Does Adobe Illustrator need a Graphics Card? [will MacBook run it ??]

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Level 1

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Does Adobe Illustrator need a Graphics Card? [will MacBook run it ??]

Hi.. I am Basically trying to find out if Adobe Illustrator requires a Graphics Card?? as the MacBook does not have one but the MacBook Pro does...Can I get away with a MacBook Core 2 Duo with 2Gb Ram to run Illustrator or should I get the MacBook Pro with the Dedicated Graphics Card ??? Any help from designers/Illustrator experts who use Adobe Illustrator would be very helpful Thanks v.much...jason

Powerbook G4 DVI, Mac OS X (10.3.9)

Posted on Jan 28, 2007 7:54 AM

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Answer 1

Adam White

Level 4

1,325 points

Jan 28, 2007 8:25 AM in response to JasonMartell

YES... I run Illustrator, InDesign and other Adobe SW on my MB. Mine is 2.0, 2Gig RAM. I could probably use a larger HDD but it runs just fine.

Now I can't wait for the UB Coded version. That will be awesome!!

Adam

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Answer 2

Joel C.

Level 6

15,919 points

Jan 28, 2007 8:43 AM in response to JasonMartell

Here's the system requirements for Illustrator.

Just because it deals with graphics it doesn't necessarily means it taxes the video card/onboard graphics. Most of the time when people are concerned about the GMA950 they're confusing tasks that are far more CPU intensive than GPU intensive.

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Answer 3

JasonMartell Author

Level 1

0 points

Jan 29, 2007 5:36 AM in response to Adam White

Thanks very much Adam !! That's a great help...j

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Answer 4

JasonMartell Author

Level 1

0 points

Jan 29, 2007 5:40 AM in response to Joel C.

Hi Joel Thanks for the Reply..
Yes I saw these Requirements and it was partly this that worried me as it says:
Color monitor with 16-bit video card
I was wondering does the MacBook have the equivelent of this 16 Bit video card??
Thanks....j

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Answer 5

Joel C.

Level 6

15,919 points

Jan 29, 2007 7:43 AM in response to JasonMartell

Jason,

According to Intel:

"Dynamic Video Memory Technology (DVMT) 3.0 supports up to 224MB of video memory; system memory is allocated where it is needed dynamically."

The actual onboard memory is 64MB's though far exceeding the requirements Adobe set.

You should be fine.

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Answer 6

Jan 29, 2007 12:32 PM in response to JasonMartell

That 16-bit video card probably refers to the number of colors the card is capable of. 16-bit being about 65,000 colors.

The MacBook's GMA950 (and most modern video cards) is capable of at least 24-bit (16.7 million) color at its native resolution.

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Answer 7

JasonMartell Author

Level 1

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Jan 30, 2007 6:16 AM in response to Joel C.

Thanks again Joel..........jason

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Answer 8

JasonMartell Author

Level 1

0 points

Jan 30, 2007 6:17 AM in response to Mike-N-nahyunil

Thanks very Much Mike....jason

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