M1

Alternative Computer system:

Windows 8 pc brings significant advantages to those who are upgrading existing PCs or purchasing new ones, thanks to features that better take advantage of the new OS's capabilities. The operating system offers improvements in performance, existing capabilities, and is cheaper. In a comparison with Mac OS X Mountain Lion, running in Boot Camp on a MacBook, Windows 8 even started up faster than Apple's latest desktop operating system. And it's not just startup time: Windows 8 ran several benchmark performance tests quicker than either Windows 7 or Mountain Lion. Microsoft has clearly put work into improving performance in Windows 8. windows also has SkyDrive which is accessible to any app that wants to use it, just as though it were a local drive. It also backs up your PC's settings, letting you replicate your environment.

software:

Adobe Creative Cloud: Photoshop, Illustrator and InDesign (the latter ousting QuarkXPress as the creative's layout tool of choice in the early 2000s) have always been the software applications graphic designers rely on to convert their ideas and concepts into projects for themselves or clients.

The latest versions of these apps can no longer be purchased in a box, you'll need to take out either a single software subscription (£17.58 per month per app) or (and this is much better value) a subscription to Adobe Creative Cloud costing £46.88 per month.

With the latter you'll be able to download not only Photoshop, Illustrator and InDesign but also every single one of Adobe's creative tools. The mac also contains quick look, which allows you to view -almost instantly- preview huge Photoshop, Illustrator, etc.

Hardware:

You will require a large monitor to in order to see the image youre editing in greater detail, you will need printers, scanner etc. Such as the ACER Aspire TC-605 Desktop PC (£800),

the HP Designjet Z3200ps GP 24" Printer (£2,939) because the printer will allow you to print large images in great detail, as this printer contains spectrophotometer to enable easy calibration and profiling, minimise bronzing on most glossy photo papers with HP Gloss Enhancer and the embedded spectrophotometer which helps you generate custom ICC profiles. The Vinyl Cutter Plotter / 28 inch Cutting Plotter Printer Sign Maker & SignCut Pro (£220) is also important as this would enable you to computer control the machine. Small vinyl cutters look like computer printers. The computer controls the movement of a sharp blade. This blade is used to cut out shapes and letters from sheets of thin self-adhesive plastic (vinyl). A Plustek OpticPro A320 - 1600 dpi x 1600 dpi - Flatbed scanner would also be useful as the scanning device can scan an A3 size document with high quality - resolution as high as 1600 dpi and scanning area as large as 12" x 17" (304.8 mm x 431.8 mm) - in just 11.2 seconds.