My MacBook Pro Sucks
September 10th, 2006 Filed in: Reviews, Mac Jump to commentsI recently bought a new MacBook Pro (my first Apple computer). Yes, I am one of the switchers. I have been a PC user for a while until Apple introduced Intel-based Mac notebook. I was tempted by the MacBook Pro and brought a 15.4-inch display, 2.16GHz Intel Core Duo, with 2GB of RAM (upgraded from 1GB). After couple hours of fun playing around with the Mac OS X, I installed Adobe CS2 and did couple test runs. I was so disappointed on its performance. It even runs slower than my old PC laptop (1.5GHz Centrino with 1GB RAM). That is impossible since the new MacBook has 2.16GHz CPU with 2GB of RAM. I thought it could be my Adobe software issue. So I went to install Macromedia Studio 8 to see how it perform. Same result - slow.
I got frustrated and did a quick search on Google. I found this review from MacWorld. Apparently, neither Adobe CS2 nor Macromedia Studio 8 supports Intel-based Macs (running on Rosetta) yet. Fortunately, Adobe has announced that they will fix this issue to support Intel-based Mac computers in the next versions. So, if you are planning to get a MacBook Pro as your work computer, you’ll be better off waiting until Adobe release the next version of Creative Suite.
Note: Universal application like Safari, iLife and Mail are running fine and smoothy on my MacBook.
Update
June 6, 2007
I’m now using Adobe CS3 on my MacBook and they run very nice. However, I still have problem with the heat issues (extremely hot when charging). I heard the second generation released in Oct 2006 is faster than my first generation and the heat issue is resolved.
September 18th, 2006 at 2:16 pm
It’s pretty common knowledge that the Adobe products do not currently run native on the Intel Macs. However, this doesn’t mean your Mac Book Pro sucks, it just means you didn’t do your homework about that - Apple has been pretty good at getting the word about apps that are universal and Adobe has been clear since Apple made the switch announcement.
Anyway, sorry to hear you didn’t know about it.
September 18th, 2006 at 3:34 pm
It is true I didn’t do any research before buying it. But still, how about the desaturated (dull) color display and heat problems?
September 18th, 2006 at 11:10 pm
The display of the MacBooks is rather nice for me, although I have one with a glossy screen. As for the heat problems, well that could be better. OS X itself has a lot of little things that make my relationship with my PC not all that great. Make sure you try out TextMate, best editor I’ve ever used, on any platform.
September 19th, 2006 at 9:18 am
I’ve got MacBook Pro same as you… Adobe CS2 running well in my Mac…
September 20th, 2006 at 12:26 am
since you are switcher, i assumed you already have WinXP and adobe cs2 for WinXP..
so, get bootcamp, install WinXP, run adobe CS2 in there..
It should be a good consolation while waiting for adobe CS3 Universal Binnary next year..
(that is, if you not decided to sell you macbookpro before CS3 release..:D)
September 20th, 2006 at 2:59 am
Yeah i agree with zZet I installed xp and i run all those on the pc side its quite quick Which is awsome. And if you install mac drive then you have no issues with accessing your files either when in windows.
September 20th, 2006 at 6:18 am
Hi guys,
I am a graphic designer. I’ve just sold a MacBookPro 15.4 inches just because of automatically shutting down after about 4 hour of using. Hope this helpful to all you guys.
Tom
September 20th, 2006 at 6:20 am
My brother just bought a MacBook and want to sell it at 1200 USD.
Status: 95% new
September 20th, 2006 at 10:14 am
Your macbook does not suck just because it can’t run Adobe and Macromedia at full speed. I have both softwares running on my PC for now until they release a universial version for our Macs.
You should also check out other softwares for the Mac that may help you with web design/development like Textmate, CSSedit, Xscope, and Transmit(FTP). It will make your life more interesting. ^_~
September 20th, 2006 at 10:47 am
James said:
I did that. But it is worst than running on Mac OS because the display looks fuzzy on plain solid background (ie. grey). If you have a MacBook Pro, try it yourself: run XP with bootcamp, set your background to grey, look closer to your screen and you will see what I mean. Unfortunately, Apple does not provide any support in XP. So I can't really use XP to work. I use it to do website testing though.
I agree with some of you. Mac has a lot of innovative technology and software, but I don't think this MacBook Pro is ready yet.
September 24th, 2006 at 4:25 pm
Hey
I am a user of iMac 20″. I am really satysfied, I got no problems with photoshop CS2. But my teacher is a mac geek and he claims that the next CS3 version will be running more smoothly on Intel based macs. I disliked Os X in the beginning, but now I really like working with it.
You´ll get used to it and I currently had no big problems with Intel mac, bootcamp and XP. Well good luck and I hope you find some solution to your problems.
September 24th, 2006 at 4:53 pm
Hi there,
I currently run windows xp and i am going to switch to mac soon. Photoshop doesn’t work fast on intel based macs at the moment. Photoshop works fast on the old macs because they have ibm processors in and photoshop can run smothly on them. Hopefully the next version of photoshop will run fast on the macpro.
September 27th, 2006 at 3:13 pm
http://www.adobe.com/products/pdfs/intelmacsupport.pdf
The MacBook Pros themselves are blisteringly quick machines, however, Adobe products have not been developed for the Intel based Macs, and therefore can’t harness any of the power on offer.
The PDF says it all.
September 28th, 2006 at 11:50 am
Do you have similar problem with Microsoft Office products?
THis is getting up to my nerve!
the battery heat up very fast as well!
September 28th, 2006 at 3:50 pm
I love my Mac.. Its not an Intel based machine though…
October 2nd, 2006 at 3:08 am
My macbook sucks too. The performance is really sucks. iPhoto constantly just basically locks up my computer for several seconds.
In other apps, the cursor stops responding and won’t even move for several seconds.
Machine just automatically shuts down too like Anh Tuyen’s.
And to top it off, if you do anything on it at all that require any real cpu power, the darn thing gets so hot you can’t touch it (especially on the bottom).
I’ve already sent it in for repair once, and it looks like it has to go back again. I’m actually getting tired of this machine just because it is so flaky. Macs are supposed to be fun, but this one is not.
October 2nd, 2006 at 4:17 am
I’ve had a Macbook Pro for about 6 months now. I’m very pleased with it. Photoshop and Illustrator run a bit slowly but I was aware of this before I purchased it.
