to buy or not to buy?

I am an photography student graduate who is getting back into the swing of things. i recently bought a nikon d80 and am starting on a venture that includes a lot of a) library research b) internet research and c) photography

i want a laptop that i can use to take my notes while doing research but that will also be speedy and efficiently handle photoshop when i edit my photos.

i'm considering going the macbook pro route.
at the moment i'm leaning toward a refurbished 2.33 ghz intel core 2 duo 15" glossy with 2GB ram and 120GB harddrive. on top of that i'm looking at the dell 24" LCD widescreen monitor for editing at home.

my questions are:
1) is that a powerful enough machine to be used as my main photo editing computer? i will never be doing anything 3-d or video. at the max i will have...let's say...5 photos (LARGE files), 2 browsers, itunes, and 2 word applications open at the same time. this is my first mac, by the way.
2) will i get the full benefit of having a 1920x1200 resolution widescreen monitor meant for a PC used with a macbook pro? will i be able to take advantage of all of the resolution power? will i need a better graphics card? etc. basically, will i lose any of the benefits i'm trying to gain by combining this monitor with a macbook pro?
3) are there any other suggestions for buying my first a) laptop b) mac and c) primary photo editing computer?

Well to answer your first question, that MBP you picked out will do your photo editing jobs quite nicely, expecially since you are putting 2Gb or ram in it.

My suggestion is to just get the stock amount of ram that comes with the MBP, and buy 1Gb or ram off crucial.com or newegg.com so you save money. Also, have fun with your new MBP! :mac:

EDIT: I'm not sure on the monitor/resolution question, I've never hooked my MBP up to an external monitor.

other reviews/advice i've read through suggested a minimum of the 1gb ram.
what sort of difference will i notice by getting 2gb as opposed to just 1gb?

also, being completely daft and new to this, how easy is adding ram? i thought i read somewhere that the way the MBP's are set up is that if i got a 1gb, it would be 2 512mb sticks. so to get up to 2gb i would have to replace both 512mb sticks with 1gb sticks. is this true, do you know?

asylum said:

other reviews/advice i've read through suggested a minimum of the 1gb ram.
what sort of difference will i notice by getting 2gb as opposed to just 1gb?

also, being completely daft and new to this, how easy is adding ram? i thought i read somewhere that the way the MBP's are set up is that if i got a 1gb, it would be 2 512mb sticks. so to get up to 2gb i would have to replace both 512mb sticks with 1gb sticks. is this true, do you know?

Click to expand...

MBP comes with 1 1gig stick.

It the MB that comes with 2 512 stick

a ha!

that being said...there's a huge price difference between the mbp and the mb.
if i'm going to change out the ram at like...$200 in a mb to get 2gb i'm saving about 600 dollars, give or take. but i'm losing about 1/6th the ghz of processor speed.

is it worth it?

the MBP is 2.33ghz and the MB is 2.00ghz.

is paying 600 more worth it? how much of a difference in speed would i be able to tell?

Not having really read the whole thread - but for $600 difference you're gaining:
1) the processor speed difference
2) 15" vs 13" screen
3) 256 MB dedicated video vs 64MB shared video
A note on this, specs say the integrated video can handle 1920 X 1200, but in my experience, most cards do not handle being run at their max resolutions all that well
4) larger hard drive
5) FW 800 port
6) backlit keyboard - now this one is just too cool for me because I like to sit in a dark room

I would suggest the MBP in it's entirety. It's a great machine and I'm happy I got it instead of the Macbook, I like the bigger screen, and it's not TOO big for me to carry around and bring to school every now and then.

I would also recommend 2Gb of ram if you will be running all those programs at once, and editing some large photos. If you want just order it with the stock 1Gb and then see how it goes, and upgrade if you wish.

^^ditto.

i just love my cool white lights

If you are looking at the 2.33 C2D, the you dont have a choice on the memory. It only comes with 2 or 3GB. So either way, you are fine.

I run my 2.16 C2D thru an external monitor, and it runs great. No noticable difference in Photoshop or Final Cut, using the external display versus the 15" MBP screen.

Better yet, save yourself $500 and get a refurbed 2.33C2D. Exactly the same as what you would buy new, but you are $500 better off.

For what you are doing, I would say get the MBP. A macbook would work for you, however you will see a performance gain, with the MBP. The 15" screen is sooooo nice.

Yes, it is enough to do all your photo editing work + a ton more.

I am still trying to figure out how the person who posted above me, got a 2.13 Core2.

naturally

so naturally, i went back to the refurbished portion of apple.com to drool again.

and there aren't any 15" mbp's available.

do they update this often? they were there all day yesterday.