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.
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 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 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 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 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 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 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 15th, 2006 at 8:20 pm
hey, if you don´t like your mac, give it to me!
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 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.