Should I get a Macbook Pro?...

[donaldt]

Hi guys
here is the situation
I am an amateur photographer who knows few about computer, and I use a 50MP digital back
and my normal Intel i7 laptop, which I use at work, wont hold up anymore, it basically dies when processing the images

so I am starting from scratch here and options are,
-give up the laptop and get a 15" all juiced up Macbook Pro for both the image processing and work (costs about $2800?)
-keep my laptop for work, add a desktop + screen at home for image processing

lets say my budget is as much as the Macbook Pro costs
if I spend the same money on a desktop + screen, will I get better result? what kind of configs should I be looking at?
the thing is with the 15" Macbook Pro is that I might need a larger screen later on, and the Mac screen is like $1000
is there other screen choices that performs just like the Mac, or better, for less money?

what are the pros and cons with the Mac setup as oppose to the PC?

I know the thunderbolt is coming but it doesnt seem to me it will be popular in a year or two so I guess we can forget about that?

Thanks a lot
Donald

[MarkoRepse]

Donald,
I've been having the same questions as you recently. Here are my findings:
I went to the apple store recently and tested capture one on my 22MP files on the basic quad core 17" and 15" models. Performance was very good, slightly better on the 17" despite the higher display resolution due to OpenCL. You can of course get the same performance on the upgraded 15". I don't know if this is beneficial for other software.
Building yourself a PC will be substantially cheaper, however then you lose the portability and have to live with two computers. You will also run into licensing problems if you use photoshop. A great PC would be built arount the intel i5 2500 CPU, 8 or 16GB RAM, SSD, and a good graphics card if your software benefits from openCL.
Even though the MBP displays are rather good, I would recommend an external monitor in either case.
If you do all your processing at home, then I would suggest the PC. It will be cheaper and offer higher performance than the MBP. However if you need to move around a lot and process while traveling then MBP is the better option for you. I'm assuming you shoot landscapes and have no need for tethering. You can sell your current laptop too.
I hope it helps.
Marko

[Pete_G]

Hi guys
here is the situation
I am an amateur photographer who knows few about computer, and I use a 50MP digital back
and my normal Intel i7 laptop, which I use at work, wont hold up anymore, it basically dies when processing the images

so I am starting from scratch here and options are,
-give up the laptop and get a 15" all juiced up Macbook Pro for both the image processing and work (costs about $2800?)
-keep my laptop for work, add a desktop + screen at home for image processing

lets say my budget is as much as the Macbook Pro costs
if I spend the same money on a desktop + screen, will I get better result? what kind of configs should I be looking at?
the thing is with the 15" Macbook Pro is that I might need a larger screen later on, and the Mac screen is like $1000
is there other screen choices that performs just like the Mac, or better, for less money?

what are the pros and cons with the Mac setup as oppose to the PC?

I know the thunderbolt is coming but it doesnt seem to me it will be popular in a year or two so I guess we can forget about that?

Thanks a lot
Donald

.....here we go again.....

Firstly, why is your i7 laptop not coping? An i7 in a laptop would normally mean it is a fairly well specced machine, do you have onboard graphics like Nvidia or ATI with a least 500MB video RAM?
If so the laptop should be able to cope fairly well.

You will always get better value from buying a desktop, whether it's PC or Mac. So if you must have the best performance for your money get a desktop. Use your existing laptop when travelling.

Display quality is never as good on a laptop compared to a desktop monitor, price taken into account.

There are better displays than those Apple supply, checkout NEC Spectraview monitors.

The pro's and con's over PC versus Mac are well documented across the internet, the fact of the matter is that both systems work fine if they are similar specs and are utilised correctly.

Choose well, for speed (CPU, Graphics card, RAM, fast disk drives) and most of all DISPLAY, and choose which system feels better to you when you use it.

If yo go the Mac route, you can always run your necessary Windows software by dual booting to Windows via bootcamp.

Bear in mind that there are other devices that you may need, such as a Colormunki for display/printer profiling, extra software, large hard drives etc etc, any money you can save
on the basic computer can be used to buy these important additions.

[Ken Bennett]

Depends on what you really need. You can get a refurbished 27-inch quad-core i7 iMac for well under $2000 from the Apple store online. That machine will be more powerful than any Macbook Pro, with a larger hard drive, more slots for RAM, and better processor performance. Oh, and a 27 inch monitor. Yes, there are drawbacks to an iMac, but all of them accrue to the Macbook Pro as well (screen quality, lack of expandability, etc.) The only major advantage to the Macbook Pro is portability, but at a much higher cost -- at least $3500 with a decent external monitor.

If you buy the iMac, you can put the extra money into a good external hard drive array, extra RAM, maybe a Wacom tablet. (EDIT: and a good monitor profiling device.)

I know some photographers dismiss the iMac, but I see an awful lot of them in photo studios, design shops, on the desks of editors and writers, etc. They can be a good mid-priced solution.

[John.Murray]

Since, you're considering either replacing or supplmenting the laptop, you might want to consider a fresh reload of windows.  By this I mean Windows only, with just the device drivers needed for your particular hardware.  Pretty much *everything* I've seen lateley, HP, Dell, Acer, Toshiba and even Lenovo ship with gobs of useless and uneeded "crapware".  It's amazing how well these machine will run with out it!

Try a "system restore" (be sure to de-activate photoshop!) then goto:

http://www.pcdecrapifier.com/download

I'd recommend uninstalling *everything* that is not a display, network (including wireless), or keyboard driver.  Uninstall anything adobe, google, live, msn, browser toolbar, "[insert manufacturer here] toolbar/customer enhancement/experience/desktop/utility"

Now goto:

http://ninite.com

and reselect the basic stuff, including adobe reader / flash, java, antivirus, cd burner, ftp client, etc.

I think you'll probably end up keeping that laptop.........