Decisions decisions...

Hey everybody! I'm close to buying my first mac, and I would like, if possible, to have a question answered.. So, here goes!

I have been accepted to the Art Institute in Indianapolis. I am in need of a new laptop, and I will be switching to Mac. Here's the question though... currently, through financing, I can only afford the base model of the Macbook Pro 13" as seen here, the 2009 release.


MacBook Pro - Apple Store (U.S.)

I would like to know, being as I will be running Lightroom 2 and Photoshop cs4: Will this machine run those smooth enough with just 2GB RAM? Not really much I can do here but hope someone has some help, but it would be much appreciated if anyone could share some insight.

Thank you very much!


-Chris ;D

Honestly, a 13" screen is not ideal for most graphic/photo work. But it will get the job done. You can always get an external display later also to help expand your working area.

As for the RAM. It will work fine. Though more RAM is always better. The aftermarket is cheaper for RAM as well. So if you want to add it a few months down the road, no biggie.

I know that at least Photoshop should run well enough (though not blazingly fast), but I have no experience with Lightroom. However, if you're going to be doing extensive graphical work, perhaps you could use school computers until you can afford a laptop with a larger screen or an external monitor (or even the one you're looking at without going into debt).

CS4 needs a minimum of 2gb to run smoothly (from there site) so if you could afford $50 odd you could put another 2gb in it and you would be screaming. And i think your MBP is upgradable to 6gb so for a little extra you could put 4 into it.
I have just upgraded my MB 13" from 1gb to 4gb and CS4 is like a concord running away now
As with lightroom that uses a lot less CPU so you would be fine to run both ...
But for speed a extra few bucks ???

You'll want at least 4GB of RAM. You can get great quality RAM and tech support from Other World Computing (.com) at the best price around. Much cheaper than Apple RAM. And it's super easy to install yourself. OWC sends instructions out, and even has on-line videos at their web site to show you how. And it will not void any warranties.