I design, develop and do everything else I need to do on this one machine.
I’d recommend buying an iCurve though as the heat can get pretty hot.
October 2nd, 2006 at 9:55 am
My MacBook only heats up when I plug in the AC power adapter or use for a long period.
Geroge, thanks for the tips. I think I’m going to get one of the iCurve.
Anyone has any good tips/software on how to calibrate the Mac display as my color setting looks kind of wash-out and desaturated.
October 2nd, 2006 at 12:58 pm
Does anyone know when CS3 is coming out? I’ve also decided to buy a MAC finally, but I’m not sure if I should get the 20″ iMAC or the 17″ MACbook pro. Sounds like macbook pro is having lots of problems. Is anyone having problems with the iMAC?
October 4th, 2006 at 7:44 pm
Mac Book Pro Rocks, ive bought the same model that you did and it works amasing. Of course theres issues with the not Universal softwares like the ones from Adobe. But its just a matter of time.
Try editing some video with Final Cut, and youll see the difference.
October 8th, 2006 at 6:09 pm
Right now Adobe Products are not what is called Universal. That will hopefully be fixed whenever the next versions come out. It is a known problem that they run slower on the Intel-based Macs because they aren’t running “natively”.
Hadn’t heard about the (Macbook Pro) laptops getting that hot, though. An iCurve is a great idea, I used one with my older Titanium laptop. Currently I use a G5 20″ iMac as my main machine, am running CS2 on it with few problems (I have 1.5 GB of RAM), although some Photoshop files may take a minute or two to finish saving. I didn’t want to wait for the Intel based iMacs to come out, and I also still have a few aps I run under Classic, which doesn’t work on the Intel based Macs.
Has anyone looked at the new 24″ Intel iMacs? My DH and I looked at one at Fry’s Electronics and I was drooling! *grin*
Amy
October 15th, 2006 at 8:20 pm
hey, if you don´t like your mac, give it to me!
October 18th, 2006 at 8:34 am
I was thinking about buying a MacBook Pro later this year (as I hear they are working on updates right now) but it didn’t even occur to me to see if the Adobe Suite would run well on one.
Very sorry to hear that you are havng issues with yours (I LOVE my PowerBook G4) but I am glad I ran across your post. I will wait until late next year, when Adobe’s supposed to launch CS3, to buy a new Mac laptop.
October 19th, 2006 at 6:36 am
Dude, you just don’t know how to use your computer or something, i have one and mines cool as hell, fast as hell, and blows all my other PC computeres out of the water. Im going to school for recording arts in tampa, and have shit loads of software on it and still, it runs perfect.
October 19th, 2006 at 5:35 pm
That stinks man. I was thinking about upgradeing to a Mac Quad, with a 30″ LCD, but if Creative Suite runs slow, and Studio 8 runs slow, i’m sunk. Thanks for the great heads up.
October 19th, 2006 at 8:18 pm
Heat issues aside, I’m not a fan of laptops for graphics work - screens are too small and keyboards too limited.
Jeff it sounds like you may have only the minimal RAM which does have a major effect on speed and responsiveness. When OSX has too little RAM and/or starts running out of virtual memory space on your harddrive it can get both slow and quirky.
Given enough of both though and it beats Windows XP easily. Especially when opening multiple applications which is where Windows becomes a dog.
October 19th, 2006 at 8:27 pm
Nick I am absolutely amazed that you didn’t know or where not told that neither the Adobe or Macromedia (now also Adobe) Mac software are not yet updated for the Intel chip and hence run much slower in emulation.
It seems like nothing else gets discussed on Mac forums everytime the transition to the Intel chip comes up.
Early next year the problem will be resolved with Adobe’s next updates, but meanwhile there are some nice alternatives.
Personally I have been weaning myself away from Adobe’s increasingly bloated applications, although it is hard to avoid the big 3 Photoshop, InDesign and Illustrator.
October 20th, 2006 at 12:06 am
Well, it really depends on what you want to do with your MacBook. If you are planning to use as your Adobe work computer, please wait until Adobe released next CS.
But after a while using my MacBook, I begin to get used to it and complain less. Only issues I have now are the heat problem and screen calibration.
October 23rd, 2006 at 5:52 pm
Referring to Peter’s comment - How would one know if one’s computer is running off virtual memory? Is this something that happens automatically in OSX? Is it something I can disable?
October 25th, 2006 at 12:57 am
But the colors are just amazing on a Mac. My cousin has a mac and I just go to her house to do my t-shirt designs now because sometimes I use off-white colors or really light one’s that are close to whit and I just can’t see the difference on my Dell Insperion Laptop, the color just sucks. If someone knows how to make this better I would really like to know. But anyways it does run horrible, but I shut down most of the things that I usually run on a mac like iTunes and their video editing program so that I don’t get as much delay. I have yet to fully convert to a mac. First and formost because I just don’t have the cash now, plus there really isn’t that much software that I use on my Dell with XP that is available on a Mac.
October 26th, 2006 at 12:14 pm
i am a graphics student at college, and i have yet to own a computer which i ca nuse whenever. I currently use a PC at home, but the computers at college are macs. I was thinking of gettin macbook (not the pro but the basic) and i am now sceptical as to whether it will run smoothly. i can live with it running a bit slower, as i will still be able to get my work done.
my PC i use at home is slow anyway so i’m used to it but i am wondering whether Adobe suite will go onto the mac alright. anyone have any ideas?
October 27th, 2006 at 8:44 pm
I have a macbook, the heat issues used to bother me but not anymore. Try:
http://www.conscius.de/~eidac/index.html
It allows you to control the fan speeds of both your fans, I usually have mine set to 3500-4000…for more intense processing like running illustrator, flash and dreamweaver if needed I just bump the fans full speed.
Keep up the good work.
October 27th, 2006 at 11:28 pm
Thanks totalabyss,
Cool. I didn’t know we have something like that to control the fan speed. I’m going to try it.
