Intensive photo apps and processes on MacBook?

Hi

I am looking into 'going mac'.

For most of my uses, a MacBook should be more than enough... internet, music, I don't play games.

However I am an amateur photographer and I work with large images in Photoshops *and* I batch process RAW conversions in Bibble Pro.

My current pc machine is 1Gb ram and 1.8Ghz processor. It runs photoshop fine but when I batch convert large numbers of RAW files on bibble the preview screen is slow to refresh and I'd like to sort that out.

Will a well specced MacBook cut the mustard? I prefer the small size but not if it means I have to wait for photoprocessing?

Anyone using a MacBook to batch convert RAW?

Thanks

H

 

Generally yes (Photoshop doesn't make use of the GPU, one of the biggest configuration differences between the MacBook and MacBook Pro). There are other apps though like Aperture ( http://www.apple.com/aperture/ ) which do make use of it, and if you planned to use it, you'd want to consider an MBP (although frankly Aperture is pretty demanding even in that case).

 

which is the CPU of your desktop machine? The Core 2 Duo chip is very good, go with one with 4MB of cache and you will be set. I'd be more worried with the small resolution than the CPU.

 

I dont have a desktop sorry I meant Windows laptop.

I am thinking about getting a MacBook Pro for RAW editing on the move, and a TFT for more detailed work at home.

I am not interested in Aperture right now but want something that will run Bibble Pro very efficiently To be honest I have no idea whether Bibble uses a GPU. I guess if not then it wouldn't matter if I got the macbook or the pro??

 

Yeah, I agree with Wooky; the 1280x800 resolution of the MacBook is going to be pretty tough I think.

I'm personally waiting to see some of the upcoming product refreshes; Apple is moving towards Resolution Independence in Leopard (meant to deal with things so that you can run at high resolutions while UI elements scale so you don't have the problem of text and icons all being too tiny), and this opens the door for them to start putting higher res displays on their portables.

 

I take your point but at present I do all my photo editing on a 14" widescreen so the only way is up :O)

Are you still stuck at 1280x800 when using an external monitor? :O)

 

The MacBook can output up to 1920 by 1200 on an external display (supports both extended desktop and display mirroring) in addition to the 1280x800 native display resolution on the MacBook monitor.

The MacBook Pro can output up to 2560x1600 on the external display (and supports the same dual display and video mirroring modes).

 

Hrm, from another thread, the MB can actually only do 1600x1200 I think. Even though the GMA950 can support 1920x1200, some people have reported that the MB cannot support this rez.

Anyway, keep in mind that you really will need to buy CS3 for the intel macs. CS2 runs okay, but for anything really intensive, it slows down. I currently have the CS3 beta and it runs very well.

And licenses don't carry over from the windows to mac side.

 

It seems that 1600x1200 is the limit if you're using a VGA adapter; you need a DVI if you want to go higher.
As for Photoshop, a viable option is running it inside Windows using either Bootcamp or Parallels.

 

I've heard different things, but generall I think Adobe will let one crossgrade from a Windows license to a Mac license (i.e. if you have CS2 for Windows, you can get the upgrade pricing for CS3 for the Mac). I think sometimes you need to deal with Adobe on this though.

 

I haven't purchased the VGA adapter, but I can confirm that 1920x1200 is supported via the DVI.