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Does the Macbook work well with Photoshop and Illustrator?

J

jbrindger

macrumors newbie
Original poster
I was wondering if I could get away with buying a Macbook and I will be doing a bunch of graphic work? I want to buy a monitor as well so I was going to try to get the Macbook with more RAM and a monitor from Dell.

My main question is by purchasing the macbook over the macbook pro am I am going to see problems when working with large files or a lot of files at once?

The other thing I have heard is that you cannot run duel screens with the macbook as I can on my stupid work dell. I love the drag from screen to screen feature. Can the macbook pro do this function?
 
No, Illustrator are strictly RAM and CPU dependent. If you have plenty of RAM you'll be good.

And yes, you can use external monitors in spanning mode just fine with MacBooks.
 
The Macbook's got a great processor in it, the only problem would be the slower HDD. I actually saw a great speed increase by working off a regular Firewire 400 drive when I worked off my Powerbook awhile ago. But yeah, cram as much RAM in there as possible.
 
no problems

Two of my friends (a magazine designer and a user interface designer) do a ton of 2D work with the Adobe suite and both own Macbooks.

Both attach them to external monitors and absolutely love them.

MBPs are more for 3D and video work.
 
Cool sounds like a plan.

No the choice is which monitor. Why are the apple monitor's so much more expensive than every other brand. I saw a Dell, LG, and Samsung which were 22 inch and they were only $300. The 23 inch Apple is $900. Is this the same thing as Apple marking up Ram.

One other thing, how best do I increase the RAM? I think I saw a diagram for a macbook pro, not a macbook. What is the best kind to get?
 
jbrindger said:
No the choice is which monitor. Why are the apple monitor's so much more expensive than every other brand. I saw a Dell, LG, and Samsung which were 22 inch and they were only $300. The 23 inch Apple is $900. Is this the same thing as Apple marking up Ram.

One other thing, how best do I increase the RAM? I think I saw a diagram for a macbook pro, not a macbook. What is the best kind to get?
Click to expand...

No idea why :apple: monitors are so expensive. Some say its because they reproduce colour better then others brands. Not sure how true that is though. Just get a Dell monitor though, they work great.

Increasing RAM is easy. There should be diagrams on Crucial for your computer. Or there should be instructions with your computer.

Oh- Photoshop and Illustrator should be fine on your Macbook- i've got them running on my old eMac. Works fine.
 
It's just their branding and concept of being high-end, just get any s-ips screen bearing panel and you should be fine, get a pantone huey with them and youre better off
 
I work in Photoshop all day on my Macbook with 2GB RAM, and it runs terrific. I've got it plugged via DVI into my 20" Wide Dell and just love the setup.

I believe you're best working with even amounts of RAM as well, meaning, match the chips in the computer. So for a new one either do 2 x 1GB or 2 x 2GB, I had one of my 1GB go bad and had to work with 1.5GB RAM for a little bit and PS definitely got more sluggish and beach balled more often, even if I had plenty of RAM Free... I think it's the dual-core nature of the processor?

Anyways, a Macbook does a terrific job. But for sure go external monitor too for color. Or, as they say in Canada, for colour.
 
Where to get the cheapest newest version oc creative Suite?

Does anyone know where to get the cheapest version of creative suite. Student version may be in play because my younger brother will using it as well. How many installs do you get from the program? I know my work computer had only one install.

Thanks for the great advice.
 
jbrindger said:
No the choice is which monitor. Why are the apple monitor's so much more expensive than every other brand. I saw a Dell, LG, and Samsung which were 22 inch and they were only $300. The 23 inch Apple is $900. Is this the same thing as Apple marking up Ram.

One other thing, how best do I increase the RAM? I think I saw a diagram for a macbook pro, not a macbook. What is the best kind to get?
Click to expand...

22" monitors use TN screens, which is garbage, they also all have the same resolution as a 20". 22" sucks. Apple displays use S-IPS, which is more expensive than TN. Its perfectly natural for S-IPS monitors to be a lot more expensive than TN but Apple's are still very overpriced and dont offer any advantage over cheaper Dell S-IPS screens. You should be able to find a 23/24" S-IPS monitor for around $500. You just need to make sure its S-IPS.
 
jbrindger said:
Does anyone know where to get the cheapest version of creative suite. Student version may be in play because my younger brother will using it as well. How many installs do you get from the program? I know my work computer had only one install.

Thanks for the great advice.
Click to expand...

You buy one license, you get one install. If you want to use it commercially (legitimately) you'll need to buy a full (non-student) license.

It's expensive, for sure, and even more so outside the US.

The bundling is awkward too, if you want web and illustrator, and photoshop.
 
I am using a Macbook with 3GB RAM hooked up to a 20" monitor and all I can say is that it works way better than my old G4 Powerbook.

As said in previous threads makes sure you have plenty of RAM, CPU power and hooked up to a larger monitor and you should be fine.
 
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