heavy pc user going mac

Macbook Pro core i5 2.4ghz with antiglare hires screen

I am extremely efficient on the PC. I do all the funky shortcuts and pretty much built my desktops from the ground up. I have a nice vaio hires screen which isnt doing wlll anymore with my raw photo files

My use is for wedding photography (1k+ raw files), graphics and maybe a bit of video editing. Batterylife is extremely important and the reason why the dell latitude e6510 wont cut it.

I have tons of questions regarding converting to mac
- Am i able to set user logins? (guests and admin)
- Will i be able to load lightroom catalogs on PC and macs? (i store RAW with its lightroom catalog on a portable drive)

Macbook pro specifics
- will the hires antiglare screen reduce the 8-9hrs batt life?
- 7200rpm or 5400rpm? whats sacrificed?
- Will i be able to use my dell 30" ultrasharp with dual link HDCP dvi port? will it display at 2560 x 1600? anybody using this setup? I read some bad reviews on dual link displayports (1.0.3 firmware fixed it?)

Graphics
- I use PCs at work. Will i have a problem opening CS3 files using PC fonts?

I haven't had my 30" HP hooked up to my 2.53 C2D 15" MBP for a while, but occasionally it would require me unplugging all the connections between the monitor connector and the laptop and plugging them back in. Mainly on wake from sleep.

The MBP would also over heat if you tried to run it on the 30" while closed. I ended up having to get a notebook cooler and keeping it open running it at about 175-180 degrees F constantly withou cranking the fans all the way up to 5k-6k RPM.

Maybe with the better card, you won't have as much of an issue, but at least make sure you get the one with the 512mb GPU.

But truthfully, editing on a 30" monitor with a notebook is not ideal, that's why I ended up building myself another PC.

Depending on how CPU intensive your computer usage is that dictates how long the battery will last.

graph101 said:

Macbook Pro core i5 2.4ghz with antiglare hires screen

I am extremely efficient on the PC. I do all the funky shortcuts and pretty much built my desktops from the ground up.

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Expect some awkwardness and frustration as you get used to the Mac methodology. For someone at your level, it's just different ENOUGH that you'll find it annoying ... at first.

I have tons of questions regarding converting to mac
- Am i able to set user logins? (guests and admin)
- Will i be able to load lightroom catalogs on PC and macs? (i store RAW with its lightroom catalog on a portable drive)

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1. Yes. You will want to run as Admin. Anyone else you'd probably want running as a User (limited) or Guest (totally disposable, wiped-on-logout type account). Admin is the owner's default. All three are easy to create.

2. I don't use Lightroom so I can't be 100% sure, but I believe the answer to the question of LR catalogs is "yes." Check on Adobe's site to be sure.

Macbook pro specifics
- will the hires antiglare screen reduce the 8-9hrs batt life?

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Whoa. The MacBook Pro's battery is far and away the most advanced in the industry, but nowhere does it guarantee you a set amount of battery time. There's an "up to" in front of that 8-9 hours. This is all VERY dependent on what you're doing, the screen brightness and at least a dozen other factors.

As Apple's own page on the MacBook Pro says "The wireless productivity test measures battery life by wirelessly browsing various websites and editing text in a word processor document with display brightness set to the middle setting." That doesn't sound like what you'll be doing with it, so you should expect less than the maximum "up to" time.

The only device in the computing industry I've *ever* seen that routinely surpasses its estimated battery life in real-world usage is the iPad.

- 7200rpm or 5400rpm? whats sacrificed?

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For editing video, particularly HD video, the speed difference is notable, but like with everything else in the world it comes at a cost: the extra speed also affects the battery as well as generates somewhat more heat. Not a big deal really but its there.

- Will i be able to use my dell 30" ultrasharp with dual link HDCP dvi port? will it display at 2560 x 1600?

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Again from the spec page: "Dual-link DVI output using Mini DisplayPort to Dual-Link DVI Adapter supports 30-inch Apple Cinema HD Display (optional)." The Apple Cinema HD Display is 2560x1600, so the answer there is "yes."

- I use PCs at work. Will i have a problem opening CS3 files using PC fonts?

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Maybe. Any reason why you can't install those fonts on your Mac? Mac supports PC Truetype (bleah) fonts as well as Postscript, OpenType and so on. You'll probably want a good font manager program. A lot of people (myself included) like FontExplorer Pro from Linotype, but I've always like FontAgent Pro from Insider Software.

Good info

These are good info guys. The mac genius wasnt able to answer some of it.

chas_m said:

those fonts on your Mac? Mac supports PC Truetype (bleah) fonts as well as Postscript, OpenType and so on. You'll probably want a good font manager program. A lot of people (myself included) like FontExplorer Pro from Linotype, but I've always like FontAgent Pro from Insider Software.

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The fonts I have on the PC are mostly truetype so it should open fine then?

graph101 said:

The fonts I have on the PC are mostly truetype so it should open fine then?

