What Laptop for Graphic Design

angry12345 · Sep 11, 2014

OK.. I deal with computers a fair amount and built my first gaming rig a few months back which i love. My wife now is starting her first job out of college in graphic design for an internet firm. Her current computer just will not hack it with photoshop and all she needs (not using Lightroom).

Anyways, everyone at her job uses Macs which I expected, but while I respect Mac and know it can certainly do the job, I am not so sure that there are not better alternatives for the money.

What do you all think?

She was thinking a MacAir With Retina 11" Retina Display would be fine, but I am thinking that might not be enough plus the size of screen might be small. 13" I Suppose is only $50 more so no big deal upgrading. I like the price point of course

Obviously her coworkers all love the MacBook Pro with Retina display. 4 gb of ram is $1100 and 8 gb $1350

I was wondering though if these are better options from the Windows World..

Asus N550JK-DS71T - seems to be better to me spec wise than the MacBook Pro in every way besides no SSD, and is less!

http

/www.adorama.com/ASN550JKDS71.html?cvosrc=cse.google.ASN550JKDS71&cvo_cid=38589028051&gclid=CKbjsdqS2sACFcZDMgodhUMAnQ

same with ASUS N56VM-AB71

http

/www.amazon.com/N56VM-AB71-Full-HD-1080P-15-6-Inch-Laptop/dp/B008HDOEG8/ref=cm_cr_pr_product_top

Lenova Thinkpad Yoga 2 13 also looked solid

http

/shop.lenovo.com/us/en/laptops/lenovo/yoga-laptop-series/yoga-laptop-2-13/

as did the Asus Zenbook which seems to blow them all out of water for Mac price..

I would prefer as cheap as possible, but what do you all think is way to go?

drapacioli · Sep 11, 2014

If you're doing a lot of rendering and editing, avoid the ULV processors by intel. These are denoted by a "U" at the end of the processor model. These often feature less cores, lower power, and a lower clock speed than the M, H, MQ, and HQ counterparts. I'm not certain exactly which processor the current Macbook Pros have, but if they don't have the U processors they should be fine. Given the projected battery life though, I expect they have them. A Macbook air is built more for portability and much less for performance, and the SSD storage capacity is abysmal for editing purposes, so I would avoid it. If I had to choose between those models you linked me, I would go with the Asus N500JK, as it has good dedicated graphics, the more powerful processors, and it even has a bonus of dual fans to keep it cool, which is a large factor in high performance mobile computing.

EDIT: Looking at Everymac, it would seem the i7 models of the Macbook Pro have the high-power graphics, but the i5 model and the entry 13" i7 model utilize the U processors. That immediately puts the Macs starting at $2000 for the powerful processors, something you are already getting from the Asus at a much lower price (plus you get nvidia graphics with the Asus, while you're stuck with the Iris Pro graphics otherwise).

Of course, if your wife is not typically doing high-cpu filtering and other tasks that require more power, you can by all means go with the U series processors, just keep in mind that multitasking and rendering performance may take a hit. If she's doing a lot of batch work or high-quality rendering, or working with very large images, then more power and more RAM is better (If you buy apple, you cannot upgrade the RAM after you buy it!)

angry12345 · Sep 12, 2014

I have read for photo editing though the SSD is better.. particulary for Lightroom. The storage space is abysmal though 128 gb. I mean could get external drive to store stuff but then your back to mechanical. Now she is not using lightroom so not as important. I was leaning towards what you said too.

Personally, I have been thinking exactly what you are, but everyone at her company is using Macs and every graphic design marketing department seems to be using Macs so I figure there must be something I am missing. Is there some problem with sharing data possibly? I cannot imagine programs optimized for Macs and NOT Windows.. I can the other way around. I always assume it is just a hipster bias

I mean I use an i5 4670k with a gtx 780i so I am not an Apple guy at all.

drapacioli · Sep 12, 2014

angry12345 :

If you're using the same programs and exporting the same filetypes it shouldn't matter what you have. There are a few Mac exclusives, but Adobe's software is not one of them as far as I'm aware (CC is available for both Mac and PC)

As for the SSD, yes you'll get better performance, but what good is it if you are constantly running out of space while working? You can certainly get an external drive, but that's just more bulk that you have to carry around. If I were going SSD today, I would do 512GB, 256GB at the absolute minimum. Remember an OS installation and over-provisioning to extend SSD life and performance will take away a good third of that 128GB SSD space, if not a little more. Granted, you'll get a nice speedup on the OS-side of things. If you don't mind carrying around a portable hard drive everywhere, then by all means go for the SSD, it's a much faster option. Keep in mind a fast thunderbolt drive will be more expensive than the slower USB ones, and you'd have to add that to your cost (which is already high with a Mac). I'd just hesitate to buy it if you don't want to, or if you plan on upgrading down the line (remember macbooks have almost nothing that's user-serviceable anymore, even storage and RAM are soldered on).

Macs tend to be more popular in graphics design industries because 20-30 years ago they WERE the better option, and companies and universities began using Macs to teach/work. Nowadays it's sort of just a continuing tradition, everyone has been using Apple products, why change now when they still work? It's also a safer, more secure OS (supposedly, I'm not sure how well they would fare if a large-scale virus actually was developed and released against OSX since almost no one uses antivirus with their Macs). There may be one or two applications your wife's department uses that isn't on Windows though, so it is a good idea to check that out. Additionally if the company uses something from Apple like iCloud for sharing, obviously the Apple applications will run better on Macs than PCs because they're fully optimized for OSX.

I'm a PC guy as well, but I've used Macs in school and I've owned a Power Mac G4 MDD (Actually still have it around, but it's probably far too slow to be useful anymore), and an Intel Mac Mini. I can see how the OS appeals to people, but I don't think it's a "better" option by default. That still comes down to specs, applications, and value, which often leads me to PCs.

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