Can the MacBook Pro handle Adobe CS3.3 Design Premium applications?

Question

I'm considering purchasing a MacBook Pro 17" (2.16GHz Intel Core Duo/2GB 667 DDR2)...

I'm a graphic design student and I was wondering: Does this laptop have the power to seamlessly run the Adobe CS3.3 Design Premium applications (InDesign/Photoshop/Illustrator/Flash/Dr... All at once? If it can, how should I configure the laptop as far as memory and hard drive capacity. Would you recommend this laptop for this or another Mac? Are there other laptops (PC) that I should consider? I really don't have the budget for a Mac Pro or a G4. Any help appreciated.

Answer 1

Yes some say macs run adobe photoshop best if I was you I go for 4gb ram so you can run everything smoothly and a 2.6ghz Processor for that extra power and the 512mb of Nvidia graphics you would be set to go for a long time you would have no prob running a lot of apllications at once I know I don't have that prob and all I have is amd 64 x2 2.0ghz, 2gb ram and ATi radeon graphics.

For harddrive I would say choose the 200GB Serial ATA @ 7200 rpm would work very nice!

Answer 2

You can't run all of them at the same time- 2 tops.  I had the 15.4" running CS3 Design Premium (had the same specs at this laptop)

With my boyfriend's 2.4 GHz 2 GB RAM 17" it can't do that.  You can't run all of those all at once - even with 4GB RAM - it's pretty much impossible.

We are both design students (Industrial Design and Digital Design).  

If you want an Apple laptop - the MacBook Pro is the one to get.  CS3 will run fine, just if you have more than three programs open it will be really slow.  I'd suggest getting a faster processor, at least 2.5 Ghz, and at least 4GB RAM.

I have the VAIO FW - it replaced my MBP after I decided I hated the MBP too much and it just was a hassle - not enough HD room and I hated switching to windows for 3D modeling programs.

Look at Sony's and HP (sonystyle.com and hp.com) for some other nice looking laptops that run design programs well - and also run 3D modeling and games.  The FW and the AR are pretty much the only Sony ones with the right graphics card.  Make sure whatever you get has at least 256MB vRAM - really helps with CS3.

Alienwares are also impeccable but they are expensive too and I don't like their design too much (sorry.)  But Sony's and HPs are pretty cheap, run all programs, and are fast good computers.

Lenovo's Thinkpads are also nice (I believe when I entered design school the T61 was recommended for my major) but I think they are just ugly.  But they run pretty well.

I love my FW and would suggest it to anyone - you may want to look at that.  Also the HP dv5 is really nice.

Good luck - I hope you find a good computer.

(Also, most graphic designers use Macs.  I like being different in my design school sea of MBPs.)

Answer 3

I have a Acer 1.86GHz Solo Core.

With 1GB RAM.

I'm running Photoshop Elements 6.0 without tooooo much lag.

But i would prefer a faster computer. So yeah, maybe if you can get a little bit faster computer it may come in handy.