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PAC88

macrumors 6502
Original poster
Apr 23, 2009
457
0
For me.. A pro machine is anything that fits my needs at any given time.. notice I said "needs" and not "wants". What do I do? well, I'm a college student (I guess you could call me a pro student) that does tons of projects, reading, writing, studying, etc.. And my most important hobby is photography, but I'm only an amateur aspiring to be a professional some day..

So.. the first most important thing for me is to have a great display, a great display for me comes in a matte finish with reasonable resolution (something in the area of 1440x900 1600x1200 depending on the size of display of course)
Second- I need my machine to be compact because I carry it to the university all the time and usually it's sitting on a small desk. I don't want to look like I have a desktop while sitting in my econ class.. plus when I'm at home I already have a desktop with 24" display.
The last criteria for me is multitasking power.. I usually have at-least five different operations going on at the same time.. working on a school project would require a lot of RAM (2-4gb is adequate) and CPU doesn't have to be over the top performance. And for my photography I need storage space (320gb minimum, I have a secondary backup HD of course), 2-4gb RAM, and any dual core cpu over 2.0 will be perfect.. express card slot would be nice but not necessary, every other feature basically means nothing for me..

SO. the perfect pro machine for me is between the 13-15" range with Matte display of at least 1440x900 (I could even make do with the current macbook res if it was matte, I would buy it in a heartbeat).. RAM and Storage come second.. 2-4gb ram and 250-320gb HD is perfect.. Last comes the CPU power/speed whatever you want to call it.. any dual core over 2.0 will be more than enough for me.. If I could custom order my MAC Notebook using the "very practical criteria" I have listed above. I would be one very happy person..
To me, PRO is defined by what your current needs are, and what functionality you require to complete the tasks you work on.. For my needs, Apple currently produces nothing I would call PRO.. atleast for my needs. slap a matte screen on the white macbook and I'll be good to go.. If the white macbook had a matte display I'd be all over it..
I'll name it MY WHITE MACBOOK PRO and be done.. I'd be so happy.

One last thing.. the graphics card has to be powerful enough to power a secondary HD monitor.. the 9400m is more than capable of doing that and getting the things done that I do..
 

jackiecanev2

macrumors 65816
Jul 6, 2007
1,033
4
Wirelessly posted (BB 8900: BlackBerry8900/4.6.1.101 Profile/MIDP-2.0 Configuration/CLDC-1.1 VendorID/301)

So you want a last-gen MBP. Got it.
 

PAC88

macrumors 6502
Original poster
Apr 23, 2009
457
0
Wirelessly posted (BB 8900: BlackBerry8900/4.6.1.101 Profile/MIDP-2.0 Configuration/CLDC-1.1 VendorID/301)

So you want a last-gen MBP. Got it.

I guess you are right.. but to be fair.. I went through two refurbished last gen 17"'s and they both had F'd up displays and it's too big for my needs.. So I am done dealing with refurbs.. and I don't want to buy a used 15" with no warranty, plus all the recent last gen 15's all have glossy displays if you remember correctly.. so right now I'm SOL


Honestly, Am I asking for too much to be able to buy a new machine with the reasonable specs I'm asking for? It feels like I'm the only one living this little world, where it's 2009 and I can't get the small stupid little things I have been so accustomed to over the years..

It's pretty pathetic but my DREAM MACHINE is a current white macbook with matte display.. same as my Ibook g4, except it can handle current tasks that 2009 throws at it. If I have to buy a 13" unibody I'll do it.. even though I'd rather stick with the bland classic white.
 

01jamcon

macrumors 6502a
Jul 24, 2006
511
0
London
Your only hang up with the new machines seems to be because they all have glossy screens (minus the huge 17"). How do you KNOW that you need a matte screen, have u even tried the new screens somewhere other than the bright lights of an apple store?

Also, ur needs don't sound particularly pro, not that anyone should rele be defining 'pro'. But your work needs still make it sound as if you're just a high end consumer. Which is where apple is placing most of their efforts. I would think that apple would have done some market research to see how many of thier customers would want a matte screen, you must have been sufficiently in th minority for apple to only produce glossys.
 

PAC88

macrumors 6502
Original poster
Apr 23, 2009
457
0
Your only hang up with the new machines seems to be because they all have glossy screens (minus the huge 17"). How do you KNOW that you need a matte screen, have u even tried the new screens somewhere other than the bright lights of an apple store?

