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What laptop EXACTLY do you need for CS3?

gkarris

gkarris

macrumors G3
Original poster
Dec 31, 2004
8,301
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"No escape from Reality...”
Need a bit of advice.

At church, we are buying a "design" laptop. We will be running CS3 on it.

We are on a budget of course and will be buying refurbished, so what's better?

A 1.83 Core Duo MacBook Pro with discreet graphics

or

A 2.0 Core 2 Duo MacBook with integrated gaphics

We will be upgrading RAM to 2 Gig, 13" or 15" screen is fine as for deskwork we will be using an external monitor.

Thanks for the advice!!!
 
The dedicated graphics card is almost only needed for 3D rendering (3D Studio Max, Maya, Cinema 4D,...) and games.

The Adobe CS suite will not benefit much from it. So if screen size is not important I'd go with the macbook. Otherwise the mbp is the better solution because doing design work on that 13" screen will be a pain sooner or later.
 
I currently run CS2 on my 1.25Ghz PowerBook and have tried the CS3 beta. I fully expect it to run on my machine. Personally, I'd go with the MB because of the faster processor. Definitely get that 2GB RAM!
 
I'd definitely go for the MacBook. The MacBook Pro will outperform the MacBook, despite what some may think (I've actually done a rendering comparison between the C2D MacBook & my CD MBP, my MBP was about 15% faster.

HOWEVER, my MacBook Pro is pretty pants. Runs at unbelievable heat, has already had to go in for service once and will need to go in again soon. Really, get the MacBook. You'll prefer it hugely.

The C2D MacBook Pros seem fine, it's just the 1.83 GHz CoreDuos which seem pants.
 
I would go with either the MacBook or MacBook Pro. Personally prefer the MacBook as I can upgrade more often and pay for it outright. I have used the CS3 beta on my MacBook and it ran great, currently I am using CS2 on it and it is fine. My vote goes to the MacBook with a minimum of 1GB RAM.
 
If you had a choice between a C2D MBP and a C2D MB, then it would be the MBP all the way. Bigger/better screen, higher RAM & HDD bandwidth and generally better design & build.

Avoid a CoreDuo machine like mine with your life though, really pretty poor machines if mine is anything to go by...
 
I'm confused. Why a laptop? Sounds like it is going to sit and stay somewhere. Like an iMac, which would give same or better specs for less cash.
 
That's like asking what riding mower do I need to drive to work. You don't want a laptop, you want a 20" iMac. If you do need portability for some reason you're really going to pay for it and should get an MBP + 20" external display and keyboard.
 
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