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MBP 13" + 8GB RAM + 500GB HD vs MPB 15" i5

S

sammyman

macrumors 6502a
Original poster
Mar 21, 2005
998
66
I am wondering which laptop I will buy... A MBP 13" and upgrade the RAM to 8GB and a 500GB hard drive, or buy the stock low end MBP 15" i5.

This computer will be hooked up to a 24" apple cinema for most of the time. I will primarily use this computer for heavy photoshop editing and automating.
 
Define "heavy" Photoshop use.

You already have the Cinema display?

You need the portability?

"13" MBP" and "heavy Photoshop editing" arent really two phrases I would use together.
 
sammyman said:
This computer will be hooked up to a 24" apple cinema for most of the time. I will primarily use this computer for heavy photoshop editing and automating.
Click to expand...

For what your stated use is I would do what I recently did, get a Imac and a MB for travel. Most of my time is spent at home with heavy photoshop. You want a fast computer without all the external stuff. RAm upgrade to 8gb is only $100 for an iMac. I actually bought 4GB (2x2) and put that in my MB and put the original 2 in my iMac to make 6Gb of Ram. If you sell your 24" AC and invest in this setup the net price will be around the same but you have a faster computer and a second computer. My refurb 27" 3.06 with 1TB was only $1,450 and my Macbook was on sale at MicroCenter.com for only $799. This was cheaper than my original plan to get a i5 MBP and monitor upgrade and I get the best of both worlds
 
Upgrade my new mb pro or not..

I need pointing in the right direction please having just purchased my second ever computer..macbook pro 13 inch 2.4ghz with 250mb.

i had a Sony Vaio 10.6 inch TGR1mp which cost £1800 back in april 2004 and now has had its day after i threw the optical mouse at the screen after several problems with xp and other stuff and it is now unusable, several other problems with it also including broken web cam and track pad and it does not charge cos ac adaptor is very loose.

I have bought the new core duo basic macbook pro 2 weeks ago but still have £400 burning a hole in my pocket. I have about 40gb of photos and music in total and mostly use it for social networking, fotos, web pages, travelblogging. My previous sony machine had a pentium 1ghz m processor and 40gb hard drive with 512 of RAM..Please let me know ur thoughts on whether its worth doing any of these or holding onto the money and get the new iphone 4g or iphone HD in 2 months.

1) upgrade to 128 SSD - £279

2) upgrade to 2.66 GHZ processor - £249

3) change for basic 15 inch new mb pro with new intel I5 processor and better graphics - cost £499 etra

4) stick with the 2.4ghz and spend the £400 on a set of B&W MM1's speakers instead



I want to future proof my purchase a little and need to know whether it will be sufficient, i dont like buying new things every couple years.

thanks in advance
 
Vantage Point said:
For what your stated use is I would not do what I recently did, get a Imac and a MB for travel. Most of my time is spent at home with heavy photoshop. You want a fast computer without all the external stuff. RAm upgrade to 8gb is only $100 for an iMac. I actually bought 4GB (2x2) and put that in my MB and put the original 2 in my iMac to make 6Gb of Ram. If you sell your 24" AC and invest in this setup the net price will be around the same but you have a faster computer and a second computer. My refurb 27" 3.06 with 1TB was only $1,450 and my Macbook was on sale at MicroCenter.com for only $799. This was cheaper than my original plan to get a i5 MBP and monitor upgrade and I get the best of both worlds
Click to expand...

Hmm. Interesting idea. I just bought an ipad to fill the 2nd computer category, but this could work as well.

Heavy photoshopping means that 95% of the computer's use will be automating large images because my wife is a photographer.
 
I just looked at the benchmarks, and noticed that the iMac 27" got a 8200 while the 13" is closer to a 3200!!! That is a huge difference!!!!
 
Again -- do you need portability?

All iMacs stomp MBPs.

C2D vs C2D, i5 vs i5 and i7 vs i7

Whats your budget?

Portability? need it? not?

A handful of photos isnt really "huge photoshop". Something 1TB in a single layered file is huge. Even my 2.4 C2D will crunch several, 100 meg+ files no sweat.
 
sammyman said:
I just looked at the benchmarks, and noticed that the iMac 27" got a 8200 while the 13" is closer to a 3200!!! That is a huge difference!!!!
Click to expand...

Generic benchmark tests are not that accurate. Benchmarks for Photoshop type tests have much more meaning. In my own tests for CS4 and five different types of plugins from the Topaz suite, as well as the creating 32-bit HDR's from 5 exposures using Photomatix measuring my 3.06 C2D iMac with 4 and 6 Gb and 13" 2.26 MB with 4Gb ram the performance varied from 20% to about 50-70%. Not all tasks use multiple cores, especially Photoshop CS4, and not all tasks are CPU dependent so results vary considerably depending on the task. CS5 will be able to use more than the current 3GB ram limit for Photoshop so that by itself will boost performance. So I would not expect nearly 3x faster across the board but depending on the CPU you invest in, 30-50% faster is a reasonable expectation. It is not that a 13" is slow, it isn't, it is that the iMac is just faster

Also, I use MobileMe to sync the computers. This means I can sit in bed with a 13" MB and work away on some Photoshop stuff and save to the idisk to have it available on the iMac later without the need to connect any cables.
 
Good day

I have just purchased the new MBP 13"
Its a great machine and can easily handle Photoshop.
However, like others have said

1. How do you define "heavy photoshop?"
2. If its going to be connected to a 24" screen most of the time then I'd recommend an iMac.

The new Nvidea graphics supports external screen with independant resolutions and rotation. I was impressed! However it was a little slugglish on my 24", but if you are not playing games or movies, then it shouldnt be a problem (note: I was using a mini display to DVI to HDMI to Monitor) May perform better with straight MiniDisplay to DVI?
 
Depends on your specific needs.

If you just need a small light laptop then go with the 13". Portability is what it does best. If you need a more powerful laptop then go with the 15".

Also if the MBP is going to be your main machine then the 15" might be better. If you have an iMac or something similar as your main machine then the 13" is probably the better option.
 
since you already have an iPad I would have to agree that you should get an iMac... the 27" is a monster..
 
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