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User profile for user: charleythepoodle
charleythepoodle Author
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Which new MacBook Pro is best for a graphic design student?

Hi there, I was just wondering if anyone could give me some advice on which new MacBook Pro to get. I'm a graphic design student who would like to be able to use Photoshop, InDesign, and Illustrator at the same time, while also web browsing (I tend to have a million windows open). I won't be using the computer for any video work or heavy gaming.


Here's what I do know: I'd like the retina display, and I need the 8GB of memory (do I need more?). Other than that, I'm not too sure about what specifications I need. I'm not super knowledgeable about all of this, so apologies if these are very elementary questions. Any help would be much, much appreciated. Here are my main questions:


1. Would you recommend getting the quad core i7, or is i5 fine? For i5, do I need to pay attention to the difference between 2.4GHz and 2.6GHz?


2. What exactly is PCle-based flash storage, and would you recommend 256GB or 512GB?


3. What's the difference between Intel Iris Pro and Intel Iris?


Thanks so much!

MacBook Pro with Retina display

Posted on Oct 31, 2013 4:11 PM

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User profile for user: Glenndisimo
Glenndisimo
User level: Level 1
10 points

Posted on Oct 31, 2013 4:59 PM

1) Depending on which software you'll be using most of the times a quad core has more benefits (since it's more future proof). Not all software supports multiple cores (and thus rendering the extra cores of the quad "useless" if it's not supported).


2) PCI-e is what we use in desktops to attach for example a graphic card. Previous hard drives used a cable to connect it with the motherboard (in the old days we used IDE, now recent hardware uses SATA3). Basically because it's directly connected to your motherboard (there's more to it but to keep it simple) this will allow it to read and write faster from and to it. (Double the speeds of your regular SSD)


3) I reckon (haven't checked into it) that the base core speeds are clocked higher on the Iris Pro and probably has more dedicated ram to it.


What a graphical student wants would be most likely a quad core CPU with a dedicated graphics card. The extra is storage is nice if you reckon you'd need it. (I mostly work on cloud but keep my current projects on my drive because then I'd have faster access to it).

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User profile for user: Glenndisimo
Glenndisimo
User level: Level 1
10 points

Oct 31, 2013 4:59 PM in response to charleythepoodle

1) Depending on which software you'll be using most of the times a quad core has more benefits (since it's more future proof). Not all software supports multiple cores (and thus rendering the extra cores of the quad "useless" if it's not supported).


2) PCI-e is what we use in desktops to attach for example a graphic card. Previous hard drives used a cable to connect it with the motherboard (in the old days we used IDE, now recent hardware uses SATA3). Basically because it's directly connected to your motherboard (there's more to it but to keep it simple) this will allow it to read and write faster from and to it. (Double the speeds of your regular SSD)


3) I reckon (haven't checked into it) that the base core speeds are clocked higher on the Iris Pro and probably has more dedicated ram to it.


What a graphical student wants would be most likely a quad core CPU with a dedicated graphics card. The extra is storage is nice if you reckon you'd need it. (I mostly work on cloud but keep my current projects on my drive because then I'd have faster access to it).

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Which new MacBook Pro is best for a graphic design student?

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