Macbook Air for a professional photographer

[toksuede]

Yes, I have couple of questions about the new MBA.

1. I will get 8GB RAM and I will get the i5 1.8 ghz.

2. What I don't know is whether 128GB will be enough for my use. All my photos will be on the external as I currently have about 300GB of them and will keep on growing, like mould on bread. Music is about 30GB which will also be on the internal. What else? Ah, films. I watch and I delete them and they will be on external as well.

So, the only thing that will be on the machine, from what I can think of are apps and documents. Apps will include PS CS6, Photomechanic, and all that. I just checked and it's around 8GB. I don't plan to expand this that much unless someone come up with something very useful, but very big.

I also want to know is it worth it to get 32GB or 64GB SD card that will permanently live in the MBA. That will at least house all my music collection...

3. Price. I live in Germany and I don't really think 300 EUR for the upgrade from 128GB to 256GB is worth it. The problem is that if I want to upgrade to a 256GB later on, well, it's pretty much impossible. Is it worth it, considering the way I will be using my MBA?

4. USB 3.0. I've already read horror stories on how it doesn't work with Lexar's USB 3.0 CF SD reader. It also doesn't work with i1 display pro. I'm really concerned about this as a fast USB 3.0 CF reader is a must for me.

5. Finally a good backup solution. Here's what I'm thinking.
A. I go on a shoot
B. Dump all the images on the MBA.
C. Come home and copy the images to the portable 1TB external drive. I'm thinking WD Passport.
D. Super Duper the WD Passport to my external 2TB drive.
E. I'm contemplating doing cloud backup as well, but hey, I'll always have 2 copies of all the image and I think that's enough as long as my house doesn't burn down.

I don't play games, I won't be doing video editing, and I sure as hell am not considering a MBP. They are way too big. I'm typing on one now and I'm drooling over something thinner and lighter.

That's about it. Please do let me know if you think there's a better way to my madness.

 

[Aniseedvan]

Depends how many pictures you do in a shoot and your camera. My friends canon 1d mark2 keeps sandisk in business; my Nikon d700 has nowhere as big files, yet you could say they are roughly comparable in terms of position in the respective line ups.

I can do a shoot of studio portraits on one 8gb with masses to spare, and I use an iPad 64gb as the place to dump them in the clients house whilst I'm packing away. Delete the duffers in front of the tv, use photo smith to rate the keepers, tag, then sync it all into Lightroom.

My point being about the iPad is I had a 16gb and it rapidly became too small, but my raw files are tiny compared to the canon, and indeed the higher/newer nikons...

Presumably you will be plugging this into an external monitor anyway?

 

[toksuede]

Thanks for such a quick reply.

I shoot sports most of the time and I go through about 8GB per match on my D4. I shoot jpgs and not raw. Too big for what I do and hogs way too many pricey cards.

I do my edits with and without my external monitor. Depends if I have to do any on the road or not.

I do like your idea for taking an iPad to the shoot, but that's another stuff to carry and my biggest reason for going MBA was to reduce the load in my camera bag...

 

[jeremyx]

It's a great ultrabook, but not ideal for professional photowork. If the plan is to use this mostly in home and not on the road like you mentioned then I'm not sure if MBA is necessary. Or if this has actually anything to do with professional photography.

If you do any kind of editing you at least need a a lot better screen obviously. This is your secondary device?

Third party SSDs for 2012 MBA should be available in the near future, so you should be able to upgrade in the future. Other than that it seems that you answered most of your question yourself.

 

[toksuede]

I'm currently using a 2.4 C2D 13 inch MBP. It's 2 years old. It's also adequate at doing what I want to do, basically doing a bit of editing and sorting of the photos. Lately, it's showing its age and I'm beginning to see a lot of spinning beach ball. This is with an upgraded 7200 500GB internal HD.

I'm going to use the new MBA at home and on the road. It is going to be my only computer as with the other MBPs in the past. I haven't used a desktop in about 10 years and for what I do, I don't see the point of having more than 1 computer...