MBP 13 with external monitor - good for Photoshop + Lightroom ?

[mjoshi123]

I'm looking into MBP 13 -2010 2.4GHZ and want to know if it would be good enough to handle Photoshop + Lightroom editing work for Canon RAW images out of EOS 7D / 20D ? I'm planning to use external monitor when needed but most of time work on MBP 13. What do you guys think ?

 

[OrangeCuse44]

I'm looking into MBP 13 -2010 2.4GHZ and want to know if it would be good enough to handle Photoshop + Lightroom editing work for Canon RAW images out of EOS 7D / 20D ? I'm planning to use external monitor when needed but most of time work on MBP 13. What do you guys think ?

Of course. In terms of computing power you will certainly be fine. I've been using a 2006 white MacBook for some heavy lifting in terms of raw conversion/LR/PS/Photomatix work. The current MBP are obviously much more powerful than what I'm working with so you would be fine. I don't even use an external monitor, which certainly would be helpful but not needed.

 

[Full of Win]

Lightroom is not too heave on the GPU; so you are good there. The 5400 RPM HD is not that big of an issue; I use Canon 5D Mark II files on a NAS; meaning bigger files on a slower IO, and its not a big issue.

The one thing that may present an issue is RAM; LR likes it...a lot. A 8GB upgrade may provide a nice bump; but is no way a requirement. After using LR for a while, its common for it to be using 2GB of my 4GB RAM; and would likely use more if I had it. There is also a brief slowdown when its using this amount of RAM.