Considering the rMBP 13": Photoshop CC and SSD upgrades?

[mariareiersol]

Hello users of MacRumors!

So I am considering the rMBP 13" mid-2014, but I have a few questions that I really need to know the answer to before purchasing it.

1. Is it possible to upgrade the 128GB flash storage to an SSD around 500GB in this rMBP? I once upgraded my mid-2010 non-retina MBP from a 250GB HDD to the SanDisk Extreme 120GB SSD, but won't something similar be too big for the rMBP which has a height of 0.71"?

2. Does Photoshop CC have an option/upgrade for retina displays to avoid blurriness (with retina being 144dpi and non-retina being 72dpi)? I have read a couple of topics on this, but they always seem to be about Photoshop CS6 or they are from 2013 and say that an upgrade WILL come soon. So, since I use Photoshop daily, this is a huge deal. People say that using PS with retina is horrible, and that is definitely a deal-breaker for me. Has something been done about this problem more recently?

3. I mainly use my computer for web development (graphics in PS, HTML, CSS, Javascript), video/photo editing (mostly photo editing, PS and for now - iMovie) and school work (mostly Microsoft Office). Would you recommend the rMBP 13" mid-2014 computer in general? And what processor would fit my needs the best? 2.6GHz, 2.8GHz or 3.0GHz?

I am by no means a professional web developer (at least not yet), but I do work with web development very frequently, usually several hours a day during weekends/days off/vacations, and I do photo editing a lot, as mentioned previously.

Thank you in advance for any answers! It would all be very helpful, since my MBP mid-2010 is about to shut down for good.


- Maria Reiersol


Edit: My current Macbook Pro 13" has a 2.4GHz Intel Core 2 Duo processor, 4GB RAM and as mentioned, the SanDisk Extreme 120GB.

 

[snaky69]

Hello users of MacRumors!

So I am considering the rMBP 13" mid-2014, but I have a few questions that I really need to know the answer to before purchasing it.

1. Is it possible to upgrade the 128GB flash storage to an SSD around 500GB in this rMBP? I once upgraded my mid-2010 non-retina MBP from a 250GB HDD to the SanDisk Extreme 120GB SSD, but won't something similar be too big for the rMBP which has a height of 0.71"?

2. Does Photoshop CC have an option/upgrade for retina displays to avoid blurriness (with retina being 144dpi and non-retina being 72dpi)? I have read a couple of topics on this, but they always seem to be about Photoshop CS6 or they are from 2013 and say that an upgrade WILL come soon. So, since I use Photoshop daily, this is a huge deal. People say that using PS with retina is horrible, and that is definitely a deal-breaker for me. Has something been done about this problem more recently?

3. I mainly use my computer for web development (graphics in PS, HTML, CSS, Javascript), video/photo editing (mostly photo editing, PS and for now - iMovie) and school work (mostly Microsoft Office). Would you recommend the rMBP 13" mid-2014 computer in general? And what processor would fit my needs the best? 2.6GHz, 2.8GHz or 3.0GHz?

I am by no means a professional web developer (at least not yet), but I do work with web development very frequently, usually several hours a day during weekends/days off/vacations, and I do photo editing a lot, as mentioned previously.

Thank you in advance for any answers! It would all be very helpful, since my MBP mid-2010 is about to shut down for good.


- Maria Reiersol

1. No. You can only upgrade at purchase at the moment. Apple uses a blade type SSD with a proprietary connector.

2. I do not use that program so I cannot comment on that.

3. Unless you are making money with your computer, and every last second counts during rendering/calculation/whatever, a processor upgrade is nearly always a waste of money. It is impossible to notice in regular day to day usage.

 

[mariareiersol]

1. No. You can only upgrade at purchase at the moment. Apple uses a blade type SSD with a proprietary connector.

2. I do not use that program so I cannot comment on that.

3. Unless you are making money with your computer, and every last second counts during rendering/calculation/whatever, a processor upgrade is nearly always a waste of money. It is impossible to notice in regular day to day usage.

I'm not currently making money with my computer, but I am actually right now setting up my new website, where I actually will be doing webdesign for bloggers etc, for money. Would that be a good reason to do a processor upgrade?

 

[snaky69]

I'm not currently making money with my computer, but I am actually right now setting up my new website, where I actually will be doing webdesign for bloggers etc, for money. Would that be a good reason to do a processor upgrade?

When you frequently do things that require a lot of processing power. Such as (but not limited to):

Finite Element Analysis
Computational Fluid Dynamics
Rendering video
Rendering large photos
Running large calculations
Running very large databases
CAD work when assemblies have a lot of parts (1000+ without fasteners)
A lot of scientific software, such as those used to analyse molecule configurations and such
etc.

