starter mbp 15 photo editing

#1 meric

Newbie

Group: New Members
Posts: 3
Joined: 04-September 12

Posted 04 September 2012 - 11:51 PM

I plan to buy a MacBook Pro 15”. Regular tasks will be email, office-for-mac, net surfing and photo editing - I am just starting amateur photography. There is no need for video editing and games.
I just wander, at my level of photographic skills (starting to learn), is the entry level 15” 2.3GHz-quad sufficient to get me going, or do I need to go for a more powerful processor and more memory from the beginning to work efficiently with a program like Aperture?
Thanks for any feedback.

#2 bastion

Power User

Group: Members
Posts: 9,099
Joined: 14-October 04

Posted 05 September 2012 - 02:25 AM

meric, on 04 September 2012 - 11:51 PM, said:

That's fine to start. At some point you'll want more RAM. When you do, buy it from Crucial.

#3 meric

Newbie

Group: New Members
Posts: 3
Joined: 04-September 12

Posted 06 September 2012 - 07:42 AM

Thanks for the reassurance bastion. I'm gonna go with that and see how it goes.

#4 bastion

Power User

Group: Members
Posts: 9,099
Joined: 14-October 04

Posted 06 September 2012 - 11:25 AM

meric, on 06 September 2012 - 07:42 AM, said:

Thanks for the reassurance bastion. I'm gonna go with that and see how it goes.

Have fun. I don't know what you're upgrading from but I got the specific model you asked about the weekend after they were released this summer. Really nice IMO, and it handles still image editing fine. I'm still at the base 4GB; I'm going to jump straight to 16 when the price is at "impulse buy" levels; there's no real urgency.

#5 meric

Newbie

Group: New Members
Posts: 3
Joined: 04-September 12

Posted 22 September 2012 - 04:06 PM

Thanks bastion. I use the mbp 13" early 2011 model; 4GB, 2.3GHz. This is a company machine that I will have to return soon. Because photo editing will be added to my workflow I upgrade to the larger screen.

#6 benalmeer

Newbie

Group: New Members
Posts: 1
Joined: 23-December 12

Posted 23 December 2012 - 10:38 PM

GIMP is a popular open-source image editor originally developed for Unix/Linux. Often lauded as the "free Photoshop," it does have an interface and features similar to Photoshop, but with a steep learning curve to match. Because it's volunteer-developed beta software, stability and frequency of updates could be an issue; however, many happy users report using GIMP for Windows without significant problems.
Regard's,
Ben Almeer,
Nitrotek