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Buying MBP 15" - which one for Graphic Designer?

S

schmelvin

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Jun 29, 2009
2
0
I'm just looking for a bit of advice.

I'm looking at buying a new 15" MBP, but am still not decided on which configuration to get.

I'm a print based graphic designer - so running predominantly Photoshop, Illustrator and InDesign.

I was looking at getting the 2.8GHz model, but have been told that for what I want to do (ie no video, motion etc) that the base model 2.53GHz would be more than fine.

Does anyone have any experience with this? Recommendations? I'd really appreciate anyone's thought on this.

Thanks
 
If you have the newest Photoshop (or will be getting it), I'd consider getting the 2.66GHz model as it has a much stronger GPU (9600M GT) than the base model. The latest version of Photoshop is GPU accelerated, so you'll see a speed boost.

In terms of CPU, there's so little difference between the models (at most 530MHz which is almost nothing these days) that unless you're doing extremely heavy, CPU-intensive applications like encoding you'll see little performance difference between them.

So realistically, either the 2.53GHz or the 2.66GHz model if you're using the latest version of Photoshop. Any money spent on the 2.8GHz or 3.06GHz CTO option would be better spent on more RAM. :)
 
schmelvin said:
I'm just looking for a bit of advice.

I'm looking at buying a new 15" MBP, but am still not decided on which configuration to get.

I'm a print based graphic designer - so running predominantly Photoshop, Illustrator and InDesign.

I was looking at getting the 2.8GHz model, but have been told that for what I want to do (ie no video, motion etc) that the base model 2.53GHz would be more than fine.

Does anyone have any experience with this? Recommendations? I'd really appreciate anyone's thought on this.

Thanks
Click to expand...

Get the base model and spend money on a decent external monitor!

If you're a print-based designer the MBP displays are not good enough.

[cue fanboys stampeding in to defend their choice] ;)
 
The 9600 doesnt help in Photoshop and just drains the battery at epic speeds. I cant tell the difference between the 9400m and a 9800gtx in Photoshop CS4, it uses a minuscule amount of gpu power.

Get the 9600 for 3d acceleration if you need it, anything else it doesnt really help.
 
stainlessliquid said:
The 9600 doesnt help in Photoshop and just drains the battery at epic speeds. I cant tell the difference between the 9400m and a 9800gtx in Photoshop CS4, it uses a minuscule amount of gpu power.

Get the 9600 for 3d acceleration if you need it, anything else it doesnt really help.
Click to expand...

Are you using CS4?
 
Definitely go for the 2.66Ghz Model, then upgrade the RAM yourself, and get a monitor if you dont already have one.
 
Thanks so much for all the replies, very much appreciated.

I'm still using CS3 but will update to CS4 soon, so the 2.66 looks the way to go. RAM update also seems clever, and yes, have a screen to go with this, but also looking at the Samsung 24" for the home office.
 
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