Some MacBook Questions...

[Maleficum]

I have a few MacBook questions. I don't have one. I am not very familiar with it yet, so I have some simple questions all you old-time Applers should be able to answer. I own an eMac running Tiger at the moment. The one I will most likely be getting is the 13' white 512 MB RAM, etc...
So::
1) I work a lot in Photoshop. Should I leave Photoshop off the laptop (Come to think of it, graphics probably wouldn't be great with the trackpad anyway) and just do my Photoshop work on my eMac?
2) About the Photoshop: If I did get it on the laptop, would the 512 RAM/ Graphics card be an issue?
3) The heat? Reaching back at my eMac right now (and having my hand consumed in dust, ahem) it is very hot, but not EXTREMELY hot. Would the MB be hotter than a regular ol' eMac?
4) Would GarageBand work decently with the 512 RAM? I do a lot in it. (MIDI, particularly)
5) All I really do in my computer is IMing (not much), Photoshopping (Which I might or might not do? ), and surfing. I'm assuming all this would be just fine with that amount of RAM. Would you recommend an upgrade? My eMac has... 252, right?
6) What are the advantages of this laptop over, say, a train? (Which I could also afford)?
7) Okay, sorry, I had to steal that Simpsons' quote.

Any help would be greatly appreciated, and no killing me for letting the eMac get dusty

[Sorry about the double post]

 

[GimmeSlack12]

Ok, here is the answer to all of your questions.

BUY MORE RAM! At least up to 1.5gb, believe me 512 sucks.
As for Photoshop I say go for it if you have it, even though it isn't universal yet.

 

[GooMan]

RAM does make all the difference, the 512MB stock RAM just does not cut it. I bought 2GB of RAM from Omni for about $150 and it was worth every penny. iPhoto struggled when scrolling through the thumbnails with 512 and cruises with 2GB. Since the MacBook's integrated graphics steal RAM from the system that is just more reason to max out the RAM.

My MacBook doesn't get any hotter than my wife's Dell laptop. If it does it is not enough to tell it.

The MacBook is pretty freakin' fast and should meet all the needs of a normal user, IMHO.

 

[Twenty1]

I have a MacBook and use Photoshop...

Male'

I have a new MacBook with 1GB RAM and Photoshop works well. It's certainly no slower than your G4 eMac. Like the other two poster's have said, more RAM is always better; especially if you use Photoshop while listening to iTunes, running iPhoto, surfing the web, IM'ing, etc;

My MacBook does run hotter than the G3 iBook it replaced; however, it's no worse than my wife's Dell Lattitude (which is by far louder and hotter).

I don't use Garageband much, but with 1GB RAM it responds very well. Since this is a native (universal) Intel application, you'll see a tremendous speed difference between a G4 and a Core Duo.

From a graphic design standpoint (I'm a serious hobbiest; i.e. I do a little print and web freelancing, but it's not my profession) the MacBook's ability to span to a larger monitor was critical. If you're at all serious about being a designer (I'm assuming you might be a student) you're going to want to work on a 20+inch larger display (as well as having a full size keyboard and optical mouse - trackpads are a pain to use for precesion work). Hooking the MacBook up to a larger monitor with a better resolution will offer you a lot of flexibility. Anyways, just my 2 cents...

Good luck!

 

[pinetec]

1) I work a lot in Photoshop. Should I leave Photoshop off the laptop (Come to think of it, graphics probably wouldn't be great with the trackpad anyway) and just do my Photoshop work on my eMac?
2) About the Photoshop: If I did get it on the laptop, would the 512 RAM/ Graphics card be an issue?
3) The heat? Reaching back at my eMac right now (and having my hand consumed in dust, ahem) it is very hot, but not EXTREMELY hot. Would the MB be hotter than a regular ol' eMac?
5) All I really do in my computer is IMing (not much), Photoshopping (Which I might or might not do? ), and surfing. I'm assuming all this would be just fine with that amount of RAM. Would you recommend an upgrade? My eMac has... 252, right?

Minimum 1 GB of RAM if you are going to use any apps that require Rosetta. I use MS Office and Photoshop and with 512 it was very, very slow. I upgraded to 1 GB and it made all the difference in the world. If you can afford it I would upgrade to 2 GB if you are going to be using Photoshop alot.

Mine gets a fairly warm. It just depends on how you are going to use it.

Overall I'm very pleased with my MacBook