thinking of purchasing macbook air for travel and strictly photography..

[gdeusthewhizkid]

hey guys,

Just wondering if it's worth it to get a MacBook air for travel the 13inch one. I have a MacBook pro from 2009 and I upgraded it but I still feel it's a bit slow for aperture imports and some editing into cs6. Is the combo of ipad3 plus MacBook air 13inch enough to be on road. or would it be better to upgrade MacBook pro to a new 13inch. I find it heavy tho..

 

[kingalexthe1st]

hey guys,

Just wondering if it's worth it to get a MacBook air for travel the 13inch one. I have a MacBook pro from 2009 and I upgraded it but I still feel it's a bit slow for aperture imports and some editing into cs6. Is the combo of ipad3 plus MacBook air 13inch enough to be on road. or would it be better to upgrade MacBook pro to a new 13inch. I find it heavy tho..

I travel for work and in my spare time do a lot of holidaying/travelling, and take a tonne of photos while at it. I own the mid-2011 MBA 13" and it's perfect. Unless you're in to heavy video or photo editing, I'm talking professional work, then the new MBA will be all you need. It's a stellar machine.

Alex
EDIT: I should note that I use LR5, and OnOne Perfect Suite 8.

 

[MCAsan]

Personally I would never want less than 15" rMBP. When it comes to photo editing, I want the largest, highest quality screen I can find. So I use my rMBP to capture photos in the field (get the largest SSD available) and use the 15" screen for initial culling and editing. But final editing is on a calibrated 27" ATD. The large screen lets you zoom in and still have plenty of screen space for tools.

If you find a 15" rMBP heavy, makes me wonder what you will do about transporting 2 camera bodies, 4-6 lenses, flash and a few filters, and a good tripod and ball head. The weight of the 15 "rMBP is insignificant compared to a loaded camera bag.

 

[nateo200]

Personally I would never want less than 15" rMBP. When it comes to photo editing, I want the largest, highest quality screen I can find. So I use my rMBP to capture photos in the field (get the largest SSD available) and use the 15" screen for initial culling and editing. But final editing is on a calibrated 27" ATD. The large screen lets you zoom in and still have plenty of screen space for tools.

If you find a 15" rMBP heavy, makes me wonder what you will do about transporting 2 camera bodies, 4-6 lenses, flash and a few filters, and a good tripod and ball head. The weight of the 15 "rMBP is insignificant compared to a loaded camera bag.

THE VOICE OF REASON! Seriously other people are determined that cutting their processing power and screen relestate in half is worth a kilogram or 2 if that...its not...My everyday carry for photo and video is my MacBook, external hard drives, lenses, and anything else I might need. Then again I have a very strong back from athletics but really come on now its not that heavy...

Anyways to the OP, it would make little sense for a MacBook Air, the power difference is not substantial and in my opinion that makes the purchase a waste...if you got a 15" rMBP and and used an 11 or 13" MacBook Air for travel that would make more sense.

 

[twitch31]

When I travel I don't take a laptop at all, I hate the extra weight. Why take it anyway? I back up my cards to an external device and then do culling and proper editing on a 27" iMac when I get home. Holidays are for enjoying the place I've travelled to, sitting in restaurants with a glass of wine and a view, not for sitting in a hotel room editing photos on a laptop.

 

[ChrisA]

The new retina MBP is almost as small as the 13" air. For Aperture, the rMBP is a better way to go. You will likely want some kind of backup media too, a small 1TB external disk.

For photos, if you shoot raw get at least the rMBP with the 256GB storage and 8GB RAM.

But if you already own an older MBP, is is really worth spending $1,500 just to save about a pound of weight and 0.25 inches? Just hire some guy to cary the computer around for a lot less.

 

[MCAsan]

Why take it anyway?

Because part of the culture of being on a photo safari is sitting with everyone midday or part of the evening, with a glass of wine, downloading the cards and sharing all the wonderful moments of the day. Also when you are back in city, such as at London Heathrow for 6 hours between flights, you are will connected and can take your time catching up on emails with friends and family. No backup device will let you do email.

Our rMBPs slide into the front pockets of our Lowepro Pro Roller A200 bags. And the extra weight of the rMBP is zero compared to 2 bodies, minimum of 4 lenses, flash, extra memory cards, and other accessories. We would not consider a photo trip without our rMBPs.

 

[twitch31]

Weight no object I guess it makes sense.

 

[VI™]

I wouldn't use anything less than a 15" notebook for photo editing unless it was an emergency and I had to. That's to say, it definitely wouldn't be my first choice. My main editing monitor is a 30" monitor and with most cameras now starting at over 15mp, more screen realestate is a good thing.

Even with the 15", there's too much zoom in, zoom out, zoom in, zoom out, when editing to be able to do any extensive edits without driving yourself nuts. I did one of my first automobile rig shot edits on a 15" MBP and that's the only one I've ever done. Those are photos that can sometimes be composites that you have to edit out a large pole, that the camera was hanging from, from the background and if you're not meticulous about it, you can easily tell where it was.

 

[MCAsan]

Exactly! My rMBP 15 screen is good for initial culling and editing in the field. But for serious editing I want my calibrated 27" ATD.

 

[Ubele]

The OP hasn't stated his or her level of expertise, budget, whether this is just a hobby or a real or potential source of income, etc. A hobbyist on a budget doesn't need a 15" rMBP. A pro probably would want one. So might a hobbyist with cash to burn. But I've read articles by pros happily using MBAs in the field who connect to larger monitors back in their offices. To the OP: determine what you need vs. what you want, consider what you can afford, and buy accordingly. I'm an enthusiast photographer, and I use a 2012 Mac mini and an iPad 4. If I had the cash, I'd buy a 15" rMBP. But I don't, and my photography doesn't suffer.