13" Macbook pro for digital creation?

[knightwrangler]

Long time lurker, first time poster with a question regarding the 13" Macbook pro.
I'm wondering if the notebook is powerful enough to do digital video editing, some web site design, image manipulation and digital art?

I was thinking of using the macpro a long with a graphics tablet and secondary monitor via an USB external graphics adapter for a three monitor setup.

I would bump the ram and possibly get an SSD using the original internal hard drive as an external.

Thoughts and input would be greatly appreciated!

 

[prodigee]

Long time lurker, first time poster with a question regarding the 13" Macbook pro.
I'm wondering if the notebook is powerful enough to do digital video editing, some web site design, image manipulation and digital art?

I was thinking of using the macpro a long with a graphics tablet and secondary monitor via an USB external graphics adapter for a three monitor setup.

I would bump the ram and possibly get an SSD using the original internal hard drive as an external.

Thoughts and input would be greatly appreciated!

I would suggest, either the mid or high end 15" MBP because the 13" simply wont have enough power for what you want (mostly the video editing) and doing photo manipulation on a 13" really is not all that fun. The 15" has the added screen real estate, more power, discrete graphics, and is in my opinion just as portable. And has the matte option which is arguably better for color accuracy. I would also suggest waiting a bit to see if there is an update in the coming months. If you don't need it now, don't buy now, as you will be kicking yourself when the new ones come out.

 

[snaky69]

Long time lurker, first time poster with a question regarding the 13" Macbook pro.
I'm wondering if the notebook is powerful enough to do digital video editing, some web site design, image manipulation and digital art?

I was thinking of using the macpro a long with a graphics tablet and secondary monitor via an USB external graphics adapter for a three monitor setup.

I would bump the ram and possibly get an SSD using the original internal hard drive as an external.

Thoughts and input would be greatly appreciated!

In my humble opinion, the 13'' MBP is plenty powerful enough for web design and image manipulation. For video editing, unless it's professional stuff, it's probably okay as well.

All mbp's can do what you want to do, depends on how long you want to wait for your computer to process what you're doing.

 

[Paul B]

It's fine but make sure you get a big external monitor.

 

[knightwrangler]

It's fine but make sure you get a big external monitor.

Yes I have a matte screen Dell 2709w and a Wacom Cintiq 12sx. Most of the time the 13" Macbook Pro will be at my desk with a bluetooth keyboard & mouse.

So no concerns there, I was more concerned about the CPU power. I would be upgrading to 4 GB and adding a SSD and adding either an external HD or using an Apple time capsule?