has been exceptionally | | | | bit of wishful thinking. |
| consistent over the years, providing an ease | | | | |
| of use that Mac users have enjoyed. With a | | | | New features included by apple |
| Windows emulator such as Virtual PC, Macs can | | | | |
| also run Windows and DOS applications. Since | | | | There are new RAW adjustment controls in the |
| the mid 1980s, it has been essentially a Mac | | | | Adjustments Inspector and Adjustments HUD |
| vs. PC world for personal computers, with | | | | that improves the quality of RAW decodes via |
| Linux-based PCs gaining ground after the | | | | custom tuning of parameters. Most noticeably, |
| millennium. | | | | you can control contrast (using the new Boost |
| | | | tool) and sharpness, as well as color noise |
| Mac mini: - | | | | reduction from the RAW decoder. |
| | | | |
| The more recently announced Apple's Mac mini | | | | Apple gave us a new Color Meter tool that |
| has been turning some heads, even in the PC | | | | quickly and easily samples any area of an |
| world. If the iMac G5 is basically a 1U | | | | image for RGB, CMYK, or LAB color values. You |
| server attached to a monitor, the Mac mini is | | | | can use this as a stand-alone tool or as part |
| basically a reorganized laptop without a | | | | of Aperture's Loupe tool. Photoshop users who |
| monitor The Mac mini is especially relevant | | | | like to sample specific color ranges will |
| to this article because a lot of the | | | | feel right at home in Aperture due to this |
| discussions about performance with regards to | | | | new tool. |
| Apple's PowerBook will apply directly to the | | | | |
| Mac mini, as the two platforms are very | | | | For those who never felt comfortable with |
| similarly configured. | | | | Aperture's printing parameters, the new |
| | | | version has updated image resolution |
| OS X Tiger: - | | | | controls. You can specify output resolution |
| | | | in dots per inch (dpi) when exporting images |
| The more I read about OS X Tiger, the more | | | | or sending images to an external editor and |
| interested I become. The two main features | | | | Aperture 1.1 has increased the maximum size |
| that draw me to the update are Apple's | | | | of images displayed in the Browser. You can |
| system-wide, fully indexed search engine, | | | | resize the display of images in the Browser |
| called Spotlight, as well as the fact that in | | | | up to a maximum of 512 pixels in height or |
| Tiger, every single pixel on the screen will | | | | width. |
| actually be rendered by the graphics card. | | | | |
| For the most part, in OS X Panther, all of | | | | There is an attractive feature included by |
| the rendering work is done by the CPU, with | | | | apple that is Universal Compatibility that |
| some GPU accelerated compositing occurring. | | | | means Aperture 1.1 runs natively on both |
| In Tiger, everything is done through the | | | | Intel-based and PowerPC-based Macintosh |
| pixel pipelines of your GPU, increasing the | | | | computers. I tested it on both an Apple G5 |
| dependency on a graphics card with fast | | | | Dual Core PowerMac with four gigs of RAM and |
| memory access, as well as increasing the | | | | a new Mac Book Pro 2GHz model with two gigs |
| flexibility of some of the effects that | | | | of RAM. I've seen Aperture run on a |
| you're able to do in the OS itself. | | | | PowerBook, and there's no denying that it |
| | | | runs much quicker on the Mac Book Pro. I've |
| Given Tiger's reliance on very high GPU | | | | seen Aperture run on a PowerBook, and there's |
| performance, I would almost expect Apple to | | | | no denying that it runs much quicker on the |
| celebrate its release with a new G5 platform | | | | Mac Book Pro. |