MacBook Pro?

[Kirk Gittings]

Rather than upgrading the oldest of my desktop workstations (I now have two Dells, one a generation old and one two generations old), I am thinking about buying a current, top of the line 15" laptop, to replace the oldest workstation and my current laptop ( I now have a 13" G4 Powerbook). This would be used on the road of course for tethered shooting and in the home office for working on image files and accounting etc. with a separate desktop large monitor (could I use the laptop monitor, when I am at home for the secondary monitor?). This would enable me to run Windows on everything (my brain aches from having to mentally switch back and forth) and consolidate down to just two computers.

How much speed improvement are you seeing on the MacBook Pros? The G4 was barely adequate for working on image files so I only used it when on the road when necessary and for communication.

One of my out of town clients requires that I deliver files before leaving town. That is about 50 38MB images with individual CR conversion and some post processing. So I need this laptop to perform.

Thoughts? A MBP with maxed out memory and HD? Will this serve my needs in the home /office (with a separate monitor) and on the road?

[Gordon Moat]

Just a suggestion on this product, when used for tethered shooting. Check to make sure that the device drivers for your tethered camera (or back) are updated to work on the MacBook Pro. I know of a few Kodak SLR/N users that have been left behind by a lack of updated device drivers, and a few people with printers that no longer communicate with their new laptop.

Outside of that issue, it seems the new MacBook Pros are going okay. So far no major issues, recalles, nor problems. As with any computer, more RAM and faster harddrive help when handling image files.

Ciao!

Gordon Moat
A G Studio

[Frank Petronio]

The price jump from 2gb to 3gb of RAM is pretty steep... ouch

[Lazybones]

Could you use Crucial for the RAM?

[Gordon Moat]

There is a RAM pricing overview site called Ramseeker. They check RAM prices from many vendors on a regular basis. One downside of RAM from Apple is that the warranty is only the machine warranty; buying RAM from third party companies usually has a lifetime warranty. While RAM rarely fails, I have personally replaced two laptop RAM chips under warranty; better safe than sorry.

Ciao!

Gordon Moat
A G Studio

[Ted Harris]

www.datamem.com ..... sells only Apple certified RAM. I,ve been using them for 20+ years. The MPEX of memory. Ask for Bud.

[neil poulsen]

I would wonder about the color fidelity on one of these systems, versus what one can get on a good monitor. Calibration can only go so far in maintaining color integrity.

[Peter Lewin]

The problem with the price jump from 2GB to 3GB isn't really the memory vendor, its the architecture. There are only two slots, so to get 2GB its 2x1GB DIMMs (and 1GB DIMMs are relatively inexpensive), but for 3GB its 1x1GB plus 1x2GB, and the 2GB DIMM is an expensive animal! At my local Apple Store two different salesmen recommended trying to live with 2GB total until the price on the 2GB DIMMs drops (they hoped in 6 months or so). The same salesman said you could technically get 4GB by using 2x2GB (if $ was no object...) but the software would only recognize 3GB...

[Kirk Gittings]

Neil,

When in my home office it would be hooked up to a real monitor and the laptop screen would become the secondary monitor for PS tools only. On the road though I would have to live with it.

[Frank Petronio]

Personally I find it possible to work with normal 50-150mb files on my G4 Ti 1gb RAM but I guess if I was using a Pro Tower part of the time I would quickly grow frustrated. I just remember how it was working on the same sized files back in the IIci days when one operation took 15-20 minutes. Waiting 5 to 30 sec for an opperation to happen is nothing cause I can multi-task, etc.

And I use some old school techniques as a result - less layers, more hard eidts. Start up and only launch Photoshop, frequent purges and restarts, careful, efficient work techniques.

I'm holding out until CS3 hits and then getting a loaded Mac laptop. Hook up with a 20 inch Apple LCD and no worries... They are due another speed bump by April, and that will probably be the time to buy.

Yeah it would be different if I worked in a prepress department. But I don't think you'll see that big a boost in actual production time so long as the hard drives aren't significantly faster... It's the save time that really kills you on a laptop.