!!!!!!Advice on Apple MAC Laptops Please !!!!!!!

[Roosta]

Looking for some advice on buying a Mac laptop.

I have around $1600 to $1800 to spend on a new Mac.

Looking for what to get, what not to get, and why.

I'm a Apple virgin, so please speak english when trying to get it through my thick head.

I would like it to be able to hook up to a external monitor, I want it for photgraphy, run PS, LR, and Photomax - also music via iTunes.

Will keep my older Windows laptop for general stuff, the Mac doesn't require Windows compatability unless they all come that way?

[Bennymiata]

While the Macbook Airs and really nice, fast and very slim, they're SSD drives are too small to keep much stuff on, so I would suggest a Macbook Pro.
Using a couple of other programs which are easily available for them (like Parralels), you can also run Windows on the same machine, so you may not need new versions of your existing software.
Go for the best one you can afford and make sure you get the 3 year extra care with it too.

If you can get one from the US, you will save money, but Apple won't let you order directly from the US, so you'll probably have to buy it here and get gouged.

If you are mainly using it at home with a monitor, I'd be more inclined to get a desktop rather than than a laptop though.
The iMacs have fantastic screens too.

[Roosta]

While the Macbook Airs and really nice, fast and very slim, they're SSD drives are too small to keep much stuff on, so I would suggest a Macbook Pro.
Using a couple of other programs which are easily available for them (like Parralels), you can also run Windows on the same machine, so you may not need new versions of your existing software.
Go for the best one you can afford and make sure you get the 3 year extra care with it too.

If you can get one from the US, you will save money, but Apple won't let you order directly from the US, so you'll probably have to buy it here and get gouged.

If you are mainly using it at home with a monitor, I'd be more inclined to get a desktop rather than than a laptop though.
The iMacs have fantastic screens too.

Cheers Benny, The Air 13 only has 2 USB slots so thats a real bummer, otherwise it would have been the go, I'm reading up on this (http://www.cnet.com.au/apple-macbook-pro-15-late-2011-22ghz-core-i7-339325218.htm) Portability is needed as in USB and I'll take it to work, I'm a FIFO worker.

[Wayne]

Roosta, I'm also a FIFO worker and travel with the current 17" MBP. It is too big for using on the plane unless in an exit row or business, but once at work no problem.

If you can, I suggest one of the quad core i7 models, get as much ram as you can. I haven't looked at the pricing for the cheaper models, but if 17" is too big, I would be looking at the 15" i7 quad core with full house specs. One extra in the 17" is that it has 3 USB ports and a Cardbus slot, which makes for rapid transfers from camera memory cards via a CF card to Cardbus adaptor. Sadly Apple haven't released any USB 3 compatible machines, and I find USB 2.0 very slow, with FW800 only a little faster so the cardbus option is a big bonus.

Mine is max specs without the SSD's (too small for my use) and it flies! I encode video, burn discs, watch videos etc and no choking. The battery lasts very well too. I would avoid the air as Benny said, whilst nice and portable, fast etc, the SSD is small, and is exe to upgrade if you look at the new OWC upgrades.

[KeeFy]

It really depends on how portable you want your computer to be. I'd recommend any of the MBP range but as Wayne has mentioned, no USB 3.0 is a bummer. SSD is way too small as well. Before you pick up your laptop i recommend going onto fleabay or the likes and buying a mini DisplayPort to HDMI/Displaport adaptor/cable or similar for connecting to your monitor. Buying it from the apple shop is expensive. I bought my mini DP to DP for $8 delivered.

Running Parallels, VMware or something along the lines do chomp through quite a fair bit of ram. I'd recommend an upgrade to 8GB AFTER you buy the laptop and not with apple as it costs crap loads more for the same stuff. Although a nice idea it does chomp through battery life much quicker and is slower as well when running virtual windows. Best is to try to do everything natively, ie. boot into Windows or OSX if you need to use it for a long time.

I highly recommend the hi-res upgrade if available and if you can chip in a little more, the anti-glare is great for working outdoors or in cafes. The normal glossy screen is quite hard to work with in bright environments.

If you travel a lot, time the purchase to the travel to get the 10% back. Also you can go down to JB HIFI and ask for a student discout + freebies. They usually don't check for student cards and will throw you a few bits of freebies like cases, headphones and stuff your way. If you time it all properly you can get up to a 20% discount off the normal price. :)

Don't mind me asking, what do you mean by FIFO worker? My understanding for FIFO is first in first out.

[JM Tran]

Im gonna have to disagree with everyone's opinions about using SSD here. This is my experience after 2 years of using SSD in a 15' i7 MBP with 8gb ram and high res, anti-glare screen.

