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15″ or 17″ MBP
Hi, I am trying to decide on whether I should purchase the new 15″ or 17″ Macbook Pro to use as a portable editing studio. I will run the following software on it: Final Cut Suite, Photoshop, Illustrator, and Kinemac. Will the extra 40gb give me any advantage (With both models I will be using an external HD to store source video footage)? Does the bigger screen make that much of a difference when editing video or is the 15″ good enough? I would rather get the 15″ because I am on the road a lot but if the 17″ is that much better then I would be willing to schlepp it around.
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6 Replies
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I have no personal experience with this myself, BUT, I was standing in an LA store that sells a lot of Macs to the industry and overheard the manager and a sales person talking about which model should be in the displays – and I quote “Nobody buys the 17s, they’re just too big to travel with”. I would imagine they have their finger on the pulse. Personally, I could use the larger screen to help organize bins and files but i do hate schlepping equipment (cameraman for 10 years). Congrats on the pending purchase and Kind Regards, Chris K.
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17″
We have owned both the 15″ and now a 17″. I never understood the traveling = smaller screen paradigm (unless you want to opt for the MacBook). The 17″ goes in the same case we had for the 15″. Hardly takes up any more noticeable room than the 15″… the 17″ is 1.3 inches physically wider than the 15″. But the extra screen real estate is well worth it.
Mike
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I would say go with the 17, especially since they upgraded the resolution, if you think about it you are really carrying around a 20 inch screen in a 17 inch case when it comes to resolution. I have a 2 year old 17 inch powerbook which was used as a desktop replacement for a while, but has now turned into a portable option as I have recently purchased a Mac Pro desktop for home. My powerbook lacks the upped resolution of the new MBP’s but the larger screen area, compared to the 15, especially when working in FCP for example is great to have, though whenever I could I would run a dual monitor set-up with the DVI port from the powerbook. Trying to work in FCP on a small screen is very frustrating. While you will be a happy camper with either one, I think the overall experience will be better with the 17.
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Not only will the extra screen room be welcome, as far as your drive question, at least for photoshop, it wil be nice to have lots of “scratch disk” room. Not everything is done in ram, even if you have a lot of it.
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Great. Thanks for the advice. I guess i will go with the 17″
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I would stay away from the 200 gig HD for the macbook pro, it runs at a slower RPM, and for photoshop and if you do any video you want atleast the 7200 rpm. If you are worried about space, get an external that runs firewire 800.
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