Londonfella wrote:
Allen - I appreciate you're trying to help, but you're talking in a language I don't understand. I thought I'd given you details of what I was doing that led to it hanging, and that I'm running it on a Powerbook.
Sorry I was unclear.
There were many different Powerbooks made and also a fair number of folks call Macbooks Powerbooks by mistake.
Hardware questions would be:
- Which Powerbook?
- How much RAM on board?
- How much video RAM on board (i.e. do you have the upgraded VRAM option)?
- What hard drives(s) and how full is each in % of usable capacity? Note that a 500 GB drive will have some amount less than 500 GB usable.
Workflow questions would be:
- Which version of Aperture 2?
- Managed or Referenced Masters workflow?
- Where does the Aperture Library live, and how large is it currently?
- Are any external drives involved, and if so how are they connected?
- What size/type image files are you handling?
The information I read in advance on Aperture 2 states that it is suitable for Powerbooks and it has been up until now. I'm not in a position to upgrade my computer for some time, so I was hoping for a constructive answer as to why this problem has suddenly developed.
Firms like Apple and Adobe have always underestimated in terms of System Requirements. "Suitable" was a marginal statement 4 years ago when Aperture 2 was released. In 2005 I ran Aperture v1 on the strongest Powerbook Apple ever made and with VRAM upgrade, and operation was marginal at best; even then it was IMO not suitable.
Today in my opinion running Aperture on a Powerbook is a waste of effort because:
• Since v1 each new version of Aperture has become more hardware-demanding, not less.
• IIRC the last Powerbook was made in 2005, with the first Intel Core Duo Macbook Pros coming out Q1 2006, then doubling performance to Core 2 Duo later that year. I still own a 2006 C2D Macbook Pro with maximum RAM, and it is barely suitable for Aperture.
• Since 2005 iPhoto has become a very competent free images management application that is far less hardware-demanding than Apple's pro images management application Aperture. It is fairly easy to move from an iPhoto workflow to an Aperture workflow once hardware appropriate for Aperture is in place.
• An images-management workflow running in Aperture on a Powerbook will almost assuredly fail at some point as the Library grows, file sizes grow, whatever. Even if it does not fully fail it will be very slow, wasting your time and possibly souring you on Aperture (e.g. "...am feeling pretty fed up with it").
• Using a Powerbook you will very likely lose work product that took a great deal of time to accomplish.
Good luck with whatever you choose to do. Personally I recommend iPhoto.
-Allen