Macpro or Macbook Pro

[Steve_Townsend]

Hi

At the moment I am have three G5 2.0Ghz duals in the studio and a Power Book G4 1.67 mobile.  Now we have CS3 and C1(both intel) I need to upgrade to an Intel machine.  However I was hoping to get just a new MacBook Pro 2.4 with max ram because it is the P45 files I use in about 20% of my workflow that is the problem. It is the laptop that I use 80% of my time so that is what I wanted to upgrade.

What do you guys think?  

Regards Steve

[francois]

I would go for the Pro model. It can use 4GB of RAM, can be hooked up to a 30" Cinema Display, has FireWire 800 port. You also have the choice between glossy or matte display (MacBook only has the glossy one).

In my opinion, the real question is: 2.2GHz vs 2.4GHz! I chose the 2.4 but I'm not sure that the price differential is worth it.

The only points in favour of the MacBook are the size and price.

[bob mccarthy]

Don't count out the macbook (intel), if you do want to save money or space. I have one connected to an external HD and 23" monitor. It runs CS3 like a champ and is smaller than any other Mac portable (my reason for purchase).

Nice rig,

Bob

[Steve_Townsend]

Hi

Just to clarify my query is MacPro vs Macbook Pro when using Capture1 and PS-CS3 with P45 files which 225MB in 16 bit.  Effective whether I can get away with the MBP as a replacement for the MacPro desktop machine?

regards Steve

[Khun_K]

Hi

Just to clarify my query is MacPro vs Macbook Pro when using Capture1 and PS-CS3 with P45 files which 225MB in 16 bit.  Effective whether I can get away with the MBP as a replacement for the MacPro desktop machine?

regards Steve
[a href=\"index.php?act=findpost&pid=129123\"][{POST_SNAPBACK}][/a]

For speed there is no comparison between the Mac Pro and Macbook Pro, especially you have the option of 8X processor, and 16G RAM. However, when you tethered P45 you don't get the 225MB/16bit file, you are only getting the rendering of the file (RAW) and then command the computer to process whatever you like, later, which speed may not be that critical when you can just set the machine for batch processing and do something else at the same time.
I have both MacPro and Macbook Pro and some iMac (Intel) in my office and they all work well under some circumstances.  For true portable, location, and battery only operation you really have no choice but to use Macbook Pro, which runs several time faster than the last G4 Powerbook - in rendering the preview or when you check on the 100% reveiw window, but you have to wait. the 24" Intel iMac is also quite convenient, with large enough screen and power, and considered quite portable if you can connect it to power source.
The MacPro, I got only the 4X version with 8G RAM and run 2 screens, 1 X 30" Cinema Display and 1 X 23" old Cinema Display and you can almost get preview instantly, so when you are shooting fashion, you can almost (almost) shoot spontaneously and it is very important. For the similar investment between a Macpro (saved that you have already the screen) and the Macbook Pro, I will say go for the Macpro because when you are not tethered shooting, it still does everything a lot faster. Unless you travel that much and work on the road all the time.

[LA30]

Spend some time looking here and the REST of the SITE before you drop 5 grand or pounds.

http://www.barefeats.com/octopro1.html

Fast hard drives make a big difference, after-market ram is cheaper than apple ram.  Will you be on location?  It your current laptop a dog?  Do you have endless amounts of money?  Can the mac or photoshop use 16-gigs or ram?  Will you be using more than photoshop so do you really need 8 cores?  I have a P30+ and use only a macbook pro 2.4 with 4 gigs of ram and 7200 rpm HD.  I like it, it is snappy.  Is it a desktop, no.  I can't justify spending 5,000 USD on another mac right now.

Hope that this helps.

Ken

[Bruce MacNeil]

Hi,

I have a MBP and a MP  -

The older MBP works great with Cs3 PS and all.

The Mac Pro is very very fast and pleasing to use.

I would suggest getting the MacBook for field and a MacPro for office. Not the Octo - the Quad 2.66.

[Mark_Tuttle]

Check the screen of the new 15", as the mercury-free display on some models seems to have a slightly yellowish tinge at the bottom 25%.  I had read about this on Apple's macbook pro forum that has a section about Macbook Pro Display, and verified it yesterday at the local Apple store.  Evidently two different suppliers are used for the display panels and one seems to display the problem.  It is noticed if you are using lighter backgrounds or in critical viewing.  Other than this is seems very even, more so than my G4 15" PB.

The 17" display has not been updated.