Also, ur needs don't sound particularly pro, not that anyone should rele be defining 'pro'. But your work needs still make it sound as if you're just a high end consumer. Which is where apple is placing most of their efforts. I would think that apple would have done some market research to see how many of thier customers would want a matte screen, you must have been sufficiently in th minority for apple to only produce glossys.


thank you for understanding and not getting mad.. the glossy screen really is the only thing holding me back on the new machines.. I bought a white macbook probably 3 months ago and tried to use it for a research project and I had the worst eyestrain and headaches (so I returned it).. because I was using it to do reading and writing for long periods of time. I can only imagine that the glassy ones are even worse than the whitebook.. Maybe my eyes would eventually adjust but I hate compromising when I know that I'm not happy with something.. especially the most important part of the notebook..

anyways.. I still use my Ibook g4 because I have nothing to upgrade to, everything seems like a downgrade to me.. I just want to upgrade to a similar machine like the Ibook with 2009 specs. I've been waiting patiently ever even before the unibodies came out. I love osx and am not sure I want to switch back to Windows (sony vaio z) but I'm sick of waiting..


I HOPE SOMEONE FROM APPLE IS READING THIS.. but you probably don't care about me
 

SnowLeopard2008

macrumors 604
Jul 4, 2008
6,772
17
Silicon Valley
If you think a MBP's screen is worse than your iBook, you have got to start defining an upgrade. I had an iBook G4 and the screen was terrible. Really dim compared to my MBPs screen. Trust me, the glass on the screen won't affect you. I've used it under fluorescent lighting, lamps, sunlight, windows, etc. No problems. And besides, matte makes the screen dimmer and blurrs it a little. It's not entirely devoid of the supposed glassy screen problems. You still get reflections, just blurred ones.
 

UltraNEO*

macrumors 601
Jun 16, 2007
4,057
15
近畿日本
Why you think Dinosours became extinct???

For me.. A pro machine is anything that fits my needs at any given time.. notice I said "needs" and not "wants". What do I do? well, I'm a college student (I guess you could call me a pro student) that does tons of projects, reading, writing, studying, etc.. And my most important hobby is photography, but I'm only an amateur aspiring to be a professional some day...

Gonna stop you right there!! Kid:D

Just the fact you're a so-called "aspiring" photographer doesn't make you an expert on displays. For a start you still a student, thus learning about the practice & trade... and from the sound of your groans you seem to know naff all about computers!! :p Sorry, no offence.

Welcome to the world of progression!

Judging from all the professional photographers I'm in touch with, the greater half of them seem to prefer a glossy canvas to edit on. Why? I'm not completely sure. Perhaps it's because those new panels are more colourful, more visually accurate, more vibrant due to the technological improvements. The only professionals I know who'd definitely benefit from using matte displays are graphic designers working in print design (most are using 30" panels not iMacs and Laptops), mainly cause colour matching is easier and their digital previews appear very close to the paper hard-copy, after print.

Your making me laugh!!! lol
 

xparaparafreakx

macrumors 65816
Jul 29, 2005
1,273
1
The hardware doesn't make you a pro.

The software doesn't make you a pro.

You make yourself to be a pro.

Ill take UltraNEO* example even further. There are people using a TiBook and the first Creative Suite with their Canon 20Ds.

Im 20 and I say im good but not yet pro. Still got lots to learn, rant: *uck you open directory, smb and active directory.
 

PAC88

macrumors 6502
Original poster
Apr 23, 2009
457
0
Gonna stop you right there!! Kid:D

Just the fact you're a so-called "aspiring" photographer doesn't make you an expert on displays. For a start you still a student, thus learning about the practice & trade... and from the sound of your groans you seem to know naff all about computers!! :p Sorry, no offence.

Welcome to the world of progression!

Judging from all the professional photographers I'm in touch with, the greater half of them seem to prefer a glossy canvas to edit on. Why? I'm not completely sure. Perhaps it's because those new panels are more colourful, more visually accurate, more vibrant due to the technological improvements. The only professionals I know who'd definitely benefit from using matte displays are graphic designers working in print design (most are using 30" panels not iMacs and Laptops), mainly cause colour matching is easier and their digital previews appear very close to the paper hard-copy, after print.

Your making me laugh!!! lol
Don't you know you can power a 30" display in full 2560 x 1600 resolution with a MacBookPro?

haha.. thanks man, I do know everything you stated, a MB air can display full 2560x1600.. everyone knows that.. maybe I'm just pissed off that I can't get what I want no matter how much I pay. I actually know a lot about displays, computers, graphics design, photography, making brochures, and print ads.. maybe more than you know. photography aside.. I stated that reading and writing on a glossy screen for long periods of time is a lot harder on the eyes than matte.. Maybe I don't want more vibrant.. I'm a dull person. When I do serious editing, I have a desktop or I hook up the notebook to an external monitor. But what about when it's not plugged in to the monitor.. am I supposed to deal with all the shortcomings of gloss.. I also print on matte paper if you were wondering.

