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13 inch 8gb ram 128ssd vs stock 2.4 i5 15 inch for graphic design student?

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dipm06

macrumors member
Original poster
Jul 28, 2009
88
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im going to be a graphic design major in college ind i need a laptop.

i posted before about macbook pros being able to handle 5D mark 2 raw files, but i think im just going to forget about editing those on a laptop for now. i want my laptop to be fit for all the software for graphic design.

would it be better to have

option 1:
13 inch macbook pro
8bg ram
128gb ssd

option 2
stock 2.4ghz 15 inch macbook pro

i'll eventually get an external monitor for my laptop, but what would be better for the software that i will have to use (i'll be learning the whole adobe suite)

i thought about just upgrading parts through 3rd party means, but id really like all the parts to be covered under warranty so that if anything does wrong, it will be covered by apple. i dont really want to have to send part to different places if anything is wrong with them.

thanks in advance for any advice!
 
I would go for the 15 inch. Purely because you said you will upgrade through 3rd party, and considering RAM and SSD can be added later, whereas a faster processor can't. ;)
 
Do you feel you need the speed of an SSD for processing photos?
I see that you have a MBA. Does the SSD speed matter more to you than the capacity it lacks?

SSD would be great as a boot drive and then you can just edit off of a external HDD.

I think you would be happy with a stock i5 15" MBP but you might want to go with the HR AG display, especially to maintain color accuracy.
 
I am currently studying graphic design, and shoot RAW files form my 30D. I have never had an issue on my 15" 2.66Ghz C2D. I would say go for the 15" at least. Might not seem like a lot but the screen size makes a different. 8GB of RAM will be a nice upgrade, which you can have for under $200. The SSD while fast.... is limiting on space. If your shooting lots of images, you are going to want more than 128GB

Do a quick search on the Seagate Momentus XT... might be a good option for you.
 
if you get the 15" you shouldn't need an external monitor later they are an amazing screen, and i am recommending the 15" the ix series processors have alot of balls.
 
Just picked up a 15" HR/AG Core i7. I love it. I was going to get the 17" but the whole thing was just too big to be what I was looking for.

Im looking to get 8 gigs in here and I'm about ready to pull the trigger on an SSD too. (OWC 120GB) I am just having issues with the storage capacity.
I am currently using only 88GB of my 500GB drive on my iMac. Thats all my music, photos, movies, etc... I don't plan on having any of that stuff on my school laptop so I should be fine. I hope. I have all the software I need for school installed on here and its only eating 25GB

I also have a 500GB external firewire drive I can use for projects and storage. I was also thinking of getting one of those EagleTec Nano USB drives or a LaCie MosKeyTo USB drive. (Uber tiny, just leave them in.)

I would go with the 15". You can always get more ram and an SSD later, but like everyone says, you cant upgrade the processor. (or screen size in this case too...)

Good Luck.
 
Go for the Stock i5 15", The 13" Is very good, but the 15"er is a better thing as a main machine
 
I'd recommend the stock 15" with the High-res screen upgrade if you can make the stretch!
 
If it's your main machine, then a 15" beast it is. (Although I'd be looking to get the high res anti glare screen.)

In saying that, I have a 13", 8GB, SSD for work, and I do love it. But... I also plug into an external monitor too.

You can't go too wrong really.
 
The stock 15" i5 is the finest laptop I've ever owned. Now, I have added an SSD to the machine (which is fantastic BTW) - but still, it's a fantastic machine.
 
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