Need some help deciding on purchase

[SyncSpin]

Hello all. I am in the market for a new Mac machine and am swimming in indecisiveness.

I really want portability, but want to use my 23inch display at home.

My questions:

Can the low end 2011 MBP 13 run Photoshop CS5, and Illustrator CS5 well? This is the majority of my work as I am in the web design world. I am talking about layers in the 100's potentially. I am wanting opinions from users here who have this machine and use the CS5 collection like this.

My second concern is using the MBP 13 with my external display at 23 inches. I know the lowest piece of equipment inside is Video. I am NOT a gamer at all. But I do care about my CS5 stuff working. Can the MBP 13 handle an external monitor at this size with a large resolution?

I do know the 15inch would be "better" performance, but size wise I really want to keep at 13 for travel. But if the 13 cannot handle what I need I will just build a hackintosh for home and grab an AIR for travel.


Thanks for any real life opinions!

 

[Labaguette]

Hello,

i may not be from the exact same field, i do mainly RAW photo file editing in Photoshop on my base 13" MBP (see signature) as well as some coding in Dreamweaver. i have to admit that sometimes the HDD feels to slow! otherwise my device handles both applications running at the same time + basics like mail iTunes etc. without effort. it is mostly connected to a 20" Cinema Display with the lid closed and it works out fine, the GMA takes 512MB with 8GB or more in your Mac which seems to be enough - be prepared for the device to be loud though.

100+ Layers seems rather about RAM and HDD speed, an i5 should be capable of handling this stuff. mine treats 130 RAW images open like it was nothing!

best regards!

 

[SyncSpin]

Thanks for the reply. Much appreciated. So I figure what I will do is purchase the base 13" and upgrade RAM and HD to SSD.

That sounds like that would be my best bet?

Thanks again!

 

[Labaguette]

i guess this would be the way to go. some Crucial or Intel SSD as aftermarket install and some quality RAM.