To BN7502: Great to have you on Nikon Rumors! Good points on the 13"MBP. I do have 15"s and and a very high level 17" with one of the best screens I have ever seen on a MBP. I use the new Thunderbolt 13"MBP for almost everything now. Always I am interested in the sharpest secondary high def monitor though as that is what I mostly use for slide/sound shows, and then a Canon 3000 8310 projector when needed for bigger audience size. Seems like you give up some important stuff on the 13"MBA.

I too went back and forth with 15"/13" MBP or MBA for my travel laptop and ended up with the 13" MBP.

1.) The 13" has fit in every hotel room safe I have been in, even in Europe.
2.) Screen size is not that much different from the 15".
3.) Major editing would be done at home. (Extra power of 15" not needed)
4.) Ethernet port. With Gigabit network at home transfers are fast. 4GB transfer from my MBP to my iMac in 50 seconds whereas USB takes 3-4 minutes.
5.) CD/DVD drive. Very handy for software, or watching a movie on the go, or burning photos for someone.
6.) Firewire & SD card slot. (Direct transfers with firewire)

The MBA is pretty sweet but I prefer to have the extra peripherals.

I just got a Dell XPS15, 8gig ram, 750 gig HD, Win7, RGB LED 15.6" 1920 X 1080, i7-2720QM, 9 cels just for that purpose. Thanks to NR for suggesting that screen, it is just amazing, the colors are great. Runs CS5 like a charm (once I have manually updated the driver for the GeForce GT 540M) and does not run near as hot as the old i7 generations.

A bit heavy but if you are already carrying a D700 and good glass, you would not want to carry any other kind of laptop for any extended period. If "on the road" means plane carry-on + car, than that 15 inch is not too big.

I find Dell pretty stupid for shipping brand-new machines with obsolete GeForce GT 540M drivers. Without the update, CS5 Photomerge was crashing CS5. Apparently, CS5 uses new accelerator functions that only recently got properly implemented by NVIDIA. Doing a Dell auto-update did not find the newer (i.e. "275.33-notebook-win7-winvista-64bit-international-whql.exe") driver.

It really is amazing how many pros use the Macbook 13" there has got to be a reason! This months shutterbug pro Maynard Switzer ravs about his and Steve Huff swears by his among many noteable others...

for said:
If you really want a pro laptop for photography ......
I just ordered a Dell Precision M6600 (17"),

I use a Dell 17" M6400 is great if you want to move it from the office to the studio, were you are on mains power
but I would not recommend it, if you have have to carry it any distance or have to rely on battery power
nor would I put it on your lap, its get quite warm

If you really want a pro laptop for photography get a mobile workstation with an IPS screen and a Quadro card.

The entire CS suite will be taking advantage of the Cuda cores soon, as well as Lightroom.

I just ordered a Dell Precision M6600 (17"), but Lenovo, HP, Dell all have great mobile workstations. If you're
not tied to OSX, get a real computer (I'm typing this on a Macbook and I also work on Mac Pro's at work doing vfx).

Thanks DaveyJ I am going to wait a little longer to see if Apple comes out with a new MBA (to see what the spec's are). Though I am still leaning towards the 13" MBP, for many the same reasons that you have indicated.

Sorry I am so late replying. I have been in the field, photographing and working. I consider the 13" MBP to be the right combo for me. They make no difference when working on an external monitor as my 17" high defs are no better than the 13" with added memory and speed. I DO NOT fancy the MBA myself as I require the DVD/CD drive,etc., and therefore have not extensively tested that on big HD TV monitors. Apple agrees with my conclusions about 13 and 17 hi-defs. But again I don't know enough about the 13 MBA. Maybe that will drive a big external monitor? Meaning making photos and videos just as clear? Anybody out there that has tested the MBA on external monitors compared to MBP? But according to me AND Apple engineers, on an external HDTV there IS NO DIFFERENCE. I vastly prefer the smaller case when traveling! Since I RARELY make adjustments based on my Mac screens themselves, what it can finally project to HD TV is what counts.

I think the Mac screens are AMAZING, but you'll only get that amazing screen (non-glare) on the 15" model.

I recently bought the i7 15" model non-glare, and have been quite impressed.

Thing has an amazing core processor - cranks my DxO post-processing in literally 90% faster times than my old clunker PC.

:) I have a LOVE/HATE relationship with Apple. I'll say no more!

Great thread; I love this forum. I have been thinking about the asme options, but this comment "I know for many photographers, the anti-glare screen is THE determining factor. Otherwise, cost-size-weight all favor the 13" model obviously." is a key point for me. I really don't like the glossy screens...and got a Lenovo laptop 3 yrs ago because I couldn't get a MacBook with matte screen. But then I am not a road warrior any more, so the difference in size isn't a big deal. I so wiht they made a 13" MBP with matte screen.