October 28th, 2006 at 9:17 am
[…] Adobe programlarını kullanırken, win ve mac arasında bir fark varmı? Hiç bir fark yok. Hepsi aynı fonksiyonlara sahipler. Dizüstü mac kuulanan ve benimle aynı fikirde olan ndesign, (ndesign, grafik tüccarı değildir. Adobe illustrator hakkında, computer arts ve daha bir çok dergide yazısı vardır. bir kaç sitede, arkadaşın yazıları direkt! tercüme edildi, altında ismi bile yazılmadı!) bakın ne demiş. […]
October 30th, 2006 at 4:04 pm
The heat used to be a problem on my MBP until I started using the Fan Control. It’s such an easy fix, makes you wonder why Apple didn’t just release an update like this instead of telling all of us to just deal with it. Like many other users I switched to the Macbook’s from a Thinkpad, boy do I regret it. The next laptop I buy is definitely going to be a Thinkpad again. Apple is too concerned with looks and not enough with functionality. The heat issue with these machines is simple ridiculous, how could any company release something like this? Especially when the fix was as easy and increasing the speed of the fans. I have NOT be impressed with Apple one bit.
November 3rd, 2006 at 4:53 am
for me, the software… i dunno if adobe cs2 is full of craps and bugs… unlike the older version of PS… it is very slow to read, and either opening fonts list and other links it is realy sucks… so i keep using my older version of photoshop, CS1.
November 8th, 2006 at 9:54 am
Damn’ it boy! You have to wait for the Intel Photoshop version. Then it will fly.
I am a “switcher” myself. I bought a MacBook (shiny white) and it’s the best thing I ever had. I love it (in a way a man can love a thing).
Be patient until we have all the Intel software, then we’ll see.
Take it easy
maddagu
November 8th, 2006 at 2:01 pm
wait for CSC3 n more! use GIMP and inkscape instead!
same result as adobe!!
November 8th, 2006 at 6:47 pm
Hey Nik, I told you not to buy that carp.
U know Pc Rules
I’m saving some loot for the new
Acer Farrari 5000.
who want’s to by my 4000.
Yo keep up the good work. love the new site
November 13th, 2006 at 3:24 pm
Hey Nik,
Of course, even with all your amazing graphics, it takes a comment about my beloved Macs to get me to finally post a comment.
I am a Mac devotee, to date I have owned 4 Mac desktops or towers and 5 Mac laptops. I hate PC’s…they are complicated and NOT user friendly and the fact is that when it comes to graphics, Mac just dominate them, PC’s have only dominated the market due to the vast array of support and programs allocated to them (All hail Bill Gates). But times have changed.
My G4 tower whips through CS2 like a hot knife through butter, and I have found that all bugs in using either Photoshop or Illustrator have come from the Adobe end. (Go ahead and ask them what black should be?) and again, that is the case here.
Don’t be mad at your Mac, as you have I am sure already seen, it totally rocks anything that is either Universal or set up for the Intel chip, and when that CS2 upgrade comes or CS3, whatever, your machine is going to hum along with such ease and speed, your hardly be able to contain your delight. I will feel the same with my black MacBook. Until then, maybe you can focus on the incredible weight or lack there of, the nice thin structure, how about the widescreen, glossy right?, wait, maybe the built in mic and camera…nifty, we can go on and on can’t we. Damn thing even came with a remote.
And for all the doubters. Intel Core Duo blazing fast processors only help to make the one of the most stable OS’s on the market more stable, but the facts are, and this is not me, check the countless articles from PC people to confirm, they are ALL over the web, the MacBook and MacBook Pro also run (with BootCamp or Parrellels) Windows XP and XP Pro with more stability that a PC computer. I even read one article of a guy running Linux, and then partinioning his drive to 3 sections to run all three.
Nik, your in good hands, welcome to the dark side.
November 16th, 2006 at 7:34 am
Just curious, would you be interested in selling your Macbook Pro?
November 16th, 2006 at 7:56 am
Gary,
Sorry, no. I’m waiting for CS3…
November 22nd, 2006 at 1:32 pm
Even with the latest creative suite application I have read today a universal version may still be as late as next spring :(
December 7th, 2006 at 12:38 pm
LOL - I am not surprised. I am one of those who switch from Mac to Thinkpads 8 years ago thanks to a expensive stint with a series crappy Powerbooks. Bought CS2, and it just works on Windows. Period. I was productive immediately. There is no heat problem. And the Thinkpad is better built and smaller with a higher res screen. I will never switch back.
December 9th, 2006 at 9:13 pm
MacBook Pro is one of the Perfect Machine.. just do it and make it GOOD ;)
December 11th, 2006 at 6:46 am
You could always use your PC version of photoshop under bootcamp :D
December 12th, 2006 at 1:10 pm
Wow! Problems with a MacBook Pro running CS2!! I just can´t beleived it!! I run Mac OS X Tiger in my P4 2.4 Ghz PC with only 512 MB of RAM… and I tell you, Mac OS X rocks!!! Adobe apps runs like a charm (and my PC does no have Quarz activated) Man if you want to swictch back to PCs… think again. I have this Clonis Tiger in my PC because I CAN´T buy a MAC… I live in Cuba!
December 12th, 2006 at 1:10 pm
Wow! Problems with a MacBook Pro running CS2!! I just can´t beleived it!! I run Mac OS X Tiger in my P4 2.4 Ghz PC with only 512 MB of RAM… and I tell you, Mac OS X rocks!!! Adobe apps runs like a charm (and my PC does no have Quartz activated) Man if you want to swictch back to PCs… think again. I have this Clonic Tiger in my PC because I CAN´T buy a MAC… I live in Cuba!
December 15th, 2006 at 1:28 pm
MacBook Pro..
I think it’s cool and all is fine ;)
December 15th, 2006 at 8:42 pm
beta version of CS3 is out! And it’s supermega fast with my macbook pro! GL HF!
Download @ : http://labs.adobe.com/
December 22nd, 2006 at 3:43 pm
CS3 - boots in under 3 seconds on my Mac book - it rocks !
December 22nd, 2006 at 7:19 pm
CS3 runs fast on my MacBook too! I will post my thoughts on CS3 new features soon.
December 24th, 2006 at 4:13 pm
[…] We’d been at Apple the day before and I was still enjoying some post pitch euphoria. I’d had enough of talking about and selling the tools, I wanted to simply use them - connect, collaborate, create. So I fired up my Mac Book Pro, launched Skype’s video Chat and called Paul (my brother in Idaho). Free call, free wireless and free video. […]
December 25th, 2006 at 1:11 pm
I am one of the switchers my self just like u whe they mad the new mac book pro. i have the same problem with the cs2 but i was told that the cs2 is not compatable with my mac sistem sure coz it wasn’t made for intel based mac. but the other applications are very fast and stable so i believed that the problem was with cs2 but GUESS WHAT!!! CS3 ROOKS
December 25th, 2006 at 4:40 pm
macbook pro 15. bought nov 15
this thing is the biggest peice of crap i’ve ever seen.
