Are non-Unibody Macbook Pros still viable for professional Photoshop/Lightroom work?

I currently own a late 2008 Macbook pro (the first unibody) model with a 2.4ghz core 2 duo processor, and I am looking for something similar to get my wife who works with as an upgrade to her crappy old laptop that crashes on her when she has more than a few DNGs open in Photoshop. I was wondering if the 2007/8 Non Unibody Higher End Macbook Pros are still viable for Photoshop/Lightroom work? I know that some of these models seem very old now, but she has a 2005 Windows Toshiba Laptop that can barely handle it's own operating system...so would a decently powered non-unibody Macbook Pro still be viable today or would she have just any many headaches when trying to multitask?
Thanks, it's my first post!

Thank you everybody for all the replies!
First off, I think we'll wait what the 11th of june will bring us, hopefully a new mac mini. As Michael Wasley stated, the glossy imac screen isn't going to work for him. So that brings us to a Mac Mini or Macbook Pro. I'm using the macbook pro myself for the last couple of years and i'm a great fan of it's capabilities.. but my brother prefers a fixed 'computer' and not a laptop..
At this point i think he's going to buy (the new?) mac mini (and use his own screen), upgrade the RAM to somewhere between 12-16 GB, possible get a SSD drive and for sure get the biggest i7 processor available.
Hopefully that will get things running.
Kind regards,
Mark

Similar Messages

How to fix a non-working keyboard backlight (2008 Non-Unibody MacBook Pro)

I was having trouble with my 2008 Non-Unibody MacBook Pro's backlit keyboard. In spite of seeing the backlight bar go up and down, it would not light up.
I have solved the problem by replugging the power ribbon that connects to the backlight.
Here is a YouTube video I made that explains the procedure:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tuOsBJe8NbU
Hope it helps anybody!
Take care!

Same Problem here.
I have installed bootcamp. i played Crysis for over 5 hours. After that i went on OS X. For 2 hours just surfing the net.I opened handbrake and the macbook RUNS at 89 degrees Celsius. and the fans i could not hear them. maybe they are on 2000rpm. Thank god i realise it soon, and stop handbrake encoding.
After that i came here and read that others have the same problem. so i reset the SMC. after resseting SMC . the 1 time i opened handbrake the fans start rolling at 67 Celsius .I stopped the encoding and start it again after 5 minutes. AGAIN the macbook reach 89 degrees without the fans rolling from over 2000rpm.
Please apple fix it. We don't want our MBPs to be burned Please realise this problem and give us a fix.

How to care for battery in non-unibody macbook pro

I have a non-unibody 15" macbook pro 4,1 running 10.6.8. i'm not sure the year it was made [is there a manufacture date anywhere on the machine?].
the included battery finally completely died on me 4 days ago and i ran it solely off the ac power until yesterday, when i got paid and bought a new battery.
aside from calibrating the battery [charge to 100% -> discharge to sleep -> recharge to 100%] as the first thing, what can i do to make this battery last me a long time?
the internet seems to suggest that the machine should generally be left plugged in if near a power source- basically, nearly all the time. is this true?
assuming it is true, how often should i exercise the battery and how much? i should run it down for what percentage per day or week?
thanks!

I keep my MBP connected to AC as much as possible. I do not expect to get the maximum cycles out of it, but I will get it to last as long as possible. So far I have 4+ years on my 2006 MBP with 33 cycles.
Do 'exercise' it about every 4-6 weeks to about the 40% level
Here are a couple of support articles that you may find informative.
http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1446
http://www.apple.com/batteries/notebooks.html
Ciao.

Are 17" Non-Unibody MacBook Pro display assemblies interchangeable?

Hi all,
I have a 17" MacBook Pro (A1229) and the steel frame inside the display is bent, so it doesn't open and close reliably. However, I found a 17" display assembly for model A1151 on eBay. Can I use the older display with my newer model?

