1299$ macbook for photoshop?

i really want a mac. But sadly, the budget is what keeps me from buying the higher configurations..

I'm thinking about buying the base macbook. But i do a lot of heavy photoshop and MAYBE some video editing in the future... will the base model suffice? what is the advantage of the 1599$ macbook over the cheaper one?

Is apple care international??

thank you so much.. i really want a mac...thanks.

 

I run photoshop and Illurator on my Acer Aspire One Netbook just dandy. It's powerful 1.6 GHz Intel Atom and beefy 1GB 533 MHz RAM are plenty powerful enough. You do not need much to run the program.

 

The $1599 config has a 400 Mhz faster CPU and bigger hard drive, 250 gig rather than 160.

I would say that the $1299 is probably great for Photoshop... only thing I would suggest if you want something possibly better for the same price is looking at some used older 15-17" macbook pro's which will still be fast enough and have a higher resolution... if you can find one on Ebay or somewhere else within your budget.

 

Your plans are CPU intensive with some emphasis on the GPU as programs start to incorporate it more and more. Photoshop CS3 runs well on my Atom 1.6Ghz, but will run better on a Core 2. The video editing will be mainly CPU rendering with some GPU assistance. The suggestions for an older MBP is the best idea. Something with a 2.0+ Ghz Core 2 processor and an 8600M will work nicely and still be around your budget. If you can break from Mac, you can get a new machine that is more than capable for both tasks with the newer technology. Good luck

 

The only problem will be the screen size, and resolution.

Sure you can do photoshop stuff on it, but itd be better if you had a larger/better res screen. If you hook it up to an external monitor, you should be okay.

But yea, just for casual photoshop use youll be fine, and if you really get into it, get an external monitor for better resolution.

 

thank you so much for the quick replies... I've considered other laptops but aesthetics really plays a big factor in my choices.. I'm looking for a laptop similar to a design of a mac. a clean cut one.

 

AppleCare is international. ISend2C is right, Photoshop doesn't demand a ton, but if you want better performance, a faster CPU and more RAM will definitely help especially when working with large files!

Spec wise, the old MacBook and new MacBooks are pretty close. Yes the aluminum MacBooks are faster, but not by a ton!

 

also,if you want to save some money,get 1 from eBay and be sure to use cashback-you can save 250$+

 

Is the limit not $200 per transaction max? It was anyways unless they changed it.

Plus honestly notebooks on ebay.... I buy from ebay all the time but something this expensive I would rather get new or from a trusted seller.. Its too easy to "mask" problems and sell a bad machine to somebody.

 

will i be better of if i but the black book??? or the new aluminum one...??i want to play spore too so im considering the graphics card on both..

 

Both the old black MacBook and the new aluminum one should play Spore, though the aluminum one would probably perform better on it. I'd defintely recommend you go for the aluminum one if you're interested in gaming, and future versions of Photoshop, and OSX, which will all perform better with a stronger GPU.
Though, the base MacBook would be fine if you're not working with massive images and the likes... but, if you're planning on using Final Cut Pro, defintely go for the aluminum, the Black MacBook will not be significantly faster than the base, IMO.
If you're just doing Photo editing, and Spore, the base should be fine,
EMZ=]

 

CS3 runs perfect on my laptop, but if their's a possibility you want to video edit, go for the pro just to be safe

Yes, my macbook plays spore and the sims 2 fine

 

The AluBook with 9c89 screen is unuseable for photoshop. The blacks are really bad. The 9c8c screen is much better. Pray that you can get one.

 

Photoshop is CPU and RAM (depending on how many pixels you are working with). Premiere Pro for example uses a lot of CPU and RAM. I don't know why the GPU matters because it isn't used and it is only being introduced in CS4 and we don't know what kind of benefits we will see.

 

Yes we do.... good-looking zoom at any level, smooth zoom and movements... there's more that I can't remember at this moment. It's out right now... why wouldn't we know?

 

Thats not true for everyone.

The 9C8C screens I've seen have been terrible, while the 9C89 screen I have on my aluminum MacBook is beautiful, with blacks almost as dark as my HDTV, etc.

The $1299 model will handle Photoshop just fine.

It'll play Spore a ton better than the MacBooks with Intel GPUs as well. My aluminum MacBook plays UT3, CoD, and other games considerably better than my HP with a GeForce 8400M GS with 2GHz Core 2 Duo does.

 

thanks everyone. .. it sure enlightened me at some points, i really like the mac OS and the aesthetics of it..thanks a bunch