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Author Topic: OS X laptop for travel: MBA or MBP ?  (Read 2574 times)

FDewannieux

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OS X laptop for travel: MBA or MBP ?
« on: February 22, 2011, 04:28:14 pm »

Hi,
I have always been a Windows guy and currently use a desktop PC (Vista 64), a laptop (Vista) and an iPad.
I use my laptop while on the road for Lightroom work (mainly Canon 5D2 and Leica M9 raw file today). I would like to see how I get along with OS X (before it gets replaced by iOS even on Macs ;)
I don't use it very often but I do sometimes need it. I might play a little bit with iPad/iPhone apps development as well. It seems the iPad is not yet ready to replace a laptop for Lightoom-style work.
Would you get a 13 MacBook Pro, a 13 MacBook Air or an 11 MacBook Air ? I might later get a MacPro as a main machine depending on how this goes.
Thanks,
Franck
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brianrybolt

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Re: OS X laptop for travel: MBA or MBP ?
« Reply #1 on: February 25, 2011, 05:07:38 am »

Read Review which appeared on LuLa recently:

http://www.luminous-landscape.com/forum/index.php?topic=49692.0

Brian

Gemmtech

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Re: OS X laptop for travel: MBA or MBP ?
« Reply #2 on: February 25, 2011, 08:34:08 am »

I have always been a PC guy since I build my own machines for many reasons, http://www.luminous-landscape.com/forum/index.php?topic=50243.0
however laptops are a "little" more difficult to build, so I buy them.  I started experimenting (buying) Apple Imacs and the like back in 2006, but always had to do a dual boot because some of my apps are Windows only.  In December 2009 I was going away on vacation and decided to force myself to learn the Mac OS, (NO DUAL BOOT) I chose a MBP 15", I liked parts of it a lot and hated other parts, yes, pros vs. cons.  At the end of the day I do like the MBP and MBA but I also like the smaller Sonys and HPs.  I finally was able to get Windows 7 Ultimate loaded on my MBP (yes, back to dual boot) and find myself using that 99.9% of the time.  It wasn't easy to get everything working, as a matter of fact I don't have bluetooth working yet, but it's a very nice machine with Windows 7 on it.  I might go with a MBA today because you can't do any final editing with either anyhow.  The MBP does get a lot hotter with Windows and the trackpad isn't as nice as with OSX, but it's not bad.  If I were going to watch a DVD / Movie I'd use the Mac OS, other than that Windows.   Lighter is better when traveling, I even leave lenses at home now because my case is so heavy.
« Last Edit: February 25, 2011, 08:37:21 am by Gemmtech »
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Ken Bennett

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Re: OS X laptop for travel: MBA or MBP ?
« Reply #3 on: February 25, 2011, 01:02:18 pm »

What's the plan for the laptop -- just to stay connected, or to download/edit photos? The 13 inch Macbook Pro can have 3x the hard drive space (750GB vs 256GB of flash memory), a much faster processor (2.7gHz vs 2.13), and twice as much RAM, and even all tricked out is still less money than the Macbook Air. The RAM is the biggest help for photo editing, I think, followed by the big hard drive.

If you step up to the 15-inch MBP, you get the quad core processor, which should speed up photo editing even more (depends on a lot of things, will wait for some tests to see.)

If you're just going to use it to download photos to an external hard drive, and maybe do a little peeking -- not actual editing -- then the MBA is probably fine. Nice sleek little machine.
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FDewannieux

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Re: OS X laptop for travel: MBA or MBP ?
« Reply #4 on: February 25, 2011, 03:51:17 pm »

Thanks for your answer. The laptop will be used for Lightroom work: download pictures, add meta-data, editing, some basic processing, no Photoshop work.
Franck
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Ken Bennett

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Re: OS X laptop for travel: MBA or MBP ?
« Reply #5 on: February 25, 2011, 05:55:36 pm »

There's another thread here on LuLa from a guy using a MBA for basic editing with M9 files. He's pretty happy.
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