Hi

At the moment I am have three G5 2.0Ghz duals in the studio and a Power Book G4 1.67 mobile.  Now we have CS3 and C1(both intel) I need to upgrade to an Intel machine.  However I was hoping to get just a new MacBook Pro 2.4 with max ram because it is the P45 files I use in about 20% of my workflow that is the problem. It is the laptop that I use 80% of my time so that is what I wanted to upgrade.

What do you guys think? 

Regards Steve
[a href=\"index.php?act=findpost&pid=129117\"][{POST_SNAPBACK}][/a]

[francois]

Hi

Just to clarify my query is MacPro vs Macbook Pro when using Capture1 and PS-CS3 with P45 files which 225MB in 16 bit.  Effective whether I can get away with the MBP as a replacement for the MacPro desktop machine?

regards Steve
[a href=\"index.php?act=findpost&pid=129123\"][{POST_SNAPBACK}][/a]

Sorry I misread the title of your post. A MacBook (Pro or not) is no match for a MacPro in performance. As Bruce said just above, I would suggest a MacPro for office work and a MacBook (non-pro) for field work.

[DavidP]

I am looking at the Macbook Pro as well. The Rob Galbraith site has an article about how the screens on the new 15" ones are much better to calibrate then any previous laptop screens.
You might also think about updating the internal drive with the 7200 rpm option. Easier to do when purchasing then trying to install later. The drive speed can become one of the biggest bottlenecks with those size files. I just upgraded to the P-45 as well and my powerbook G4 has finally become completely hopeless on location.
If you get the Macbook you will probably have to upgrade ram right away. The Pro comes with 2gigs installed.
I had not heard about "yellow" screen problem, but it does not surprise me. I had to go through three cinema displays once. A good reason to buy in store rather then mail order

[Dustbak]

I am looking at the Macbook Pro as well. The Rob Galbraith site has an article about how the screens on the new 15" ones are much better to calibrate then any previous laptop screens.
You might also think about updating the internal drive with the 7200 rpm option. Easier to do when purchasing then trying to install later. The drive speed can become one of the biggest bottlenecks with those size files. I just upgraded to the P-45 as well and my powerbook G4 has finally become completely hopeless on location.
If you get the Macbook you will probably have to upgrade ram right away. The Pro comes with 2gigs installed.
I had not heard about "yellow" screen problem, but it does not surprise me. I had to go through three cinema displays once. A good reason to buy in store rather then mail order
[a href=\"index.php?act=findpost&pid=129732\"][{POST_SNAPBACK}][/a]

Do not upgrade it at Apple, it will cost you an arm and a leg. I have bought a 7200RPM 100Gb drive and installed it myself that will save you a ton. Same applies to memory. Just make sure you get a S-ATA 7200RPM 2,5inch drive, up until recently there were only 2 suppliers of those.

The drive speed definitely was my biggest bottle neck and I only use a 17Mp back. So I certainly recommend getting the 100Gb drive, actually you might even consider putting in a second 100Gb drive for more storage and as primary scratch disk for PS.

[nik]

I just bought the 2.4Ghz MacBook Pro (2GB ram) and am using it with CS3 and 200mb+ files, works fine. I have not upgraded the HDD or RAM (to 4GB - yet). I also noticed a yellowish/green colour cast at the bottom of the screen, especially in the left hand corner, and will be calling Apple to see what they are going to do about it.

Besides the  screen issue (I'm sure none of us are using a laptop monitor for colour critical work anyhow), I'd recommend the Macbook Pro 2.4Ghz.

-Nik

I am looking at the Macbook Pro as well. The Rob Galbraith site has an article about how the screens on the new 15" ones are much better to calibrate then any previous laptop screens.
You might also think about updating the internal drive with the 7200 rpm option. Easier to do when purchasing then trying to install later. The drive speed can become one of the biggest bottlenecks with those size files. I just upgraded to the P-45 as well and my powerbook G4 has finally become completely hopeless on location.
If you get the Macbook you will probably have to upgrade ram right away. The Pro comes with 2gigs installed.
I had not heard about "yellow" screen problem, but it does not surprise me. I had to go through three cinema displays once. A good reason to buy in store rather then mail order
[a href=\"index.php?act=findpost&pid=129732\"][{POST_SNAPBACK}][/a]

[Dustbak]

I just bought the 2.4Ghz MacBook Pro (2GB ram) and am using it with CS3 and 200mb+ files, works fine. I have not upgraded the HDD or RAM (to 4GB - yet). I also noticed a yellowish/green colour cast at the bottom of the screen, especially in the left hand corner, and will be calling Apple to see what they are going to do about it.

