Macbook disadvantages...

440Hz

So I was all set to buy one today... and now the more I think about it I'm a little scared...
1. There were all those probs with the MBP, over heating etc
2. The Adobe issue, can I survive without my Photoshop/Illustrator etc

I just don't know... I want the speed and the spec, but not sure how 'polished' it is... should I wait? I'm so impatient though, I want it NOW!!

heggie

what adobe issue is there? that would put me right off

as for the disadvantages taht come to mind - crap gfx, and it ships with 2 x 256 ram, which is quite annoying, other than that it looks great, very tempted myself.

440Hz

heggie wrote:

what adobe issue is there? that would put me right off

Well it starts like this with the MBP, from Macworld

The other major application that many MacBook Pro users will want to run is Adobe Photoshop CS2, and it may be a while before a Universal version arrives. In the interim, the MacBook Pro will run Photoshop via Rosetta. We found Photoshop to be quite usable on the MacBook Pro, but it doesn’t run nearly as fast as it does on the most recent top-of-the-line PowerBook. The 1.67GHz PowerBook G4 performed our suite of 14 scripted Photoshop tasks 1.7 times faster than the 2GHz MacBook Pro. As a result, it’s hard for us to recommend the MacBook Pro to heavy Photoshop users until Adobe ships a Universal version. However, casual Photoshop users should be fine.

Then Digital Photo sites say this...

a Universal Binary for Photoshop CS2 may never be made available, and users may have to wait until CS3 is realeased to get an Intel-native version for OS X.

As a photographer, this scares me.... :eek:

monkeyfudge

How well does CS2 perform on Windows running on the Macbook?

440Hz

monkeyfudge wrote:

How well does CS2 perform on Windows running on the Macbook?

Stats here but only for MBP, not non-pro versions (not tested yet afaik). Thing is if you have to use all the software you regularly use running XP then you may as well just buy a PC... I hate to think that all the software i BOUGHT, yes bought is going to be of no use whatsoever This is a tough call. I want to run photoshop under OSX, but seems XP is the only choice for a macbook user.

wes

Well you could wait a while to upgrade if you need the application. Sure you could get a powerbook in the interim. If you look around you can find them cheap.

440Hz

wes wrote:

Well you could wait a while to upgrade if you need the application. Sure you could get a powerbook in the interim. If you look around you can find them cheap.

I have an ibook 12", just wanted to upgrade to a macbook for the speed, I do alot of high-performance programming. Maybe I should wait, just in case...

Gordon

Have you tried the Gimp for images instead of PS? I don't like it myself but many do. Although I'm not sure about its compatibility with the Intels, I can of course presume, but I won't.

Hugh_C

440Hz wrote:

So I was all set to buy one today... and now the more I think about it I'm a little scared...
1. There were all those probs with the MBP, over heating etc
2. The Adobe issue, can I survive without my Photoshop/Illustrator etc

I just don't know... I want the speed and the spec, but not sure how 'polished' it is... should I wait? I'm so impatient though, I want it NOW!!

yeah if you go onto Apple Discussions you can read some recent reviews from people who've already taken delivery of the MacBook, and seemingly it doesn't heat up to the same extent as the MBP. Early days I know but the reviews are positive.

If you can afford the wait, I (personally) would wait for a rev B of the MacBook, where any issues arising may be sorted out. I wonder about the suitability of the glossy screen for graphics / video work, and it might be that the glossy would come as a BTO option in subsequent revisions.

I'm wondering about the integrated graphics too. I doubt it would have much impact on image editing, but as you say, there's no native PShop flavour. I'm looking forward to reading reviews how the integrated graphics chip performs. I'm reading that PhotoShop is a bit of a dog under Rosetta, and I don't know whether the Gimp is going to be Universal anythime soon. Scratch that, read http://www.macgimp.org/, there's a Universal in beta, but it looks like it's no longer free.

If you don't need it immediately, wait for a new revision.

hc

wes

440Hz wrote:

I have an ibook 12", just wanted to upgrade to a macbook for the speed, I do alot of high-performance programming. Maybe I should wait, just in case...

Well can see your point there. Well I got an intel iMac and the thing runs like a dream, but I have a windows laptop so if stuff wasn't Universal I just used my Windows machine. Maybe you could hang on to you iBook for tasks like that.

However in fairness a Macbook pro should still run things respectably vs. an iBook even via Rosetta as the iBook is very very slow in comparison.

Still if you use a lot of pro apps, maybe you should wait for the universal version.

wes

hughchal wrote:

I'm wondering about the integrated graphics too. I doubt it would have much impact on image editing, but as you say, there's no native PShop flavour. I'm looking forward to reading reviews how the integrated graphics chip performs. I'm reading that PhotoShop is a bit of a dog under Rosetta, and I don't know whether the Gimp is going to be Universal anythime soon. Scratch that, read http://www.macgimp.org/, there's a Universal in beta, but it looks like it's no longer free.

hc

I think its that fork of gimp thats no free, but I found this on Apple site:

http://www.apple.com/downloads/macosx/unix_open_source/gimpapp.html

That one is still free (gotta love OSS) and according to Apple, Universal binary as well. It could be an option while people wait for photo shop. I think it has to be run via X11 however, but should still run faster than photoshop via Rosetta.

Dr_Teeth

Gimp is GPL, it will always be free. MacGimp is just a commercial distribution of Gimp, in the same way that RedHat is a commerical distribution of Linux for example.

http://gimp-app.sourceforge.net/

Morf3h

they've released a firmware update that has fixed the overheating issues. i'm sure the software updater will get it automatically.

new macbooks are so awesome, gorgeous to look at, everything included plus more. i'm selling my 2year old laptop to buy one tbh.

Hugh_C

Morf3h wrote:

they've released a firmware update that has fixed the overheating issues. i'm sure the software updater will get it automatically.

Yeah but there seems to be a bit of debate about how the firmware acheives this, some are saying it happens by slowing down the cpu and kicking in the fans earlier. Doesn't sound as if it'd do too much for performance of this is true.