labtops

[drew2143]

Hey guys, i'm going to be buying a new labtop in the next month and i need some suggestions. I'm looking to spend around 2000 to 3000. I need one for my digital class and i plan to sart shooting a lot of digital afterward. I'm considering buying the new macbook pro and using photoshop on it. The reason i need a mac is because the schools computers are all macs. So i'd like to use the same operating system. Can anyone give me any other suggestions or advice.
p.s. i know jack squat about computers
thanks

[deckcadet]

OK, here we go.
I'm a relatively recent switcher, and I bought a MacBook Pro. I absolutely love it.
MacBook Pros are probably going to get a new revision sometime between August 7th and the beginning of September. This will be a worthwhile revision, as the new processors are going to be faster at the same clock speed, more power efficient, and a lot more.

I have the 15.4" 2.16GHz Intel Core Duo with 2GB RAM. This is a blazingly fast computer. Although Photoshop CS2 currently runs via the "Rosetta" emulator since it is still a Power-PC build at this time, it runs about as quickly as my old HP 3.2GHz Pentium 4 did. Photoshop CS3, coming out if memory serves sometime early next year will be what is called a "Universal Binary", meaning it will be written to run natively on both Intel and Power-PC computers. It will be many times faster than CS2 on the MacBook Pro.

My advice to you is this:
Get the best one you can get
Get the Matte screen option
LOTS OF RAM! especially for running CS2 via Rosetta. Basically, don't settle for anything less than 2GB. If you don't want to pay Apple's prices, then get it with the stock 512mb and upgrade the RAM to 2GB yourself (just make sure its the right kind)
Get the fast hard drive- 100GB 7200RPM, and whenever you can, use an external hard drive as a "Scratch Disk"
Lastly, as soon as Photoshop CS3 comes out, upgrade!


Hope this helps, and feel free to contact me if you have any specific questions.

[BLS439]

I picked up a Sony Vaio Laptop VGN-FE670G about 4 weeks ago. I really like it! I've been using this computer for processing all of my images (about 7,000), a little video editiing, NO GAMING, and some other everyday activities. Here's it's spec's page: http://www.learningcenter.sony.us/as...cle/specs.html

I plan on running only Photoshop CS2, ImageReady CS2, Canon EOS Utility, Adobe LightRoom, and some other photo-related apps.

It came with an 80 GB hard drive, whic for me is pretty small. So I have been using my older 120 GB external HD. I try to keep all of my original RAW files, app's, and all that. I made the ext. HD my scratch disk for CS2. This laptop also came with 1GB memory. The laptop's been acting great, up until recently, when I received two error warning messages about "virtual C++ memory running low or being out".

It's time I clean up the laptop's HD. I picked up a new External HD (320GB) today, that's right I'm gonna operate my photo post processing with two external HD's. I saw that my 7000 RAW images, some post processed images and a couple other things (software) is basically filling up (103GB) the first external HD. So now, my fear is that I need to grab some more memory. It looks like I may nee to pick up two 1GB sticks - looks like Sony supplies two 512MB sticks in the two slots rather than 1 GB in one slot and empty in the other.

[Lionheart]

I second Harrison's recommendation for the MacPro 15". I bought the 2 GHz version for my wife, and we both absolutely love it. Macs Rule, windows drools. Unfortunately, it will be a while before I convert the rest of the household to Apple computers-just too expensive. Besides, my desktop still screams (2 yr old P4 3.6 GHz (overclocked), 4 GB ram, 1.6 TB hard drive space, 256 MB Geforce 6800, twin 16xDVD burners, 20 inch Princeton LCD monitor), and my son's PC is newer than mine (1 yr old, P4 3.6 GHz (oc), 2 GB ram, 250 GB hd, 512MB Geforce 6800 videocard, 16xDVD burner, Princeton 19 inch LCD).

[SpeedingSphere]

If I were you I would wait a taaad bit longer for some Merom based laptops to come out. Merom is basically intels mobile version of the conroe, and if you havnt heard of the conroe, google it. it completely tears apart any recent cpu on the market. I heard that dell purchased mostly all (1 million.. pfft.. not many.. ) of the conroes, so maybe they will do so with the Meroms. As much as I hate dell, I'd say, wait for a comp that they have, based on the Merom, and grab that up. The Merom will have as much processing power as anybody of this day and age could ever need for photo processing.

Hard drive, yes I recommend using a 'scratch disk" as deckcadet called it. Try and keep the wear on your internal drive to a minimum, as the heat in laptops wears at the parts rather quickly. I'd suggest to just turn on the drive when you need to write something, or, install all programs to the external drive to keep the OS running faster, and leave it on whenever you are using the laptop. I use a 15gb partition of my hard drive for windows, and the other 140gb for basic storage, divided into another 3 partitions.

