<p>I'm design major freshmen who's planning to purchase macpro.
With the dual core SWEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEET..it is totally my style.
Well, here is my question...Would 15.4" screen enough for design major? I know 17" would be sweet..but way too costy...</p>
<p>Screen size is all about personal preference. MAny designers insist on having oversized monitors, but some people are fine with just zooming in. I personally prefer a smaller monitor, as I'm more likely to actually drag the 'laptop' to classes if it's not ginormous.</p>
<p>personally.. get a desktop. the laptop wont have enough power/ram</p>
<p>//personally.. get a desktop. the laptop wont have enough power/ram//</p>
<p>Not necessarily true. The MacBook Pro maxes out at 2 GB RAMwhich is more than appropriate for graphic applications like Flash, Dreamweaver, Photoshop, etc. If you are editing video or using high-end 3D apps, more RAM is to your benefit.</p>
<p>If you go with the 15-inch MacBook, I would buy a 20-inch or larger monitor for home. You can hook up the MacBook to the larger monitor and use dual displays.</p>
<p>regardless, the harddrive still isn't fast. the memory isn't going to change that the harddrive is running on a laptop speed versus a desktop speed.</p>
<p>But unless you're doing 3D modeling and rendering at a very high level, it will be enough for what you're doing. My dell handles photoshop, illustrator, indesign, and even 3DStudio Max (as long as I don't go toooo crazy with it) just fine, usually many files open in a couple of programs at a time. The macbookpro looks a lot better than what I have, so I'd think it's quite capable.</p>
<p>Don't get a Macbook Pro, Adobe applications as well as pretty much all other major design related software aren't compatible with the Intel Core Duo thing yet, and might not be for a long time. Currently the Macbook Pro has something called "Rosetta" which I guess emulates the old PowerPC processor so that you can run PowerPC applications, but its not nearly as fast as the last generation of PowerPCs, or Powerbook G4s.</p>
<p>I recommend getting the last generation of Powerbook G4s, with at least a gig of ram. I have a 17' screen, and I think its perfect. Its a Mac, its sleek and lightweight, which makes up for its slightly larger size in making it mobile. If you're doing design I definitely think the bigger the screen the better. You can still buy refurbished G4s on at the applestore site under "Apple Refurbished" or something for really cheap compared to their original retail price.</p>
<p>Macbooks are going to be great, but they need to work out some of the kinks before they rival the Powerbook G4 I think.</p>
<p>YEAH. You are right, definitely. I have a MacBook Pro, and I'm running Adobe Creative Suite, and it's noticeably slower. My college however told me to buy a MacBook Pro, because by the fall, according to their sales rep, the CS2 Suite for the Core Duo WILL be available. So - I recommend getting the Pro -
1) It's brand new... technology outdates itself quickly.. usually within 2 years.
2) Battery life is much better, around 4.5 hours under ideal conditions... realistically I get around 3.5 on a good day with brightness turned down, bluetooth and airport off.
3) It is alot faster than it's predecessor, otherwise it wouldn't have been released - once the software is redesigned for the new chips, it will be ALOT better than the PowerPC's (I talked with the KCAI sales rep myself)
4) built in iSight? hahah hell yeah.
5) one inch thin.</p>
<p>
[quote]
regardless, the harddrive still isn't fast. the memory isn't going to change that the harddrive is running on a laptop speed versus a desktop speed.
[/quote]
</p>
<p>7200 RPMs isn't slow, either. It's fairly close to the average speed in today's desktops as well. Unless you're going into fairly high end desktops, most S-ATA drives these days are 7200.</p>
<p>However, RPMs aren't the only factor in hard disk performance. Platter size, cache, and even the internal mechanics of the drive can have a significant effect on seek times. Two hard disks with the exact same RPM rating, cache, and platter size from two different companies can perform with considerably different seek times.</p>
<p>
[quote]
I recommend getting the last generation of Powerbook G4s, with at least a gig of ram. I have a 17' screen, and I think its perfect. Its a Mac, its sleek and lightweight, which makes up for its slightly larger size in making it mobile. If you're doing design I definitely think the bigger the screen the better. You can still buy refurbished G4s on at the applestore site under "Apple Refurbished" or something for really cheap compared to their original retail price.
[/quote]
</p>
<p>Not a bad approach, but consider the long term.</p>
<p>Let's say that the G4 is $1500 (just a "for instance.") You now have a system that will be problem free in Macland for pretty much eternity. But how long will it remain suitably fast? Are you willing to give up another year or so of having a suitably fast computer for 3 months of no Rosetta?</p>
<p>If you take into account the usage life of a current MBP, and then that of the G4 Powerbooks, I can't help but wonder if you get more long term utility out of the MBP, even subracting for the speed loss in Adobe programs for the next couple of months.</p>
<p>Hell, if the speed loss bothers you that much, just run it in Windows...</p>
<p>
[quote]
the harddrive is running on a laptop speed versus a desktop speed
[/quote]
According to Apple's website, the standard drive is 5400 rpm but for $100 you can get a 7200 rpm drive which is the same rotational speed as the drives they have in their desktops. There are other factors that impact throughput rate on hard drives but I doubt you could notice it if you tried on a PC (as opposed to a higher end server).</p>
<p>For college life, a laptop is ideal due to its portability (visiting home, other areas of campus, maybe in class, etc.). There will always be a faster solution, especially for more money, but find what would be reasonably adequate for a reasonable price. The 15.4" is a good compromise between screen size and portability. The 15.4" widescreen is really pretty big.</p>
<p>I thought about getting the 17" beast, but it seems so unnecessary to me. Especially when a laptop is supposed to provide a certain amount of portability.</p>
<p>//Don't get a Macbook Pro, Adobe applications as well as pretty much all other major design related software aren't compatible with the Intel Core Duo thing yet, and might not be for a long time. Currently the Macbook Pro has something called "Rosetta" which I guess emulates the old PowerPC processor so that you can run PowerPC applications, but its not nearly as fast as the last generation of PowerPCs, or Powerbook G4s.</p>
<p>I recommend getting the last generation of Powerbook G4s, with at least a gig of ram. I have a 17' screen, and I think its perfect. Its a Mac, its sleek and lightweight, which makes up for its slightly larger size in making it mobile. If you're doing design I definitely think the bigger the screen the better. You can still buy refurbished G4s on at the applestore site under "Apple Refurbished" or something for really cheap compared to their original retail price.//</p>
<p>I don't recommend a G4 laptop at all. I am presently running a 17-inch laptop, a G5 tower and we have an iMac Intel. The G4 processor compared to the G5 is slow; the G5 tower is extremely fast, faster than the iMac intel chip, but this is because the Adobe apps are running under Rosetta. Adobe Creative Suite CS3 is due next spring, and Adobe is largely on schedule. Still the iMac performs better than my G4 Powerbook, so I would buy the MacBook Pro knowing that in less than 1 year the Adobe/Macromedia apps will be native.</p>