[noahpurdy]

i don't know if you've considered a bluray drive.
if you're planning on using the laptop for 4-5 years, its good to consider a writable bluray drive with hdmi output. does mac come with a bluray drive yet?

The ONLY reason I'd consider a computer with a BluRay drive is if I was using it as a home theatre PC hooked up to a big-ass screen.

I hate to break it to you but BluRay is NOT the next step in the CD-R -> DVD-R chain. Solid state memory is.

[Edvinas]

I'm on the market to buy new laptop with capability of editing photos, any idea what will be the best and what specification should I look for?
I’m trying or rather have tendency to go new way , the Macbook pro way,
example i7 17” antiglare screen (aperture3 and all that ;-)
Thanks for any suggestion ?

Unfortunately MacBook Pros, as most of other laptops, have poor screen. Yes, you can get antiglare, but it is still crappy TN screen.

Treat yourself and get HP EliteBook with DreamColor IPS screen. That will be good for photo editing.

[boriscleto]

The Macbook Pro screen is color accurate and as good as any laptop display for editing photos. Just make sure you opt for the matte display.

Rob Galbraith DPI: Revamped MacBook Pro line delivers top-notch display quality

Apple is really taking the mind share of younger users. Of the 87% of first year college students looking to buy a new laptop, 47% are getting some form of Macbook. Only 12% are getting a Dell and 11% a HP.

Nearly half of student notebook buyers choosing Macs | Electronista

[Gregs]

OK!!! …… so eventually I have made my mind and made decision and give my self a STAR …. and …and ... and now it is to late to change my mind as I paid for it .

I had now idea how passionate discussion about laptop or operating system can be.

Now I’m bit concerned that some of you will be disappointed because I didn’t follow your advice, well….. I have news for you !!!

next time I will buy what you suggest but I hope it won’t be for long long time :-)

and now I just hope that you will be happy for me and say something nice like for example :

good on ya, mate! ;-) ..... I’m sure will serve you well after all it is top machine and so many other people loves it.

I know you can’t wait to find out and asking yourself what the hell he bought …. :-)
well ......it is…….

Macbook Pro. 2.66 GHz Intel Core i7

Spec. as follow:

4 GB 1066MHZ DDR3 SDRM 2X2GB upgradeable to 8GB

500GB hard drive ATA @5400

Optical Super Drive 8XDL

Display MBP HD 17” HR Antiglare WS Display

how much??? - $2806 & 10 cent, all in aus doll + free delivery, direct from Apple Australia

Now I even have bit of leftovers to spend hopefully on a good second screen and/or maybe will put some money towards SSD ??? ( again sorry Adam I know your opinion about SSD )



Once again I would like to thanks everyone for all suggestions, it did help me a lot

Have top day

Sincerely Greg

---

Last edited by Gregs; 08-10-2010 at 07:40 AM. Reason: mistake

[Edvinas]

The Macbook Pro screen is color accurate and as good as any laptop display for editing photos. Just make sure you opt for the matte display.

Rob Galbraith DPI: Revamped MacBook Pro line delivers top-notch display quality

Your statemenst are misleading. It is as good as any other laptop with TN screen. However there are a few laptops with IPS screens. And those laptops beat MacBook Pro.

[hangu]

The Macbook Pro screen is color accurate and as good as any laptop display for editing photos. Just make sure you opt for the matte display.

Rob Galbraith DPI: Revamped MacBook Pro line delivers top-notch display quality

Apple is really taking the mind share of younger users. Of the 87% of first year college students looking to buy a new laptop, 47% are getting some form of Macbook. Only 12% are getting a Dell and 11% a HP.
[/url]

I don't think any TN monitors are color accurate, especially when viewed at a slight angle. Once you've tried an IPS monitor, you really can't go back.

The data on Apple's market share among 18 year old college students is absolutely pointless. Some pimply 18 year olds buying their first laptop with daddy's money to take notes in English 101 lends no cachet in the photo community.

OK!!! …… so eventually I have made my mind and made decision and give my self a …. and …and ... and now it is to late to change my mind as I paid for it .
Sincerely Greg

I think you're grossly overestimating how much we care about what you do with your money.

Go with the mac. If it has to be a laptop, then sure, go for the macbook pro. By far the best bang for your buck, especially when doing production work, is with a desktop, though. If you want reliability and stability first and foremost, go with the mac. Windows can't give you that

I don't even know where to begin... but I'll take a wild stab at this.

