Mbp 15 amatuer photographer

[Ganz]

Hi all, new to the forum and looking for a little advice. I'm in the market for a laptop and I've been looking at the mbp 15. Trying to decide if it's neccesary to purchase the top model with the Radeon card. I'm an extreme amatuer photographer. I have a big interest in learning the trade and producing high quality photos and videos of my family. Down the road if it grows into something bigger, great. I want a machine that can easily handle the photo and video projects, again I'm an amatuer and far from professional, but I can see this becoming a quickly growing hobby/lifestyle.

My question is for my purposes would the top model of mbp 15 be overkill? Would the next model down starting at $1999 be sufficient. Don't want grey hair growing while waiting for things to finish rendering and such. Thanks in advance.

 

[pigoo3]

My question is for my purposes would the top model of mbp 15 be overkill? Would the next model down starting at $1999 be sufficient. Don't want grey hair growing while waiting for things to finish rendering and such. Thanks in advance.

This is always a very difficult question to answer…not knowing EXACTLY how someone will be using it (I know you mentioned some details).

- When you go from the 13" MBP to the lower end 15" MBP…you get the quad-core CPU.
- Then when you go from the low-end 15" MBP to the higher-end 15" MBP…you get the dedicated GPU.

So even with the lower end 15" MBP…you're still doing better than the 13". But it really comes down to does your budget allow for the extra $500 for the higher end 15"??

Here's a MacWorld review of the previous model 15" MBP (with & without the dedicated GPU). It doesn't have any Photoshop specific benchmarks. But maybe some of the benchmarks there will help. This should help to see the relative differences between the current two 15" MBP models.

15-inch Retina MacBook Pro review: A tale of two laptops | Macworld

- Nick

 

[Ganz]

Mbp 15

Yes my budget can handle the extra $500. A lot of the videos will be family orientated, montages, special events, and just my girls growing up. The laptop will also be used as a desktop replacement. Thanks for the reply

 

[IWT]

@Ganz

Welcome to our Forums.

Once you start on the serious photography or video road, your ambition and achievements make ever increasing demands on your Mac. This is a truism all of us realise in time. Your patience falls as your experience rises. So what I would say is: go for the best you can afford and, in particular, get as much RAM as the Mac will take because it is not upgradeable later. You said it all in your first post - you don't want to acquire grey hairs waiting for processes to finish.

Ian

 

[pigoo3]

...again I'm an amatuer and far from professional, but I can see this becoming a quickly growing hobby/lifestyle.

A lot of the videos will be family orientated, montages, special events, and just my girls growing up.

From these two key statements…to be honest…you would probably be just fine with a 13" MacBook Pro. It's not so much a complexity thing…as it's more of volume thing that I'm thinking of. If you really don't have the volume of photos or videos to process compared to a professional…what's a little extra time with a lower spec computer??…if it saves you quite a bit of cash buying it.

Consider a professional photographer or videographer…who may need to "chug" thru 8-10 hours of projects/day. And compare this to the lower volume of material you may have. The professional would probably benefit greatly from the more powerful computer…since to them…time is money.

Now I'm not saying that an amateur can't have a top end computer. It's just a dollars & cents thing. If the budget allows for a $2499 computer…go for it. I'm just saying that you could probably save $1000+…by getting a 13" MBP.

Of course the one "wild card" in this conversation is…what's the realistic chance of this hobby (at the moment)…turning into much more in the near future. This is only something you can guess at for sure.

- Nick

 

[RavingMac]

As far as photography goes, any current (or not so current) Mac should do fine. My 2007 15 in MBP handles Photoshop without a hitch.
Video is another animal and something I don't do, but my impression is that if you REALLY want to do intensive video you need an iMac as a minimum. Again, video's not my thing, so others might disagree, but that is what I've gleaned from product reviews.

 

[Ganz]

Thanks for the replies everyone. The motherboard on my 2009 27 inch imac went bad. I want something portable for now. May get a new imac next year sometime. For vision reasons I would like a 15 inch. Just a decision of the dedicated graphics card or or getting the other model Mbp 15 and bumping up the ram and maybe cpu.

 

[lclev]

A macbook pro will do okay for video. I have a 2011 MB Pro i7, 16GB and 1TB hard drive that I use Premiere Pro to edit and encode video on. I only use it for times when I need portability. It takes about 45 minutes to encode an hour video but it is smooth when scrubbing video or playing back added effects.

If you use iMovie on a MB Pro it will be fine. Plus with the new haswell processors and an SSD that should make it even faster.

Lisa

 

[pigoo3]

...and bumping up the ram and maybe cpu.

Believe it or not…you can't bump up the ram. The 16gig that comes with the stock configuration is the max. ram for the 15" MacBook Pro. But you can bump up the CPU speed & amount of internal storage.

By the way…the $500 extra for the higher end model is actually not a terribly bad deal. That extra $500 (compared to the lower end model 15" MBP) you get:

- a faster CPU (2.5ghz vs. 2.2ghz)
- more internal storage (512gig vs. 256gig)
- and the dedicated graphics hardware

If someone was to theoretically upgrade the lower end 15" MBP to the same specs as the higher end model…it would cost:

- 2.5ghz CPU upgrade = $100
- 512gig storage upgrade = $300

Which means that the actual cost of the dedicated graphics is only $100 bucks!