Ram.. get the most you can, ram is vital in photo processing. the more the better!

video, get top of the line for the fastest filter and processing rendering times.

ect ect ect, top of the line is more than managable with $3k. Max out on everything.

My biggest suggestion, just wait for the merom/mobile conroe. Go with windows, as much as I hate it, i suggest to stick with it. Photoshop is what you're using on the school computers, correct? photoshop isn't very much different between the mac and a microsoft windows computer. The processing power is probably a bigger consideration than what OS you run, vs your school computers. If you have any q's, I'm pretty knowlegable about computers, built a few myself. pm me. :-)

**BLS439.. About the ram. If you split ram over 2 channels/sticks, you get better performance/better bandwidth. Usually you will pay more for 2x 512mb sticks than you do 1x 1gb. 2 sticks gets double the bandwidth than 1, and thus more system speed and processing times.

[deckcadet]

There was a rumor floating around saying that Apple and Lenovo were getting dibs on merom! I expect to see the new macbook Pro computers getting them very shortly.

Conroe may make it into the iMac, the Mac Pro, or possibly a new midrange tower, but Woodcrest will probably hit the Mac Pro desktops on the high end at least.

@ lionheart- you do know that even 1.86GHz Conroes were beating the living you know what out of the Pentium D line don't you? your P4 is...obsolete

I will continue to recommend against windows. There's no reason to have a windows only computer when you can get a mac that has the same processing power but the Mac OS PLUS can run windows if you need it.

[tinsnip]

As a long-time MAC user (1988 or so) and someone who's been using them professionally with either photography or graphic design for most of that time, I have to say go MAC all the way. Especially now that it has the capability to run windows as well as the best operating system on the planet (as stated by many industry professionals) OSX.

It might indeed be worth the wait for the new processors in the MAC book Pro series to come out. However, don't get too distracted by the lure of having the very fastest computer. Within a few months, it's likely to be replaced with another even faster machine.

Maxed out RAM and speedy HDs do make a difference and you'll be glad you did. But in the end, it will be the intuitive, powerful, and yes--even stylish way you go about doing your digital work that ends up impressing you. If you plan to be involved with visual and/or artistic endeavors, the MAC will become one of your finest tools.

[BLS439]

**BLS439.. About the ram. If you split ram over 2 channels/sticks, you get better performance/better bandwidth. Usually you will pay more for 2x 512mb sticks than you do 1x 1gb. 2 sticks gets double the bandwidth than 1, and thus more system speed and processing times.

SS, thanks. I knew that...or atleast the concept :idea: . The sales guy told me, I know this is where my better judgement comes in - or should have, that this laptop came with one empty slot and the other had a 1GB stick. You see, I planned to upgrade the stick the next week after buying the 'puter. I think I now will have to buy to 1GB sticks. Hmmm.....I may be jumping the gun though. Let's see how seperating everything over the multi-HD's will work.

Thanks!
Dave

[mwfanelli]

Especially now that it has the capability to run windows as well as the best operating system on the planet (as stated by many industry professionals) OSX.

Apple clearly states that the software that allows this is still beta. It has been known to randomly destroy OS X requiring a complete reinstall. Before using a beta, everyone should know what beta means.

[tinsnip]

That may be true to some degree, but it has otherwise been very well reviewed by many professional computer geeks. A little known fact is that every computer mfg. by Apple since the inception of OSX (4 yrs. ago?) has also been set up to run with the Intel chip. All of that research was done well before the release of the current hardware that now allows the Windows OS to operate on a MAC. It may not be 100% perfect, but I'm willing to bet it will be a lot closer to that well before Windows gets Vista released.

But please, I have no wish to turn this into yet another PC vs. MAC debate. I apologize for allowing my preference to show. Every time I do it, I promise myself I'll never do it again.

[Erik Stiegler]

Apple clearly states that the software that allows this is still beta. It has been known to randomly destroy OS X requiring a complete reinstall. Before using a beta, everyone should know what beta means.

There's other software that lets you run Windows (or other Intel operating systems) on a Mac. Parallel's software looks to do it better than Apple's Boot Camp.

http://www.parallels.com/en/

[drew2143]

Thanks for the advice. I also had a question about mac and windows. I've been told by a couple people that macs run photoshop better because it's simpler and you can process photos better. But the other day someone told me that was just a myth. Is there any truth to either side?

[Sebastian]

A little known fact is that every computer mfg. by Apple since the inception of OSX (4 yrs. ago?) has also been set up to run with the Intel chip.

You might want to get your "facts" straight...