You know that scene in Jurassic Park when one of the main protagonists is forced to dig into a GIANT mound of dinosaur poo with his/her BARE HANDS because of some scientific endeavor? It actually happened exactly once in each of the three movies in the trilogy. It was gross and at the same time hilarious because the director was so obviously and thoroughly enjoying the potty humor. Like by the end, you KNEW it was in no way a coincidence that all 3 movies had it.

There is even a youtube video featuring it here (warning S-word):

youtube.com/watch?v=-JFfN5pKzFU

The last two comments in there is also quite ironic.

Well, that's just plain and simple horsehockey.

Finally, some sense in this thread.

[Gregs]

The data on Apple's market share among 18 year old college students is absolutely pointless. Some pimply 18 year olds buying their first laptop with daddy's money to take notes in English 101 lends no cachet in the photo community.



I think you're grossly overestimating how much we care about what you do with your money.


The last two comments in there is also quite ironic.



.

You should lightened up a bit, maybe live NYC for a while, come down under and have beer or two

[boriscleto]

You could also argue that any LCD, even an IPS, is inferior to any CRT and therefore no laptop should ever be used for photo editing unless it is driving an external monitor.

[Gregs]

You could also argue that any LCD, even an IPS, is inferior to any CRT and therefore no laptop should ever be used for photo editing unless it is driving an external monitor.

Which external monitor (model brand) in your opinion will be the best to use with Mac pro or any another laptop?
cheers

[boriscleto]

Which external monitor (model brand) in your opinion will be the best to use with Mac pro or any another laptop?
cheers

I wouldn't bother, the Macbook Pro lcd is an 8-bit display. It is capable of displaying far more colors than your eyes can see.

[clark]

i think you're all overexagerting the importance of colour calibration

yes you don't want your apples looking blue, but if it's 90% accurate then it doesn't matter if your colours are slightly off- who cares, it's not like you're designing something to be printed 500,000 times with exact pantone numbers

as soon as you're photo is on the web any colour control you had becomes useless anyway


and a 'colour accurate' photo is not automatically a good one




good job for buying a macbook pro, the free genius bar (assuming you don't live out in the sticks) is worth it's weight in gold

[hangu]

You should lightened up a bit, maybe live NYC for a while, come down under and have beer or two

I just find it funny that you act as if we're waiting with baited breaths to see which brand of laptop you bought. It's really not that big of a deal. It's a matter of personal preference and you have happy campers on both sides of the spectrum.

You could also argue that any LCD, even an IPS, is inferior to any CRT and therefore no laptop should ever be used for photo editing unless it is driving an external monitor.

An IPS is not inferior to just any CRT. Few CRTs are on par with a good IPS monitor and very few are better.

I have no clue how you arrived to the conclusion that "no laptop should ever be used for photo editing" based on our assertions that Apple TN monitors are inferior to true IPS laptop screens. Quite a leap in logic there, don't you think?

i think you're all overexagerting the importance of colour calibration

yes you don't want your apples looking blue, but if it's 90% accurate then it doesn't matter if your colours are slightly off- who cares, it's not like you're designing something to be printed 500,000 times with exact pantone numbers

as soon as you're photo is on the web any colour control you had becomes useless anyway

and a 'colour accurate' photo is not automatically a good one

You're so right. Who cares if my photos are printed/shown a stop darker or with 10% higher contrast than it's supposed to have. I mean it's not like the human eyes can tell the difference.

Which external monitor (model brand) in your opinion will be the best to use with Mac pro or any another laptop?
cheers

Not sure about the offerings outside of the US, but Dell surprisingly makes several very nice budget IPS monitors.

[Adam]

The bottom line.
Sorry, I've had a long day

[SPB]

Greg,

Don't forget also that anything you learnt on Ubuntu is not lost. mySQL will run nicely on the Mac in the Terminal or using mySQL Administrator.

Also all those useful commands like ls, df, awk etc will work just fine in the Terminal.

The Mac is VERY stable. I have not had one crash since I started with Mac's in 5 years, maybe more now.

So for me it is a no-brainer, go for the Macbook Pro and never look back.


Stephen

I’m changing from 5 years old laptop with XP and Linux (I have bit of experience with Linux-Ubuntu)
I know that whatever I change too is going to be new learning experience for me.
The most imported think for me is
1) stable OS, ( still going to play with Linux ;-)
2) enough power-speed to ran effortlessly software like Photoshop, Aperture or similar ( no games)
3) Best possible screen HD (antiglare???) ( perhaps later another screen )
4) Upgradeable so I won’t need to change after year or two.
5) And very important!!! Reliable

Greg

[boriscleto]

Just about anything available in Linux is also available for Mac OS X. Check out MacPorts.

The MacPorts Project -- Home

There are also precompiled binaries of apps like GIMP, Inkwell, and Hugin.