Glad to hear that the public opinion regarding the speed of the new MacBook Pro running either CS2 or CS3 is favorable and that many of you actually says that it runs faster on the new Intel machines (which was something that I had previously not believed to be true)...
I did have two remaining concerns regarding the MacBook Pro...not specifically related to the size of the computer (as I would almost certainly get the 15" model), but rather in regards to the type of screen (glossy or glare-free/matte), and also in regards to the choice of internal hard drives that apple offers....
Let me start out with the quick one...Does anyone have any suggestions as to whether I should get the 160GB hard drive that runs at 5400rpm, or if I should opt for the 200GB hard drive that only runs at 4200rpm? Realistically, how much slower could I expect everything (including Photoshop and the Finder) to run as a result of choosing the bigger/slower hard drive...If its something along the lines a 1-sec here and there depending on the various command I've issued, then I would be totally fine with that if in return it buys me an extra 40GB of internal storage space, but if more of a considerable slowdown that could be expected, I would love to hear about that as well to aid in making my decision....
Regarding the screen type...I did a bit of searching around online and found that there were a number of highly respectable people who loved the glossy LCD on the MacBook Pro, and also a number of them who hated it (as compared to the regular 'matte' screen type..). In the end, it seemed that the consensus was that most people recommended actually going in a seeing both machines side-by-side with your own eyes and making your decision based on your own personal preference...which about an hour later, I did so at the Apple Store on 5th Ave. in Manhattan...Personally, I like both of them, and I could easily see that each had its strengths and weaknesses...I won't get into the pluses and minuses of each that I was able to perceive with my naked eye but I will say that one obvious difference was that the black-point of the glossy screen was much, much deeper and 'blacker' (if you will) than that of the 'matte' screen...immediately I was reminded of a forum post I had read earlier in the day posted by Tim Ernst on these forums in which he said the following,
During a recent workshop I was teaching everyone had their own laptops - all but one were the normal LCD screens, but one lady had a glossy screen. It was head and shoulders the favorite of all the students - the images just looked stunning, so much better then everyone else’s (including my large cinema display on my desktop). However when it came to printing, we could never get a print to even come close to the color that was displayed on her screen - and we profiled all the monitors with an eye one. So in this instance at least, while the images were just gorgeous, it was very frustrating to her not to be able to get accurate color on the monitor for printing...
The link to this thread is as follows:
http://luminous-landscape.com/forum/lofive...php/t12239.htmlThis brings me to the obvious, and undoubtedly the most important question regarding the glossy screen on the new MacBook pro...Is it color manageable? Does the screen display photographic images with such a high degree of contrast and saturation that, while undeniably gorgeous on-screen, are simply impossible to match in print, and is therefore not the best option for a color managed digital photography workflow...?
In thinking about it, all of the discussion about this screen that I have come across online has been about the general look and appearance of the images on the two displays, and yet this particular post by Tim was the only one that I found that addressed the issue of its 'color correct-ness'...
Does anyone know if any of the Gurus/Color-Geeks out there have put this screen through the standard battery of tests to determine some of its specifics? This is probably the biggest issue for me in choosing which screen to go with, because from what I was able to see with my own eyes when viewing the monitors side by side, I was almost immediately convinced that the black, as displayed on the glossy display, was simply a black that was far deeper and more rich than one could ever hope to achieve in print (as I am sure the red was redder, the blue was bluer, etc...). Anyone have any thoughts on this?
I'd love to hear what some of you think about these two issues/concerns I've raised regarding the MacBook Pro (and the displays and hard drive options)...Thanks!
