Macbook Pro 13" and CS5

[vince217]

Hi,

I'm looking towards upgrading my wife's 2008 13" Macbook with a newer model, specifically one that can handle Adobe Photoshop CS5 with no problems.

She likes to edit photos and add layers / textures to them. She does not do 3d graphics or heavy video editing.

I'm currently looking at the base Macbook Pro 13". Will this be sufficient, or should I go for the 15" with the quad core and dedicated graphics card? Screen size is not an issue since she already works with a 13" screen and just plan on buying an external monitor if she wants to work with a bigger screen, so its really the internals I'm concerned with.

thanks in advance for any replies!

 

[talmy]

It might just need more RAM. I've got a 2009 Aluminum MacBook I use Photoshop CS5 (as well as Aperture and iMovie...) which runs just fine. I've got 8GB of RAM. Yours might be upgradable to 6.

A new Macbook Pro 13" would certainly have no problems, with sufficient memory. I don't think the graphics processor matters with Photoshop (it does with Aperture).

 

[george315]

Yeah, it will be sufficient. I'm using a Core i5 Macbook Pro 13inch (Early 2011), and photoshop cs5 works great.

 

[danahn17]

It might just need more RAM. I've got a 2009 Aluminum MacBook I use Photoshop CS5 (as well as Aperture and iMovie...) which runs just fine. I've got 8GB of RAM. Yours might be upgradable to 6.

A new Macbook Pro 13" would certainly have no problems, with sufficient memory. I don't think the graphics processor matters with Photoshop (it does with Aperture).

Agreed! I have 6GB in my 2009 (2.26Ghz Intel Core 2 Duo) 13" MBP and run Photoshop CS5 on it all the time. For the most part, I have no problems editing my RAW photos, running actions, etc.

A new computer though should run fine (though again, more RAM would always help)!

 

[jeremyshaw]

The GPU barely matters much in Photoshop, technically, the GPU memory amount counts more than GPU power.

 

[atticus27]

I use a core 2 duo 13" pro w/ Cs5 and final cut pro x run smooth. Max out the ram that made a big difference for me.

 

[rebby]

I run CS5 on my MBA and it works just fine. Sure, I don't do any huge edits on it but for 80% of my workflow, the MBA gets the job done w/out any problems.

Max out the RAM and maybe even add an SSD to your existing MBP and you should be just fine.

 

[vince217]

thanks for all the replies!

based on the advice, i will see how much memory i can add to the current Macbook (it is not a Pro, it is the white polycarbonate one), and use a trial version of Photoshop CS5 to see how it runs (my wife currently uses Lightroom with no problems).

if that doesn't work out, ill probably get a refurbised 13" Macbook Pro (feb 11 release, $929++ from Apple store), then max it out with 8gb RAM.

 

[rebby]

thanks for all the replies!

based on the advice, i will see how much memory i can add to the current Macbook (it is not a Pro, it is the white polycarbonate one), and use a trial version of Photoshop CS5 to see how it runs (my wife currently uses Lightroom with no problems).

if that doesn't work out, ill probably get a refurbised 13" Macbook Pro (feb 11 release, $929++ from Apple store), then max it out with 16gb RAM.

Fixed it for you. 16GB can easily be obtained for <$150 now.