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Graphics Designer

E

ederona

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Apr 13, 2010
10
0
Hi guys!

I hope you can help me decide which 15" is more suitable to my needs, I'm a graphic designer using Illustrator, Indesign, Photoshop and soon will be using Dreamweaver, Flash and Fireworks for web design. I came from powerbook 15" G4 2003, so you can see that I'm NOT that guy who upgrade every 1-2 years. I just want a machine that will last for a long time and not break the bank.

Thanks in advance!
 
15" High Res Antiglare
2.66GHz Core i7
500GB 7200RPM
4GB RAM
512MB GeForce 330M

Thats what I would recommend. 8GB of RAM if you got the funds. That should last you at least 3 years if not a few more.
 
Agreed, you'll want the hi res and the 8 gig memory should be worthwhile. This is what I'm getting for my graphic design.
 
ederona said:
Hi guys!

I hope you can help me decide which 15" is more suitable to my needs, I'm a graphic designer using Illustrator, Indesign, Photoshop and soon will be using Dreamweaver, Flash and Fireworks for web design. I came from powerbook 15" G4 2003, so you can see that I'm NOT that guy who upgrade every 1-2 years. I just want a machine that will last for a long time and not break the bank.

Thanks in advance!
Click to expand...

Buy the cheapest 15" MBP and upgrade the display to the higher resolution option for $100 or $150 depending on whether you want anti-glare.

For you, this is a real update... the rest of the MBP fan base just got the worst update ever in the longest wait ever (10.5 months)!

Good luck.
 
Scottsdale said:
For you, this is a real update... the rest of the MBP fan base just got the worst update ever in the longest wait ever (10.5 months)!

Good luck.
Click to expand...

Why is it a good update for him, but it sucks for everybody else? I'm just curious, thanks!
 
thanks for starting this thread! i'm in the exact same shoes and have been wondering the same thing all day. particularly about whether i should go hi-res or not. it seems like a given that i should.
 
I doubt it's one 4GB module.

It's probably 2x2GB if you get 4GB standard. So either way, you'll have to shell out for 8gb (2x4GB sticks). Sell the stock ram to recoup some cash.

Either way, I would do third party for RAM/HD upgrades. Apple is a rip:apple:ff in that department.
 
If you aren't "that guy" who buys a new laptop every year and plan on keeping it for a good while then you should grab all you can eat. Sneakz laid it out for you.

What's your photoshop prowess? Do you make banners and sigs or do you work on multi layer compositions and giant 2k scenes. If the later, the 512 megs of vram and additional cpu cache will help you.

@ jetjaguar there are only two slots.
 
I'm in the same boat.

Question: how much better performance is a graphics pro going to get out of the i7 than the i5? For real life Photoshop and Illustrator stuff, that is, not video encoding or gaming benchmarks.
 
For what you do, even the basic 13" would be just fine as long as you put in a big hard drive and 4GB RAM. I would know because I've been doing the exact same things (except I won't touch Dreamweaver and Fireworks...they're awful) on my previous gen 13" with no problems.

So if you've got the money, you could get the 2.4 GHz 15" and spend any extra you've got left on a good external display and the Apple keyboard.
 
Agree with the other posters. If you buy a laptop every 3+ years get the best you can afford right now. Even if it's a few hundred more divide that by the number of years you will be using it.

ESP if this is going to be the profession you are going into in the future.
 
Eddyisgreat said:
If you aren't "that guy" who buys a new laptop every year and plan on keeping it for a good while then you should grab all you can eat. Sneakz laid it out for you.

What's your photoshop prowess? Do you make banners and sigs or do you work on multi layer compositions and giant 2k scenes. If the later, the 512 megs of vram and additional cpu cache will help you.

@ jetjaguar there are only two slots.
Click to expand...

I'm not thay guy. :) But is it worth $400 to go from i5 to i7

I been graphic designer for 10 years now and YES I work on multi layer compositions and big files.

Do you guys thinks the $400 for i7 will last me additional year?
 
ederona said:
Hi guys!

I hope you can help me decide which 15" is more suitable to my needs, I'm a graphic designer using Illustrator, Indesign, Photoshop and soon will be using Dreamweaver, Flash and Fireworks for web design. I came from powerbook 15" G4 2003, so you can see that I'm NOT that guy who upgrade every 1-2 years. I just want a machine that will last for a long time and not break the bank.

Thanks in advance!
Click to expand...

I would suggest getting the base model 15" w/ hi-res screen and keeping the stock 4gb ram.. I think it will perform extremely well for what you want to do. the small increase from the base 15" to the high end one is not worth the extra money in my opinion.. save the money and in 2 years or so put it towards an SSD or more ram if you need it..

that's what I'm looking to get and I'll be using with the adobe suites and all that.. the base 15" w/ 4gb ram should handle it no problem. save the money to put towards an SSD down the road when they are less expensive. that will give you a much larger performance increase than the i7 cpu will.
 
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