Besides the  screen issue (I'm sure none of us are using a laptop monitor for colour critical work anyhow), I'd recommend the Macbook Pro 2.4Ghz.

-Nik
[a href=\"index.php?act=findpost&pid=129745\"][{POST_SNAPBACK}][/a]

I use it with smaller files and did not necessarily had a problem but processing several hundreds of RAW files goes faster with the 7200RPM than the 5400RPM.

The bottleneck not necessarily being the size of one file but the chunk of files that need to be processed in total.

[francois]

...I also noticed a yellowish/green colour cast at the bottom of the screen, especially in the left hand corner, and will be calling Apple to see what they are going to do about it.
....

My MacBook Pro display is fine but I've seen another one (same model: MBP 2.4 matte display) with a noticeable yellow cast.
Is your MPB equipped with the matte or the glossy monitor?

[nik]

Matte...

My MacBook Pro display is fine but I've seen another one (same model: MBP 2.4 matte display) with a noticeable yellow cast.
Is your MPB equipped with the matte or the glossy monitor?
[a href=\"index.php?act=findpost&pid=129749\"][{POST_SNAPBACK}][/a]

[vandevanterSH]

Hi,

I have a MBP and a MP  -

The older MBP works great with Cs3 PS and all.

The Mac Pro is very very fast and pleasing to use.

I would suggest getting the MacBook for field and a MacPro for office. Not the Octo - the Quad 2.66.
[a href=\"index.php?act=findpost&pid=129711\"][{POST_SNAPBACK}][/a]

I have both MBP and MP, I agree with the above. The Mac rep told me the 8 core is not cost effective.  I put 2 10,000 RPM drives + 6gig Ram in the MP and the performance is quite good with both LR and CS3.


Steve

[francois]

Matte...
[a href=\"index.php?act=findpost&pid=129757\"][{POST_SNAPBACK}][/a]

I don't know if glossy monitors are better regarding the yellow cast. Anyway, time to call Apple!

 

[Dustbak]

I don't know if glossy monitors are better regarding the yellow cast. Anyway, time to call Apple!

 
[a href=\"index.php?act=findpost&pid=129830\"][{POST_SNAPBACK}][/a]

I have a glossy, no problems whatsoever. I sometimes work outside, naturally I prevent working in really sunny conditions. No yellow casts, actually the first time I have heard about that phenomena was here.

[francois]

I have a glossy, no problems whatsoever. I sometimes work outside, naturally I prevent working in really sunny conditions. No yellow casts, actually the first time I have heard about that phenomena was here.
[{POST_SNAPBACK}][/a]

FWIW, we have 2 MBP and both of them have excellent matte displays. The one I saw with a dingy yellow monitor wasn't mine and I don't know if it was calibrated or not. One of my friend just received his new MPB SR and his monitor is also OK.
There was an article on [a href=\"http://hardmac.com/news/2007-06-14/]hardmac.com[/url] about that "issue". I wouldn't worry too much about it. I think that Nik's MBP is defective and a replacement display will cure fix the issue.

[SeanFS]

Hi

At the moment I am have three G5 2.0Ghz duals in the studio and a Power Book G4 1.67 mobile.  Now we have CS3 and C1(both intel) I need to upgrade to an Intel machine.  However I was hoping to get just a new MacBook Pro 2.4 with max ram because it is the P45 files I use in about 20% of my workflow that is the problem. It is the laptop that I use 80% of my time so that is what I wanted to upgrade.

What do you guys think? 

Regards Steve
[a href=\"index.php?act=findpost&pid=129117\"][{POST_SNAPBACK}][/a]

I Just got the 2.2 ghz MBpro with its standard 2 GB Ram and matt screen . Its a bit zippier than the 2ghz dual G5 with 4GB Ram I usually use and I don't have any issues with the screen. I thought I would save the money as I don' t need the the  extra video power. Flexcolour and capture one(used for a 1ds2) both run very well and fast, although I only have a 22mp back, the extra 9 percent power and bigger disc on the top of the range model might be worth it for those with a 39mp back but for me the price differential didn't seem worth it and the  2.2 is faster than the older 2.3 model due to cache changes. CS3 really flies , as one would expect.
Time is money , and if you were doing a lot of big files , of course the Octo Pro would be worth it - but only when the new system software comes out that actually allows Photoshop to make use of eight cores which it doesn't at present according to  Mr Bare Feats. Hasselblad Flexcolour already does according to other users which must be a huge boost to time saving Raw processing for those using Hassleblad 31 and 39mp models.