Macbook questions

[DaGimCi C0d3]

Hi.. I am considering getting the 13" Macbook 2.4ghz and need some feedback from current users of this laptop. I am primarily using it for lightroom and photoshop.

1) Is the performace okie? i.e. comfortably fast?
2) Did you max out the RAM as discussed in some other threads?
3) Did you have any problem with the macbook?
4) Did you hook up the macbook to an external monitor (20" or bigger)? Is the performace acceptable after that?
5) Did you regret for a moment and wish you had gotten the Macbook Pro instead? If yes, why?
6) Any other valuable advise that you wanna share..


Thanks in advance!

 

[IceCoolBeer]

Hi.. I am considering getting the 13" Macbook 2.4ghz and need some feedback from current users of this laptop. I am primarily using it for lightroom and photoshop.

1) Is the performace okie? i.e. comfortably fast?
2) Did you max out the RAM as discussed in some other threads?
3) Did you have any problem with the macbook?
4) Did you hook up the macbook to an external monitor (20" or bigger)? Is the performace acceptable after that?
5) Did you regret for a moment and wish you had gotten the Macbook Pro instead? If yes, why?
6) Any other valuable advise that you wanna share..


Thanks in advance!

I have use Mac's all my life. I don't face any problems. Here's my opinion.
1) Performance is ok. Depends on what you do with it.
2) No need to maxed out the RAM. Again, it depend on how intensive you are doing with your photos. 2G RAM is good enough for the new OS X.
3) Mac is safer then PC. Almost virus-proof.
4) I don't hook up to any external monitor. I'm using a G4 17 inch laptop.
5) Depend on your budget and how you want to use it. If you intend to bring out and small enough to carry, then a MacBook is 13 inch is good. Carrying a 17 inch MacPro is heavy! That's why my sit at home.
6) My advise is, if you're looking for brillant colours and better performance. Get the iMac 20 inch or 24 inch. Is better then the 13 inch MacBook. If not, the 13 inch MacBook still can do the trick. No problem. Just go to Mac shop and hands-on. But do invest in a external hard disk to backup your precious masterpiece. These days a 500GB hard disk is cheap.

Enjoy your mac.

 

[IceCoolBeer]

If you're really really tight on budget.
A PC can also do the job at half the price of a Mac.

 

[chanxj]

Im loving my macbook. Having the base model with ram maxed to 4gb. I can run photoshop, aperture,premiere, netbeans at the sametime without much(in fact without any) problem.

 

[longkangman]

1) Is the performace okie? i.e. comfortably fast?
2) Did you max out the RAM as discussed in some other threads?
3) Did you have any problem with the macbook?
4) Did you hook up the macbook to an external monitor (20" or bigger)? Is the performace acceptable after that?
5) Did you regret for a moment and wish you had gotten the Macbook Pro instead? If yes, why?
6) Any other valuable advise that you wanna share..

yes max up the ram. I hook up the mac to an ext. LG 22 inch LCD for viewing.
Was on MBP but get another MB for carry it around. MBP too heavy.
Over time the Mac will slow down too so I have to re-install everything all over again.

:dunno:

 

[mrchua]

Hi.. I am considering getting the 13" Macbook 2.4ghz and need some feedback from current users of this laptop. I am primarily using it for lightroom and photoshop.

1) Is the performace okie? i.e. comfortably fast?
2) Did you max out the RAM as discussed in some other threads?
3) Did you have any problem with the macbook?
4) Did you hook up the macbook to an external monitor (20" or bigger)? Is the performace acceptable after that?
5) Did you regret for a moment and wish you had gotten the Macbook Pro instead? If yes, why?
6) Any other valuable advise that you wanna share..


Thanks in advance!

1. performance is good, it depends on your RAM.
2. i maxed it to 2Gb, quite fast performance i must say. but obviously only a mac pro/ macbook pro would beat it.
3. nilch.
4. nah didn't hook it up, but there shldnt be performance degrades.
5. don't we all wish for the very best in technology? but $ constrains... hence the macbook.
6. by choosing a mac, you've already made a right move. just don't get macbook air, it overheats badly.

 

[DaGimCi C0d3]

IceCoolBeer: Thanks! Actually MBP is not out of budget.. just tat I dun wanna get things that i dun fully utilise.. I did consider iMac but was thinking of the mobility options when i travel.. so..

chanxj: Thanks! Sounds like MB is good enuf for me as I only do photos.. How about external monitor? have u tried that b4? Does it drops in performance? :think:

longkangman: Thanks! Slow down over time? Sounds like windows to me.. Does hooking up to the 22" LCD cause any degrading in performance?

mrchua: Thanks! I really hope i m making the right move in switching over to apple. I hope the learning curve is not too steep..

 

[senray]

When connecting to an external monitor, the macbook would dedicate more RAM to power up the external monitor (around 16mb)

http://www.apple.com.sg/macbook/specs.html -> check out the bottom of the page (clause 3)

Just max out your RAM.. it's always best to run at 4gb =)

 

[longkangman]

Thanks! Slow down over time? Sounds like windows to me.. Does hooking up to the 22" LCD cause any degrading in performance?

Harddisk fragmentation possible. :dunno:
Dont feel any diff performance in ext LCD.

 

[bousozoku]

yes max up the ram. I hook up the mac to an ext. LG 22 inch LCD for viewing.
Was on MBP but get another MB for carry it around. MBP too heavy.
Over time the Mac will slow down too so I have to re-install everything all over again.

:dunno:

Your Mac is slowing down over time? What are you doing differently than I am? I've had Macs since 1993 and don't have such a situation yet. The file system, since 1985, is fragmentation-resistant and with Tiger, they even added automatic file defragmentation for files of 20 MB or smaller.

 

[Yatlapball]

Hmm yes. I was wondering about that too.

I do feel it runs slower when my HDD is on the brink of exploding though. After I'm done with the current work and move it off to archive on an external HDD, the system appears to return to "normal"

 

[longkangman]

Hmm yes. I was wondering about that too.

I do feel it runs slower when my HDD is on the brink of exploding though. After I'm done with the current work and move it off to archive on an external HDD, the system appears to return to "normal"

same go to me too.

 

[bousozoku]

Hmm yes. I was wondering about that too.

I do feel it runs slower when my HDD is on the brink of exploding though. After I'm done with the current work and move it off to archive on an external HDD, the system appears to return to "normal"

same go to me too.

We should probably do this in another thread but you might do the following:

I'm assuming that you both have Intel-based machines since I'm not experiencing the problem.

Would you open Activity Monitor and click the System Memory tab when this happens?

Do the Page outs exceed the Page ins? If this is the case, it's likely you need more RAM. If you're still using Tiger (10.4.x), I'd definitely expect that behaviour, as I've seen it quite a lot.

 

[GavinTing]

Definitely wish I gotten the MBP... Playing CSS at 5FPS is sad, but otherwise, all is well.

 

[DaGimCi C0d3]

We should probably do this in another thread

It's ok.. I dun mind actually.. it is very benificial to find out more about mac as I m totally new to it.

Thanks all for sharing!

 

[DaGimCi C0d3]

Definitely wish I gotten the MBP... Playing CSS at 5FPS is sad, but otherwise, all is well.

Thanks! hmm.. guess it is okie for me as i m primarily into lightroom and photoshop only.

 

[changster]

just make sure you at least 2gb of RAM. mine came with one and when i try running a few apps at the same time, it starts to lag.