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 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.
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 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 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 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.
September 28th, 2006 at 3:50 pm
I love my Mac.. Its not an Intel based machine though…
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 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 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.