1.Case is bent down above the dvd drive; from the weight of my hand?
2. screen has very blotchy back lighting.
3. some times wont sleep or wont wake up or wakes up in my computer bag nice and hot. wish it would catch something on fire so i could sue the bastards.
4. needless to say it runs very hot.
5. random mooing noises.
complete joke dont buy. email me with complaints encarlisle@gmail.com
December 28th, 2006 at 3:03 pm
Ok, honestly if you wanna bad mouth the Mac Probook, you might want to also start listing the personal problems you might have. I’ll start you off
1. WAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH
The Probook is a blessing. If god exsisted he would say, hey where is my probook i wanna photoshop this photo of baby jesus. OH there it is. Hey it gets hot, oh wait it’s fn’ machine. It only gets hot with the battery. Pay your electric bill and plug the adapter in, hey that helps. Oh your hand is so fat it collaspes the dvd drive. That can be fixed by not being so fat.
Simply enough your problems can be solved by being part of that whole” PCs are better than Macs” yahoo group where losers go to swallow all there dreams of ever being someone who can acknowledge the good. The more haters the better. Only they make the smarter people in this shallow exsistance of humanity relize how right we are.
December 29th, 2006 at 2:41 pm
The problem is that it’s a PPC binary that was ported over to the x86 architecture, hence the optimizations that were once there for the PPC are now gone and you’ll get something that’ll run slower than the builds intended for Windows (patched vs native). It’s not the macbook, it’s the software.
December 30th, 2006 at 12:51 am
You will also notice Apple does not call the MacBook a laptop but a notebook due to the heat issues. There are a few apps out there to help you control the fan speed and cool your Mac a little better. A coolpad can also help with the heat problem.
I have a dual Intel iMac with 2g memory, no problems yet in PS2. It is about as fast as my 17″ 1.67ghz ppc Powerbook g4 with 1.5g of memory. Dreamweaver 8 is buggy with larger php files on the Intel though.
January 2nd, 2007 at 7:33 pm
yo
Im very tempted by the new mac book, not the pro, the standard version. Im a wannabe ’switcher’ but am a little concerned by a few of these comments. Im am a graphic designer who travels a lot and i need a laptop that can run photoshop and illustrator without any problems, will the standard mac book with a gig of ram be the right purchase?
Would appreciate your advice….
January 2nd, 2007 at 7:34 pm
Also, the intergrated graphics card doesnt seem too powerful, is that a concern for photoshop and illustrator, or is that something that only gamers should worry about?
January 3rd, 2007 at 9:43 am
Everyone is complaining that Mac BookPro sucks, but at the end I think that 60% of all post are from people who actually don’t have Mac. I am long time PC user, and I will probably switch to mac, so PC and “fake MAC” users don’t think that I am attacking anyone.
January 4th, 2007 at 1:27 am
Hi, I was wondering when running CS2 on OSX, is it more important to have more RAM or to have a better video card.
I am getting a 24in Imac.
January 4th, 2007 at 8:25 pm
Hey, yes im one of those “wannabe” mac switchers.
I’ve been looking into the Macbook Pro and still dont know if I want to buy another Windows based computer. Do any sort of games like Counter Strike or Battlefield 2 run ok on the pro?
January 6th, 2007 at 9:25 am
You should post a picture of your desktop setup
January 6th, 2007 at 1:41 pm
Hey People.
I read (most of) the comments above, and I’m sort of amazed none of you have even referred to the updates at apple’s DL website. I say this because of the comments of shutting down MacBooks, because this issue CAN BE SOLVED by updating both SMC and EFI firmwares in the laptop. Actually there is an update for most models, including iMacs, and I’ve experienced some improvement with CS2 at Tiger 10.4.7 and 10.4.8.
You should try them:
http://www.apple.com/support/downloads/
And on ‘what the heck is a firm-that?’ go here:
http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=93772
Cheers!
January 6th, 2007 at 2:50 pm
BTW, not for nagging Adobe, but have you noticed there is no Illustrator CS3? You think it’s coincidence the Illustrator is the most problematic on the CS2?
January 8th, 2007 at 11:28 pm
I have the Mac Book Pro and just switched from a PC about two months ago. Some programs do run slower on the mac book pros.I called Adobe and asked. They didn’t explain why it ran slower, but simply said it did and that it runs faster on the older versions of macs…go figure. Anyways, PC’s have got Macs beat on their gaming! Supposedly PC’s are incomparibly better for games than Macs. However, Macs are incomparibly better in music, film. To tell you the truth I haven’t heard which is better for graphic design
January 10th, 2007 at 12:34 pm
i got the same problems on a mac pro in the agency…adobe says it will be fixed with cs3 and osx 10.5 leopard
just wait i think it will be all good.
:-)
January 10th, 2007 at 1:52 pm
Firstly, loving your website. It’s a real good inspiration.
Secondly, a main focus of Adobe seems to be compatibility with Intel based Macs:
‘For the first time ever, Adobe is delivering a widely available Photoshop CS3 beta to enable customers to more easily transition to the latest hardware platforms, particularly Apple’s new Intel based systems.’ - Clicky
Hopefully, you’ll find this upgrade to CS3 good and worthwhile.
Keep up the good work!
January 10th, 2007 at 11:32 pm
Photoshop CS3 is running fast on MacBook Pro now. I can’t wait to see the next version of Dreamweaver and Illustrator.
January 16th, 2007 at 1:31 am
I love the website, it’s great!! Your Macbook Pro doesn’t suck at all. As everyone says, the software needs to catch up. I recently got a Mac Pro Quad Core 3ghz with 4gb ram they even fun slow on that. Played with PS CS3, it works great! OS X is awsome, nothing can touch it! (Look at the ripple effect on dashboard, wow!) You tried using either bootcamp or paralells desktop to load windows on there? I loaded it onto Paralells and it loads up in a window in less than 5 seconds. Mac’s are top! Enjoy the macbook!!!
