Need Advice for a Novice on Mac books

[Fosteram2]

Hello,
I am an artist that has been out of commission for a number of years and I am looking to get back into my work with is based in painting and photography/digital media. My Mac book is now broken. I honestly don’t even know what kind I had other than it was the top of the line you could buy in 2009. I’m looking for some advice on what I should buy. I am looking for a Mac to use photoshop mostly. Only in 2D. I will sometimes use Lightroom and illustrator. But my work is on a large scale so high quality is key. I so appreciate any advice and laments terms is great. I’m a bit clueless.

 

[Mr.Blacky]

Is Photoshop a necessity?
If not, did you consider an iPad (Pro) + Apple Pencil with Affinity Photo and Procreate?

 

[theSeb]

You are in Mac Pro section. Are you looking to spend $6000 on the base spec Mac Pro, or where you looking for something more affordable? What is your budget?

 

[minifridge1138]

The Mac Pro is a desktop computer (think big box you plug a monitor into).
The Mac Book Pro is a laptop.

But to discuss you question, if you’re looking for a Mac for photoshop, then I think any Mac Apple makes today will run it well. I’d figure out your budget first and go from there.

 

[OkiRun]

The Mac Pro is a desktop computer (brink big box you plug a monitor into).
The Mac Book Pro that is a laptop.

But to discuss you question, if you’re looking for a Mac for photoshop, then I think any Mac Apple makes today will run it well. I’d figure out your budget first and go from there.

I think if he needed a Mac Pro, he would know it. Agree that any of the current Apple notebooks will do what he needs.

 

[Moonjumper]

A bit more information about the large scale use would help. Was the previous MacBook enough? If so , an MacBook Pro or even MacBook Air might be enough. Do you need something now because your MacBook is broken? If not, I suggest waiting for the Apple Silicon Macs. It is uncertain, but it might be something special that moves the game on.

I use Photoshop on an old iMac, which is a great machine for that use, although a newer version would be much better. I'm still using old versions of Adobe software because I don't like their subscription terms, but now there are good alternatives to several Adobe products from Affinity or for just Photoshop there is Pixelmator. Adobe are loosing their grip even on the professional market. My iMac is still on Mojave to support 32bit apps, mainly Adobe Illustrator PS4, but I have other options lined up.

 

[Fishrrman]

Sounds to me like you'd want the 16" MBP model.
I'm thinking that even the baseline model will do you quite well.

But... does it have to be a MacBook Pro?
Have you considered one of the new (2020) 27" iMacs?
Their displays are superb...

 

[brianmowrey]

Hi Fosteram

I've been researching this question for a while, not happy with my model's external display limitations.

Any new MBP kitted to 8GB memory will suffice for painting in PS, as mentioned above. That's fine if you are in the mood to treat yourself with a four-figure unboxing experience.

You can also get a used MBP, say from repair shops near you that offer guarantees on their used machines, that will serve your hardware needs, have much friendlier ports, and save you money which you can spend on a bigger display etc. Specifically you want to look at:

Early 2015 13" Macbook Pro

Mid 2015 15" Macbook Pro

These both support "up to 3840 by 2160 pixels on up to two external displays, both at millions of colors", allowing you to get very granular and precise in your large PS projects. They have both HDMI and Thunderbolt (mini-DVI) ports which makes them very friendly to drawing tablets with displays. You can find these used for 300-500 *edit: $500 to some very overpriced figures, now that I have checked* in the US. They all have at least 8GB memory.

(If you find 2013 or 2014 you will want to double-check their memory and display stats before purchasing. Don't go back to 2012, although they are great machines, because they only support one external display, which counts drawing tablets. Don't get anything from 2016-2019, because the keyboards all are defective.)

A current-gen Macbook will only have USBc, one of which needs to be given up to charging, forcing you to design a dock arrangement that, depending on your model and what Apple messes up with OS updates, won't even work some of the time. IMO, leave current-gen Macbooks to the video editors.

 

[Jessica555]

You are in Mac Pro section. Are you looking to spend $6000 on the base spec Mac Pro, or where you looking for something more affordable? What is your budget?

Can you buy better and more favorable products for $6000?

 

[Crash0veride]

16" Macbook Pros have some severe issues with crashing in Adobe illustrator. I've been using the Beta for the last 2 months, which is significantly improved, but still has it's own issues. I also don't know how close the Beta build improvements (rebuilding graphics usage to use apple's Metal API instead of OpenGL) are to ready, though Big Sur should add some pressure.

Random crashing - 24.0.3

I have a brand new 16" MacBook Pro. OS: Catalina 10.15.2. 32Gb Ram. 2.4 Gz Processor. Illustrator 2020 v24.0.3 The app is constantly, randomly crashing. When waking up machine (10 min auto sleep) there is a message waiting that Illustrator has unexpectedly quit. ,And, now it seems hung up on...

illustrator.uservoice.com

 

[OkiRun]

Can you buy better and more favorable products for $6000?

Don't buy semi-truck to carry box of edamame beans to grandmothers house.