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 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 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 19th, 2006 at 9:18 am
I’ve got MacBook Pro same as you… Adobe CS2 running well in my Mac…
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 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 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.