January 16th, 2007 at 5:01 am
Chris - you are right. After a while using my MacBook Pro now, I’m adapting and loving it. Indeed it is a very fast laptop. The only issue I have is the heat problem when using the power outlet.
January 16th, 2007 at 4:27 pm
Yeah, I have the same problem, not with the mac pro itself but with the cinema display, it get very hot indeed. I don’t need to switch the central heating on anymore! :P Don’t worry about the heat, it will be fine, they’ve been made well enough to cope. Wow, just realise you made a site that I keep coming back to.
January 16th, 2007 at 6:48 pm
I recently bought an intel based iMac, upgraded to 2 GB RAM. Running windows XP to with parallels. Its working great, all the progs for intel run perfect, if you instal CS(2) and macromedia on windows it works perfect…intel. Guess we’ll have to wait for the adobe and macromedia universals, but they are going to be nice
January 17th, 2007 at 3:39 pm
Why on earth would anyone want to run windows on a Mac? Windows was spawned by satan.
January 17th, 2007 at 5:01 pm
Answer, you cannot open .mdb files on os x, visual studio doesn’t work on mac, 3ds max doesn’t work on mac. If they all worked, I certainly wouldnt run windows because generally I hate it but I’m forced to as I use the things.
January 23rd, 2007 at 6:29 pm
Ok, as I see there’re some MAC users, ex-PCs… (me, same designer as you, working on a PCs) would you be so kind to tell me: where the difference between Mac and PCs (except MAC book pro external design (damn its good looking thing!)). Why asking, cause theres some thoughts in my mind to change a platform to Mac, and really need to know - is there some hard stuff, that able to change my design style (speed up my work, improve my skills, change ways of design living)??? is there a need to change a Good working (fast, proven, good-working) PC to a expensive, games unplayable, and not a cheap MAC?
January 23rd, 2007 at 6:33 pm
Yeah, one more thing! Nick - good work with vectors and raster. reeeaaally good work. all thumbs up. Impressed! My new edge to move on!
January 23rd, 2007 at 6:58 pm
and… continuing the Macs topic… for a 10 years of experience - I’ve never met a Mac that was faster than a PC (when working with graphics). And 2 times cheaper :). Even on a Intel’s 2core gems. One more Q to Mac users - do Mac know what is SCSI drive with 10000 or 15000 rpm? Yeah, I know I more “+” for a Mac - need to change a OS - just copy it from your CD/DVD… fonts from PC to Mac and back? any converters? For me - theres no money probs, $3 or $5K for a BookPro. Q is do I really need it? Or a fast PC-laptop or stationary mashine able to do the same?
January 24th, 2007 at 4:09 pm
The reason why is because Adobe has not released a version compatible with Intel macs yet. You are currently using rosetta software to run it which is emulation.
January 30th, 2007 at 10:42 pm
Taylor, i’ve just made the switch from a Dell 2650 p1.7 to a macbook pro 2.16 core 2 duo. I was a pc nerd and had the Dell flying, nothing was going to touch it and still doesn’t. Quite. OS X still has some issues as you’ll have read with universal software. As a test, I installed XP SP2 using bootcamp so it was native and I tell you, I’ve never seen applications load as quick. The architecture of these machines is absolutely amazing, we just need the right software which is around the corner - when the price will drop ;)
Buy one and watch it blossom
February 4th, 2007 at 4:07 am
[…] I was in Union Square on Saturday morning enjoying the free wireless, gratis lawn chairs and my patent double-tall mocha. Holiday consumerism in full swing, overstated people buying overstated things, a tubby opera singer with a boom box belting out Vivaldi and bold street folk doing whatever for whatever.nnWe’d been at Apple the day before and I was still enjoying some post pitch euphoria. I’d had enough of talking about and selling the tools, I wanted to simply use them - connect, collaborate, create. So I fired up my Mac Book Pro, launched Skype’s video Chat and called Paul (my brother in Idaho). Free call, free wireless and free video.nnPaul wanted to see what I was seeing so I walked the square and pointed my computer’s on-board camera at the sites and sounds and talked him through it. Pretty weird, pretty cool, as I walked he would ask questions and I would answer, I’m sure it looked odd from the outside even for SF. […]
February 8th, 2007 at 6:50 pm
ya,it’s ture. I also met the same problem. But now it had been sloved. The new version of PS CS3 was released. It’s super fast. Because it’s universal software. thanks the uniersal.
February 9th, 2007 at 9:27 am
good machine!! and now with the CS3 release it sucks!!
February 9th, 2007 at 10:17 am
ur a sod for even thinking of emulating pc crap on a mac. It’s a PIECE of CRAP. That’s like giving ur mac AIDS! That’s one of t reasons y u moved to a mac. To upgrade ur life. Not downgrade a MAC. You just dont do that! Converts…
February 15th, 2007 at 8:22 am
I see some zealots bashing on the man…
you known something,
I am contemplating buying a Mac but all these zealots (let’s just call them “idiots” from now on) should refrain from bashing people that arent happy with their Mac when their reason is a justified one because it is really putting me off Mac completely !
February 16th, 2007 at 12:55 pm
i have a mac pro g5 with 2×2.66 dual core xeon and 16GB RAM…. its my first mac too… i have the same problem… with all programs ( CS2 and Studio 8 ) =(
February 18th, 2007 at 5:43 pm
yes people, you need the universal binary versions of the software. hehe.
February 20th, 2007 at 8:09 am
Bravo for your first Apple computer… ;-)
February 23rd, 2007 at 6:02 pm
“i have a mac pro g5 with 2×2.66 dual core xeon and 16GB RAM…. its my first mac too… i have the same problem… with all programs ( CS2 and Studio 8 ) =(”
What’s a Mac Pro G5 with Xeons? I’m breaking “stones” here, but the G5 is not the generation of computer, but the generation of the Power PC chip. That would be like saying you have a Pentium 5 version of the Pentium 2.
It amazes me how many supposed computer saavy people out there have NO idea what they are talking about.
February 25th, 2007 at 9:41 am
What’s a Mac Pro G5 with Xeons? I’m breaking “stones” here, but the G5 is not the generation of computer, but the generation of the Power PC chip. That would be like saying you have a Pentium 5 version of the Pentium 2.
It amazes me how many supposed computer saavy people out there have NO idea what they are talking about.
ya I agree with u. g5 is powerpc which called powermac, and mac pro is which with the new intel processor. Totally two different mac…..
