I'm new to Mac...

Hi... I just bought a Macbook Pro 15" today on internet...

My whole life I've been using windows so this would be a new transition to my technology experience.

I'm a photographer and I was looking for some laptop with a good screen so after looking for the Dell SXPS 16 and reading that their screen have saturation problems, I decided for a Macbook Pro ...

Well anyone here use it for photography purpose??? How is your experience with Macbook Pro???

Those are my specifications:

1. aluminum unibody frame and 15-inch LED-backlit glass display
2. 2.66 GHz Intel Core 2 Duo processor
3. 320 GB hard drive
4. 4 GB RAM
5. Mac OS X 10.5 Leopard
6. iLife '09

 

This all sounds very familiar, as in, I was like you just a few weeks ago!

I was a windows fanboy since DOS really, and I received my first Mac a few weeks ago (Details in sig). I couldn't be happier! My Macbook Pro is the best computer i've ever owned, and OSX is the best OS I have ever used. I can't believe I was ever happy with Windows. OSX is such an improvement it's unreal.

As far as photography is concerned, I don't do much past the capabilities of Pixelmator http://www.pixelmator.com/ which is basically a Mac version of Paint.NET but it's not free (it's quite inexpensive though!).

If you're a serious photographer than you'll do doubt be needing Adobe Photoshop, which runs perfectly on a mac. In fact, a mac is their target audience, as all serious photographers use a mac. I have yet to meet one that uses windows? So I really don't forsee any problems on this score, and in fact, you'll probably find a mac better for Photograpy.

Congrats on your purchase! You'll love it!

 

I have a previous generation MBP with Matte screen. A lot of photography buffs don't seem to like the glossy screen (past or current generation) but I personally find it a great screen. OS X provides a nice calibration utility to suit personal tastes and their are a number of hardware/software calibration kits out there if you want the ultimate in color fidelity (but then of course you have to calibrate your printer as well).

The Mac's inherent understanding of most major RAW formats is great. For many people something like iPhoto works fine as a photo repository (although its editing capability is extremely limited). Comboned with something like Photoshop Express, thats all most people would ever need.

If you have more advanced needs, something like Aperature and/or LightZone might be worth looking into.

I travel a lot so ended up settling on a plain MB for portability. Its screen is not as good as the MBP but its adequate with a little calibration.


Hope you enjoy your MBP

 

Well I've been using photoshop in my uld Inspiron 9300 and sometimes runs very slow. So..yes I'm not an amateur photographer but neither an experience photographer.

Here are some of my pictures

http://biglandsg.com/AERIAL PICTURES GALLERY.html

So how can I calibrate my display when arrive my mbp.

PS:btw I bought it on ebay...for just $2,200 brand new sealed...

 

I too had a matte screen MBP and now the unibody with glossy screen. In all honesty the new screen is still great but you just have to control ambient lighting a little for optimum performance; something that I never had to do on my matte screen MBP.

Apart from that you'll love the new MBPs. Just watch out for ones with crappy battery compartment lids. I've gone through a couple here and most aren't flush with rest of the case which is unfortunate because otherwise the build quality on these things is amazing compared to the old MBPs imo.

As far as software, Aperture is good (basically an Adobe Lightroom equivalent). I like Photoshop Elements but for some reason Adobe released version 7 for windows and I like it but for mac we're still stuck with version 6. I have no idea why Adobe didn't release both a windows and a mac version at the same time.

The reason I mentioned Photoshop is because Aperture's editing tools are somewhat limited and awkward to use, and you can have a standalone photo editor of your choice plug into Aperture which is a nice feature.

 

Congrats on your laptop. Hope you really enjoy it. It's my sweet gem!!!

 

System preferences, Display's, Color, Calibrate to do it manually. Or there are many profiles downloadable on the internet.

There are also many hardware/software kits available (I like the Spyder one but there are many good ones out there) for professional calibration for your individual display/printer.

 

There are those that would say that a serious photographer has no need for Photoshop because they get it right in the camera, but I have to admit that many striking images can still be improved by post production software like photoshop. ;-)

As it happens I know quite a number of professional photographers that use PC's The graphic arts have been a traditional strength of Mac's and there is a higher than normal following in this area though.

 

In fact (or unfortunately, depending on how you want to put it), most photographers these days, professional as well, do post-processing. Its just a thing of technology advancing, and the fact that digital photography loses out to film if post-processing isn't involved. In film photography, there is one more step, in the dark room, that allows photographs to be adjusted, brightness-wise and stuff. Its lost out in digital photography when there is no post-processing involved.

Mac OS X can run both Adobe Lightroom and Aperture, while Windows can only run Lightroom. So you have more choice there.

 

I'm kind of old fashoned and don't do much post processing, but I admit that most digital photo can benefit from it. I kinda draw the line at what I could do in the darkroom which is why I like LightZone.

They have a free trial available for download and I just got an email from them about thier spring special - 25% off - Coupon Code at Checkout SPRINGSPECIAL til 3/31

Thier STD version is meant to be used in conjunction with a photo managament program (Lightroom, Aperature, iPhoto etc) and thier PRO version adds EXIF editing, Batch edits, and photo management.

Load a picture in and do a "relight" and see if you are not impressed.

 

You will love it. I only use mine in a pretty 'amateur' way for photography, eg. iphoto mainly. But I do use photoshop/cs4 for web stuff and it runs flawlessly.

If your main use is for photography, you just bought the best laptop available for that kind of work. The only regret you may have is not getting the 17". Enjoy!

 

Well my current display is 1440*900 (i think is 900). The main reason which I didn't bought the 17" it's because mine is 17 and I'm tired of big screens so that's why I choose the 15

 

The MBP you bought will do all you need it to. It's a great machine & I'm sure it'll suit you fine. Congrats.