Julie
I've actually done a lot of foot work on this exact question for both
platforms so I'll try to point you in the right direction.
If your primary, power computing need for the MBP is Photoshop, I suggest
you read this article:
http://www.peachpit.com/articles/article.aspx?p=1247538
It's a nice encapsulation of what you can spend days/weeks digging up from
Adobe's technical documents.
Essentially, your priority list for expenses on a MBP is:
1. Memory
2. Memory
3. Memory
4. Memory
5. Processor Speed
6. Hard Drive Speed
7. Open GL supported graphics card
Photoshop CS4 is not 64-bit for the Mac, yet. Hopefully, in CS5. That
being the case, Photoshop can utilize up to ABOUT 3GB of memory directly.
If there is any left over (not used by the OS or other apps.) it is utilized
as a virtual scratch disk before writing to the hard drive. That is why
memory, preferably fast memory, is so important. Things are a bit different
on the Windows side where CS4 is 64-bit (more direct use of memory over
4GB), but I wouldn't suggest you switch platforms just for that if you're
happy with Macs. Wait for CS5.
Everything else won't make AS MUCH difference unless you're doing
specialized tasks like using of some of the new 3D or animating features.
I performed some simple benchmarks at home with my MBP 2.44 Ghz with 4GB
DDR3 against my Vista 64 2.26 Ghz laptop with 4GB of DDR3 with Photoshop CS4
Extended. The Vista Machine ran faster on all but one benchmark (which was
only 0.5 seconds slower). Here are the caveats. I used a monstrously
large, 600 dpi file file with 12 layers and did a bilinear resample up to
1200 dpi to force the differences between the two machines. The test with
the largest time difference was 1 minute, but most of the differences were
seconds. The take home point is that the higher processor speed in the MBP
isn't making much impact. The difference in performance between the 2.66
and 2.93 will be minimal. The major advantage of the 17" as it pertains to
Photoshop is not the screen, it's the ability to add up to 8GB of fast
memory (The point of diminishing returns on RAM for Photoshop, by the way).
One of the things I didn't do was explore whether the 15" MBP can be
"forced" to take more memory. I wonder if it can't be done, even though
Apple doesn't support it. I'll let some of the more hardware savvy people
address this.
When you run out of memory, Photoshop swaps to the hard drive. All other
hardware parameters being equal, the faster the hard drive, the faster the
swap, the faster Photoshop runs.
You will get an NVIDIA card with any MBP and they support OpenGL. OpenGL
will mainly affect video performance (i.e., screen refresh, zoom, etc.). It
may not help with any other tasks you perform in Photoshop. Check here for
clarification:
http://kb2.adobe.com/cps/404/kb404898.html
So now I'll give you the SUPER caveat. You can really enhance Photoshop
performance by tweaking your settings just right for your setup. Certainly,
buy all the computer you can afford and prefer, but learn as much as you can
about maximizing performance with what you have. You can start here:
http://kb2.adobe.com/cps/404/kb404440.html
Maybe you can stretch your G4 until CS5 and Snow Leopard. ; )
Good luck and feel free to ask more questions.
Mark
P.S. - Be careful about what the folks at the store tell you, and I mean any
store. Arm yourself with technical knowledge straight from Adobe first.
I've had sales people try to tell me stuff that is just wrong. They
sometimes forget or didn't learn that, "I don't know," is more helpful than
an erroneous answer. Double check everything I've posted for accuracy,
also. Your best tool is between your ears.
--------------------------------------------------
From: "Julie Kubal" <julieku...@yahoo.com>
Sent: Friday, May 22, 2009 11:49 AM
To: <COMPUTERGUYS-L@LISTSERV.AOL.COM>
Subject: [CGUYS] Which MacBook Pro?
Moving on from hard drives...
I'm about to purchase a new MacBook Pro.
I'm planning to use this computer for as long as possible, basically
until it dies. My current PowerBook G4 that I bought back in 04 is still
running in fact, but it's now too slow for my needs. I primarily need to
run Photoshop CS4 and Lightroom 2.
Someone advised me to upgrade to the fastest processor available because
you never know in the years to come what programs one might need to run.
In this case, that would mean upgrading from 2.66 Ghz Intel Core 2 Duo to
the 2.93 Ghz. I think at the moment 2.66Ghz would be perfectly adequate
and cost is a big consideration, but if it makes sense in the long run,
I'd be willing to spend the extra $300.
Thoughts?
-Julie
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