Macbook Pro 13's integrated graphics card

[****mark****]

Hi all,

I'm about to buy my first Mac. I'll be using it for watching movies, net surfing, listening to music, occasional (very occasional) gaming, and photo editing (Adobe Lightroom, potentially some version Photoshop in the future).

I'm currently looking at the Macbook Pro 13 2.7Ghz (i7) with the standard 500Gb HD, however I have some major concern; the integrated graphics card is worrying. Will this significantly impact photo editing performance? I have read that Lightroom may not support a dedicated card, however Photoshop does.

In addition, how much benefit will I gain from the base model 15? I really liked the size of the 13 though.

Mark

 

[Pinkiy]

i know not the most demanding game i guess but i have a Jul 11 MBP 13" and i play wow on middle to 3/4 slider settings on the graphics and its fine for me.

i have ordered a 21.5" HD monitor though so we'll see how it copes with that. but never had an issue with light gaming; burns your balls though lol

 

[Mac-key]

I run Lightroom3 on my 13MBP (see sig) with no problems.

 

[Steve's Barber]

You're wasting your money on the i7. The i5 is fine for the things you describe.

 

[Young Spade]

As the above poster stated, I have no idea why you would go about getting the i7. If you want to save money, get a baseline 13 inch and buy the HD and RAM separately. You'll have more total items for less money.

But yea, the 300 increase(?) to the i7 is just throwing money away. If you need the performance like that (which you don't), it would be better to just get a baseline 15 inch.