[boriscleto]

For purely processor related tasks the MacBook Pro with 2.7 GHz i7 will have a considerable advantage over the MacBook Air with 1.7 GHz i5. But the MacBook Air with a SSD will have a big advantage over the MacBook Pro with a HDD in disk related tasks. What you have to decide is, are the limitations of the Air worth the pound and a half difference in weight.

[junototoro]

Is Macbook Air good enough for Photoshop/Lightroom or not?

[Ash]

Yes for both. Speed is the only drawback to the Air vs a MacBook Pro or desktop computer.

[junototoro]

Is the slower speed going to interfere with other programs on the computer?

I'm waiting for the new Air to come out in June/July ..

[Ash]

It will though not to the point of being useless.

[jstevewhite]

Is Macbook Air good enough for Photoshop/Lightroom or not?

The only issue you'll run into with the MacBook Air is RAM. The October 2011 model I own is a dual core 1.8Ghz i7. This is the mobile low power version, and 1.8Ghz is "nominal speed"; it will increase clock speed on demand up to 2.6Ghz in multi-core operation, and 2.9Ghz in single-core operation. Oh, this *will* make the fans kick on... just a warning

Because of the high-speed SSD, the Photoshop performance (and actually, the total performance "feel" of the machine itself) is MUCH faster than you'd expect considering the numbers. With most high-res images and memory constrained machines (mac or windows), the photoshop performance limiter is the speed of the scratch disk. In this case, it's MUCH FASTER than any spinning drive available. In sequences that require photoshop to hit the scratch disk, my "1.8Ghz" Macbook Air was FASTER than my "2.8Ghz" Macbook Pro, even though the Macbook pro had 8Gb of RAM and 2.8Ghz processors. Then I put an SSD in the Macbook Pro, and it's faster - but only about 10-12% faster. There's virtually no difference in Lightroom performance between ANY of my three macs: A 2011 Macbook Air, an early 2011 Macbook Pro, and my ca 2008 quad core 3Ghz (Xeon) Mac Pro with 16GB RAM. The Mac Pro still stomps the other two in Photoshop performance, however.

There's about 8% difference between the Macbook Air i7(1.8Ghz) and the Macbook Air i5 (1.6/1.7Ghz).

I find it amusing when I meet people with Toshibas made 3 years ago who suggest that my Macbook air doesn't have the "oomph" necessary to run Photoshop or Lightroom (or other processor) - since the 2011 Macbook Air will outperform nearly every laptop available at that time, including several machines purchased by friends in 2011. Computer performance is ALWAYS mercurial. If you sit down at any two year old laptop and find its performance acceptable, then the new Macbook Air will probably exceed your requirements.

It's worth noting that the current MBA uses Intel's integrated graphics solution. If you play 3d games a lot, this might matter. I've found absolutely no difference in use performance Lightroom between my Mac Pro (ATI HD 5880) and my MBA (GMA3000 or something). Both are lighting fast. The 'abysmal' performance of Intel's integrated video solution is only 'abysmal' compared to much more expensive current discrete chips. It's comparable, again, to last year's nvidia integrated solution, just not *this year's*

You're already looking at Macs, so I won't belabor you with the discussion of the superiority of the MBA display or the Unix-based Mac OSX operating system

And, it runs Windows 7 like mad, too

[jstevewhite]

Is the slower speed going to interfere with other programs on the computer?

I'm waiting for the new Air to come out in June/July ..

The only place you'll *really* notice it is if you play a lot of 3D action games. It will do fine with even most of those, but the newest, hottest ones will be a slide show - they're written for much higher performance 3d rendering systems.

You'll discover a lot of other software "feels" faster on the MBA (macbook air) because of the SSD. You click the Safari icon, it bounces once and Safari's up - much faster than any spinning-drive based machine, regardless of clock speed.

You'll need to develop the habit of closing unused apps, though, because you can only get 4GB RAM max...

[jstevewhite]

Yes for both. Speed is the only drawback to the Air vs a MacBook Pro or desktop computer.

Actually, there's not a lot of difference in actual experienced speed. The CPUs scale up their clock when you place demand on them, and the SSD is fast,fast,fast. RAM is the main problem you'll find. Or at least, the only problem *I* find I've had to start closing programs when I'm not using them. But since they start up so fast on the MBA, that's not too bad a problem to have.

[Ash]

Agreed, RAM makes a huge difference, which is why I like to suggest upgrading the RAM in computers upon purchase to the highest amount affordable...

[junototoro]

Is 4GB the highest amount affordable in MBA?

jstevewhite: Yes of course I'm looking at Macs, because I've owned a late 2006 Macbook for more than 5 years... And it's getting too slow

I don't play computer games...

[boriscleto]

Is 4GB the highest amount affordable in MBA?

4GB is the maximum amount of RAM period. If you need more than 4GB you have to get the MacBook Pro. Only the low-end 11" comes with 2GB as a base. In the US you get 4GB and double the storage for $200 more. I don't know about Australia.

[Eflytyer]

I own a lot of Apple stuff. It what it doesn't have is what I call PC crap. It is easy to use. Basically, if Apple doesn't make it I I don't need it. Photoshop was developed for the Mac as was most of desktop publishing. It is a lot like the difference between Nikon/Cannon and Pentax. You can do anything on Macs that you can do on PC. Mike

[junototoro]

New MacBooks out... I'm thinking of getting a regular MacBook Pro 13" with 8GB Ram... One of my friends said Macbook Air 13" would be better... Any opinions on this?

[Medium FormatPro]

You can do anything on Macs that you can do on PC. Mike

Except I have an Origin laptop that has a six core; or 6 x the almost 4.0ghz clock speed. All of my computers; both Macs, PC's, even Linux - are all tri boot. But I sincerely regret two things about any Mac product... Most do not allow for user interchangeable (or also hot swap) batteries. Most Mac mobile products are terrible when it comes to real battery life in the field, and almost have to be (power) tethered - so what's the point in actually having a mobile system?? Second issue - the lack of availability of intermediate to higher speed/task computing.

As for the last posted question... I'm not sure if I would purchase any computer without the 8gb or ram. Take a look at how programs such as CS6 (and many others) task a computer. Also because ram is one of the least costliest upgrades. Also better to have too much ram than not enough.

[junototoro]

The new MacBook air does come with a 8G RAM option, but that makes it more expensive than the same size MacBook Pro