February 25th, 2007 at 11:10 am
are you seroius!!!!!
you should go back to pc,
and get a big surgery!
March 2nd, 2007 at 2:49 pm
Yeah, I have a mac pro imac g5 powermac with quad core amd xeon and 200tb ram with 20mb hard drive with built in iphone and toaster. It’s a cracking piece of kit. ;P
March 6th, 2007 at 1:42 pm
I have the same spec mbp as you and photoshop runs fine! I still cant wait for CS3 though!
March 7th, 2007 at 6:57 am
re: mac pro imac g5 w/megablasters, etc, etc…
i think most people missed the joke.
March 8th, 2007 at 6:03 pm
I am very, VERY disappointed with my MacBook Pro… I bought it with the anticipation of speed and power, having used a PowerBook G4 for quite some time. Well, it turned out that CS runs better on the PowerBook… no big deal, I kind of expected it to run slow(er) under Rosetta emulation.
My biggest problem is that Apple’s own OS and apps CRASH… like Keynote. It’s very embarrassing when a “Whoops, Keynote screwed up. Wanna let us know?” window or the “Multilingual Screen of Death” pops up right smack in the middle of your presentation in front of 100+ people. =\ (Note that bad RAM is not the issue).
This is, by far, THE worst Apple product that I’ve had to use since the bulbously-awful original iMac. A trip to the Apple Store didn’t relieve my stress. Instead of being helpful and understanding, the Apple “Genius” told me (no lie): “You should’ve expected this. They haven’t ironed everything out yet.” Mind you, this is while he is picking his nose and talking to me in the most matter-of-fact unconcerned tone that I’ve ever seen… meanwhile, I am prancing around him on all fours, freaking out.
And what’s up with the “Alert! Couldn’t contact spell check module” window popping up three hundred-thousand-gazillion times? Apple’s solution: “do an archived install of the operating system.” After a wasted 2 hours, nothing. Same error across all users. Call them again: “The next logical step will be to install the OS from scratch.” Fine. I do that: wipe, install Tiger, reinstall CS, Lightroom, iWork… gah! The spell-checker module error of doom is back!
I guess I was expecing too much, like the Apple “Genius” had told me… or maybe I need to wait for Leopard in May…
Very disappointed. Very. :( I am glad I am not the only one.
March 9th, 2007 at 5:02 am
Well, you can’t really blame Apple for Adobe and Macromedias slow progress.
I use both Illustrator and Photoshop daily, and it works fine on my MacBook Pro, with the same specs as yours. Not great, but I can accept the speed and usability.
Don’t cry about it, Adobe is coming with Intel compatible Creative Suite at the end of this month.
And for the record, I think you should have done better research before you bought a Mac, because it’s quite of an huge switch from a PC.
(Just for your information, I switch last autumn myself, so I know how you feel.)
March 9th, 2007 at 12:41 pm
Ronny… I’ve used all kinds of Apple computers since I was about 10… I’ve never liked the PC and I think that my 10+ years of Mac experience are enough to warrant my opinion that Apple is, simply put, amazing. Compared to the PowerPC architecture, however, and the underdeveloped Mactel applications, it has got to be one of the worst products ever… for now. I rarely use my MacBook now… It’s all up to my PowerBook and the huge honkin’ G5 now! :)
I have not owned a PC since elementary school…
March 9th, 2007 at 12:55 pm
I’m still on a PowerBook G4 Titanium with 500 Mhz. And everything runs quite fast. High performance is not everything. People spend hours smoking cigarettes and doing other useless things. So you are also able to wait a few seconds more.
High Performance doesn’t make your designs better. But the Mac and OS X do.
March 10th, 2007 at 8:46 am
I’ve been very disappointed by it as well. All of our computers are Macs, so it’s been a frustrating exercise, as to buy a G5 now is a wasted exercise, but until CS3 comes out, so is buying an Intel iMac/Macbook Pro.
March 11th, 2007 at 9:42 pm
Man what..!! ive not herd so much garbage in all my life. i just bought a mac book pro and bought student edition of photoshop (for only 112 pounds :) www.education-store.com ) anyways as i was saying ive switched over and it works a really well on mine. have u installed all the upgrades ?
mike out
March 13th, 2007 at 10:46 am
I bought a MacBook Pro 17″ beast 3 days ago and am running CS3 Beta… It is so much better than my PC. I have never used a Mac in my entire life and today (3 days after switching) I’m sitting here at work on my new Mac working away like nothing has changed. I spent the weekend familiarizing myself with the OS and getting used to the addition of the “clover” key in my PhotoShop shortcuts. Im not saying that I’m a Mac guru but I’m definitely confident enough to carry on working… With a big smile might I add. Its been a whole day and My Mac has yet to give me a single problem… Damn I love this machine. PS: Nic, nice work on the icons mate. Bought your mini icon set a week or 2 ago, will post some screens on your site to show how i used them. Should make you proud. I sure am.
Paul out…
March 13th, 2007 at 10:51 am
And on a side note to comment #76, openoffice.org opens mdb MS Access Files natively (And it’s Universal too). I’ve dumped MS Office 2004 on my mac and Microsoft is not to eager about releasing the latest Intel/Universal version for at least a year to come.
March 21st, 2007 at 6:38 am
Adobe really seems to be the biggest problem here. Overall the new MacBook Pro I just bought is awesome, but when I use Adobe products i want to pull my hair out (i do have some hair left). So I’m looking forward to CS3.
March 29th, 2007 at 11:16 am
heard about bootcamp? don’t want to miss windows on mac again.
March 29th, 2007 at 6:08 pm
I used to have a Mac but nothing worked right. Programs crashed without reason and the whole thing was damn slow. Thank God for XP and now Vista.
March 30th, 2007 at 2:12 am
Im still on my Powerbook 1.5 GHz, as Ive been waiting for those updates from Adobe. The day im sure they work faster than in this powerbook I will walk in to the Apple store and get myself a new MacBook Pro.
My friend have MacBook Pro Intel and 2gb memory and my Powerbook 1.5ghz and 1.25gb still beats it with Adobe CS2 using.
April 3rd, 2007 at 6:02 pm
My Macbook Pro is slow with the Adobe and Studio 8 as well. It’s because the whole Intel thing messes with everything. Hopefully CS3 will be able to use the Intel chip to it’s fullest without lagging and crashing the programs.
