sam_the_killer, on Jul 8 2006, 03:08 PM, said:
my suggestion is that u must go for a MacBook Pro coz it is a heavyweight machine as compared to the macbook,
which is restricted only to some simple graphics apps..
but it costs more money anywayz and in longer run it will give better returns coz it has a decent Graphics Card..
That is absolutely false. The Macbook will handle most of what you throw at it. Imaging (2d) apps dont even make much use of the GFX card, and pass instructions to the processor. And the Core Duo is a CPU which can handle all Adobe products, as well as pretty much all video editing software. When doing 3D work, things are a little different. The GMA900 and 950 are buil to work in unison with their appropriate chipsets and processors. So the speed of the chip will be heavily impacted by the peed of the CPU. That said, the laptop would have a little harder time doing 3D imaging when relying on the GMA. It, however, is smart enough to let the processor step in and work extra to do it's job. Conclusion: you will still be able to use 3D imaging programs and 3D layout applications. Light gaming will also not be an issue. The worse that would happen would be the games would have to be played at a lower resolutions, or with less details like drop-shadows. But for the games you want to use it for that won't be an issue at all. My GMA900 laptop has been used for the entire GTA series, the Sims games, and I have never encountered any problems. I never even had to change any settings related to the performance of the game. All I had to worry about was the gameplay. And again, i use autocad without any hicouphs.
That said, you should have no problems with the macbook performance wise or spec wise. Also, it has an amazing battery life. The Macbook pro is therefor crossed out.
Now the thing to look at is the size. Honestly, the 13.3 inch widescreen is a lot bigger than most people think it is. It cannot be compared to the 12 inchers of the last generation of G4 notebooks. It is a lot bigger, but still extremely compact. To get an idea of how big the screen really seems, i have noticed it to be on-par with the 14-inch iBook. It really isn't far from the 15" widescreens, and the high resolution of 1280 x 800 makes it a joy to look at. In fact, this resolution (the same as my big 15" laptop!) really means you have a workspace much larger than you would think. I really don't think the screen size is an issue, and the graphics card is good enough for everything but super-high end gaming.
So do yourself a favor and go for the macbook. Just make sure to get at least 1 GB of ram. That way, not only will the whole system feel a lot faster, but the GMA will be a lot happier with the system memory.
ONE WARNING: I recommend you get 2 gigs of ram. Or 1.5, whichever you can afford, really. This is for a simple reson: the GMA will be much, much, much faster when it has one stick for itself. Otherwise, you system will bottleneck because both VRAM and system RAM are going to the same place, and this is too much for the system to handle. The reason why you should get at least 1.5 gigs is because it's a lot easier to simply get the ram at purchase. Otherwise, you'll likely run into RAM that you won't have a computer for. Basically, DO NOT GET ONE STICK OF 1GB. Your system will hate it, and you'll kick yourself for it later.
-Urby
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