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upgrade to mbp?

E

earlgreyt

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Feb 12, 2008
2
0
I'm currently working on a MB, 2GHz, Intel Core Duo, 512MB. It's been fine so far for really basic work, but I'm going to be working in CS3 a lot in the next 8 months or so (haven't yet purchased it so I don't know how it's going to run on my MB). I'll be working with RAW photo files, using InDesign to layout pages, etc. I've been thinking of upgrading to a MBP for a while, mostly b/c when I'm working with photos and editing video it's pretty slow and it seems to be running really hot.

What do you think? Should I upgrade to a new MBP or should I be fine on my MB? I've never had to worry about upgrading my system since I switched to a Mac, so to be honest I'm not really clear what I can do with what I already have, too. I'm a graduate student, so of course funds are really tight and I'd rather not spend the money, but I also don't want to be tearing my hair out as I'm trying to put together a thesis while in a foreign country. Thanks!
 
I'd say, go for a newer MacBook model. You don't need the GPU for Photoshop, but more memory. The bigger screen of the MBP could be a plus, but you can also hook the MB up to an external screen.

And believe me, you'll want plastic over aluminum.
 
earlgreyt said:
I'm currently working on a MB, 2GHz, Intel Core Duo, 512MB. It's been fine so far for really basic work, but I'm going to be working in CS3 a lot in the next 8 months or so (haven't yet purchased it so I don't know how it's going to run on my MB). I'll be working with RAW photo files, using InDesign to layout pages, etc. I've been thinking of upgrading to a MBP for a while, mostly b/c when I'm working with photos and editing video it's pretty slow and it seems to be running really hot.

What do you think? Should I upgrade to a new MBP or should I be fine on my MB? I've never had to worry about upgrading my system since I switched to a Mac, so to be honest I'm not really clear what I can do with what I already have, too. I'm a graduate student, so of course funds are really tight and I'd rather not spend the money, but I also don't want to be tearing my hair out as I'm trying to put together a thesis while in a foreign country. Thanks!
Click to expand...

From the benchmarks I saw, just throw 2 or 4GB of RAM in that thing and you'll be fine. When Macworld reviewed the latest MBP and MB, the MB performed slightly faster than the MBP (negligible, but faster). It's certainly not worth the $2000 when you just need more RAM.

I have a 2.16GHz MBP with 2GB of Kingston ValueRAM. I have iTunes and Safari running. I just opened up Photoshop and InDesign CS3. iStat says I still have 750MB of RAM doing absolutely nothing. Just as a test, I opened up Illustrator and Quark XPress 6.5 (PowerPC native app) as well. I still have 500MB free. Therefore, try a RAM upgrade first. I hear the Crucial stuff works pretty well. I got my ValueRAM for $40, so that's my thing behind it.
 
Cloudsurfer said:
I'd say, go for a newer MacBook model. You don't need the GPU for Photoshop, but more memory. The bigger screen of the MBP could be a plus, but you can also hook the MB up to an external screen.

And believe me, you'll want plastic over aluminum.
Click to expand...

Why would you pick plastic over aluminum?
 
thank you

Thanks guys! I'll upgrade my RAM for now and see how it goes. And maybe dream about a new display, too.
 
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