An SSD is not meant to be a high volume storage device, it is best utilized for its ultra high speed in booting and accessing files. If you are doing professional photography work like I am - you WOULD NOT care about the size of the SSD - mine is 128gb - with 60gb usable space btw. I do not care about overall volume as I only put on raw files that I need to process and edit and then transfer to external back up drives after, and delete it on my SSD. If you use it for temporary storage for high speed access and editing then you are maximizing the speed and efficiency of an SSD.

Hell, it takes me only 15 seconds from turning the MBP on to opening a 30mb raw file via CS5, try doing that in under 1 min on a normal HDD alone. Not to mention I can open 100mb raw files or TIFFs or run many applications at once without slow down. As I run 2 external monitors via my MBP, so having CS5, LR3 and a movie opened at the same time on 3 screens is a normal working day for me. I do not use my SSD for mass storage, but as a speedy platform for photography.

Another thing, you can give your Mac 1 million cores or ram but the bottleneck is still the hard drive speed. I can never go back to a normal HDD after being so used to the speed and efficiency of an SSD for the last 2 years.

[peterking]

Also look at Apples own website for recon units. Not always but you can save some.

[KeeFy]

Im gonna have to disagree with everyone's opinions about using SSD here. This is my experience after 2 years of using SSD in a 15' i7 MBP with 8gb ram and high res, anti-glare screen.

An SSD is not meant to be a high volume storage device, it is best utilized for its ultra high speed in booting and accessing files. If you are doing professional photography work like I am - you WOULD NOT care about the size of the SSD - mine is 128gb - with 60gb usable space btw. I do not care about overall volume as I only put on raw files that I need to process and edit and then transfer to external back up drives after, and delete it on my SSD. If you use it for temporary storage for high speed access and editing then you are maximizing the speed and efficiency of an SSD.

Hell, it takes me only 15 seconds from turning the MBP on to opening a 30mb raw file via CS5, try doing that in under 1 min on a normal HDD alone. Not to mention I can open 100mb raw files or TIFFs or run many applications at once without slow down. As I run 2 external monitors via my MBP, so having CS5, LR3 and a movie opened at the same time on 3 screens is a normal working day for me. I do not use my SSD for mass storage, but as a speedy platform for photography.

Another thing, you can give your Mac 1 million cores or ram but the bottleneck is still the hard drive speed. I can never go back to a normal HDD after being so used to the speed and efficiency of an SSD for the last 2 years.

I use a 240 GB Sata 3 SSD on my PC and a normal 7200rpm HDD on my MBP and MB. Personally, the difference is noticeable but not extremely significant. Mostly it's the wait time for opening a sware that is the most noticeable. Once everything is up and running, no biggie. Obviously your workflow does affect the overall speed and eventually your decision as well. For me a laptop just doesn't cut it for anything other than working on the go and that's all it does. I port everything onto my desktop once i'm back home.

Personally, I'd rather be just lugging my laptop around rather than a laptop and a portable hdd to store the images when i'm on a trip... but that's just me.

Also the MBP i7 has been released for less than 2 years. Just a little over 1 & 1/2 years. Unless you had a pre production model? :)

[JM Tran]

I use a 240 GB Sata 3 SSD on my PC and a normal 7200rpm HDD on my MBP and MB. Personally, the difference is noticeable but not extremely significant. Mostly it's the wait time for opening a sware that is the most noticeable. Once everything is up and running, no biggie. Obviously your workflow does affect the overall speed and eventually your decision as well. For me a laptop just doesn't cut it for anything other than working on the go and that's all it does. I port everything onto my desktop once i'm back home.

Personally, I'd rather be just lugging my laptop around rather than a laptop and a portable hdd to store the images when i'm on a trip... but that's just me.

Also the MBP i7 has been released for less than 2 years. Just a little over 1 & 1/2 years. Unless you had a pre production model? :)


just under 2 yrs come to think of it.

If Im on a trip, particularly a business trip for photography - an external HDD is a MUST if Im using a laptop. Any sane photographer should not and would not put all their eggs in one basket if you know what I mean.

1 drive in checked in luggage, laptop with me. So there is always 2 copies of everything, but these days I operate with 3 copies via an assistant carrying another one.

[KeeFy]

just under 2 yrs come to think of it.

If Im on a trip, particularly a business trip for photography - an external HDD is a MUST if Im using a laptop. Any sane photographer should not and would not put all their eggs in one basket if you know what I mean.

1 drive in checked in luggage, laptop with me. So there is always 2 copies of everything, but these days I operate with 3 copies via an assistant carrying another one.