April 7th, 2007 at 1:46 pm
I am running a quad-xeon Mac Pro at work. I can’t wait for all of the adobe products to switch over to intel. I am running the universal binary of After Effects 7 and haven’t had a single problem… very fast. The intel version will be even faster. I haven’t had any problems with photoshop either even though it’s a little slow to start up.
April 14th, 2007 at 4:27 am
theres no problem with my mac book pro running adobe photoshop cs2… it takes me 2 seconds.. >.
April 15th, 2007 at 11:39 pm
Macs do suck, and for more than just a few reasons. While Mac fans work diligently to hide the issues that make Macs inferior to any comparably priced PC, the information is available for a read. Mac OS X has more security flaws than Windows XP, and Vista solves all with no current security flaws. Gee, I’m even dictating this comment using the microphone on my x64 Vista Ultimate setup without a problem.
Try this URL for a professional set of reasons why Macs truly suck:
http://themacsucks.com/joomla/
April 16th, 2007 at 5:04 pm
Try the new Applications… the CS3 ones…. They SCREAM on my 2.0 GHz MacBook Pro with 1.5 GB of RAM
April 16th, 2007 at 5:11 pm
Anyone who says that the Mac has more security flaws is undoubtably a Microsoft fanboy. As of now Vista has 9 or more security flaws. Anyone listening to TWiT’s Security now will figure this out quickly.
April 27th, 2007 at 1:46 pm
I’m pretty sick of blogs debating whether apple products suck or not. Guess what? If hardware is in question AT ALL you should probably avoid it… especially if said hardware has KNOWN incompatibility issues with ANY software let alone name brand above generic. It’s just not professional to have to seek out compatible software for your workstation… c’mon… it’s SOFTware!!! Is there really such a shortage of programmers in the world??? I doubt it.
April 27th, 2007 at 7:17 pm
I don’t think your post title is appropriate. Reason being is that it isn’t your MacBook Pro that sucks, just Adobe (meaning their lack of intel-based support in CS2) and your sense of timing.
A sidenote, if you ever want to run Windows on your laptop, I suggest using Parallels, and not bootcamp, because with bootcamp you can still get Windows viruses that eat up your windows files, but with Parallels, it’s a virtual machine which means it’s Mac running it and thus, no Windows viruses.
Lastly, congrats on your switch to Mac.
May 2nd, 2007 at 9:33 pm
I am surprised by all the negative Mac comments here… I own a Probook, 2.33 3gig ram 17inch and I have loved it. And I use adobe products everyday. Mostly photoshop or InDesign. I have not had nearly the problems you people have been having.
May 12th, 2007 at 9:28 am
but.. for me.. mac are better… than windows.. or vista.. “110,000 virus, not on mac”. hmm.. and the new vista copied the looks of a mac… the start menu in the new vista now is a Windows button.. liek the mac start menu is a apple… pshh… 3rd.. windows have many problems with cameras.. but mac doesnt… yeah.. the the adobe cs3 works for me better…
May 12th, 2007 at 9:30 am
and.. i forgot to quote mikes post…. lol.. its true.. very true
May 21st, 2007 at 8:45 am
To correct my ingnorance–As it turns out Apple generally utilizes the same companies to manufacture their hardware that Dell, HP, and many others PC companies use (quanta, asus, etc)… albeit some minor modifications taylored to Apples’ needs. So if most of the hardware is generally the same (amongst the top five or so PC companies AND apple) the only other potential software incompatibility causing factor to consider is…? You got it–Apple software. Thanks go to Matt’s post #111 on this blog.
May 24th, 2007 at 2:23 pm
hey how is your mac? as am planing also buy it? and how it geting with adobe?
May 24th, 2007 at 2:33 pm
by the way what soft u using? mac or intel?
May 24th, 2007 at 4:23 pm
Jop - Adobe CS3 is running very nice on my MacBook.
May 30th, 2007 at 4:33 am
yep your right… but.. i have a laptop cooler… hmm… ill post a picture of it soon… it cost only about 10-30 dollars….
June 1st, 2007 at 5:55 pm
my mac book pro gets very hot as well, how dangerous is that?…..
June 6th, 2007 at 8:17 am
Hey…. haroldsky… why…. do… you… type… like…. hmmm…. this..?
June 11th, 2007 at 5:57 am
Same old “problems” on Mac Os platform: windows is always coded by technician which just IGNORE the Color Theory (i’m a color management technician).
So million and millions of win user grew up working with microsoft wrong, amateurish, ABSURD ad TOTALLY KITSCH palette. They believe, or better, they’re USED to think that aubergine is dark, almost black, kind of dirty brown, near to fresh extracted oil :-)).
This is a problem in job, as “win graphic designer” usually works on a system that, other than show wrong colours, is not aware about the existance of CMYK color space, which was stated only 500 years ago by gutenberg. Maybe in 2500 somebody in microsoft will say “hey, you know that THE WORLD prints by CMYK and NOT by RGB, which is only a video colour system?”
And everybody will be really surprised, like discovering the existance of UFOs or flying cats with frog legs. A REVELATION, I mean!
We wait in faithful patience for Microsoft taking confidence con real world, while they say they’re top hi tech edge (the fact that they ignore technologies 500 years old doesn’t match a lot with their proud statements).
People which doesn’t have any culture in color theory - I don’t want to say it’s a shame, just a lack of knowledge: nobody knows everything, we know about that - obviously are attracted by strong and kitschy colors, as Microsoft technician. They believe that those are “REAL VIVID COLOR”.
So it’s a bit disappointing, if somebody find mac display has poor colours. Take a printout (professional printout i.e. by offset, not on a 30$ amateurish inkjet), load the original file on a mac and on a win machine, and make comparisons by yourself. Probably you should feel the need to raise up dramatically brightness on win monitor :-]
Sorry for my english, i’ve been working 3 years in Reidsville (C) but still i hate inverse construction in phrases. I got my bug too :-)
Have a nice day!
June 11th, 2007 at 8:59 am
@Luke
I do not know the percentage of people that are like me (colorblind) but it seems to be a significant percentage of the USA population (at least 3-5%). Many of my coworkers and relatives have difficulty distinguishing between certain hues or colors (no, I do not live in the South).
