New Apple Macbook or Macbook Air for photography?

[regandarcy]

Plan on getting the 40D in January to use on an extensive travel around asia. I also want a new laptop too.

I am an Apple Head, so it's between the new macbook and the updated macbook Air.

I was previously against the macbook air before because it only came with an 80gig HD. Now it has a 120 gig HD which is still small, but alot better. The graphics chip was updated to. It now shares the 5x speedier one from Nvidia same as the new Macbooks.

The macbook comes with a MUCH bigger hard drive which would be better for photo storage. But they did away with the firewire port so all transferring of files would have to be with USB 2.

Any Apple using Canonites out there who can give an opinion on either the Air or Macbook as a photographer's tool on the road?

Thanks.

[jrdbrn]

The Air will have faster data retreival with the SSD. I had an Apple Macbook but sold it ;) So I really dont know much more than that.

[Vascilli]

The Air is a huge rip. One USB port is a problem, battery is also a problem, but the updated one is better than the old one by quite a margin.

Get the Macbook, (Glossy display may be an issue) or try (gasp) a Lenovo X200 or X300.

[zod]

Personally, I wouldn't get a MacBook Air for photo work. I have a pretty new black macbook with 2ghz processor and 2 gig of ram and doing some work on CS3 or running CS3/lightroom and web stuff can slow down my machine a bit. The Air is designed to be an outlet to access your main stuff, and at 1.6ghz processor, won't be able to keep up with newer file sizes, raw image processing and what not at the rate that you could get with a macbook.

IMO, in your situation, I would get a MacBook and set it up with basic photo editing/publishing software like photoshop, lightroom/aperture, some sort of html editor and an ftp program, then leave the rest of the space for file storage. I would use the FTP to save images offsite so that if something happens to your computer, you can have them saved in a back up location.

[twofruitz]

The Air is a huge rip. One USB port is a problem, battery is also a problem, but the updated one is better than the old one by quite a margin.

Get the Macbook, (Glossy display may be an issue) or try (gasp) a Lenovo X200 or X300.


I was under the impression the old Mac Air had 5 hours battery life :S????


Also, buy a PC!

[regandarcy]

Good advice all.

I think down the road, when the technology is there to give the Air a HUGE fast HD and a cool fast processor....then I'd jump at it.

But until then, I agree, the macbook seems the better fit right now.

Hey Zod...do u use firewire or usb to transfer your files? Just curious. Because thats the only thing lacking in the new macbooks, a firewire port. It's probably more of an issue for videographers than photographers...but still...

[basroil]

I was under the impression the old Mac Air had 5 hours battery life :S????


Also, buy a PC!

Wrong impression. For photo purposes, a macbook (air, regular, pro) will last about an hour, hour and a half tops. Even my dell m1210 will only get me about 3 hours using the larger battery for photo stuff (considering it's as powerful as a macbook pro in a macbook body, not too shabby).

If you will be traveling around a lot and need storage dump, I would suggest going with an Epson P series media storage unit or similar thing. Lets you view RAW images and comes in capacities from 20 (p2000) to i think 160 for the newest.

If you want a laptop to store stuff on and edit with, I'd suggest going with everyone but apple. You can get the same 2gh, 2 gb ram, 120gb disk setup for 300 less, and get swapable batteries (which air does not have, and i was lead to believe the macbook as well since a big thing at the release was something about user replacable batteries) and if you do a bit of tweaking, you can put osx in there if the operating system is your issue. And just about every other company that sells 12-14" laptops also lets you put in the new 500gb hdds or even 240gb SSDs. Bit more than 120gb, and should last you a couple dozen months unless you really go all out.

[Vascilli]

I was under the impression the old Mac Air had 5 hours battery life :S????


Also, buy a PC!
Nope, my friend had one and it would do 3 hours of light use. And regardless, you can't change it.

Buying a PC.. yeah I'd generally say that's the better option provided you get a good model from a good brand. Lenovo for example puts more into their practicality.. they're strong and to the point. Plus there's no such thing as a 12" tablet Mac. (Unfortunately)

PS this is coming from someone who's used XP, Vista, Tiger, Leopard, and Ubuntu.

[xarqi]

USB 2 is faster than firewire 400, isn't it?

[themirage]

I was faced with this question awhile back and the solution was a custom order from apple. I oredered a 17" MacBook Pro with a High Resolution Matte Screen so I could see my images better. 1920x1200 is the upgrade from the stock 1600x1200. Images look much sharper.

Also FYI, you can calibrate a laptop monitor screen but it won't be 100% accurate since the angle you have the screen will effect the image appearance. That goes for all laptops.

