I need NERD help, working with large image files?

Background: I am a doctor. I am very important. I have many leather-bound books and my 2 bedroom rental apartment smells of rich mahogany. I am a pretty big deal.............well..........not really.

I am a resident in radiology and I need help buying a new macbook. I currently have a G4 15" powerbook that is ready to be replaced. Can the single 9400M graphics card in the 13" or 15" handle the large image files (MRI and CTs) that I will be dealing with? These files are big, usually in excess of 1gig each. Sometimes up to 8 gigs each (they contain 1000s of hi-res images in each file. Really big.

Would upgrading to the dual graphics card make a difference? What about once snow leopard comes into play?

This computer won't be my main base, but I will need the ability to work with these images on my laptop and also to incorporate them into keynote/ppt presentations.

Thanks for any help.

thanks for the replies. Sample size: 2

in order for this to be scientifically significant, any other people have anything else to say?

So far: RAM is the MAN!

Keep the opinions coming.

Seriously people, this is an extremely important study. Don't mess with science.

MacModMachine said:

i would use nothing less than a SSD + 8gb ram

SSD will definitely offer a advantage for reading these larger files.

if you can afford, 2 250gb summit's or 2 intel 160gb ssd's

these will offer the most speed.

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HAHAHAHAHHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA

While I like your style, my tiny salary (about $10 bucks an hour) only allows for a pretty standard configuration. I do think that using my education discount (i am technically still a student at an academic medical center) that the 13" MBP with 4gb ram and 320 gig HD for less than $1300 is a steal.

Maybe once I am an attending I could afford a SSD.