In the past I have seen a dark green and thought it was brown–or light brown and thought it was green. Many times I see a dark blue and I think it is purple–or light purple that I believe is pink or blue.
Most mainstream companies take this into consideration and attempt to accommodate by providing vivid primary colors on equipment that uses LEDs but many comanies do not. Perhaps apple does not focus on such things as any sort of concern.
June 11th, 2007 at 12:08 pm
@ SomeDude
Very interesting. This is a point I didn’t considered, shame on me. Even if We think about the colorblind as a little part of population, obviously me MUST take care about that.
I have to ponder over that, and the fact I had a point of view careless about a view problem.
June 14th, 2007 at 12:26 am
I actually thought of buying a Mac. I know it is better in creative stuffs. And I’m really into photo developments and flash animations.
Thanks for sharing nick! :)
June 17th, 2007 at 2:20 am
heat issues!!! i agree my leg is on fire right now, i have to open a window when im using my macbook, ive never had this problem with a windows laptop
June 18th, 2007 at 12:52 am
you mac haters are retarded.
Ive been running macs since 1987.
Ive NEVER had a virus.
I’ve NEVER needed any tech help EVER.
The only thing I ever repaired on ANY of my macs has been a dvd/cdr upgrade and one clock battery.
Ive had macs run 36 consecutive hours crunching tremendous files in Photoshop, I am a top retoucher in nyc for almost 20 years, the worst problems I had were insignificant at worst, things that can be avoided by saving files often.
You show me ANY retouching studio or high end HD editing studio that isnt over run by macs.
You wanna play with the big boys?
Ditch the pc’s, they suck, their parts are inferior, ergonomics, design, and most importantly THE OS.
OSX rules. Unix rules, windoze is a dead OS, suitable for your dad, grandma, the guy who works the security booth at the bank.
June 18th, 2007 at 2:02 pm
It is true that apple desktop computers are well known for their audio/video editing capabilities. However, this site is moreso focused on addressing faults and concerns with apple LAPTOPS.
The author of this article displayed the intention of simply pointing out that his (particular) macbook pro sucks.
Yes, some people that have posted here may dislike the apple company or apple products due to conflict they may have had with apple but you have some deep-seated hate issues if you feel anything at all when you insult random people by calling them ‘retarded’ stuart.
June 19th, 2007 at 3:44 am
Why do people get so intense and so offended when someone gives a good/bad feedback about Apple / PC.
Apple / PC will stay there and just go with whatever suits you. Both are different in many ways.
I think PC’s have more support and better suited for the web design / development and games. MAC’s are more oriented for home users, multimedia, publishing.
June 20th, 2007 at 1:30 pm
choice mad wrote: “but you have some deep-seated hate issues if you feel anything at all when you insult random people by calling them ‘retarded’ stuart.”
I am SO sick of hearing all the “great” reasons why macs “suck” for the past 16 years or so.
If you are an artist using computers, like me, you will be using an Apple computer.
One look at the OS, and simply doing your daily tasks prove that this is a superior computer. The service records alone should tell you that. If this were a car, they’d have reliability reports, and guess what, Apples win hands down, every time.
And yes, choice mad- I hate you like I hate Windoze….jk you punk, chill mofo
June 21st, 2007 at 10:01 am
‘What does mama say Stuart?’
‘Cigarettes are for the french and white trash’
heh heh
June 25th, 2007 at 1:04 pm
You guys are hilarious. The author (Nick?) even says that it’s not an issue with the MacBook Pro, unless you want to hold its being Intel against it. The issue is that its doing the rosetta emulation thinger, as CS2 is a PPC app, and was not Universally compiled. It’s not a detrimental post towards Apple at all.
June 26th, 2007 at 12:00 pm
I came here trying to find tips on heat issues, after I found my machine running at 180+ F!!!! CoreDuo and the first Intel 17″ MBP… I had some “airport” process running my CPU. which I killed and now I’m running at a cool 136F………… >.>
My Net connection is still working, but that process has not popped back up. I’m thinking it’s something for configuring my airport
On a side note and in response to others’ comments…..
I wouldn’t really say macs are better for “creative developments,” especially after the way Adobe abandoned Mac users with CS2 and the lack of Intel support for…. how long was that? Seemed like a decade. In my opinion, this is old-school thinking. Just because Apple made a market this way doesn’t mean it’s still true. I used to do all my “creative stuffs” on Windows, and kind of wish I had kept it that way after running CS2 for a year. Thank God CS3 is here.
@ Houssam
LOL @ windows machine being better for dev. You’re crazy. Probably 95% of my dev is for Linux/UNIX platform, so having a UNIX based file system is INFINITELY SUPERIOR to crappy cygwin junk I had to put up with on Winblows. I’m sorry, but I got sick of developing on the DOS filesystem ages ago, and switched to Linux until OS X came about. Mac sucked my nipples pre version 10, but since has blown away just about everything IMO (you won’t catch me running a Linux desktop anymore).
@ AdamF
“ive never had this problem with a windows laptop”
I run windows on my mac and get heat issues (is that a “windows laptop?”). It’s fundamentally a hardware issue, I’m thinking, so let’s all blame Intel =P
June 26th, 2007 at 6:16 pm
My display went up in flames which is something I have never experienced or had ever heard of, luckily i was home and nothing else including the hard drive was damaged. I went to the apple store with the intension of buying a new monitor and soon wanting to upgrading to a Mac Pro G5. I first found that my Power Mac G4 is not compatible with a new Mac displays, due to the fact that the new displays are digital and as a Graphic designer i would not be getting the full graphic potential of a digital display on a analog hard drive. Being a brand loyalist, I would never consider anything other then Mac, sad enough I found that my Mac is more compatible with a PC monitor, then with its own brand… The Mac genius, barer of bad news, didn’t stop there, I really was not prepared for what i was about to hear, but then heard it in slow motion coming out of his mouth “Mac pro G5 is not compatible with CS 2 Adobe Photoshop, Illustrator, Dreamweaver, After Effects, nor with older versions of Macromedia Flash, Director and so on and so on…”
A $12,000 upgrade is a great down payment on a S class Benz not a computer thats for personal use.
A very disappointed fan…
June 30th, 2007 at 11:26 pm
As the saying goes - it’s usually not a good idea to buy the first gen. version of a product. I got my