Best 2019 MacBook Pro for Adobe Indesign & Acrobat only?

[hardax]

Lots of threads and advice for the video editing professionals out there but not a lot of talk as to what would be best for the desktop publishing pros?

Boss finally approved me to update my mid 2014 i7 Macbook Pro with 16gb memory to an equivalent 2019 version but I’m struggling to choose.

Main use will be heavy Adobe Indesign and Acrobat Pro with just the occasional large customer supplied Illustrator and Photoshop file.

Screen size is not that important as I will be using an external monitor most of the time so i am first wondering in my case do I need the dedicated graphics card in the 15” or will the integrated graphics of the 13“ work for me? Right now, with my 2014 MacBook I seem to struggle with complex Indesign and PDF files but don’t know if it’s a ram issue or a integrated graphics issue?

I will also be traveling with the laptop quite a bit so the 13” model is a bit more appealing To me but worry that even the top of the line 2019 medel won’t be that much of an upgrade to what I’m using now.

Would I also see any benefit of going with the i9 processor in the 15” or is that overkill for Indesign and Acrobat pro?

Finally do you think 16gb is enough or should I go for 32gb again taking into account that I only use Indesign and Acrobat Pro most of the time.

Any feedback would be most participated.

 

[hardax]

Any opinions guys? Would love feedback on the real need for a discreet graphics card if you have no need for video editing etc.

 

[tobefirst ⚽️]

I *think* you'd benefit from a discrete graphics card for the "large customer supplied Illustrator and Photoshop files." I had to use my retina macbook while my work machine was in the shop and it really struggled to push all the pixels around with larger placed files. I know that my retina macbook is inferior in every way (at least for this purpose) to a MBP, but still, I think discrete graphics would be useful. We upgraded to 32GB of RAM in the machines we purchased last year, but I likely do more Photoshop and Illustrator work than you do.

I *think* I'd order my priorities this way:
discrete graphics
additional RAM (over 16GB)
faster processor

 

[kohlson]

Can you put some files on a stick and get to an Apple Store? At least in the past, they are very open to having you try out software on the systems they have on the floor. You may have to download download trial versions. But see if you can make an appointment. You may also want to post this question in Adobe forums (not on MR).

 

[ssmed]

Indesign can be quite resource heavy if you have big chapters in a book with graphics. A 15" might be better than a 13 inch. For smaller projects I am not sure you will notice the difference so much. The rumoured 16 inch might be an option is we ever see it and the form factor is not much bigger than the 15". If you do much with Photoshop a big SSD and good graphics card are likely to be very useful. I get on OK with a 2017 MBP (except the keyboard) although I find Lightroom excruciatingly slow even with the assets on a fast TB3 RAID. I have a smaller 2019 13 inch and for most things that is not much different.

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