If you do those things on a regular basis, then upgrading the processor CAN make sense. Getting a 15'' with a quad core would be even more worth your while though in those cases.

 

[TheIguana]

I use Photoshop CS6 daily on a 15" rMBP and don't have any issues with "blurriness." Adobe added HiDPI - aka retina - support to Photoshop eons ago so it is crisp as ever.

If I were looking to buy a 13" rMBP I would get the mid range model with a 256Gb SSD and 2.8 Ghz processor. Personally, 128Gb is just too little drive space for daily work - especially once your start talking about photo editing and video work.

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When you frequently do things that require a lot of processing power. Such as (but not limited to):

Finite Element Analysis
Computational Fluid Dynamics
Rendering video
Rendering large photos
Running large calculations
Running very large databases
CAD work when assemblies have a lot of parts (1000+ without fasteners)
A lot of scientific software, such as those used to analyse molecule configurations and such
etc.

If you do those things on a regular basis, then upgrading the processor CAN make sense. Getting a 15'' with a quad core would be even more worth your while though in those cases.

A lot of those actually benefit from more memory or a dedicated graphics unit rather than just a faster processor - I have a dedicated server with 32Gb of RAM just for the last one in my lab. For the OP's uses a 13" rMBP should be more than adequate unless they feel like they need the added screen real-estate.

 

[mariareiersol]

When you frequently do things that require a lot of processing power. Such as (but not limited to):

Finite Element Analysis
Computational Fluid Dynamics
Rendering video
Rendering large photos
Running large calculations
Running very large databases
CAD work when assemblies have a lot of parts (1000+ without fasteners)
A lot of scientific software, such as those used to analyse molecule configurations and such
etc.

If you do those things on a regular basis, then upgrading the processor CAN make sense. Getting a 15'' with a quad core would be even more worth your while though in those cases.

I feel quite stupid right now, not knowing what the first two things you mentioned are. But I do render video and large photos. As mentioned, I use PS frequently, and I save my photo files as CR2-files before editing them and then saving as JPEG. I won't go for the 3.0GHz, that would probably be unneccesary, so that leaves me with considering 2.6 and 2.8.

I don't think I'd need a 15", honestly. Also, it is way too pricey for me, since I am a student (even with the education discount, which isn't all that big of a discount anyway).

 

[snaky69]

I feel quite stupid right now, not knowing what the first two things you mentioned are. But I do render video and large photos. As mentioned, I use PS frequently, and I save my photo files as CR2-files before editing them and then saving as JPEG. I won't go for the 3.0GHz, that would probably be unneccesary, so that leaves me with considering 2.6 and 2.8.

I don't think I'd need a 15", honestly. Also, it is way too pricey for me, since I am a student (even with the education discount, which isn't all that big of a discount anyway).

Try taking a look at refurbs as well. Usually the rebate is bigger than the student discount and refurbs are pretty much new machines. Their outer shell gets replaced, a new battery is thrown in and they are packages the same way they would be new. The only difference is that you get a plain box instead of an apple branded one.

 

[mariareiersol]

I use Photoshop CS6 daily on a 15" rMBP and don't have any issues with "blurriness." Adobe added HiDPI - aka retina - support to Photoshop eons ago so it is crisp as ever.

Do you know if it's the same with Photoshop CC? If it's a problem with CC I'd probably just get CS6 though. I have used both and don't really notice any difference.

If I were looking to buy a 13" rMBP I would get the mid range model with a 256Gb SSD and 2.8 Ghz processor. Personally, 128Gb is just too little drive space for daily work - especially once your start talking about photo editing and video work.

Yeah, maybe, but the one I have right now used to have a 250GB HDD and it filled up quite quickly. The only reason my current 128GB SSD isn't completely filled is that the upgrade is quite recent (therefore I haven't really had "time" to fill it up yet) and I have been taking photos and doing videos a lot less frequently with my limited SSD space in mind. So I am considering the 512GB SSD, and with that you don't have the choice of the 2.6GHz processor either.

----------

Try taking a look at refurbs as well. Usually the rebate is bigger than the student discount and refurbs are pretty much new machines. Their outer shell gets replaced, a new battery is thrown in and they are packages the same way they would be new. The only difference is that you get a plain box instead of an apple branded one.

I would, if I didn't live in Norway. Unless there is something I missed, refurbished Macbooks aren't sold or shipped to Norway. Also, then I wouldn't have the Norwegian keyboard.

 

[Giev]

The way that I see it, if you run processor intensive apps frequent enough, you shouldn't be getting a dual core mobile processor to begin with.(13 inch rMBP)

For the money you are spending to upgrade the processor to 3Ghz, you can either get an external monitor that can affect your productivity immensely or invest it into a NAS, etc. Alternativly, if you can stretch your budget a bit, the Base 15" is costs close enough to the 13" to be considered as an option (vs the 3GHz 13inch)

I guess my advice is to spend your money on options/features that are going to generally enhance your work (on a daily basis. Too many people end up customizing their setups for "just incase" usages which might or might not happen.

