Mac Book Pro for Photoshop?

[Andrew Tarpinian]

On Dec 16, 2012, at 11:37 PM, Tony Scharf <noisetheorem at gmail.com> wrote:

> Looking for advice from the Mac experts..
> 
> My wife, a long PC user, has decided to get a Mac.  She does a lot of freelance work and silly as it is gets a lot of questions about why she uses a PC rather than a Mac.  Since she is due for a new machine anyway she is making the switch.  It also helps since her school and her new largest client both use primarily Macs (she can buy it through her school and get a discount).  
> 
> Anyway, these are the specs she is looking at.   She will be doing a LOT of photoshop and illustrator on it.  In fact, that will be pretty much all it's used for as her old laptop will still be used for her games.  
> 
> 2.3GHz Quad-core Intel Core i7, Turbo Boost up to 3.3GHz
> 16GB 1600MHz DDR3L SDRAM
> 256GB Flash Storage
> Backlit Keyboard (English) & User's Guide (English)
> Accessory Kit
> 
> Software
> 
> iLife '11
> OS X Mountain Lion
> 
> Suggestions?

From the specs I'm guessing that's the (low end) 15" retina with ram added? Should be fine, though it looks like you can upgrade the processor to the 2.6 i7 for only $100 more if you want, that's what's in the high end model (the high end has the 512 flash, that's what makes it so expensive.)

The 16gig ram is a must, and with these new models you have to upgrade from the start. Also you might want to start looking at thunderbolt drives, don't know how much she is going to fill up the internal but you want to make sure you leave enough (photoshop) scratch disk space if she is working with big files. Also get AppleCare.

Also CS6? might be a good idea to upgrade to fully take advantage of cores/ram. 

Is she getting it from her school store? You can also put the school info into the apple store to see discounts. If her school store seems good with service then that's cool, but in general it seems you get better service from apple when you buy directly from them.