Macbook v. Macbook pro

[Gundampilotspaz]

I want the Macbook for school, and for writing, some photo stuff, and maybe a podcast I want to do. For that stuff the Macbook should be enough.

But I'm probably going to be watching movies on the macbook as well. I just bought the Colbert and Daily Show multipass on Itunes, and I am a big anime fan so I have tons and tons of that which I'll probably watch during the down time between classes. Do you think that I'll enjoy it on the 13" screen?

I currently have a 19" Viewsonic flatscreen CRT which I love for watching movies on, and I love a quality picture. I've thought of moving to the Macbook Pro for this reason. Do you think it's worth it to upgrade to the Macbook pro for this, or is the screen good dispite it's size.

 

[kretzy]

It's probably not the most ideal screen to watch movies on, but it can't be that bad if you consider people watch movies on iPods.

If the MacBook is sufficient for you, the extra cost involved to upgrade to a MBP simply for the screen size isn't worth it in my opinion.

 

[weeag]

I'm going to post my question in here as well - trying not to hijack the thread - I just have a very similar question.

Ok, I have the same basic needs as Gundampilotspaz but I'm also a photographer that needs to run photoshop and view photos on the macbook. I do on-site photo shoots and show the clients the photos on the computer and we pick photos for printing on the spot. Will the macbook run photoshop and preview photos quickly enough? I've got an older PC laptop and takes a while to preview the photos... I look like an idiot while we're waiting for the photos to load. I know the macbook pros have a beefier video card and I don't know how much that is going to help.

I've got a G5 as my main workhorse so in addition to photo previewing I just need basic computing for the notebook.

 

[pjo]

rosetta

I do on-site photo shoots and show the clients the photos on the computer and we pick photos for printing on the spot. Will the macbook run photoshop and preview photos quickly enough?

your requirements currently boil down to rosetta performance since photoshop isn't a UB yet. So, yes, there will be a clear difference between the performance of the MB and the MBP under a rosettified photoshop.

What I'd suggest is wait for CS3 - see the benchmarks on both laptops then buy.

On the other hand, if all you want to do is preview photos then either use iPhoto or "preview". If you'll need to edit them, then the extra screen space may be worth it for you.

 

[ddrueckhammer]

It sounds like the Macbook will be fine with you, as far, as screen size goes. Once the new Photoshop comes out it will be plenty fast. I am in a similar situation only I use some Engineering apps like Vectorworks and Matlab. I would like to see Dual Layer Burners and Core 2 Duos standard before I buy though as this would put the low end Macbook on hardware parity with their PC counterparts. Also, the problems (random shutdown, staining) that I have read about the Macbook on these forums worry me as well...Good luck with your purchase...

 

[weeag]

your requirements currently boil down to rosetta performance since photoshop isn't a UB yet. So, yes, there will be a clear difference between the performance of the MB and the MBP under a rosettified photoshop.

What I'd suggest is wait for CS3 - see the benchmarks on both laptops then buy.

On the other hand, if all you want to do is preview photos then either use iPhoto or "preview". If you'll need to edit them, then the extra screen space may be worth it for you.

great point about PS - I forgot it's not universal yet. By the time it's universal more of the bugs in the macbooks and pros will be worked out. I think I may just get by with my PC and set my camera to take high and low quality pics so I can load the low quality faster.

I HATE WAITING!!!

thanks!