Quad for a young designer?

Question

I am a young graphic designer trying to get setup to do freelance work. This will be the first Mac that I will purchase, and want to make sure I do it all right, and get what I will need. (I usually have all the CS2 apps open at the same time) I was wondering whether or not it is better to go Quad or to get the Dual 2.3...and if the 23" display is worth the money. I am working on a Quad at my current job, but have had a lot of problems with it (extreme slowness, fan noise, etc), so I am not sure if it will really be worth it. Also, I have heard that if I get the Quad, at least 4GB of RAM is recommended. Is that true, and should I get it through Apple or someone else like Cruical? If you have any advice, I would really appreciate it, as I am scared to death to fork over this much money all at once.
Quad G5   Mac OS X (10.4.5)  

Answer 1

Well a investment in any equipment has to be taken very carefully.
A Quad will give one a best long term value, it's speed will make you more productive, but it comes at a higher initial price.
Once you get it all set up, it can last for 5-7 years easy or even longer, if you know when to stop upgrading the OS and the applications. Heck a Mac II with Pagemaker and a laser-printer can output stuff good enough for small jobs.
I know a shop that has two Mac SE's still in operation, it works, it's reliable and it's paid for itself 100x over. No need to upgrade.
A important factor when freelancing is now you have to spend time to get the jobs, unless there is enough demand for your services that people will come to you. A portable might have to be factored into the equation, because if your mobile, you might have to take and do the work with you.
The Quad is the best value for the money, the Dual 2.3 is practically a iMac in performance now, but the CS2 apps are not optimized for Mactels yet, they will work under Rosetta, just slow.
A freelancer I know uses a Powerbook to go get the jobs, deal with customers etc and then hooks it to a larger display when at the shop. This way he can use software that times how long he is actually "on the job" for each customer and charge accordingly. If your sitting for 20 minutes in the waiting room, you need to charge for that. Time=money and some customers like to make you feel like a subordinate by having you wait, you just tell them your charging $35 a hour either way. They will shape up fast. (in the meanwhile your doing another job while waiting )
So one has to think carefully exactly what sort of work one will be doing, if it comes to you and lots of high color work, then a Quad with 4-6 GB of RAM for sure. (no scratch disk needed)
If you go to them, then a PowerBook G4 or a MacBook Pro with a large LCD or if color accuracy is important then a CRT (your eyes will suffer though)
Another problem you have to consider is if your going to be using customer files and or giving them yours. If you make a investment in a Quad, software, fonts etc. and business is slow and you can't afford to upgrade software or buy fonts, then a problem occurs because your customers have upgraded and you won't be able to open their files because your machine/software hasn't been updated.
So you get into this "race withe the Jones" and a shorter hardware/software upgrade cycle which can eat into your hard earned profits. So consider who your customers are going to be, the end user or businesses who you exchange files with.
Most customers who need artwork done go to where they get stuff printed, because printing is where all the money is. The artwork can be like $800-$1000 but the printing job can be worth millions of dollars.
If you broker the printing job, you can get a cut of that big money. So learning EVERYTHING about the printing industry, because the artists usually have first crack at the customer, but are so focused on "being creative" they miss the big money. If the customer likes your work, they are more inclined to trust you to get the printing done correctly as well.
Start small, work your way up to more complicated jobs, give different printers a shot to see how they do your work, how fast and for how much.
Ask the customer for the printing job.
If you haven't taken a full graphic design, printing industry and sales course, do so. Even if you have to flip burgers in the meanwhile.
The money is in sales, your creativity makes things work better as you don't have to find a artist to make you shine. Printers are a dime a dozen.