Good question, but I suspect the model numbers must be consistent.
maybe some useful references:
https://www.techrestore.com/mac/
http://www.dttservice.com
http://www.myservice.com/macbookpro.html
http://www.ifixit.com/Device/MacBook_Pro
http://www.PowerbookMedic.com

Disable fan in non-unibody macbook pro

Hi
My girlfriend has an old Macbook Pro non-unibody from 2007.
I know there is some automated fan control already in the Macbook.
But it goes on full speed at times where its not really needed.
So I installed smc fan control and it fixed it for the most part, but the "original" fan control takes over when it deems it necessary (and in this case it rarely is).
I would like to rely on the fan speed set in smc fan control and not what the Macbook thinks it should be doing.
So is there a way of disabling the original fan control without disabling the fans. So it's only smc fan control that dictates the fan speed, even if it means it's too warm.
I know it can reduce the life span of the fans and the macbook pro itsself. But at this point it doesn't matter. Macbook Pros from 2007 are fairly cheap and it's annoying for my girlfriend to have the fans on full speed even though it's only running Word and not noticeably hot.
It's running Mavericks.
Thanks

Dealing with Apple is all about the warranty. They stand behind everything they do.
For this reason, they don't tend to be intersted in touching anything not provided by Apple.
Your appointment at the genius Bar for an evaluation is free, in warranty or out. If the genius can make you a happy customer for a few minutes work and no parts, he may just do any re-connection you need, but there is no standing policy or standard charge.
There may be third-party laptop repair guys who would be happy to do what you are looking for, for a fee to be negotiated.

How many unibody macbook pro revisions are there?

Hi.
I need to know how many revisions are there of the new unibody macbook pro?
I live in malta and we do not have an official Apple store so i am not sure if my reseller is going to give me the latest.
So how many revisions are there and what changed in each one?
Regards,
Andrew

There are two 15-inch models, both of which are MacBookPro5,1, and one 17-inch model, which is MacBookPro5,2. Click here for more information.
(41257)

I use a macbook pro. Several months ago I signed up for the Photoshop/lightroom offer and the payments are taken from my bank but I am unable to locate the product. I just get a message saying that my trial is expired. I am really desperate.

I use a macbook pro. Several months ago I signed up for the Photoshop/lightroom offer and the payments are taken from my bank but I am unable to locate the product. I just get a message saying that my trial is expired. I am really desperate.

Sign in, activation, or connection errors | CS5.5 and later
Mylenium

Non-retina MacBook Pro advice

Hi, I need your advice concerning a non-retina MacBook Pro 15".
I have a 5 years old MacBook Pro 15 (not unibody), upgraded with RAM and SSD. It's working fine but I would have to spend about 300€ to replace battery and fix another little problem. Again, the Mac is working fine and I'm pretty satisifed with it.
Anyway, a friend who is also a certified apple tech suggested me to go for a new one.
Being a significantly investment (around 2000€), I'd like to know your opinion about the retina vs non retina models.
He told me to go for the non-retina because:
- I already own a Sata3 SSD which can be installed on the new one
- save the money I would spend for my actual mac to get the high res antiglare option
- get the firewire and superdrive
- easy ram upgrade
- slightly cheaper
- it should serve another 5 years time frame
What about it?
My main field is web development, CS6, audio production, office and common daily stuff.
One last question. Since the latest update was in June 2012, is it worth to wait for a 2013 model?
Thank you very much!

The jury is still out on the retina display for the premium one has to pay. Personally, I would examine what is available in the refurbished section. The pricing is more favorable and you get essentially new MBPs with the same warranty and Apple support as virgin new ones.
If cutting edge performance is your preference, do wait for the next generation when ever that will be. I on the other hand went 'backwards' and recently bought a late 2011 MBP. The principle reason being that I wanted the 17" display. It may not have all of the latest 'speed' options but I find it to be an excellent machine.
I also have a 2006 Core Duo and it works perfectly within the constraints of the installed hardware. It is noticeably slower in certain situations compared to the newer MBPs but unless one's requirements are for really heavy duty applications, it is more than adequate.
Determine what your real needs are and what features are really required and go from there Try to extinguish emotion in your selection and do an impartial cost benefit analysis.
Ciao.

