where there’s smoke there’s forum fire
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.
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.
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).
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
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...
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.
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.
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.
You must log in to post.
