Macbook or Macbook PRO, need advice

[hon910]

Hi,

I am in the mid of deciding whether to get just a Macbook or Macbook PRO
but I need some advice from you guys.

By profession, I am a creative person in the advertising line.
I am a hardcore fan of Adobe software where my common use of software are mainly Photoshop, Illustrator & InDesign.
Can someone who owns a Macbook 2.0ghz tells me about its performance on using photoshop for montage & retouching. I wanna know about the speed & reliability.

I am actually upgrading in order to be able to explore a little bot on the video editing for functions or events that I might help to do in future.

Definitely I know Macbook PRO will be a great too but for a start, I wouldn't want to invest too much in these.

by the way, does Final Cut PRO works on a MacBook?


thank you

 

[jackc]

With your usage, you should definitely go pro.

 

[Zwhaler]

Wirelessly posted (LGE-VX9900/1.0 UP.Browser/6.2.3.2 (GUI) MMP/2.0)

yes final cut pro works on a macbook, but you would be 5 times better off using a pro. Not only do you get a significant bump in screen size and clairity, you get the option of 4 gigs of ram and a far, far superior GPU.

 

[iW00t]

Rule of thumb: if you use it for making money, get the pro

 

[Gymnut]

If you plan on making full use of the Final Cut Pro Suite, it would be in your best interest to getting a Macbook Pro. Using Motion on a Macbook, I imagine, would be frustrating.

 

[lucero1148]

A videographer I work with just bought a MacBook for a personal film project he'll be doing on India and he doesn't intend to use it on the trip to do any editing only to transfer film onto a portable HD he'll be bringing along as well as reviewing his footage. The small screen isn't ideal for real editing as you won't really know how good your footage unlessyou can really see the details. He'll do his real editing when he's at home and hooked up to the Mac Pro set up with twin 23" LCD monitors.

As for myself (photographer) I just got a MacBookPro 2.4 with 4 gb RAM and it's much faster and more stable than my company's work computer - AMD Athlon 64x2 Dual core processor 4800+, 2gb RAM.
Patrick

 

[chex]

hardware has nothing to do with stability unless it isn't seated correctly

apart from final cut, a macbook will handle the software just fine, macbook pro has a much better screen though.

 

[Igantius]

If this is going to be used as your main machine, I would go for the Pro. Although the MB is no sluggard, you would get a noticeable performance boost with the MBP. Whatever machine you get, you should use an external monitor.

BTW for the type of editing, you’ll be doing Final Cut HD would be enough – that’s not to say ‘don’t get Final Cut Studio’ though! I notice other people have been mentioning Motion, but to be honest I think bringing that is a little OT considering what you’re saying your needs are.

But anyway, here are some benchmarks you might find useful:

http://www.barefeats.com/rosa02.html
http://creativemac.digitalmedianet.com/articles/viewarticle.jsp?id=45099
http://creativemac.digitalmedianet.com/articles/viewarticle.jsp?id=43717 http://creativemac.digitalmedianet.com/articles/viewarticle.jsp?id=45099#
http://www.barefeats.com/mbcd2.html

Wirelessly posted (LGE-VX9900/1.0 UP.Browser/6.2.3.2 (GUI) MMP/2.0)

yes final cut pro works on a macbook, but you would be 5 times better off using a pro. Not only do you get a significant bump in screen size and clairity, you get the option of 4 gigs of ram and a far, far superior GPU.

The MBP’s screen size isn’t really going to be ideal on its own either - it is an improvement over the MB though, granted. The MB can take 3.3GB of RAM, so isn’t too too far behind. The OP’s requirements doesn’t make a good GPU necessary.

If you plan on making full use of the Final Cut Pro Suite, it would be in your best interest to getting a Macbook Pro. Using Motion on a Macbook, I imagine, would be frustrating.

Motion is usable on a MB (Color is more problematical) – wouldn’t be my first choice, but it’s do-able.

Mind you, given the type of editing the OP may be doing, Motion maybe a bit of an overkill?

 

[hon910]

Thank you so far

Hi,

Thank you so far.
But I guess I will be using more photoshop than Final Cut pro.

 

[quigleybc]

Hi,

Thank you so far.
But I guess I will be using more photoshop than Final Cut pro.

That's what I figured

you threw in that "final cut" at the last second and that changed everything.

If you don't care about Video Editing that much, just get a Macbook with maxed out RAM. It will work great. I use Photoshop CS3 on mine and it feels 5 times faster than my desktop Powermac G5 (cuz maybe it is i guess)

Macbooks are fast and great machines, just not really made for anything too video intensive. Although, you could probably even accomplish the basics in iMovie and Final Cut.

Go Macbook, save some $ and be happy

 

[MadGoat]

I'm the owner of a Macbook and photoshop is what I use almost all the time.

2.16ghz
2GB Ram
For when I'm home I have an external monitor, Keyboard and Mouse (no matter what laptop you get , you'll need these to do any real work.)


I can tell you the performance is absolutely amazing, working on raw files with 17 layers is as fast as working with a jpeg with 1 layer

I did make sure I had upped the ram right away, I wanted nothing less than 2GB.

I did give final cut a go, but I'm not a video kinda guy, for me I use iMovie and I'm happy.

 

[Aea]

It really depends on how much you can afford, a lower-tier MBP isn't too far off a high-end MB and I believe in the long run will be a better machine, plus, I don't think you're looking for the "awe how cute" response to your MB in your line of work, but you never know

 

[mr_matalino]

I'd look at future proofing the comptuer. The MBP can take up to 4GB RAM (which you would need for "true" 64 bit processing). I'd say if you get a MB you might need to get a new computer in about a year or so. The MBP would last you much longer.

 

[FuzzyinLondon]

It depends on what your budget is but I would definitely recommend the 15" 2.2 GHz Pro. The extra RAM (plus the ability to handle up to 4GB), extra screen space, graphics card and backlit Keyboard definitely warrant the extra cash.

I stepped up from a MacBook a little while ago in order to run After Effects and Photoshop while I'm on the move and couldn't be happier. Of course, the MacBook is a great machine and is more portable (not by much) but for running Pro apps, the Pro represents a much better investment in the long run.

 

[munckee]

I'm also an advertising creative and recently went through the same process. I settled on a 2Ghz C2D macbook with 3GB of ram and it's been perfectly fine for my uses. The only thing I don't do with it is edit video, so if you're going to be doing a LOT of that, it might sway your decision.

Otherwise I'd opt for the macbook. I had tons of people pushing me toward the pro as well ("you're a pro, get the pro" etc). I'm glad I saved the money.