Thinking of upgrading my setup...MacBook Pro or MacBook air...?

StormyStudioStormyStudio United KingdomMember Posts: 3,989
edited November -1 in Working with GS (Mac)
Ok so my macbook (white version) is now 3 and a bit years old, its served me well...and technically still does everything I need. Runs snow leopard, has 4gb or ram... But I'd like something a bit newer/flashier/faster.

Which system would you recommend buying for use with GameSalad specifically Including the programs that you use with it, illustrator, photoshop, after effects.

I've heard great things about the performance of the higher end MacBook Airs and they look gorgeous. Plus the SSD drives sound very tempting. They're quite a bit cheaper than a 15" Macbook Pro...Has anyone got one, how well does it run GameSalad, how long before you have to restart GameSalad. I love the fact it boots up almost instantly (not that I ever actually turn my one off).

But then a macbook pro (the new ones) obviously have faster chips, and the new thunderbolt socket for transferring files for backup etc (future proof)...and I guess I could go for the 15" model and have a bigger display for making ipad games. (I would'nt be up for paying the extra for a SSD drive). Also since video editing/animation is my day job it might have other uses outside of GameSalad...

What do you reckon?

Comments

  • StusAppsStusApps Member, PRO Posts: 1,352
    Personally I think the 13" air is a better proposition than the 13" pro now. Higher res screen, ssd, lighter, Nvidia graphics. That 1280x800 on the pro is a real deal breaker, the intel graphics while faster is still not great. The i5 processor is good but unneccessary for gamesalad and Photoshop. Only consideration is ram, 4gb is ok in the air but is an optionable upgrade.

    However the 15 is a large amount better. The hi res option makes iPad game making just about possible, specs are amazing as well. Depends on budget.
  • StusAppsStusApps Member, PRO Posts: 1,352
    Forgot to say I have an 11 inch MBA and a 15 inch i7(dual core). One option for the 15inch is a seagate momentus xt drive, it's a hybrid sad and hdd and is also very cheap. I have one in my 15 and it really is a lot faster than a standard 7200 drive.
  • calvin9403calvin9403 Member Posts: 3,186
    I vote for MBP
    but if you are rich, buy a MP
  • POMPOM Member Posts: 2,599
    @stormystudio
    i vote for the mbp! but thats because im about to buy one too!
    i never worked on the air so i cant compaire experiences,

    by the way..
    im buying the 15" new mbp , i can choose to upgrade ram to 8gb or HDD to 7200 rpm , but not both , which one should i choose? (for better performance)

    Roy.
  • StusAppsStusApps Member, PRO Posts: 1,352
    p-o-m said:
    @stormystudio
    i vote for the mbp! but thats because im about to buy one too!
    i never worked on the air so i cant compaire experiences,

    by the way..
    im buying the 15" new mbp , i can choose to upgrade ram to 8gb or HDD to 7200 rpm , but not both , which one should i choose? (for better performance)

    Roy.

    doubtful you'll need 8gb ram for anything other than having 8gb ram. 5400rpm drive is the real bottle neck on a machine like this.
  • StormyStudioStormyStudio United KingdomMember Posts: 3,989
    p-o-m said:
    @stormystudio
    i vote for the mbp! but thats because im about to buy one too!
    i never worked on the air so i cant compaire experiences,

    by the way..
    im buying the 15" new mbp , i can choose to upgrade ram to 8gb or HDD to 7200 rpm , but not both , which one should i choose? (for better performance)

    Roy.

    Get the faster hardrive, you can always easily upgrade the ram and cheaper from a site like crucial memory...
  • StormyStudioStormyStudio United KingdomMember Posts: 3,989
    calvin9403 said:
    I vote for MBP
    but if you are rich, buy a MP

    :-) I use a MacPro at work, it is great....
  • StormyStudioStormyStudio United KingdomMember Posts: 3,989
    calvin9403 said:
    I vote for MBP
    but if you are rich, buy a MP

    :-) I use a MacPro at work, it's great but I'm so used to having a laptop for myself now that being tied to a desk all the time wouldn't appeal....I generally work on GS where ever I am, at work at lunch, in the kitchen, lounge, bed, train etc...

    @StusApps....I do like the idea of the seagate momentus xt drive. Just googled them...not very expensive either. Are they easy to fit?
  • StusAppsStusApps Member, PRO Posts: 1,352
    stormystudio said:
    @StusApps....I do like the idea of the seagate momentus xt drive. Just googled them...not very expensive either. Are they easy to fit?

    Very easy. Just the screws on the bottom and then a couple of screws in the HDD carriage. Pop in the new one. rescrew and boot with your install DVD and you're away. It does not invalidate the warranty to do this either.
  • StormyStudioStormyStudio United KingdomMember Posts: 3,989
    Hmm...Its tempting me to get one of the seagate momentus xt drives...the 500Gb option and install it in my current white macbook to see how it fairs.. It might allow me to hold of upgrading for a bit...and fulfil my need to buy some new gadgetry...
  • StusAppsStusApps Member, PRO Posts: 1,352


    Improved by the 6th boot because it keeps track of what you use often and caches them in the ssd.

    awesome bit of this is that the apps then load so quick after boot. The 7200 and 5400 drives are still chugging with them at the end of the video.
  • b2iscoolb2iscool Member Posts: 135
    the new mbpro is super sick and it has an i5 which is crazy fast plus it has an upgraded memory! and seriously your worried about boot up? you already save 10 minutes of boot up time if you just go from a vista computer to an old imac!
  • StormyStudioStormyStudio United KingdomMember Posts: 3,989
    Thanks for the vid StusApps and the heads up about the drive...I've just been and ordered myself a 500Gb seagate momentus xt. Pretty cheap considering the performance. And I'm now geek-ily anticipating its arrival tomorrow.

    I'll put it in my white macbook, then I can always move it into a MacBookPro if I get one...Or maybe I can hold out until full SSD drives are cheaper and bigger and standard in MacBookPros :-)

    Very Positive review here:
    http://www.zdnet.co.uk/reviews/hard-disk/2010/05/25/seagate-momentus-xt-500gb-40089041/

    @b2iscool
    I'm not actually worried about boot up time (I hardly ever turn off my macbook). It's just an obvious way of seeing how much better performance overall will be. As I mainly use GameSalad, Photoshop, Illustrator and Firefox on my laptop I'm sure I will see some performance improvement once this new drive has moved those bits over to the faster SSD drive part.

    I'll post if I notice massive improvements in GameSalads run time before it needs restarting.
  • StormyStudioStormyStudio United KingdomMember Posts: 3,989
    Ok, so got the drive, installed it (after copying my MacHD drive to it when the drive was in an external case) and after 6 boot ups my OS now loads in nearly half the time...

    used to be 44 seconds

    Now does it in 24 seconds...

    Hopefully see some improvement in regularly used programs after a few days.

    Also going from 120Gb to 500Gb is great.. I can finally keep some video projects on my mac ...

    Gold medal to StusApps for the heads up
  • calvin9403calvin9403 Member Posts: 3,186
    stormystudio said:
    :-) I use a MacPro at work, it is great....

    really? how much ram do you have 32? 64?
  • StormyStudioStormyStudio United KingdomMember Posts: 3,989
    24 Gb of ram I think...upgraded the machine I normally work on recently....

    We've got 6 at work in total...one hardly ever gets used as it was brought in last year for a bigger project. So its now the most expensive music streaming machine ever... :-) We even made a rubbish sticker with ipod written on it and stuck it on top of it...

    Could still do with more speed...as I still end up with 12 hour long renders on some projects.
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