macbook?

lisa_13 · Jun 24, 2008

so, im going to college in the fall for photography/graphic design. the school suggests a macbook pro, but its really pretty much out of my price range. i mean, i can get it if i need it, but if i can get by on a regular macbook, then i'll do that instead.

what do people suggest? why is the pro so much better? what's the difference?

thanks in advance

reg · Jun 24, 2008

Why'd you post this 2times?

asfixiate · Jun 24, 2008

get what you can afford...if you get the pro version you won't need to upgrade for a while longer than the other macbook(at least 3 weeks...jk)

scot711 · Jun 24, 2008

asfixiate said:
get what you can afford...if you get the pro version you won't need to upgrade for a while longer than the other macbook(at least 3 weeks...jk)

Yes, the pro is MUCH better. But get a Mac in any case! You will love it.

lisa_13 · Jun 24, 2008

whats the difference b/w a macbook and a pro? like, why is is so much better?

asfixiate · Jun 24, 2008

one has 3 extra letters in the title...I'm not a mac guy...I'll go check apple.com.

looks like better video, faster processor, build is probably better.

Crimsonandwhite · Jun 24, 2008

All graphic design programs demand huge amounts of memory and CPU resources. They suggest the Pro so your computer can take the load. You need to get the PRO even if you have to eat Ramen noodles for a couple of months. Believe me, you will not regret it when your working on those projects....

Sw1tchFX · Jun 25, 2008

There's nothing wrong with a desktop pc, that can be upgraded in the future..

from what i've seen about 95%
of PC problems are user error.

tim.bennett · Jun 25, 2008

I've a macbook and use it for graphic design and photography. It has 2gb of memory and is working fine. That is running several cs3 apps at the same time. I was looking at the pro and unless you do video edditing i would say you should be okay with the macbook with at least 2gb pref. 4gb of mem.

I have used PC's to do the same work and have switched to mac and won't be going back. Hardware is one thing but do not by any means discount the influence of the OS.

MRivera · Jun 25, 2008

I'd suggest to ask people that are already enroll in that program and find out if they bought the required laptop. In addition if you could get the macbook pro go for it. It will worth the $$$ and you won't need to upgrade down the road in a year or so...
Good luck

RyanLilly · Jun 25, 2008

Well the 13 inch screen is a limiting factor, but you can always use an external monitor as well. The bit difference is that a macbook uses a kind of crappy integrated graphics card, its not a problem for photo stuff, but some high end graphics software might have much higher requirements, thus, the macbook pro.

does it really need to be a laptop? Don't get me wrong, I love my macbook, but a desktop is better suited to this work, and for the money, you can get a lot more machine. A refurb mac pro, or a 20" imac would get you a bigger screen an a real graphics card.

Suzumushi · Jun 25, 2008

Does it have to be Mac? I looked at Macbooks until I saw that they were a lot more expensive than PCs with comparable hardware. If you can't afford the Pro, you could get a PC for a lot less with a dedicated graphics card and other advantages over the standard Macbook. Something comparable to the Pro in all but price. I ended up getting a Gateway P-6831fx and I'm loving it. Not that I'm doing a lot of graphic design, though. I don't know how important the Mac software is in that regard.

Sloane · Jun 25, 2008

The 17" MacBook Pro is the laptop of choice for photo pros. It is, ironically, also the fastest Vista running laptop on the market!
A desktop iMac, however, is basically the same machine, but with a lot more screen real estate (20" or 24") at half the price of an MBP!

Village Idiot · Jun 25, 2008

Look at refurbeds on Apple's website. You can get some good deals there. Also the classified section of mac-forums.com

Sloane said:
The 17" MacBook Pro is the laptop of choice for photo pros. It is, ironically, also the fastest Vista running laptop on the market!
A desktop iMac, however, is basically the same machine, but with a lot more screen real estate (20" or 24") at half the price of an MBP!

17" MBP sucks. It's not portable and is basically a desktop replacement. The 15" is much better and can support a 30" monitor.

No, it's not "the fastest Vista running laptop on the market!" Unless that is the market suddenly collapsed and there's only 4 or 5 laptops available that they did that test on.

Village Idiot · Jun 25, 2008

Macs are good computers and Winboxes are good computers. Any moron that shoots off propoganda otherwise is, well, a moron.

Knowing how to maintain and operate your computer to safely get the most out of it is better than any mac/non mac arguement. It's really just a preference to the OS, unless of course there are platform specific programs.

The standard Mac Book would be fine, unless you're doing 3D graphics. If you are doing rendering, then you'll want the MBP with the 512mb GPU and the fastest processor possible. Get the least amount of RAM and upgrade it later. You can probably get 4gb's for about $200 where as Apple charges $700. I have'nt looked at 3rd party memory in about a year, so prices may even be cheaper.