[twofruitz]

USB 2 is faster than firewire 400, isn't it?


Yep, Firewire800 has an advantage.

[Vascilli]

USB 2 is faster than firewire 400, isn't it?
In theory. USB has max 480Mbps and Firewire has 400Mbps (Hence the name) but in real use Firewire has faster average transfer speeds. That's why it's popular for video I imagine. (USB spikes too much I suppose)

[René Damkot]

Because thats the only thing lacking in the new macbooks, a firewire port.

Last I checked, the Air didn't have one either...

USB 2 is faster than firewire 400, isn't it?

In theory maybe. In fact: No.

[regandarcy]

With all due respect Basroil, it seems I am as biased FOR Apple as you are AGAINST.

I am not a mere Apple fan boy. I was a die hard Apple head back in the early 90s when they had ZERO love from the mainstream.

So there is no way in hell I'd ever go PC. Sorry. EVERYTHING i do is on the mac, and I will never be swayed to the dark side. Lol.

But thats me. :-)

[TheGreatDivorce]

get one of the previous gen MBP's. Glossy screens aren't good for editing, for a variety of reasons. i love the MBA's, but they aren't really editing machines, although they could probably be used as one, just not as efficiently as an MBP.

[Tony-S]

Plan on getting the 40D in January to use on an extensive travel around asia. I also want a new laptop too.

I am an Apple Head, so it's between the new macbook and the updated macbook Air.

I was previously against the macbook air before because it only came with an 80gig HD.

This is pretty easy decision, IYAM. The MBP is not good because it doesn't travel well (I have one, and carrying in on an airplane or in a pack is a pain). For the cost of an Air, you could buy the MacBook and a new 500 gb Samsung hard drive ($190) and swap it out. Easy job - only takes a screwdriver and five minutes. After that, just reinstall the OS from the Installer DVD. Quite a machine for photo work.

[Steve Beck]

I love my Air. I used it as a wedding 2 weeks ago and it ran quietly in the back fo the church for 5 hours while i shot the wedding sending files to it.... Edited 3000 pictures on it using PS and LR i nthe hotel that night. Never skipped a beat...

[zod]

I use firewire and USB 2.0

As was noted, firewire is more dependable, but USB works well. I would agree with the high res macbook pro idea. That's what I'll be grabbing soon.

[tbisaacs]

I have a revision C macbook pro and a mac pro at home- I use the macbook pro nearly 90% of the time now (I keep a copy of my aperture library on a LaCie rugged FireWire 800 drive and sync when needed).

The Macbook Air is a nice machine, but there are a lot of compromises made for portability. In my opinion, the 15" macbook pro is nearly the perfect form factor, and is a power house (mine is loaded with 4GB ram, 7200rpm hard drive).

[bps]

With all due respect Basroil, it seems I am as biased FOR Apple as you are AGAINST.

I am not a mere Apple fan boy. I was a die hard Apple head back in the early 90s when they had ZERO love from the mainstream.

So there is no way in hell I'd ever go PC. Sorry. EVERYTHING i do is on the mac, and I will never be swayed to the dark side. Lol.

But thats me. :-)

I'm with you! Once I crossed over to Apple, there is no way that I could ever go back...

Bryan

[MaxxuM]

The early 08 MacBook Pro's are going for some good prices right now + add an extra battery. As far as battery life goes, you'll have to lower the screen brightness by almost half to get good usage time. LED screens are much brighter so lowering them down is a non-issue - however, just remember to calibrate at the same brightness for on/off power. I'm a Mac person too for photos so I sympathies. It's funny, even when someone makes it clear they are a Mac person people still want to recommend a PC.... *sigh*

[low note lee]

I reckon if it's gonna be your primary computer, a MacBook is the way to go. They are noticeably faster, you can fill it up with 4GB of RAM, and you can put a much larger HDD in them.

If you had a Mac Pro or an iMac at home, then I'd recommend a MacBook Air.

[Faolan]

If you're looking at a MB Air then consider this:

http://www.engadget.com/2008/06/10/x300-vs-envy-133-vs-macbook-air-fight/

http://laptopcom.blogspot.com/2008/06/hps-voodoo-envy-133-vs-macbook-air-vs.html

;)

RE: USB 2 Vs Firewire 400. The stated speeds of USB 2 is faster, but in real life the throughput of a Firewire 400 is usually faster.

http://www.lyberty.com/tech/terms/usb.html
http://www.usb-ware.com/firewire-vs-usb.htm

At the end of the day choose the format you're going to be using the most and also consider compatibility. Personally I prefer Firewire 400/800 over USB and I'm a PC user... Long term e-SATA will take over the external HDs as interface of choice.