For me it's my memory cards and laptop. 6x 32GB 60MB/s memory cards. My 1 mth trip to Europe + Nephew's baptism in Italy + friend's wedding in Bangkok and i had 2+ cards left over. All shot in RAW :). 2x redundancy is good enough for me.

[JM Tran]

For me it's my memory cards and laptop. 6x 32GB 60MB/s memory cards. My 1 mth trip to Europe + Nephew's baptism in Italy + friend's wedding in Bangkok and i had 2+ cards left over. All shot in RAW :). 2x redundancy is good enough for me.

2x is fine, or acceptable if you arent being paid for it.

[KeeFy]

2x is fine, or acceptable if you arent being paid for it.

I am getting paid for it.... they owe me one! I will collect one day or another! ROFL. But yeah i agree!

[Analog6]

I have an older 15" MacBookPro (about 3yrs old now) and it is terrific. For travelling, I use a Vosonic media player/storage device to download the images onto, then using that as a portable HDD copy them to the Mac's HDD for backup. There is also a terrific Mac (users) forum specifically for support and help https://discussions.apple.com/index.jspa

[Roosta]

Roosta, I'm also a FIFO worker and travel with the current 17" MBP. It is too big for using on the plane unless in an exit row or business, but once at work no problem.

If you can, I suggest one of the quad core i7 models, get as much ram as you can. I haven't looked at the pricing for the cheaper models, but if 17" is too big, I would be looking at the 15" i7 quad core with full house specs. One extra in the 17" is that it has 3 USB ports and a Cardbus slot, which makes for rapid transfers from camera memory cards via a CF card to Cardbus adaptor. Sadly Apple haven't released any USB 3 compatible machines, and I find USB 2.0 very slow, with FW800 only a little faster so the cardbus option is a big bonus.

Mine is max specs without the SSD's (too small for my use) and it flies! I encode video, burn discs, watch videos etc and no choking. The battery lasts very well too. I would avoid the air as Benny said, whilst nice and portable, fast etc, the SSD is small, and is exe to upgrade if you look at the new OWC upgrades.


It really depends on how portable you want your computer to be. I'd recommend any of the MBP range but as Wayne has mentioned, no USB 3.0 is a bummer. SSD is way too small as well. Before you pick up your laptop i recommend going onto fleabay or the likes and buying a mini DisplayPort to HDMI/Displaport adaptor/cable or similar for connecting to your monitor. Buying it from the apple shop is expensive. I bought my mini DP to DP for $8 delivered.

Running Parallels, VMware or something along the lines do chomp through quite a fair bit of ram. I'd recommend an upgrade to 8GB AFTER you buy the laptop and not with apple as it costs crap loads more for the same stuff. Although a nice idea it does chomp through battery life much quicker and is slower as well when running virtual windows. Best is to try to do everything natively, ie. boot into Windows or OSX if you need to use it for a long time.

I highly recommend the hi-res upgrade if available and if you can chip in a little more, the anti-glare is great for working outdoors or in cafes. The normal glossy screen is quite hard to work with in bright environments.

If you travel a lot, time the purchase to the travel to get the 10% back. Also you can go down to JB HIFI and ask for a student discout + freebies. They usually don't check for student cards and will throw you a few bits of freebies like cases, headphones and stuff your way. If you time it all properly you can get up to a 20% discount off the normal price. :)

Don't mind me asking, what do you mean by FIFO worker? My understanding for FIFO is first in first out.

Thanks both of you, sorry been off-line for some time. FIFO = Fly in Fly Out, mining speak.

[Roosta]

Im gonna have to disagree with everyone's opinions about using SSD here. This is my experience after 2 years of using SSD in a 15' i7 MBP with 8gb ram and high res, anti-glare screen.

An SSD is not meant to be a high volume storage device, it is best utilized for its ultra high speed in booting and accessing files. If you are doing professional photography work like I am - you WOULD NOT care about the size of the SSD - mine is 128gb - with 60gb usable space btw. I do not care about overall volume as I only put on raw files that I need to process and edit and then transfer to external back up drives after, and delete it on my SSD. If you use it for temporary storage for high speed access and editing then you are maximizing the speed and efficiency of an SSD.

Hell, it takes me only 15 seconds from turning the MBP on to opening a 30mb raw file via CS5, try doing that in under 1 min on a normal HDD alone. Not to mention I can open 100mb raw files or TIFFs or run many applications at once without slow down. As I run 2 external monitors via my MBP, so having CS5, LR3 and a movie opened at the same time on 3 screens is a normal working day for me. I do not use my SSD for mass storage, but as a speedy platform for photography.

