macbook pro for graphic design?

[CactusArmy]

hey fellas,

I was hoping to pick up a mbp for graphic design purposes.

It's looks a hella awesome machine and all.

But it looks to have some heating and noise issues. Can any owners of the mbp or people who do had experience with it let me know it is?

I know apple likes to go very liberal on their thermal glue for the notebooks which heats everything up like a stove. But I'm planning to remove it all and replace it with artic silver, I'm thinking it will help the heating issue a fair way.

[xerikx]

Those issues were fixed a long time ago; Artic Silver wouldn't make a huge enough difference either. Laptops are a lot different in cooling methods than desktops are.

If you're worried about it heating while sitting on a desk, get one of the cooling pads that sits on the bottom.

[baskew]

I use mine for art & design, and the only thing I can say is max out the ram to 3gb when you get the chance too.(kingston/crucial both have kits for like $120) other then that, it randomly overheats and sounds like a g5 with all 6 fans blairing, but it also has alot to do with what kind of surface you have it on... The new latches suck, and the work half asses.

other then that it's great, glossy screen for life.

[CactusArmy]

hey guys thanks for the answers. I think I will be going for matte screen, just makes color matching easier for me.

here's a random thread about the thermal paste - http://www.mac-forums.com/forums/showthread.php?t=66349&highlight=macbook+pro+heat

...pretty scary really :S

[xerikx]

hey guys thanks for the answers. I think I will be going for matte screen, just makes color matching easier for me.

here's a random thread about the thermal paste - http://www.mac-forums.com/forums/showthread.php?t=66349&highlight=macbook+pro+heat

...pretty scary really :S

I don't know man, I don't think voiding your warranty is worth it, but that is a shit ton of thermal compound on there.

[funkdoobi]

you should of seen the amount of paste they used to apply before that. in the actual mac user guide for mac technicians, it say you're supposed to put a quarters size on there. :S

[knucks]

You're not supposed to put so much paste on. The thinner the layer the better it is for conduction, and just like that link, only on the chip.

I used to overclock my computers all the time.

[CactusArmy]

I wouldn't like to void the warranty either. But I've been told if you remove the paste and don't screw up the machine, you don't void the warranty.

Anyway, I just wanted to know if the machine will heat up like crazy if I'm running photoshop, illustrator and itunes at the same time? haha

[homme.homme]

while on the topic of macs my macbook (not pro) runs a lot slower then my girlfriends mac desktop but our specs are the same, both RAM and processor speed... is this common? Both machines are the same ages and run the same programs etc... It doesnt make sense to me.

[lintmunro]

Remaining HD space makes a difference.

[homme.homme]

oh yeah?? Hmmm that would probably have something to do with it. Cheers.

[mikeman]

Kind of random,but i have a Powerbook and it gets hot as hell,so I use to prop it up on a book or something,helps it cool much better.Also get Apple Care,saved me a shit load of money

[homme.homme]

yeah it sucks that we have to get applecare to protect us from problems that are almost expected to happen with mac products.

[chris_n]

yeah for apples, it's definitely important to have lots of free space on the boot disk. makes a huge difference.

[its swanny]

honestly if you're doing graphic design stuff wouldn't you want a desktop?

hook up a 500gb external and you're set.

[CactusArmy]

Yeah a desktop makes more sense, but I need to be moving around to different place alot hence I need something portable. Plus I get mad tax breaks with mobile comps as opposed to desktops.

[mikeman]

Not sure if your a student or not,but if you are dont forget to use the student discount.might save you a couple hundred on a MBP.

[baskew]

hey guys thanks for the answers. I think I will be going for matte screen, just makes color matching easier for me.

here's a random thread about the thermal paste - http://www.mac-forums.com/forums/showthread.php?t=66349&highlight=macbook+pro+heat

...pretty scary really :S

I find color matching on the glossy screen to be better then on the matte. Specially with PMS colors. (either way neither are true it just a pref.)

I wouldn't like to void the warranty either. But I've been told if you remove the paste and don't screw up the machine, you don't void the warranty.

Anyway, I just wanted to know if the machine will heat up like crazy if I'm running photoshop, illustrator and itunes at the same time? haha

No, it won't heat up like crazy as long as you have it on a non-conductible surface. I ususally have ps/ill/itunes/mail/firefox/acro/pages/preview all open and jamming along and I never get torrential fan noise.

I wouldn't dare try to remove/replace the thermal paste... That's just not a good idea... You could just open your self up a can of worms in the end.

while on the topic of macs my macbook (not pro) runs a lot slower then my girlfriends mac desktop but our specs are the same, both RAM and processor speed... is this common? Both machines are the same ages and run the same programs etc... It doesnt make sense to me.

Macbook hardware & Desktop hardware are apple and oranges. Even tho it's the same speed processor, it's not the same processor, its not the same motherboard, etc... Laptops have to take in account energy efficiency where as desktops don't. Like someone else said hard-drive space has alot to do with it... You should try upgrading your ram, in my experience laptops always seem to do better with more memory then desktops.

[DaBestSpoona]

while on the topic of macs my macbook (not pro) runs a lot slower then my girlfriends mac desktop but our specs are the same, both RAM and processor speed... is this common? Both machines are the same ages and run the same programs etc... It doesnt make sense to me.

the performance bottleneck is probably hard drive, memory, and graphics card.

the macbook uses a 4200 rpm hard drive, and onboard graphics, which shares the ram with the system which can be anywhere from 64-256 megs of ram.

Your gf's mac most likely has 7200rpm drives and a dedicated graphics card.

you could try more ram, and replace the hard drive with a 5400 rpm laptop drive, a 7200 laptop drive would generate too much heat on your macbook.