MacBook Pro or Powerbook

**RGrphc2** · April 9th, 2006, 09:26 AM

A friend of mine is starting school to be a design major, she is trying to figure out if she should get a Macbook or a Powerbook. I told her to go with the 17" Powerbook as a safe bet, because it will run the apps that she will be using intensively

Photoshop, Illustrator, Maya, Shake, etc etc. None of these apps are intel native yet and seeing that she's going to be using them heavily I suggested either to wait or get the 17" Powerbook.

Would you have suggested the same thing?

**fryke** · April 9th, 2006, 09:36 AM

Yes. Although I'd have probably emphasised the "wait" option, since buying a 17" PowerPC PowerBook now means buying into the past, which I don't find soooooooo attractive...

**ElDiabloConCaca** · April 9th, 2006, 10:02 AM

Yeah, since you mention she will be running those applications "heavily," a PowerPC-based Macintosh would probably be the best way to go.

The 17" PowerBook will still be a viable machine for quite some time, even though she won't necessarily be on the bleeding edge of technology... the PowerPC chip will still be fully supported for some years to come, so I gotta agree with fryke and say it's a better choice than a MacBook Pro for what she intends to do with it.

**mdnky** · April 9th, 2006, 10:20 AM

Have her check with the school first to see what they require. Some are finicky about this and will force her to purchase something again if she doesn't get the specs right the first time.

**MnM** · April 9th, 2006, 10:28 AM

You said she's starting school to be a design major. If she's now starting she won't be doing anything too intensive right away, will she? Isn't there general requirements to take before and all that stuff? I dislike the idea of buying into the past, so I suggest the MacBook Pro. Its not like its totally incapable of runnning these apps, it can but just slower. By the time the real need for speed arrives, the universal versions should be out, and a crossgrade shouldn't be that bad.

If she will be needing intensive use of the apps right away, the powerbook is the best way to go. I guess it depends on when she starts, when she will really be needing the apps, and also when the universal versions of the software needed will be available. I too have a friend thats a design major and she did nothing but general requirements for the last year(fulltime too). She currently has a powerbook but its for her personal use not for something thats demanded from her college. She's yet to take a class of the sort.

**RGrphc2** · April 9th, 2006, 06:14 PM

I'm not sure what year she is or if she is just starting but from what she said it's heavy 3D illustration work. shes a co-workers niece and knows that she needs a mac.