 

[Thunderchicken]

Hello users of MacRumors!

So I am considering the rMBP 13" mid-2014, but I have a few questions that I really need to know the answer to before purchasing it.

1. Is it possible to upgrade the 128GB flash storage to an SSD around 500GB in this rMBP? I once upgraded my mid-2010 non-retina MBP from a 250GB HDD to the SanDisk Extreme 120GB SSD, but won't something similar be too big for the rMBP which has a height of 0.71"?

2. Does Photoshop CC have an option/upgrade for retina displays to avoid blurriness (with retina being 144dpi and non-retina being 72dpi)? I have read a couple of topics on this, but they always seem to be about Photoshop CS6 or they are from 2013 and say that an upgrade WILL come soon. So, since I use Photoshop daily, this is a huge deal. People say that using PS with retina is horrible, and that is definitely a deal-breaker for me. Has something been done about this problem more recently?

3. I mainly use my computer for web development (graphics in PS, HTML, CSS, Javascript), video/photo editing (mostly photo editing, PS and for now - iMovie) and school work (mostly Microsoft Office). Would you recommend the rMBP 13" mid-2014 computer in general? And what processor would fit my needs the best? 2.6GHz, 2.8GHz or 3.0GHz?

I am by no means a professional web developer (at least not yet), but I do work with web development very frequently, usually several hours a day during weekends/days off/vacations, and I do photo editing a lot, as mentioned previously.

Thank you in advance for any answers! It would all be very helpful, since my MBP mid-2010 is about to shut down for good.


- Maria Reiersol


Edit: My current Macbook Pro 13" has a 2.4GHz Intel Core 2 Duo processor, 4GB RAM and as mentioned, the SanDisk Extreme 120GB.

I understand your pain my mid 2010 just died and I have been debating on if I should get the 256 or the 512... I'm leaning on getting on the 512 model.

 

[nathanalf]

Do you know if it's the same with Photoshop CC? If it's a problem with CC I'd probably just get CS6 though. I have used both and don't really notice any difference.

Photoshop CC definitely has Hi-Res/Retina support. To see the new features of CC vs CS6 you can go here.

 

[mariareiersol]

The way that I see it, if you run processor intensive apps frequent enough, you shouldn't be getting a dual core mobile processor to begin with.(13 inch rMBP)

For the money you are spending to upgrade the processor to 3Ghz, you can either get an external monitor that can affect your productivity immensely or invest it into a NAS, etc. Alternativly, if you can stretch your budget a bit, the Base 15" is costs close enough to the 13" to be considered as an option (vs the 3GHz 13inch)

I guess my advice is to spend your money on options/features that are going to generally enhance your work (on a daily basis. Too many people end up customizing their setups for "just incase" usages which might or might not happen.

I know, that's why I'm asking whether or not, in your opinion, I should upgrade the processor. Whether or not my use requires that upgrade.

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I understand your pain my mid 2010 just died and I have been debating on if I should get the 256 or the 512... I'm leaning on getting on the 512 model.

Yeah, I do too, but for that money, I feel like it would be a lot smarter to just get the base 15" instead, since the price difference is quite small and the base 15" has better specs than the 512GB 13" has.

Also, I'm debating whether or not it's a smart move to get a bigger SSD or not, since I am a student and I don't have that much money, obviously. I could just use an external hard drive to keep older files that I don't use regularly, but still want to keep. The only problem there is that my MBP mid-2010 ends up disconnecting from the external hard drive since it uses too much power. I hope this isn't a problem with newer MacBooks.

----------

Photoshop CC definitely has Hi-Res/Retina support. To see the new features of CC vs CS6 you can go here.

I would be surprised if Adobe hadn't done something for the retina displays. I mean, it's actually quite some time since the rMBPs were released. So thank you! All the other topics I found never had a yes/no answer, just a lot of (sorry) BS.

 

[mariareiersol]

Does anyone have any more answers? All answers would be of help.

 

[Killerbob]

I just ordered a new 13" rMBP, and went all out. Of course everyone is limited by their respective budgets, and having had my fair share of Apple laptops and desktops, I can only recommend you to get as much from the beginning as possible.

As a photographer I am always worried about the screen, portability, and Adobe CC apps, and I prioritise like this 1) Size, 2) RAM, 3) Storage, and 4) CPU. Most people will not notice the CPU speed differences, but everyone knows the screen size, and everyone can feel if apps get sluggish after a few are opened up. Also, depending on what you do with your laptop, storage could be a major factor - that is certainly true for most graphics work...

As for PhotoShop CC it looks awesome on retina screens.