Could you get away with doing any serious photoshop/illustrator on a Macbook?

[east85]

I've always been interested in getting into either program. For awhile there I had experimented with both (and implemented my own traditional artwork), got some compliments and whatnot. It's a aluminum uni-body if that means anything. I know the display would be a set back.. but how much of one? Would you absolutely need to use an external display? What about upgrading to SSD?

 

[AcesHigh87]

I have the Early 2008 model with a quarter of the RAM and a ******** GPU and I did it; I’m sure you’ll be fine. An external display helps but isn’t needed. A mouse (if you don’t have one) would certainly be good to get though.

It can’t breeze through stuff as fast as say an iMac or one of the new macbook’s can but it’ll do the job.

 

[AznTakumi]

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You can but you would have a hard time working with really high resolution imagines.

 

[malman89]

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You can but you would have a hard time working with really high resolution imagines.

Yeah, that. I have the whole CS 5.5 installed on my 2006 MacBook (2,1) and it works fine. Obviously not stellar performance wise, but it gets the job done.

 

[uluchay]

If you are willing to do printing jobs consider an Cinema Display. I have a 24" Samsung and I'm having some calibration problems.

 

[east85]

Aces High -

Thanks for the input, it's good to hear that you've been able to make it work for you. I am actually curious about changing my major over to Graphic Design or pursuing a second degree in Graphic Design so it's kind of important to know what might get me by. Definitely glad that you can manage to work with it even with lower specs. I'm just really trying to get a feel for if I should seriously entertain the idea with the hardware I have.

What mouse would you recommend from Apple?

AznTakumi -

This is definitely a concern. I'm just not financially ready to buy something more up to date just yet.

uluchay -

I'll look into it. As far as the prices go it almost seems like it might be more effective though to just buy an iMac unless there are cheaper older versions of the display to be found used. The prices on those run about the same as a full featured iMac brand new if I'm not mistaken.

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I haven't had the chance to work with any large files yet, but if you guys have a sample file I could work with to test my MacBook that would be fantastic. I've ran the entire Adobe suit bare on separate desktops (for each application) and still managed to have about 3 gigs of ram free. I doubt that really means anything though.

 

[AcesHigh87]

Aces High -

Thanks for the input, it's good to hear that you've been able to make it work for you. I am actually curious about changing my major over to Graphic Design or pursuing a second degree in Graphic Design so it's kind of important to know what might get me by. Definitely glad that you can manage to work with it even with lower specs. I'm just really trying to get a feel for if I should seriously entertain the idea with the hardware I have.

What mouse would you recommend from Apple?

Don’t get me wrong, it will run better on a better system (adobe stuff runs way better on my iMac then it ever did on my macbook) but it will get the job done. My usual issue was getting some beachballs from only have 2GB of RAM but with 8GB you should be fine. If you want to test it go grab a 2k or 4k image file from google and mess with that. If you can edit those without any problem I’m sure you’ll manage.

As far as mice goes. I have a magic mouse myself but if you want something for precision it isn’t the way to go. The old mighty mouse is a bit better for that. Honestly though, I would suggest a non-apple mouse for precision. The magic mouse is great but can be picky sometimes on right / left click and really precise work. For the same price you can buy a great logitech mouse that will have wonderful precision. If you want all the bells and whistles though (they are fun) get the magic mouse.

 

[malman89]

As far as mice goes. I have a magic mouse myself but if you want something for precision it isn’t the way to go. The old mighty mouse is a bit better for that. Honestly though, I would suggest a non-apple mouse for precision. The magic mouse is great but can be picky sometimes on right / left click and really precise work. For the same price you can buy a great logitech mouse that will have wonderful precision. If you want all the bells and whistles though (they are fun) get the magic mouse.

Second that. Apple mice (not talking about trackpads or magicpads) are pretty mediocre for anything other than basic browsing/usage. I bought an old mighty mouse with my laptop. It was decent, but not worth the money. Have an old MS mouse connected to my work iMac, works wonders.

 

[east85]

Thanks for the input guys, appreciate it. I tried editing a couple 4K images at the same time in both illustrator and photoshop and everything went smooth, no lag whatsoever. Activity Monitor seemed to indicate everything was going well. This is definitely a relief.

 

[thekev]

Depends how serious. If you're importing gigantic layered exr files, it will suck. 4k flat at 8 bpc is nothing these days. My old G5 handled bigger than that years ago. Regarding Adobe specifically, those programs could use an overhaul. They're really archaic in the way they handle certain types of calculations.

 

[east85]

So I made the dive and went for a 160GB Intel 320 series SSD tonight. Ordered housing for my old HD, they're both still in the mail. Hopefully it gives me a little bit of an edge, even if the processor is a bit limiting @ 2.4GHz. I know where I'll be doing Graphic Design (if I decide to do so) has plenty of Mac Labs and whatnot if worst comes to worst. I do eventually plan on getting a an iMac though. I think this is the most I can do with what I have so far though.

Also is it true that Adobe Illustrator is a strictly 32bit program? I checked "Get Info" and didn't see a 32bit option (which would imply that it does not run in 64).

 

[Bear]

...
is it true that Adobe Illustrator is a strictly 32bit program? I checked "Get Info" and didn't see a 32bit option (which would imply that it does not run in 64).

I think the latest version (CS5.5) has a 64bit version.

 

[east85]

I think the latest version (CS5.5) has a 64bit version.

Thanks for the reply, I'll look into it. I just picked up the trial version at the Adobe website, which was CS5.1 I believe.