Refreshed MBP performance advice needed for my work!

[Goodfella2]

Hey guys. First, thank you for all the excellent info found on this board. This has been great. I have been waiting, like everyone else, for the refresh. It's here, but now I'm skeptical on whether to get one of the new MBPs b/c of all the negativity regarding the video card. I'm sharp with the software I use, but an idiot when it comes to the hardware & bench test data you guys provide.

Here's my dilemma. I have an IMAC at home which I do some heavy lifting with HD video & high graphics photo work- so I have a back up. My company gave me a blank check to grab a laptop that I can use to do all my sales training work on while traveling- which I do often. If I were to get a MBP I would be using it to edit small HD video (5-10 minute pieces) & photos, and I'll be running a virtual program like Parallels to do all my company work on (Office, Sales Training programs, etc.) I was thinking of maxing out the memory and going with the fast hard drive. I love the MAC OSX and want to stick with that to do video, photos, file management, and web surf, but I really need to have Windows 7 on to work faster with my company programs with their VPN and Internet Explorer (which is required to tap into my company programs).

Here's my question....Seeing that I want to use both operating systems, but Apple provided a potential lackluster video card, how is that going to effect my work now and a few years from now? Should I just grab a more updated Windows laptop that has a better video card? Obviously I don't know much about video cards and how they effect video/photo editing. Any FYI....I do not play games on this thing. Thank you kindly!

 

[hcmitchellr]

I have been very negative about the video card, but it should not have any impact on you.

The new GPU is only going to be limited by high-end 3D graphics design and new , GPU hungry, games. However, Macs have always excelled at Video and Photo editing. Some will argue, but those editing apps are generally more reliant on your CPU and Memory than your GPU.

I have run a MAC with Windows in parallels for 3 years now and I haven't had any problems. I even have 2 different installs of Windows for the different companies I support.

 

[Goodfella2]

I have been very negative about the video card, but it should not have any impact on you.

The new GPU is only going to be limited by high-end 3D graphics design and new , GPU hungry, games. However, Macs have always excelled at Video and Photo editing. Some will argue, but those editing apps are generally more reliant on your CPU and Memory than your GPU.

I have run a MAC with Windows in parallels for 3 years now and I haven't had any problems. I even have 2 different installs of Windows for the different companies I support.

Thanks for your response. Much appreciated! So the video card has little effect on video editing? What exactly is the video card for?

 

[silexh]

Thanks for your response. Much appreciated! So the video card has little effect on video editing? What exactly is the video card for?

What is basically does is process the data given and convert it for your screen. Current videocards have support to accelerate the output of 2D and 3D images. If you are working with video and photo's your processor converts the data to a suitable format for the videocard. Sometimes the graphic card helps a bit (with HD movies for example).

 

[Goodfella2]

What is basically does is process the data given and convert it for your screen. Current videocards have support to accelerate the output of 2D and 3D images. If you are working with video and photo's your processor converts the data to a suitable format for the videocard. Sometimes the graphic card helps a bit (with HD movies for example).

Great explanation, thank you. Do you think the current video card can handle the HD video I feed it? Is it going to be suitable for 3 or 4 years of use? I can't find much info on the web on this.

 

[hcmitchellr]

Great explanation, thank you. Do you think the current video card can handle the HD video I feed it? Is it going to be suitable for 3 or 4 years of use? I can't find much info on the web on this.

The 2D components used by the graphics card do not change nearly as often as the 3D tech. I can't even tell you the last time there was a huge improvement in 2D tech.

 

[silexh]

Great explanation, thank you. Do you think the current video card can handle the HD video I feed it? Is it going to be suitable for 3 or 4 years of use? I can't find much info on the web on this.

I read somewhere that the integrated Intel card (in the 15" and 17" Macbook Pros) is able to decode 2 1080p HD streams simultaneously, the nVidia GT 330m is much more powerful and will surely be able to handle it.
Unless you are working with extremely high definition content I think they will be just fine.
(but don't bludgeon me to death if I'm wrong)

I think the processor is what affects you most, so if I were in your position I would buy either the best 15" (with the resolution upgrade) or the 17" with the processor upgrade. Both with 8Gibs of RAM. An SSD also affects the performance of read/write actions positively, you might want to look into that as well.