Buying a laptop for Photoshop CS4

[Canonman]

The time has come…

I am going to buy an Apple laptop and would like some guidance from real users. I will be using this to work on Photoshop CS4 while I have a couple hours of dead time during my day. My current thoughts are as follows,

1. Buy a refurb unibody Macbook 2.0 and upgrade the ram and hard drive $1348 with Applecare + tax and upgrades.

2. Buy a refurb Macbook Pro 15.4inch and upgrade the ram and hard drive $2048 with Applecare + tax and upgrades.

3. Buy the Macbook Pro 17 (older model) with the high res anti-glare screen and upgrade the ram and hard drive $2148 with Applecare +tax and upgrades.

I will choose number one IF the system can adequately handle Photoshop. Which is my main question, are there any Macbook 2.0 users that run Photoshop CS4 without any problems and if so please share your thoughts ie, if you could go back in time would you still purchase the Macbook or go for the Macbook Pro? I will be using it with an Intuos tablet.

I was originally going to buy a Thinkpad W500 but I got so pi@@ed off with the THREE different sales persons with no product knowledge, that they lost my sale. Last year I went through the “Apple / Windows” thing and built a smoking fast quad core desktop that I use with a calibrated monitor. However it has recently died on me a few times, actually more than I care to share, and that combined with the idiots at Lenovo has pushed me over the edge to look at Apple again. I went to the local store early in the morning and was wowed!!! I expect a learning curve and actually I am kind of looking forward to it. Anyway my original budget was $2000 for the Lenovo. Getting choice number one would be awesome and would allow me to save $1000.00. Choice number three is there because I would really like the anti-glare screen but can live without it but it’s just $100.00 more than the 15.4 MBP and I can deal with $150 over my 2000 budget.

I am open to any other thoughts. Many thanks!

IF I am able to "get the hang" of the Apple OS, I will dump my desktop and get an IMAC or Mac Pro

 

[FieryFurnace]

I have a white MB (see sig) and I only use it for CS4.
I mainly do web design related things in PS, so I don't work with huge files/photos a lot - and I don't have any problems with PS (or Dw, ID, Fl,...).
Just better get a nice big monitor and connect it to your MB(P), 13" is just to small - I have a 22" and that's perfect for me.

 

[BanjoBanker]

I have a C2D BlackBook and I use PS fairly heavily - I shoot in RAW. I have fond the performance to be acceptable but my wife's MBP stomps mine in PS performance. I am looking at a refurb unibody MBP to replace the BlackBook but with two children in college, I am having a tough time justifying it. Go with option 2 and you will be quite happy. My wife sold her 17" when she bought her 15" and swears she has not missed the extra screen real estate, so go for the lighter machine.

 

[SnowLeopard2008]

All Macs are able to handle CS4 (including PS), it's just how well. If you work with +1GB files, the MacBook Pro will give you better performance. Anything less than that, the MacBook will do just fine. I suggest the MacBook Pro because of the better GPU, CPU, and the extra screen real estate. The screen is much brighter because of the LED backlighting but is glassy/glossy. If you want to have a setup with an external display, then you might want to reconsider having the extra real estate of the MacBook Pro over the MacBook.