[Gimp-user] New image too large?

[Eoraptor <forums gimpusers com>]

Hello. I have only just installed Gimp and the first thing that happens is when
I try to open a new image at say, 24 inches x 20 inches with a resolution of
300ppi is get a message saying ' You are trying to create an image with a size
of 1.6 Gb' and goes on to tell me that this image size exceeds the maximum
allowable. I can't work out how a blank image area of these dimensions amounts
to anything bigger than about 123Mb., as the same space shows up as in
Photoshop. Am I doing something wrong here?

-- 
Eoraptor (via www.gimpusers.com/forums)