I'm starting to do some of my regular Photoshop tasks on the new Macbook. My God is it speedy! If I consider the time I spend just waiting for files to load in Bridge, it adds up to hours and hours. And I have a fairly high end machine. If I could just plug in my dozen peripherals into it, and never have to take it anywhere, this laptop could replace my desktop.
I mentioned that if I had the wherewithal I might just replace my Windows machine. Well, my monthly Getty royalty statement came in yesterday, and the amount is about 5 times what I'm used to seeing (a shot I took on a hike at Mt. Rainier over 20 years ago just sold for deep into 4 figures). I think it might happen now.
Robin is amused, I think. She is used to a forever vacillating Libra, and is mildly alarmed that I have bonded so quickly. I'm still lost half the time, and I'm probably building a new set of inefficient habits that I can bring to this platform. And I still think that there are tasks that Windoes does better. But the balance is clear.
If that Drobo hadn't been so difficult to get working (I still can't start my computer if it's plugged in), this all might not have happened.
Once you discover Firewire interface external drive systems you may be sending the Drobo back.
Posted by: Bruce Nall | June 29, 2007 at 07:36 PM
Once you discover Firewire interface external drive systems you may be sending the Drobo back.
Posted by: Bruce Nall | June 29, 2007 at 07:36 PM
Doug what kind of windows machine did you have? Just wondering. I just built a new PC with a 6320 dual core processor and it's pretty quick but I don't have anything to compare it to other than my old t41 laptop (which wasn't quick at all).
Sometimes I think when people compare macs to pcs they aren't comparing by price...I still think you get more power by dollar with a pc (particularly if you build it yourself, which you can't do with a mac). But I'm not sure.
Paul
Posted by: Paul McEvoy | June 30, 2007 at 04:55 AM
I'm so glad you're enjoying the new machine. I'm learning a lot of cool new tricks by reading the comments from your other readers, too.
Posted by: romanlily | June 30, 2007 at 11:12 AM
Speaking of plugging in the peripherals...
maybe you can.
I have a little external firewire hub and a small USB hub attached to my OS X laptop. I have five external volumes attached to the firewire hub along with an iSight camera. My USB hub is connected to an external keyboard, my monitor calibrator and my iPod cable.
I just disconnect all this stuff when I'm mobile and plug the two hubs in when I'm not. Add an external monitor and you DO have a desktop system that can also be portable.
Enjoy!
Dan
Posted by: Dan Mitchell | June 30, 2007 at 05:02 PM
Doug, I've been using Macs for a long time but just recently switched to a laptop (MacBook Pro) as opposed to a desktop as my primary machine. It works great. The MacBook is fast and I have three 250 GB externals that I store my photos on. One thing you may or may not have tried is to attach a second screen to the laptop. This gives you a lot more screen area and can make working in programs that have a lot of palettes and toolbars (like Photoshop) must faster. Open the photos on the best screen and then put all of the palettes on the other screen.
Or put Bridge on one screen and Photoshop on the other.
When I'm away from home I use the MacBook as a temporary storage and working area for the photos.
Glad you like the new MacBook, good luck with it.
Posted by: Jack Nelson | June 30, 2007 at 09:02 PM
What Jack said -- with an external monitor, you may not need to own a desktop at all.
Posted by: David Adam Edelstein | July 01, 2007 at 07:01 AM
It might be worth a try, but I have a zillion things plugged into it, and I would need several USB hubs. I currently have dual monitors too, I don't know if I want the laptop display to be my second monitor. I tend to use my laptop all over the house, and the thought of detaching everything to do that, instead of just picking it up from where I left it, is daunting.
At any rate, I may need expert help in networking everything (I have not figured out how to do so with the MacBook) and figuring out how to make all my data available to the Mac. It couldn't possibly work that I take a Sata drive out of the PC and plug it into the Mac and it'll be available, will it?
Posted by: Doug Plummer | July 01, 2007 at 12:50 PM
I buy "PC" type drives as external, off-site back-up. I buy a Firewire interface enclosure to put the drives in and just plug them in. I have never tried to use a drive with data on it, but I don't format the new drives. The OS just figures out what to do.
Posted by: Bruce Nall | July 01, 2007 at 04:33 PM
What I've found is that it can read a PC formatted drive just fine, it can't write to it. I tested one of my IDE backup drives (I too use an enclosure with a USB connection), and it can read those just fine too. So my backup data is still my backup data without having to do anything.
Posted by: Doug Plummer | July 01, 2007 at 08:26 PM