Sorry I'm not easily conformed like some people.. I also get paid for work that I do, so maybe that does make me a professional.. I'm just a modest guy though, so I don't go out and boast about the cameras I use, I have canon glass as well.. you don't know how old I am, how much education I already have, how much money or anything about me. From the sound of your post, it sounds like you should go back to school..
 

UltraNEO*

macrumors 601
Jun 16, 2007
4,057
15
近畿日本
The hardware doesn't make you a pro.

The software doesn't make you a pro.

You make yourself to be a pro.

Ill take UltraNEO* example even further. There are people using a TiBook and the first Creative Suite with their Canon 20Ds.

Im 20 and I say im good but not yet pro. Still got lots to learn, rant: *uck you open directory, smb and active directory.

Well.. Originally I wrote more.. but thought it didn't apply, since the OP wasn't moaning about the processors capability.

For the record.
Currently I'm supposed to be on vacation, travelling around with a two year old MacBookPro from mid 2007 originally came with a glossy screen, has a 2.2Ghz processor, 2Gb downgraded RAM (move swapped it with the MBP17 and forgotten) has a dodgy Geforce 8600M GT video chip, prone to die at any given moment, yet I'm still running CS4 Master's Collection.

Last year, the display broke.. lines appeared and I thought the machine's life had ended. Thanks fully changed the display, swapped it with a LG matte and recently I've kinda scratched it :(:eek:.. but who cares? it still works!

I often edit full-motion high definition movies on it.. Occasionally I'll fire up FCP and run Motion for hours.. and the heat from this MBP is enough to cook a hearty English breakfast on!! I also edit full resolution RAW images taken from a EOS 40D and EOS 1Ds mkII, they're not little.. lol :D

Yep it's a little slow compared to today's standard but it get's the job done and pleases my clients..

I just wish my clients know I'm on vacation!!! :):)
Stop sending me work!!! :rolleyes:
 

UltraNEO*

macrumors 601
Jun 16, 2007
4,057
15
近畿日本
haha.. thanks man, I do know everything you stated, a MB air can display full 2560x1600.. everyone knows that.. maybe I'm just pissed off that I can't get what I want no matter how much I pay. I actually know a lot about displays, computers, graphics design, photography, making brochures, and print ads.. maybe more than you know. photography aside.. I stated that reading and writing on a glossy screen for long periods of time is a lot harder on the eyes than matte.. Maybe I don't want more vibrant.. I'm a dull person. When I do serious editing, I have a desktop or I hook up the notebook to an external monitor. But what about when it's not plugged in to the monitor.. am I supposed to deal with all the shortcomings of gloss.. I also print on matte paper if you were wondering.

Sorry I'm not easily conformed like some people.. I also get paid for work that I do, so maybe that does make me a professional.. I'm just a modest guy though, so I don't go out and boast about the cameras I use, I have canon glass as well.. you don't know how old I am, how much education I already have, how much money or anything about me. From the sound of your post, it sounds like you should go back to school..

Man i miss school! If i got the opportunity I'd jump at the chance!! I would! :D If your seriously worried about the glossy displays, how about using an quality anti-glare film on your display? I gotten mine from here (Japanese). May explain why Apple gabe me a Matte instead of another glossy. :p
 

Ploki

macrumors 601
Jan 21, 2008
4,308
1,558
For me.. A pro machine is anything that fits my needs at any given time.. notice I said "needs" and not "wants". What do I do? well, I'm a college student (I guess you could call me a pro student) that does tons of projects, reading, writing, studying, etc.. And my most important hobby is photography, but I'm only an amateur aspiring to be a professional some day..
professional
2 (of a person) engaged in a specified activity as one's main paid occupation rather than as a pastime : a professional boxer.

hobby
1 an activity done regularly in one's leisure time for pleasure : her hobbies are reading and gardening.