Another thing, you can give your Mac 1 million cores or ram but the bottleneck is still the hard drive speed. I can never go back to a normal HDD after being so used to the speed and efficiency of an SSD for the last 2 years.

Thanks JM, not looking to use the SSD = (Solid Sate Drive I guess) as a mass storage device, got externals for that, can I ask what model you've got/use and is it still available? or is there a new equivelant to yours????

Thanks in advance again..

[Roosta]

Also look at Apples own website for recon units. Not always but you can save some.

Don't you have one? If you do, you didn't mention anything to me about it on Tuiesday Pete? Thanks again for the loan of the Mag. Will get arounf to reading it soon hopefully.

[JM Tran]

Thanks JM, not looking to use the SSD = (Solid Sate Drive I guess) as a mass storage device, got externals for that, can I ask what model you've got/use and is it still available? or is there a new equivelant to yours????

Thanks in advance again..

nobody in their right mind uses an SSD for mass storage, I use it for temp storage of files I am currently working on and delete them after, and also as a booting drive - I have externals to hold my final products and all RAWs and miscellaneous anyway. I have the Samsung model which came as an Apple option when it was first introduced early last year, 128gb SSD.

[Roosta]

just under 2 yrs come to think of it.

If Im on a trip, particularly a business trip for photography - an external HDD is a MUST if Im using a laptop. Any sane photographer should not and would not put all their eggs in one basket if you know what I mean.

1 drive in checked in luggage, laptop with me. So there is always 2 copies of everything, but these days I operate with 3 copies via an assistant carrying another one.

Yeap, won't get caught there again, did it once with a brand new HDD, never again.

[Roosta]

I have an older 15" MacBookPro (about 3yrs old now) and it is terrific. For travelling, I use a Vosonic media player/storage device to download the images onto, then using that as a portable HDD copy them to the Mac's HDD for backup. There is also a terrific Mac (users) forum specifically for support and help https://discussions.apple.com/index.jspa

Cheers muchly Odille, will do some more research

[Roosta]

nobody in their right mind uses an SSD for mass storage, I use it for temp storage of files I am currently working on and delete them after, and also as a booting drive - I have externals to hold my final products and all RAWs and miscellaneous anyway. I have the Samsung model which came as an Apple option when it was first introduced early last year, 128gb SSD.

Sorry, gave you a bum steer, meant what MBP do you have, model and the like.???

[Greg Johnston]

Great advice above. I have traditionally been a PC person but bought my first Macbook Pro a couple of years ago and now I don't think I will ever return to the PC world. I love my Mac!

[JM Tran]

Sorry, gave you a bum steer, meant what MBP do you have, model and the like.???

sorry my MBP is

2.66ghz i7 quad core
8gb ram
128gb SSD
15 inch high res option monitor
non glare option
and lots of travel stickers on it:)

[Wayne]

sorry my MBP is

2.66ghz i7 quad core
8gb ram
128gb SSD
15 inch high res option monitor
non glare option
and lots of travel stickers on it:)

JT, are you sure that MBP is i7 QAUD??
The original i7 (and those at that freq 2.66GHZ) only had 2 cores, only the very latest early 2011 release onwards has the new i7 quad. If you are happy with the speed of that machine, then wait until you get your hands on an i7 quad, mine flies! They are much improved over the older i7.

[JM Tran]

JT, are you sure that MBP is i7 QAUD??
The original i7 (and those at that freq 2.66GHZ) only had 2 cores, only the very latest early 2011 release onwards has the new i7 quad. If you are happy with the speed of that machine, then wait until you get your hands on an i7 quad, mine flies! They are much improved over the older i7.

sorry its 2 cores, typo:)

unless u have an SSD equipped Mac as well, a normal HDD wont best utilize the speed of it due to it being a bottleneck - so I'll happy stick with mine if you dont have SSD:D

yes, I am an SSD snob now for nearly 2 years, will never go back to a normal HDD unless its purely for back ups

[Roosta]

JT, are you sure that MBP is i7 QAUD??
The original i7 (and those at that freq 2.66GHZ) only had 2 cores, only the very latest early 2011 release onwards has the new i7 quad. If you are happy with the speed of that machine, then wait until you get your hands on an i7 quad, mine flies! They are much improved over the older i7.

What model is yours Wayne, or do I just look for the specs under MBP i7 ???

[Wayne]

Mine is the early 2011 MacBook Pro;

Normally a custom build, but an Apple store in Sydney had one with all the specs I wanted in stock pre-built (ram they just upgrade in store at purchase in any event) except I wanted the 500GB 7200rpm HDD, however the in stock one had the 750GB 5400rpm drive, and I was just going to replace the HDD with the 500GB drive ordered separately so I could get it without waiting for the custom build and delivery, and just change it myself. I found that the machine hasn't been drive limited in performance so never bothered changing it out.