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Yes they will.

i7 or i5, 72k or 54k

I am now choosing between the loaded i7, 72k, antiglare VS i5 2.4ghz, antiglare, 54k but with 8gb RAM.

My concert for i7 CPU and 72k is heat and battery consumption. I really do not care about the $50 savings on 54k. I just want a machine thats stable, doesnt get bogged down when running many programs and will last for a long time.

What i want to know as well is the benefits of 512mb on i7s vs 256mb on i5s.


I will use it for Finalcut (just some biking videos...nothing professional)
I will use it for photoshop and aperture
I WONT use it for Games
I WONT use it for 3D animation and rendering

The best scenario for me is if I get convinced on the antiglare i7 54k since its readily available on the apple store.

Ok im giving up the 30" option and just going to stick w my 20" dell ultrasharps that has the same resolution on the 15". Im guessing i can do dual monitors right?

I will also have it sit on a laptop cooler because the unibody is one big heatsink.

Village Idiot said:

I haven't had my 30" HP hooked up to my 2.53 C2D 15" MBP for a while, but occasionally it would require me unplugging all the connections between the monitor connector and the laptop and plugging them back in. Mainly on wake from sleep.

The MBP would also over heat if you tried to run it on the 30" while closed. I ended up having to get a notebook cooler and keeping it open running it at about 175-180 degrees F constantly withou cranking the fans all the way up to 5k-6k RPM.

Maybe with the better card, you won't have as much of an issue, but at least make sure you get the one with the 512mb GPU.

But truthfully, editing on a 30" monitor with a notebook is not ideal, that's why I ended up building myself another PC.

Click to expand...

graph101 said:

I am now choosing between the loaded i7, 72k, antiglare VS i5 2.4ghz, antiglare, 54k but with 8gb RAM.

My concert for i7 CPU and 72k is heat and battery consumption.

Click to expand...

I don't think that's a significant concern. The battery hit for the 7200RPM drive is minor. Heat is not an issue. Today's 5400RPM laptop drives are very comparable in performance to most 7200RPM laptop drives. If you're not shooting HD video all the time I'd say there's no practical difference.

Be sure to UNcheck the "put drives to sleep when possible" box on energy saver preferences. You don't want that drive powering down/powering up all the time.

doesnt get bogged down when running many programs and will last for a long time.

Click to expand...

Sounds like the ad copy for the MacBook Pro. Be sure to make out the RAM.

What i want to know as well is the benefits of 512mb on i7s vs 256mb on i5s.

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If this is referring to the videocard (which it must be), I'd say this is a non-issue for anyone who's not doing games or 3D rendering.

You can only use one external monitor with the MBP unless you find some kind of adapter to split the signal between two.

PS. That should be MAX out the RAM. Oopsie.

im buying

After further research and checking my quadcore desktop RAM usage, i decided not to use the 8gb since i never get to use all of it. I also opted for the 5400k to avoid heat and battlife issues. i7's report says it'll kill 10% of batt life while improving 15% in speed. I think I can live with the i7's batt effects. I like em snappy!

Now my choices are i5, antiglare 5400k OR i7 antiglare 5400k (available instores!)

- Will i7 generate more heat?
- Will the 512mb GPU use more power over the 256mb?
- I understand auto graphic switching can be deactivate. Can I lock in the use the intel graphics when i desperately need battery?
- A "mac genius" told me that the i5's didnt hyperthread. Im pretty sure its not true...right?

chas_m said:

If this is referring to the videocard (which it must be), I'd say this is a non-issue for anyone who's not doing games or 3D rendering.

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This should also matter if i plan on connecting it to a 20" dell with 1050pixel vert resolution right? the 512mb will be able to drive 2 monitors better than the 256mb.

graph101 said:

After further research and checking my quadcore desktop RAM usage, i decided not to use the 8gb since i never get to use all of it.

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If your desktop is running Windows 32 bit, you will never be able to use more than about 3.5 gig of RAM anyway. You can always consider a RAM upgrade on the Mac at a later date, since even running a 32 bit kernal, OSX will use up to 32 gig of RAM if it is there.

louishen said:

If your desktop is running Windows 32 bit, you will never be able to use more than about 3.5 gig of RAM anyway. You can always consider a RAM upgrade on the Mac at a later date, since even running a 32 bit kernal, OSX will use up to 32 gig of RAM if it is there.

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If this guy has a quadcore desktop with 8GB of RAM and a 32 bit operating system, then I'll get drunk and take a dump on the windshield of my new neighbor's car.

Seems that the future of Windows development is happening largely for corporate environments and customers. I don’t take issue with this other than being someone who doesn’t live or work inside a corporate environment at home. Well, thats just me.. to each his own.

TeeDupree said:

Seems that the future of Windows development is happening largely for corporate environments and customers. I don’t take issue with this other than being someone who doesn’t live or work inside a corporate environment at home. Well, thats just me.. to each his own.

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*** does this have to do with anything?

Ever use Windows 7?