Portable digital processing setup

[Skywings]

Hi,
I don't know if this has been asked before as I don't seem to be able to search the archives. I'm in the process of moving jobs which will involve frequent relocating. I'm considering investing in a decent portable setup for doing some image post processing. I mainly use macs these days but I use a windows box and adobe lightroom. I plan to move to a high end 15" macbook pro. Any recommendation of post processing software that runs well on a mac? And this might be stretching things but are there any recommendations of software that will run on a high end(read as maxed out) macbook air just in case I want to go even more portable?

Thanks in advance.
Skywings.

[JM Tran]

for portability I use a 15 inch MBP paired with a Dell 23 inch Ultrasharp, by portability it means I literally take that entire set up and use it anywhere on locations to studio to a clients house.

today for a catalogue shoot the MBP was linked to the external monitor and synced to the camera so we can see the products right away - I hope you dont intend to do any serious editing on the laptop as the colours are nowhere near as accurate as a good calibrated external monitor, thats why I chose to carry one around with me.

the programs I use on the MBP are CS5 and Lightroom 3, have Aperture but never use it really, preferring LR3 for Raw conversions.

Best product or upgrade I can ever recommend is using a solid state drive and lots of RAM, the SSD will be a world of difference in speed and efficiency and data security/redundancy in long term.

[kiwi]

just be aware that you probably wont be able to reassign your lightroom licence to a mac withiut paying for it again...i think...worth checking

[Riverlander]

I use PCs and now have a Acer 8950G which has 18.4" screen and 2 x 750gig hard drives.
Most? Adobe programs can be 'Deactiveated' and installed on new computers without any problems at all. Maybe it would be advisable to do that from the same ISP address -- not sure about that as I have not tested it.

[kiwi]

Its not the new computer part - its the cross platform part.

[Skywings]

Well yeah, I do intend to convert completely to Macs and that means no bootcamp and windows.
@JM Tran, embarrassingly I was considering doing all my editing on my laptops. As I said I will be relocating a lot and quite frequently and I would be nice to maintain my hobby. But I guess it wouldn't be too hard to bring a LCD along with me. They don't weight a lot these days and I guess it wouldn't be too hard to pack securely.
@Kiwi and Riverlander, the software versions are a few years old I might upgrade for my new rig. I was still running a copy of CS3 I bought as a student and I haven't been a student for a few years now and well, lets not mention my copy of LR. :p
Anyhow, I guess this means I might just invest in news version of Adobe software. Its seems to be what everyone is still using. I still intend to get a spec'ed up MBP. I might pass on the SSD as I'm still wary of the fragility of them. I will consider getting a separate monitor but I'll have to work out the logistics of how it will be transported.

[JM Tran]

but latest generation of Solid State Drives are less fragile than a normal HDD though? I can shake mine for hours, drop mine, use it upside down etc - and it will not be broken and have corrupt data! When you think about it, an SSD is not much difference to an SD or CF card - as there is no moving parts to it:)

[Skywings]

Ok thanks for all the help. Just an update, I ended up buying a 15" MBP with a 2.3GHZ i7 and 8GB ram. No additional displays and no SSD drive but I buy one when I can find one for a reasonable price. I also got myself a copy of CS5 and LR3. For a bit of fun I also end up getting that (little bit larger than) A4 sized Intuos4. It was an expensive shopping trip but now I'm kitted out again. :D