Core i7 2.3GHz Quad (now 2.4GHz with late 2011 release)
17" Matte screen (an option)
750GB 5400 rpm HDD
8GB DDR3 Ram - I since got the 16GB kit from OWC given these new models support 16GB, but it was still super quick with 8GB as built.

Check some of the benchmarks around the place, and you can see that the new i7 quads are far superior to the older i7 dual core architecture, and better on the battery too. I get a good 5-6 hours browsing over wifi watching some Youtube videos, and light editing in LR on a full charge, and charge is a little over an hour to full from almost dead. There is also the same spec machine available in 15" screen as well if you want all the speed with the smaller screen. Only thing is that normally you will have to custom order from the online store for this config, and I do recommend fully the matte screen over the glossy. The newest release late 2011 are all but identical to early 2011, and performance in the 17" model is about 5% faster for the late series.

[Roosta]

Mine is the 2011 MacBook Pro;

Normally a custom build, but an Apple store in Sydney had one with all the specs I wanted in stock pre-built (ram they just upgrade in store at purchase in any event) except I wanted the 500GB 7200rpm HDD, however the in stock one had the 750GB 5400rpm drive, and I was just going to replace the HDD with the 500GB drive ordered separately so I could get it without waiting for the custom build and delivery, and just change it myself. I found that the machine hasn't been drive limited in performance so never bothered changing it out.

Core i7 2.3GHz Quad
17" Matte screen (an option)
750GB 5400 rpm HDD
8GB DDR3 Ram - I since got the 16GB kit from OWC given these new models support 16GB, but it was still super quick with 8GB as built.

Check some of the benchmarks around the place, and you can see that the new i7 quads are far superior to the older i7 dual core architecture, and better on the battery too. I get a good 5-6 hours browsing over wifi watching some Youtube videos, and light editing in LR on a full charge, and charge is a little over an hour to full from almost dead. There is also the same spec machine available in 15" screen as well if you want all the speed with the smaller screen. Only thing is that normally you will have to custom order from the online store for this config, and I do recommend fully the matte screen over the glossy.

Thanks mate, Looking at this one I think in the 15" http://www.apple.com/macbookpro/performance.html#15-inch-performance

[Wayne]

I would recommend;

2.5GHz Quad-core Intel Core i7
8GB 1333MHz DDR3 SDRAM — 2x4GB
750GB Serial ATA Drive @ 7200 rpm
SuperDrive 8x (DVD±R DL/DVD±RW/CD-RW)
MacBook Pro 15-inch Hi-Res Antiglare Widescreen Display
Backlit Keyboard (English) & User's Guide

This config is a couple of $$ dearer for the faster HDD, more Ram, and matte screen over the standard configuration, it comes in at $2849 and can be ordered from the education store if you know a student or are a student. I am a lifelong student at the school of hard knocks when I order Apple anything ;)

[Wayne]

Shoot me a PM with your email address for a little tip..

[JM Tran]

I would recommend;

2.5GHz Quad-core Intel Core i7
8GB 1333MHz DDR3 SDRAM — 2x4GB
750GB Serial ATA Drive @ 7200 rpm
SuperDrive 8x (DVD±R DL/DVD±RW/CD-RW)
MacBook Pro 15-inch Hi-Res Antiglare Widescreen Display
Backlit Keyboard (English) & User's Guide

This config is a couple of $$ dearer for the faster HDD, more Ram, and matte screen over the standard configuration, it comes in at $2849 and can be ordered from the education store if you know a student or are a student. I am a lifelong student at the school of hard knocks when I order Apple anything ;)


I'd recommend a 128gb or 240gb SSD from MSY which is not that expensive, or pay a lot more through Apple as an option over the 7200rpm HDD if you want to maximize an MBP's power, a hell of a lot faster for multitasking and access and loading. I'd also recommend 3 years Apple Care if the OP is using it for professional photography.

Roosta I run 2 external monitors at once with my MBP, making it 3 usable screens, with CS5 running on 1 monitor, LR3 on the other one, and web browsing and a movie on the laptop screen, the ram and SSD really helps for smoothness and fast loadings. Tried it with my sisters newer generation MBP and her 5400rpm drive made everything a lot slower - especially if I open/run the same amount of programs that I do on mine - such as a batch convert of a hundred raws to jpegs on LR3, while doing skin retouching on CS5, with a movie playing on the laptop screen to keep me from dying of boredom:)