Since Apple bought NeXt and OS X was started, there was always a parallel version of the OS that was written to run on Intel's architecture. All of their computers were PowerPC, the hardware itself was never set up to "run with the Intel chip."

That being said, I switched to a Powerbook in November of 2004 and have long since forgotten what it means to run Windows. And I couldn't be happier.

One misconception is that somehow Apple's machines hide a lot of power form the user. All you need to do is run Terminal and see for yourself how much tinkering can be done with the OS's Unix underpinnings to see that it couldn't be further from the truth.

[tinsnip]

Apologies for adding confusion. I was remembering the following press release (along with other info gleaned over time). It was "news" at that time since MAC's Power PC chip had been either Motorola or IBM (can't remember which). The switch to Intel's chip had to have had some implications for the hardware as well as the OS, so I made an assumption.

From the Apple site:

"WWDC 2005, SAN FRANCISCO—June 6, 2005—At its Worldwide Developer Conference today, Apple® announced plans to deliver models of its Macintosh® computers using Intel® microprocessors by this time next year, and to transition all of its Macs to using Intel microprocessors by the end of 2007. Apple previewed a version of its critically acclaimed operating system, Mac OS® X Tiger, running on an Intel-based Mac® to the over 3,800 developers attending CEO Steve Jobs’ keynote address. Apple also announced the availability of a Developer Transition Kit, consisting of an Intel-based Mac development system along with preview versions of Apple’s software, which will allow developers to prepare versions of their applications which will run on both PowerPC and Intel-based Macs.

“Our goal is to provide our customers with the best personal computers in the world, and looking ahead Intel has the strongest processor roadmap by far,” said Steve Jobs, Apple’s CEO. “It’s been ten years since our transition to the PowerPC, and we think Intel’s technology will help us create the best personal computers for the next ten years.”

[mwfanelli]

But please, I have no wish to turn this into yet another PC vs. MAC debate. I apologize for allowing my preference to show. Every time I do it, I promise myself I'll never do it again.

Pointing out that a piece of software is still in its beta stage and mentioning a problem that it sometimes creates is not "Mac vs PC" or "Mac bashing." Apple is not the error free god of computing. And, they clearly mark it as beta. Too bad many people don't truly understand what "beta software" actually means.

[Sebastian]

Too bad many people don't truly understand what "beta software" actually means.

I wholeheartedly agree. I think part of the problem is that thanks to Google people tend to not be afraid of the word "Beta." So many products are used on a daily basis that work well that the word has lost meaning.

Even Adobe's Lightroom Beta wasn't usable until B3. The first one didn't handle color spaces correctly quickly taking it out of my workflow.

Two things that you HAVE to remember:

1) BACKUP!
2) Backup before trying Beta software!

[tinsnip]

Well ok then. Consider me chastised. My original post was intended to promote the idea of an Apple laptop to the thread starter. Within the context of that discussion, Mr. Fanelli's response suggesting that the Beta software Bootcamp was potentially dangerous hit me the wrong way. I was unaware that there was a problem with the software as significant as was implied by Mr. Fanelli's post. Since I had not heard those reports of destroyed Operating Systems, I think I became defensive. I was more used to reading articles like this: MSNBC article

And this: Technewsworld Article

And this: CNet Review

None of those or the others I've read report the OS destructive behavior you mention. So you can see how easily I went astray. You obviously have a much deeper understanding of the technical issues and what would be important for someone to consider when choosing a laptop. The sky could actually fall.

[berrywise]

Just to save you anyembarassement you might encounter when you hit up the computer store, it's laptop, not labtop. Cheers and good luck finding a new puter!

[Sebastian]

Product reviews are in no way, shape or form indicative of a product's reliability or quality of production. To use them as some sort of empirical proof of a product's qualities is setting yourself up for disappointment.

Many blogs and user review sites had mentioned the potential and real problems with bootcamp. Mr. Fanelli brought up a very good point about it being beta software. Even if it wasn't beta, ANYTHING that messes with your boot sector (exactly what bootcamp does) has the potential of making the drives unreadable. That doesn't change the fact that it's a good product, nor does it invalidate product reviews, but a reviewer can not test every machine on the market. Stuff will hit the fan. Any time something that fundamentally changes your system is installed a full backup should be done, especially if the software is beta. It's a basic necessity that a lot of people forget.

[deckcadet]

as far as backup goes, there are some pretty cool programs out there, I use one called SuperDuper that cloned my internal HD onto my external drive as a bootable disk, and which now updates my external with any new files as needed.

That way if bootcamp messes you up, you can boot from the external disk and get everything back running smoothly.

[drew2143]

well i just ordered my macbook pro today. I opted for the 2.0 ghz 15 inch model version. It should be here sometime this week. thanks for all of the help guys.