Can I get by with a MBP?

[Wheetman]

Hi Folks,

I shall making the switch from PC to Mac just as soon as OS X.5 is released in October. I was going to by a MBP and a Mac Pro at the same time but the Macrumor is of the new Penryn chips being released in November and a possible upgrade for the Mac Pro next year. I shall probably buy the MPB in October: 17" 4GB 2.4Ghz HD in other words top spec. (No I'm not very rich, I've just being saving for a very long time and putting up with my PC crashing in the meantime.) My concern is whether the MBP will have enough space on the hard drive to cope with all of the progr....sorry, applications, that I need to run. My reason for getting this is to use it as a creativity tool and I will want to be running FCS 2, Logic Pro 7.2 (or maybe even 8 if the rumours are correct) and the Full Adobe CS3. This is in addition to using the usual, can't live without apps, Mail, Safari, ILife, iWorks etc.

Common sense tells me to go for the 250Gig Hard Drive, but at 4200RPM that is going to be pretty slow. If it is to be the 160Gig alternative, it might as well be the 7200 RPM.

My problem is this - I don't really understand how the OS deals with the apps and whether they all need to be on the main hard drive. Is it possible, for instance, to load the Adobe CS3 Suite on an external hard drive and then run the separate apps from there or do they have to be installed on the MBP's own hard drive?

Obviously, most of what I create will be transferred onto an external Firewire drive to save space. But will I have enough space to load and run the numerous apps efficiently?

I would be very interested to learn from anyone needing similar requirements how they have got their system setup and any advice on this topic generally.

Kind regards,

Wheetman

 

[edesignuk]

160GB is a lot of space to fill with apps, it will be fine. You can easily install everything you want on that drive and leave loads of space to spare. You can then buy an external drive later on to store your data on if you start running low. All apps should be in the Applications folder on your boot drive though.

 

[Father Jack]

A MBP will be fine, but you may find that a large fast external HD useful for data ..

 

[weckart]

You have another option, if you can afford it. Get one of the 250GB 5400rpm internal 2.5" and get an Apple approved technician to install it. I have been quoted around the equivalent of $100 in the UK if I supply the HD myself.

That might just give you enough space on your travels if carrying an external HD is not convenient.

 

[Wheetman]

160GB is a lot of space to fill with apps, it will be fine. You can easily install everything you want on that drive and leave loads of space to spare. You can then buy an external drive later on to store your data on if you start running low. All apps should be in the Applications folder on your boot drive though.

Mmmm, I suspect I may need an external hard drive sooner rather than later. I've just checked the disk space requirement for FCS 2. It takes 4Gig of space for the apps but a whopping 55Gigs for the additional templates etc. Thankfully it says that this additional media can be run on an external hard drive. So I am likely to need an additional hard drive to store the application's media and a further additional hard drive to use for data and/or scratch disk. Suddenly, this option doesn't sound as portable as I first thought it might be.

 

[Wheetman]

You have another option, if you can afford it. Get one of the 250GB 5400rpm internal 2.5" and get an Apple approved technician to install it. I have been quoted around the equivalent of $100 in the UK if I supply the HD myself.

That might just give you enough space on your travels if carrying an external HD is not convenient.

That is an option, I hadn't considered. But for reasons stated above, I can't see me getting away without the need for at least one external HD. Certainly, I will need a 7200 minimum for the video editing - Any suggestions for fast, large capacity, external hard drives that are not too heavy or take up much room?

 

[aliquis-]

My problem is this - I don't really understand how the OS deals with the apps and whether they all need to be on the main hard drive. Is it possible, for instance, to load the Adobe CS3 Suite on an external hard drive and then run the separate apps from there or do they have to be installed on the MBP's own hard drive?

I run CS 3 beta (?) and WC3 from disk images and that works, so a separate disk must work aswell, so no worries.

A 250 GB drive might be faster than a much smaller 5400 rpm drive.

 

[aliquis-]

That is an option, I hadn't considered. But for reasons stated above, I can't see me getting away without the need for at least one external HD. Certainly, I will need a 7200 minimum for the video editing - Any suggestions for fast, large capacity, external hard drives that are not too heavy or take up much room?

Uhm, they all take the same amount of space? If you buy an empty case and put them in.

 

[Wheetman]

I run CS 3 beta (?) and WC3 from disk images and that works, so a separate disk must work aswell, so no worries.

A 250 GB drive might be faster than a much smaller 5400 rpm drive.

I am encouraged by what you say about being able to run the apps directly from disk image. Not sure that I agree about the drive speeds, unless the smaller drive is running with compression. Surely, bit for bit, a 7200rpm will outrun a 5400rpm anyday - or am I missing the point of what you say?

Wheetman

 

[Haoshiro]

Besides the FCS templates, none of those apps are so demanding on hard drive space that 160GB would not be fine, are they?

It seems you could answer this question by just looking up what the disk requirements are for the apps.

22GB - Adobe CS3 Master Collection
66GB - Final Cut Studio 2
8GB - Logic Pro 7.2

That is a total of 96GB, leaving 60GB for Tiger and your other miscellaneous applications.

Mac OS X Leopard will take 7GB (or 12GB with Xcode installed, if you need that).

A good external drive to save your works should do you quite well. If you ever want to use Boot Camp, you can do that on an external USB drive as well.

 

[Wheetman]

Besides the FCS templates, none of those apps are so demanding on hard drive space that 160GB would not be fine, are they?

It seems you could answer this question by just looking up what the disk requirements are for the apps.

22GB - Adobe CS3 Master Collection
66GB - Final Cut Studio 2
8GB - Logic Pro 7.2

That is a total of 96GB, leaving 60GB for Tiger and your other miscellaneous applications.

Mac OS X Leopard will take 7GB (or 12GB with Xcode installed, if you need that).

A good external drive to save your works should do you quite well. If you ever want to use Boot Camp, you can do that on an external USB drive as well.

Haoshiro,

Thank you for your input.

If life were as simple as simply doing the maths there would be no need for forums like this. With the PC it is amazing how quickly a hard drive can become filled with extraneous code as programmes are updated and stuff gets shifted around without the user ever being aware of it. This is why I posted here to get the experience of any Macuser running these programmes on MBP. It seems from the replies I am getting that 160Gig at 7200 RPM will be more than fit for the purpose I want. The more I read, the more I am becoming reassured that I will be able to achieve what I want on a MBP. If anyone thinks differently then please let me know.

Kind regards,

Wheetman