I'm going to switch from an aging Thinkpad to a MacBook Pro sooner rather than later. Given that the recent product refresh wasn't terribly inspiring, I am strongly considering getting a refurb of one of the previous gen models. It looks like I can save as much as $700, which would go a long way toward software.
I will be using the laptop mostly for photo organizing and light editing. I will almost certainly use either Lightroom or Aperture for RAW workflow, and Photoshop Elements for light editing as needed. So, for sure curves/levels and possibly some adjustment layers but I don't anticipate becoming a hardcore CS3 user.
The quest then is, should I worry about more video memory beyond 256? The Refurb previous gen models don't offer 512. Is there any reason to think that within the expected life of the MBP that I'll wish I had more video memory?
Also, can anyone doing this type of work (I have a library of 7K images and growing) comment on how much performance gain I would see from going from a 5400RPM drive to a 7200RPM drive? Lightroom on my Thinkpad was a real dog, and seemed to work the drive pretty vigorously. My gut instinct is to spend the extra dollars on the faster drive.
Thanks...
I will be using the laptop mostly for photo organizing and light editing. I will almost certainly use either Lightroom or Aperture for RAW workflow, and Photoshop Elements for light editing as needed. So, for sure curves/levels and possibly some adjustment layers but I don't anticipate becoming a hardcore CS3 user.
The quest then is, should I worry about more video memory beyond 256? The Refurb previous gen models don't offer 512. Is there any reason to think that within the expected life of the MBP that I'll wish I had more video memory?
Also, can anyone doing this type of work (I have a library of 7K images and growing) comment on how much performance gain I would see from going from a 5400RPM drive to a 7200RPM drive? Lightroom on my Thinkpad was a real dog, and seemed to work the drive pretty vigorously. My gut instinct is to spend the extra dollars on the faster drive.
Thanks...