UKking

I've never owned a mac myself but have been using them for...7 years.

I've narrowed it down to the Macbook Pro (the 13" screen on the Macbook is gonna be too small) but I don't know which Macbook Pro to get. I don't want to get more than I'll need/use because it does cost so much. but I also want to get something that'll last me awhile and that I can use professionally, not just play.

The macbook specifications are here and I don't really know what everything means.


The programs I will be constantly using on it include: Adobe Photoshop, Illustrator, possibly InDesign, Flash, Dreamweaver, Imovie.

The 17inch is obviously the best choice, but I'm not sure if I'll need all that.

I'm looking for recommendations, mainly deciding between the two 15 options unless the 17inch is really the way to go.
I don't know how the features translate into what I'll be using the laptop for (art/design)


Any help/insight would be much appreciated! Thanks


Option 1:
15" 2.4GHz
2.4GHz Intel Core 2 Duo
2GB memory
200GB hard drive1
Double-layer SuperDrive
NVIDIA GeForce 8600M GT with 256MB

Option 2:
15" 2.5GHz
2.5GHz Intel Core 2 Duo
2GB memory
250GB hard drive1
Double-layer SuperDrive
NVIDIA GeForce 8600M GT with 512MB
$500 more than Option 1

Option 3:
17" 2.5GHz
2.5GHz Intel Core 2 Duo
2GB memory
250GB hard drive1
Double-layer SuperDrive
NVIDIA GeForce 8600M GT with 512MB
$300 more than Option 2

Baraka_Guru

Only go beyond option 1 if you want the larger screen, or if you do heavy, heavy media work. (I stress *heavy*) Otherwise, you won't notice enough of a performance difference. I've seen the benchmarks. They are marginal until you get into heavy encoding, decoding, processing of video, audio, etc. Even then, some would argue the differences are still marginal.

Just how heavy of a workhorse do you need?

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ratbastid

You don't even want to do your graphics work on a 17" laptop screen. You want a 15" nice external LCD. At least, that's what I concluded. I don't do much graphics work, but I'm a window junkie--I have seven open windows right now, and I'm not even DOING anything. When I'm coding, it can be many more than that, with terminal windows, FTP app, separate browser with documentation, etc. My 23" widescreen LCD is my main screen when my Pro is in "desktop configuration".

The options were a little different a year ago when I bought my MBP, but I went with the middle-range 15", and upgraded its ram on my own. Seemed the best balance of bang and buck.

Baraka_Guru

Excellent point. Even I like to use two screens to divide my editorial and managerial duties. And I don't even do much graphics work.

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Knowing that death is certain and that the time of death is uncertain, what's the most important thing?
—Bhikkhuni Pema Chödrön

Humankind cannot bear very much reality.
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ubertuber

These guys have good points.

Go with the 15" and a separate display. Then you get the portability and the real estate.

The only upgrade worth worrying about is to get to the 512MB of video RAM, and possibly the 7200 RPM HDD. The video RAM is helpful when you are in dual display mode, as it gets split between the displays. The HDD will add some speed. External drives and a little discipline will make the 200 GB stretch. MBP hard drive upgrades are NOT user friendly (voids the warranty), and the labor will eat up any savings you get from 3rd party upgrades. Don't pay Apple's prices for RAM -- go to owc.com and buy your own. 2 minutes, and 3 philips screws later you'll have saved yourself money and gotten the performance boost. In the same way, I don't think the processor upgrade they offer is worth the money.

And I can't stress this part enough -- budget for the AppleCare. There's only about 2 repairs that can be done on this machine that cost less than the extended warranty. And they won't be the ones you need.

The only other thing I can think of right now is that if you are a guy that needs the latest/greatest, there are traditionally updates after the college promotions end, which would be September/October.

Check your PM box.

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Cynthetiq

Dual displays FTW PC or mac.. it don't matter... the more display the more real estate you have for your desktop.

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Radio Monk33

Boy oh boy, all those wasted hours of macrumors.com may help here.

I recommend going with the lowest end 15" MBP. There's something about a 128 bit bus limiting the effectiveness of more than 256 megs of VRAM. Besides, 500 odd $ for .1ghz processing and 256 VRAM? That's a fair percentage of the total price.

Also, swapping out the HDD from the MBP (while not easy) shouldn't be too hard for anyone that can handle a screwdriver. Nervewracking, like cracking open most laptops. It doesn't void the warranty, there's no seal to tell if you opened up the casing. However, if you break something in there while swapping the drives that won't be covered..so you'd have to put the original drive back before it goes to Applecare.

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Willravel

15" + 2.5GHz + 4GB from here. You'll also want to get a decent 20-22" display, maybe from Dell (for home). The Dell SP2208WFP looks decent, and I wouldn't pay more than $300 for it.

ubertuber

It's not that hard to tell if a MacBook Pro has been taken apart by someone who doesn't know what they're doing. This is not a chance I would take -- and you aren't really saving yourself that much money as you'd ending up buying the factory drive and the new drive.

As a certified Apple tech, I have to strongly advise against this. I, and most of my colleagues, would have no hesitation in denying you warranty service if there was anything out of place in the machine.

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RetroGunslinger

You guys are making me feel like an asshat for owning a 17" Macbook Pro..

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Willravel

If I were going to get a MacBook, I'd get the 17" without a second thought. The 1920x1200 resolution cannot be matched by the 15" models.

Hain

You need 17" for that resolution? I got that on my HP nw8440 with a 15.4" monitor.

EDIT (3): I do though agree that it doesn't matter what kind you get, it is a good idea to get an independent monitor. I recommend just using an external drive, but nothing larger than 100GB. Anything larger, I recommend using a NAS.

EDIT (1): I technically still have it even in Linux, but the fonts in all applications are annoyingly large...
EDIT(2): Now it looks like a real 1920x1200 screen... I don't know what I did but I have more desktop real estate.

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biznatch

You can also look on craigslist for external monitors, a bunch of people will give them out for a good price.

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Miss Mango

Can gaming be done effectively on a 15 inch screen? My new system won\'t be going online, but it will have Photoshop, Quicken (or something like it) camera software and my sims of course.