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 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 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 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 6:20 am
My brother just bought a MacBook and want to sell it at 1200 USD.
Status: 95% new
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 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?