To me, PRO is defined by what your current needs are, and what functionality you require to complete the tasks you work on.. For my needs, Apple currently produces nothing I would call PRO.. atleast for my needs. slap a matte screen on the white macbook and I'll be good to go.. If the white macbook had a matte display I'd be all over it..
I'll name it MY WHITE MACBOOK PRO and be done.. I'd be so happy.
exactly, BUT not everybodies current needs are professional, and professionals needs differ so much its funny.
there you have 20% of audio guys that would really like to have a super quality builtin sound card and would trade it off for a crappier screen in a split of a second.
there you have 20% of developers that need cpu and would trade it off for a screen too.
there you have 20% of photographers that would trade an even better screen for both the sound card AND the cpu.

whats really PRO? the one who makes the most money out of it :lol: ;)
apple cant ever make a laptop model that would fit EVERYBODY

Sorry I'm not easily conformed like some people.. I also get paid for work that I do, so maybe that does make me a professional.. I'm just a modest guy though, so I don't go out and boast about the cameras I use, I have canon glass as well.. you don't know how old I am, how much education I already have, how much money or anything about me. From the sound of your post, it sounds like you should go back to school..
its not even about conforming, its about taking whats available and pulling the most you know out of it.
thinking that you should get exactly what you need at this level is just spoiled, sorry..
you wont even have the perfect tools most of your time climbing up, you SHOULD know that!
you cant be pissed about it, you have to take what you can get and squeeze everything you can out of it.
im an audio guy, and you know what they say? "its not about the desk(mixing desk.), its about the man behind it"
 

DoFoT9

macrumors P6
Jun 11, 2007
17,586
98
London, United Kingdom
i am only 20, i am not a "pro" user but i am a "heavy" user. i can quite easily cause my iMac (in sig) to freeze up because it cannot handle the multitasking that i do.. its even more painful on my original MBP.

i cant see any of the laptops being able to handle my requirements, ill be grabbing a MP once i get out of uni and earn some cash. it will do for now i guess..

i donno i guess it changes between each person, apple cannot conform to everyones needs.. just the majority of them - i think they have done a great job.
 

PAC88

macrumors 6502
Original poster
Apr 23, 2009
457
0
Thank you guys, especially Ploki and DoFoT9.. I've realized that I can no longer expect Apple to make the perfect machine for every individual even though they came very close in the past.. I have a better understanding of what I need and what to do about it..

I really wanted to leave the Apple community in a graceful manner.. but at the same time show my love/hate relationship with Apple. I hope that I have done both. All I know is that right now a new Apple notebook is obviously not my calling. What does the future hold for me? Who knows. One day I might venture back into this strange land of Apple computing that I never really understood from the beginning.

Rest assured, my Ibook G4 will still be used for god only knows what. The past 4 years of OSX has been an epic journey that I will never forget but all good things must come to an end someday. I am looking forward to the "down to business" years ahead of me with windows wrapped in carbon fibre.
.. Sony Vaio Z

I will no longer reply to this thread unless absolutely necessary. I tried to end it on good terms with everyone. Thank you again for all of your great insight. Maybe I will see you again someday..
 

DoFoT9

macrumors P6
Jun 11, 2007
17,586
98
London, United Kingdom
thats ok! goodluck with everything.

i just have one more question:: have you considered a hackintosh?? you could get the best of both worlds that way i guess. the best hardware choice with the best OS.. got to love that!
 

PAC88

macrumors 6502
Original poster
Apr 23, 2009
457
0
thats ok! goodluck with everything.

i just have one more question:: have you considered a hackintosh?? you could get the best of both worlds that way i guess. the best hardware choice with the best OS.. got to love that!

I've thought and read about it, but it looked confusing, I'm honestly not sure if I could figure it out on my own. If I had some clear, straightforward instructions on how to do it that might help a little. Would you happen to know of a place on the internet you can direct me to? thanks
 

DoFoT9

macrumors P6
Jun 11, 2007
17,586
98
London, United Kingdom
I've thought and read about it, but it looked confusing, I'm honestly not sure if I could figure it out on my own. If I had some clear, straightforward instructions on how to do it that might help a little. Would you happen to know of a place on the internet you can direct me to? thanks

i knew my offer was too good :p

in all honesty it not that hard at all, however a fair bit of research is needed for laptops as their parts are more "refined". the best website for checking parts is the osx86 wiki here and insanelymac here (a forum) will help you to double check parts and if there are any problems with components.

there are a number of different installation "guides", with different names. i personally use iAtkos - if you were to use that variant i could help you to install it - providing that research of the components shows that the components are supported then there really should be no difference compared to installing osx on an actual mac.

anyway its your decision i guess. :p
 

miles01110

macrumors Core
Jul 24, 2006
19,260
36
The Ivory Tower (I'm not coming down)
What do I do? well, I'm a college student (I guess you could call me a pro student) that does tons of projects, reading, writing, studying, etc..

