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 Post subject: New MacBooks = Sweet
Unread postPosted: Wed Jun 20, 2012 12:57 pm 
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So perhaps you've heard, Apple on June 11th basically refreshed the entire laptop line... :)

As some of you know, I've been keeping an eye on the MacBook Air line, specifically the 13" for travel. I already had an older MacBook Pro 17" which is to die for, but let's get serious - dragging this thing around the world on travel is less than optimal because of its size and weight. So then I picked up an iPad. Much better! It does most of what I need, which is to keep in touch through email, backup photos and of course, browse La Vida Leica. But the lack of RAW/DNG processing and the tiny JPEG previews in the DNG files means it's less than ideal. Well, this refresh was just the ticket!

I picked up a spanky-new MBA 13" last week and splashed out for the fastest CPUs (2x2GHz i7) and maximum RAM of 8GB since you can't really upgrade them down the line and to protect the investment for as long as possible. As with all of my Apple laptops thus far, I expect a 4-5 year lifespan at a minimum.

Yesterday I finally got around to installing all the must-have software; Lightroom and Aperture, Photoshop, etc. I was immediately floored by how FAST things installed, let alone launched... Holy cow! The new CPUs, memory bandwidth and seriously faster SSDs in the new laptops are something else:

The CPUs represent a 15-20% speed increase, the SSDs 217% - over previous models!

I haven't actually had a chance to do any post-processing or even backing up, selecting or otherwise manipulating photos yet... It should prove to be interesting on several fronts. For one, I'm used to a biiiig screen w/1920x1200 resolution; though the Air isn't that far behind at 1440x900. Screen real estate is less, but still usable. I don't think I'd be happy at all with the 11" model, as much as I wanted to like it. Size and weight-wise, yes - but screen size and resolution? No way. Another perk of the 13" is the integrated SD card slot! One less cable (and/or reader) I need to drag around.

So far, I definitely give the MacBook Air 13" a thumbs up as a svelte, speedy lil' travel solution! Truth be told, I'm in love with it already.

I'm trying very hard to ignore the new MacBook Pro 15" w/Retina Display! With a 2880x1800 resolution it must be INSANE for photo dorks like us. :p

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 Post subject: Re: New MacBooks = Sweet
Unread postPosted: Sat Jun 23, 2012 9:30 am 
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An interesting set of benchmarks on Bare Feats shows just how the various MacBooks fare in a Photoshop test. Not surprisingly, the Mac Pro kicks ass, while the MacBook Pros put in a very good showing. The Airs (both last years and this years) lag behind. Again, not surprising. But benchmarks aren't everything.

If you need an absolutely light, small travel notebook you still can't beat the Air. Though if your primary focus is a portable Photoshop workstation, the MacBook Pros are the way to go.

I have to say, as an owner of a MacBook Pro 17" I'm a little sad to see it go. There's a chance they'll reintroduce it down the line, but I think that's going to be a long wait, if ever. Especially now with the resolution of the 15" Retina. The behind-the-scenes scaling of the displays was the right way to go, but I'd appreciate it if Apple didn't hide the true resolution from us, forcing us to use SwitchResX to obtain it. Sometimes screen real estate is key.

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 Post subject: Re: New MacBooks = Sweet
Unread postPosted: Sat Jun 23, 2012 5:18 pm 
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I was lucky to get the 17" last year with an i7 core and matte screen. It's a beast, but its my beast :D

If I get an M9 or other digital camera to travel with I might consider one of the new 13" pros to go with it, but for now I'm happy with the beast and iPad

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 Post subject: Re: New MacBooks = Sweet
Unread postPosted: Sat Jun 23, 2012 9:01 pm 
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Ahh, sweet. It is a beast, but it's a nice one. :)

I really have no desire to replace mine either, though I'll probably throw in an SSD. It's over four years old, but it's still in mint condition, still gets my tasks done quickly and without issue. I'm still happy.

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 Post subject: Re: New MacBooks = Sweet
Unread postPosted: Mon Jun 25, 2012 12:03 am 
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The current air's etc are nice, but have to say that retina-beastie is all the rage. My 13" MBP is a year away from being replaced. When that time comes, it's going to be a tough choice.

I'm hoping that by that time we'll see 13" retina pro or air. A 13" retina pro would be the one for me should it arrive, that's for sure. Looking at the low profile of the 15" retina, similar construction on 13" wouldn't leave it far away from the 13" air in portability...

Luckily it's a work laptop, so I know for sure I'm getting a new one come autumn 2013 :-)
The current one is mid-2010 model with 1280 resolution and have to say it's starting to feel dated.. mostly because of the screen resolution.

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 Post subject: Re: New MacBooks = Sweet
Unread postPosted: Mon Jun 25, 2012 1:02 am 
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I too am drooling over the new 15" Retina display as I'm still using a 5 year old 15" MacBook Pro. I've already upgraded the hard drive to a bigger one. But I began running out of space of that one too. So I changed my Aperture work flow and only have my current year photos on my internal drive and carry an external 750 gig drive with my entire library.

I used the Aperture merge feature to sync my current library with the master and then when I'm home I clone the external portable drive to a 1 TB drive.

I too am looking at putting a 120 gig SSD drive in place of my 320 gig and then removing my DVD drive and putting my larger portable drive in their with a third party adapter.

All to improve the speed and get another year or so out of my current machine.

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 Post subject: Re: New MacBooks = Sweet
Unread postPosted: Mon Jun 25, 2012 12:09 pm 
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I've got an early 13 " MBA which I recently upgraded with an SSD from OWC, made a real difference. As I only tend to use it for travel it will last me another year.

I dream of the new retina display MBP, but at the moment it's a Lottery win away :mrgreen:

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 Post subject: Re: New MacBooks = Sweet
Unread postPosted: Mon Jun 25, 2012 12:15 pm 
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Well, the rumor is that a new MacBook Pro 13" w/Retina will be out in the fall...

I'm actually thinking of an OWC SSD for my 17" too. That should get me another year or two out of it easily.

Ironic, since the new rMBP 15 and even the Airs are now essentially unserviceable by the end user... Putting an end to all our tinkering.

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