On that note: Does anyone know if the Mac matte screens are more susceptible to being damaged? The glossy displays have glass face (duh) and would seem to be more durable. AND, can the glossy displays be accurately calibrated?

kanuck said:
Hey rbid, I know you were probably joking, but thats actually what my brother did because he was so impressed with his Apple wide screen at his newpaper's office. Apple color rendition is top notch so he decided to go this route and seems happy now. He tried numerous different calibration methods and was never satisfied with his Samsung. Of course this does not help people like gnarly on the road much though :)

No, I was not jocking :)
At my previous work place, we had strong-huge desktop computers for computation work, with huge screens to show all the System-On-Chip simulations and also got a small low-end laptops for office work (that allowed mobility as well). When our business unit was moved to a different company, the new company "forced" us to have only one computer so most of us moved to a strong laptop that could do the computation work as before, but also could be easy to work from home as a office laptop.. Then I continued to use the huge monitor with the tinny laptop :)

Let's not turn this thread into an all Apple love fest. The Mac haters have already PM'd me to close this thread, haha. Let's get back to 15" versus 13"... screens.

Thanks for the update "DaveyJ" great info. What are your thoughts on the weight of the MBP 13" vs the MBA 13" I do like the ability to upgrade memory and processor on the MBP. This was my original selection until others suggested that I have a serious look at the MBA. I should indicate that at this stage I am not anywhere near being in the Pro league, just a serious amateur, with some more time on my hands, that wants to get out more , hence the desire for a laptop to do some basic processing and of course file backup, while away from my MacPro.
I am not sure if a new thread should be started, so I will ask you specifically what model of monitors are the HD Samsung, as I am thinking about an additional one to go with my 23" Cinema display.
Again Thanks

@gnarly: My new Thunderbolt MacBookPro 13" has the 8GB as I find the 4GB too limiting too quickly. With a high speed processor it runs my 40" and 55" High Res external monitors beautifully. They are HD Samsung highest level LED and they are way sharper than my two Apple Cinema 30's and even my color correctable Lacie Monitor and a advanced Sony that was touted as super sharp and great for adjusting color. The other side of the story is that the Samsungs have a somewhat jaded color for some images and it can always be adjusted. That leaves me with a 13" MBP for road trips and although sometimes clients only see it on that little screen, with Aperature 3 slide/sounds shows they are amazed. I got a pretty decent price out of Mac Business division and feel like the deal was one of the best i have ever made. Using a Canon 3000 Lumen projector the sharpness and color are very good, although I would always pick the LED 40" or the LED 55"for the best looking image.

Hey rbid, I know you were probably joking, but thats actually what my brother did because he was so impressed with his Apple wide screen at his newpaper's office. Apple color rendition is top notch so he decided to go this route and seems happy now. He tried numerous different calibration methods and was never satisfied with his Samsung. Of course this does not help people like gnarly on the road much though :)

Mk32 said:
True the 13inch screen could be bigger but it is something I just got used to.

You always can connect an external huge monitor to the tinny laptop :)
Now if you plan to do color manipulation on your photos, better get also a calibration device... or/and check that the built-in monitor on the laptop allows calibration...but that is another topic and I do not want to be punished for taking this discussion to a different direction.

Have a nice day!

I heard within a month or two? For the new MBA don't quote me.
I have the new 13inch MBP, and it is perfect for running Lr and basic editing on the go. True the 13inch screen could be bigger but it is something I just got used to.

adamz - Are there any projections as to when the new MBA might come out?

gnarly - w8 for MBA with thunderbolt, it's going to be an amazing computer, small on one hand and with big expansion possibilities (once we gonna see some more thunderbolt devices :))

I have a 10.1 light weight Samsung for the road and my 15" stays at home. I have found the 15" models to be way too heavy and too large for any considerable trips. You use Apple so I'd suggest you strongly consider the smallest but big enough not to kill your eyes for processing. The 13" sounds like it would be good for you.

So your okay with Apple's high prices? :)

I went and had a look at the MBP 13' and the MBA 13" I must say the MBP for what I believe I need will be just fine, a little heavier yes. !!
If I upgrade the ram to 8GB, with a 2.7GHZ Core i7, 500gb HD. I think that will do all I need on the road. Once at home I can do my fine tuning on the big Mac.
Any other thoughts on the MBA would be appreciated, I know that in a few months there is supposed to be a new MBA with thunderbolt, maybe I should wait till then to make my final decision.

guys, as for screen resolution from apple You have the following options:
- MBA 11 - 1366x768
- MBA 13 - 1440x900
- MBP 13 - 1280x800
- MBP 15 - 1440x900
- MBP 15 - 1680x1050 (optional)
- MB 13 - 1280x768
for me everything smaller than 1440x900 is useless for smooth editing photos in either aperture or PS - although it's more than fine for making selection of Your images on the road.

I use a MBA 11" as my daily carry/travel laptop + Ext. HDD. It's all about weight & size for me. I know it's a compromise, but for my needs, it's sufficient. Before this, it was a MBP 13" 2010 model. In terms of performance it is much better. Problem was after a while, my shoulders started to complain. I left the 13" MBP at home & got the 11" MBA.

For myself, I picked the 15" with the high resolution display- it's not so much the screen size or the processing power that makes a difference to me, but rather the resolution of the display, which I find great (it's the equivalent of most 20" monitors).

Since you have a desktop already, that will probably be a better option for all your heavy lifting, so you can get away with whatever you need to. Thus, you'll have to balance out cost, and size with speed and the display. On the one hand, if you're just using it to backup photos, than anything will do (I use an old net-book re-purposed to that end), but the more you intend to do, the more powerful the laptop should be.