MBP 2.53 or 2.66?

[sophie8]

I am planning to buy a MBP 15" but can't decide between the 2.53 and 2.66. Apart from internet, downloading etc. I expect to use it often for photoshop and lightroom. I travel a lot and shoot a lot of pictures in raw.

I have been talking to 2 different Mac sales persons and the first one advised me to go for the 2.66. He said that the 2.53 videocard is not good enough for the photo's. He also advised me to go for the 7200 rpm because of the quicker performance.

Later I spoke with another person and he told me that 2.53 is sufficient enough. The extra graphic card is according to him only necessary for video editing, playing games, 3D design etc. Besides that 5400 rpm would also be fast enough for what I want to do.

After hearing two different opinions I got confused. Is the graphic card in the 2.53 good enough for my photoshop editing? Is the 2.53 processor and the 5400 rpm fast enough for my work? I am also afraid that the 7200 rpm will make more noise, will overheat the system and that it will drain the battery faster (as well as the 9600 graphic card).

And a last question: since I am travelling a lot I would prefer to go for the 13". Especially since I am also carrying a lot of camera stuff. Will the 13" screen be good enough for using photoshop?

Hope you can help me out with this. Thank you in advance for taking time answering my questions!

 

[aethelbert]

Is the graphic card in the 2.53 good enough for my photoshop editing?

yes

Is the 2.53 processor and the 5400 rpm fast enough for my work?

yes

Will the 13" screen be good enough for using photoshop?

You may find it small; it is a matter of personal preference. But it would work just as well in terms of power. An external monitor could be used for times when you are not mobile as well.

 

[Thunder82]

Honestly, the difference between the two CPU speeds will not be noticeable. In my opinion, you'd be better off spending the extra money on an SSD, versus the 7200RPM hard drive.

 

[bigjnyc]

well i have the 2.66 MBP and i am constantly seeing the spinning beach ball, I have 4gb of Ram.... I'm a very light user I dont do photography, i dont do video editing and i still see the beach ball all the time. So i guess my advice is get the 2.66 because i would imagine the 2.53 is worse especially for the applications you plan on running.

 

[geoffreak]

Go with the dedicated graphics card offered by the higher end 15" MBP.

Upgrade the HDD yourself after you buy the machine. A 5400RPM drive provided by Apple will really slow down your computer if you are dealing with large files all the time. Apple's HDD upgrades are ridiculously expensive.
A 7200RPM drive will not overheat, be excessively loud, or decrease battery a significant amount. One of the fastest HDDs on the market is WD's Scorpio Blue 500GB, which is actually a 5400RPM drive, so it is a good option for you if you are worried.
A SSD is the fastest, quietest, and most power efficient storage money can buy for a laptop. Be prepared to pay out the nose for one though.

The 13" doesn't have a dedicated graphics card, so I'd recommend not getting one. It also has a much slower processor. The decreased screen real estate will be a definite problem when working with large photos.

well i have the 2.66 MBP and i am constantly seeing the spinning beach ball, I have 4gb of Ram.... I'm a very light user I dont do photography, i dont do video editing and i still see the beach ball all the time.

Your hard drive is what is slowing you down, not the processor or RAM.

 

[JackRuby]

differences

Honestly, the difference between the two CPU speeds will not be noticeable. In my opinion, you'd be better off spending the extra money on an SSD, versus the 7200RPM hard drive.

I would agree that the difference in processor speed will be hardly noticeable. I myself have a 500GB HD at 7200rpm and i am very pleased with its performance and you can definitely tell the difference with HD speed.

 

[bigjnyc]

Your hard drive is what is slowing you down, not the processor or RAM.

yeah i figured as much since its always when opening an application that it happens.

 

[geoffreak]

Everyone is correct in that the difference in CPU is nominal, but the higher CPU version has a dedicated graphics card. While the lesser powered graphics card is suitable for most tasks, come Snow Leopard and OpenCL, there will be a LARGE difference in processing power.

 

[airplaneman]

well i have the 2.66 MBP and i am constantly seeing the spinning beach ball, I have 4gb of Ram.... I'm a very light user I dont do photography, i dont do video editing and i still see the beach ball all the time. So i guess my advice is get the 2.66 because i would imagine the 2.53 is worse especially for the applications you plan on running.

That's weird. I hardly ever see the spinning beach ball, even when using Parallels, running iTunes, browsing w/multiple tabs, etc. But yea, the video card is worse than that of the PC I built for gaming a number of years ago (in 2004 or 5), although it is more than good enough for me and much better than every other PC's video card that I've owned besides the gaming PC's. I don't do much heavy duty photo editing, so I can't tell you if the 9400M is good enough for it. It's more than sufficient for the light editing I do. If you need the video card power (not to mention the enhanced performance when SL comes out with open CL) get the 2.66. Otherwise, a 2.53 with an SSD will suffice.

 

[Sirmausalot]

Raw

Working with RAW files get the fastest bestest you can -- processor, graphics card, and RAM (and hard drive) Usually a desktop machine is better for this sort of work IMHO.

 

[BlueLAser]

okay you will save some power but it will take longer going the 2.53 5400 way. the power diff is not that great and i would go with the 2.66 7200 cause it will lead to better performance overall. and with the graphics card i heard that when you need it you use the 9600 for powerful stuff. which i think you may need. but when you dont you use the 9400 for everything else at a lower power usage.