- Nick

 

[Ganz]

A macbook pro will do okay for video. I have a 2011 MB Pro i7, 16GB and 1TB hard drive that I use Premiere Pro to edit and encode video on. I only use it for times when I need portability. It takes about 45 minutes to encode an hour video but it is smooth when scrubbing video or playing back added effects.

If you use iMovie on a MB Pro it will be fine. Plus with the new haswell processors and an SSD that should make it even faster.

Lisa

I guess my next question is how much of a difference in performance would the dedicated graphics card be? Don't know the ins and outs of hardware like most here. Won't really play games on it.

 

[TattooedMac]

Unless you buy a Mac Pro, anything Portable you are going to be waiting for video encoding. Saying that, I have no issue with my 2012 13" i7 2.9GHz 8GB RAM MBP.

I use Aperture, PS CC, Affinity Designer, LR, and even Xcode without issue. I would be buying the best upgraded MBP you can get. Yes the 15" screen real estate is a bonus, but I edit my images on my 13" without issue, and take use of several Desktops, switching between Apps, if need be.

 

[pigoo3]

I guess my next question is how much of a difference in performance would the dedicated graphics card be?

You should read the review link that I provided earlier.

- Nick

 

[lclev]

I guess my next question is how much of a difference in performance would the dedicated graphics card be? Don't know the ins and outs of hardware like most here. Won't really play games on it.

There will be a definite difference. Most video editing and encoding software uses GPU acceleration if it is available. iMovie does and I use Premiere Pro which definitely does.

If you check out the link Nick provided the video explains it better. It is worth the cost difference. If you plan to take a serious jump into these areas nothing will frustrate you more than a slow computer.

In the "good old days" encoding meant sending out what you hoped was your finished product and going home, leaving your computer to encode over night. You could arrive the next day and finding out there was a mistake and that meant re-encoding. Now what took all night take minutes to an hour depending on complexity.

Lisa

 

[pigoo3]

In the "good old days" encoding meant sending out what you hoped was your finished product and going home, leaving your computer to encode over night. You could arrive the next day and finding out there was a mistake and that meant re-encoding.

I remember those days. Click on the mouse just before heading home…and cross your fingers that everything goes fine over night. Including someone NOT turning off the computer, no tripping over cords, no electrical problems (loss of power), and no freeze-ups on the computer.

- Nick

 

[Ganz]

You should read the review link that I provided earlier.

- Nick

I definitely watched the video, then I think I have my mind made up, I then talk or read something else which changes my mind. If I got the lower end 15 inch I would want the 512gb ssd but that would just put me a few hundred dollars off from the high end model. Great price point delimma from apple. I also get an employee discount. Lower end 15 with the 512gb ssd would be $2100 and change, the stock higher end would be $2300 and change. So for $200 more ill get a faster CPU, a dedicated gpu, and the 512gb ssd standard. And I can pick that up at the Apple Store instead of waiting for it to be built and shipped.

 

[Ganz]

Then I look at everyone's Mac specs and only one person in this thread has a Mbp 15 inch! Lol

 

[TattooedMac]

Then I look at everyone's Mac specs and only one person in this thread has a Mbp 15 inch! Lol

But that doesn't say we have never had a 15" in our stable though, does it

 

[pigoo3]

I definitely watched the video,

Was there a video?? I thought it was only a written article. I must have missed the video.

I also get an employee discount.

If you get an employee discount...that certainly helps.

If you saw my little cost analysis earlier in the thread:

http://www.mac-forums.com/forums/im...-mbp-15-amatuer-photographer.html#post1660810

If someone was to upgrade the lower end 15" MBP with 512gig of storage & the 2.5ghz CPU upgrade...then the dedicated graphics only costs an extra $100. I'm guessing with the employee discount the upgrade costs would be relatively the same.

So it would seem that if you KNOW that you want the 512gig storage upgrade (which costs +$300)...it almost seems a "no-brainer" to get the higher end 15" MBP with the dedocated graphics!

- Nick

 

[Ganz]

Very true. The only reason I need a new machine is because my 2009 27 inch iMac motherboard went bad. My first Mac, sentimental value. Wife will not like me spending $2300 on a laptop. She thinks there's no difference between this and a $500 laptop from sams club.

 

[pigoo3]

Then I look at everyone's Mac specs and only one person in this thread has a Mbp 15 inch! Lol

Not many folks get the 15" MBP's. Lots of folks get the 13" for the smaller size and lighter weight. The 15" MBP's have three things the 13"er's don't have:

- larger 15" display
- quad-core CPU
- dedicated GPU (higher end model)

If someone doesn't need any of these features...then they can save a lot of cash with a 13" MBP. And if they need more screen real-estate...then they just connect a large external monitor when at a desk.

- Nick

p.s. I happen to have a 17" MacBook Pro. Of course it's an older model since Apple discontinued them in 2011.