Being a student is not being a professional. Word processing and displaying text are basic functions of any OS, and have been since the earliest days of personal computing. You need no special hardware to do these things. Given this fact, your other arguments pretty much go down the drain:

So.. the first most important thing for me is to have a great display, a great display for me comes in a matte finish with reasonable resolution (something in the area of 1440x900 1600x1200 depending on the size of display of course)

...because you need a good display to read PDFs?

Second- I need my machine to be compact because I carry it to the university all the time and usually it's sitting on a small desk.

pen and paper?

The last criteria for me is multitasking power.. I usually have at-least five different operations going on at the same time.. working on a school project would require a lot of RAM (2-4gb is adequate) and CPU doesn't have to be over the top performance.

I guess this depends on the nature of your major and what the exact project entails, but making a poster or writing a paper don't really count as hardware-intensive tasks.

For my needs, Apple currently produces nothing I would call PRO.

Too bad for you, then.
 

DoFoT9

macrumors P6
Jun 11, 2007
17,586
98
London, United Kingdom
Being a student is not being a professional.

its not "recognised" but you may still be a user who needs more then what the "pro" computer can offer even if you dont have those couple of letters next to your degree paper...

just because you go to uni doesnt mean that your only going to be using Word and nothing else :rolleyes:
 

chrono1081

macrumors G3
Jan 26, 2008
8,446
4,145
Isla Nublar
If your aspiring to be a pro photographer I would highly suggest not editing on a laptop screen. A color critical workstation costs $$$. Lots in monitors and calibration tools, and if you do your own printing that cost just tripled. For college a laptop would be fine for photography. Oh, and on a side note, if you print on glossy paper your glossy screen will be the closest match to whats on the print. Glossy prints have deeper blacks and more saturated colors as well. If people try and tell you otherwise they obviously havent done any printing and editing from home or they havent calibrated their equipment properly. My glossy monitors mirror my glossy prints.


Now, what I will say is for what you are using a macbook pro sounds great. Don't worry about the glossy screen. Honestly in normal house lighting the screen is so bright that it kills the glare and you just get nice colors with deep rich blacks. (Mine sits by a window w/ no problem.)


What I would suggest is get the macbook pro, and if you move out or get rid of your desktop you can always get an external monitor that you can calibrate w/ a spyder or eyeone colorimeter should you need more color accuracy then your laptop display provides. Another good investment would be a reduntant storage device such as a raid enclosure.


And on one last side note, if your wanting to go pro invest more in glass and studio lighting then your computer for now. Id actually pick lighting over glass as long as you have the basic focal lengths covered (depending on the kind of photography you plan to shoot of course) also, to keep costs down, send prints to a lab if your starting out. Printing by home is very $$$ and you have to be able to charge a lot to cover the costs.
 

J&JPolangin

macrumors 68030
Jul 5, 2008
2,593
18
Close to a boarder, in Eu
... Sony Vaio Z...

PAC88, I too really liked the Z series with one problem = it is a Sony with ****** support behind it.

My PCG-TR3A was barely 3 months old when 6 sony stores in the Houston/Dallas TX area told me I had an out of date machine and couldn't buy an OEM battery for it any more... after 6 years of pretty good use with an upgrade to 1GB of RAM I wanted a larger internal HDD and Sony support told me they wouldn't tell me what would fit as they won't support any "3rd party" upgrades to their computers (it came with a Toshiba HDD inside it for crying out loud), its not like Sony makes their own HDD's:mad:

I've just recently gotten an iMac and a whitebook to go with the rest of my older winXP machines in the house/office and so far I've been very happy with them... good luck with your decision/choice...
 

Badradio

macrumors 6502
Aug 19, 2004
408
0
Manchester
I think the last rebrand Apple did was a bad move - calling half the lines "Pro". I still call my MBP a powerbook, partly out of habit, partly out dislike for the name "MacBook" and partly because I let what I do dictate the tools I use, not vise versa. The idea that everyone's "needs" fit into certain brackets of machine spec is a joke, but its a joke that Apple are perpetuating with their branding. Just do what I did and buy the best machine you can afford/justify.
 

bmcgrath

macrumors 65816
Oct 5, 2006
1,077
40
London, United Kingdom
Go buy Sony if you don't think Apple do "pro" anymore. I bought 5 sony laptops for work yesterday and they have a "pro" feel to it. Buy a Sony and shush already.


/rant
 
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