Non-Retina Macbook Pro Vs. Refurbished Early 2013 Retina Macbook Pro

Hey guys,
Im currently shopping around for a new laptop as I start University Monday and still have not decided on a Macbook. I originally thought I'd be completely fine purchasing a Non Retina Macbook Pro with student pricing at $999. I was ready to purchase it when I found myself gaining more interest in the Retina version, which seems to be better in every possible way except hard drive space, as well as the obvious difference in price. I feel as is 128GB will be not nearly enough, and the 256GB is $1500 at student pricing, which after tax will be way out of my budget. I've narrowed it down to two choices really, the Newest Non Retina Macbook Pro 13 inch $999, and a Refurbished February 2013 Retina Macbook Pro 13 inch, Non iris and 256 GB.
http://store.apple.com/ca/product/FE...retina-Display
There's the link for it... I guess I'm simply just asking for your opinions guys. My laptop will be used for Internet Browsing, Watching shows, Simple Movie editing, Music, and the occasional low requirement gaming (League of Legends).
One of my concerns is also Resale.. I believe by 2-4 Years I will want to sell my macbook, and Im not sure anyone will even want to purchase a non retina by then, or the value will just plummet.
Also, is the difference in hardware that crazy between the Earlier Retina and current non retina? I know the current retina blows the non retina out of the water, but Im not sure about the early 2013 retina.
I've been saying retina too much lately...
Anyways, let me know what you think guys
Thanks !

First let me address the issue of refurbished MBPs. Same warranty and telephone support as a new one. I have done this three times and will also probably do it next time. In every instance there have been NO detectable cosmetic flaws.
The rertina's fast performance to large extent is due to the SSD storage. Install a SSD in a conventional MBP and you will achieve similar results. The difference in performance between the 2013 and the current models will be slight. You would barely notice and difference in normal light resource applications. My personal feeling is that storage capacity is more important that CPU speed and even RAM. External HDDs are for backups, not for storing data because of storage limitations on the computer (if possible). When I go mobile, I do not want to take an external HDD with me.
Games on any MBP are not going to be a top notch experience. They do not excel in that department.
Ciao.

New unibody macbook pro time machine backup stalling/stalls

I have been using time machine to back up my Macbook Pro 17 (First Gen), I have 2 external Western Digital Drives connected via USB in a RAID (Striped) Configuration. Everything has worked fine for months and the backups are quite snappy...
I just changed to a NEW Unibody Macbook Pro 17 and formatted the drives, set up the RAID configuration again from fresh in disk utility and reset Time Machine and said OK when it requested to use the drive for backups.
The process gets some way into backing up... sometimes 7GB, 13GB, 17GB even 70GB and then just stops. The hard drives(at least one of them anyway i cant tell exactly) spin down and the file count in Time Machine window just stops. There is no error message and the window just stays there saying its backing up but there is no external HD activity. I have to cancel the backup (which sometimes - but not always - causes everything to stall until i unplug the drives by whipping the USB cable out). Everything then works fine i dont need to restart and it just brings up an error message saying that Time Machine failed to backup...
Any ideas??
I do have antivirus software installed (VirusScan) but i have had that on my previous machine aswell so it cant be that...

I have a MacBook C2Duo (black 2008) customer who has upgraded to 10.5.7 with a new internal and external hard disk and a fresh install of the OS. After doing this, Time Machine constantly stalled at 12.55 GB when backing up to an external disk (USB2). After a lot of reading on the net, I think the problem marks the re-emergence of an old bug where the mdworker task used by Spotlight to index drives is crashing and starting to take up to 99% of the CPUs. At this point, TM simply does not have enough CPU time to work and crawls almost to a halt.
I messed around for a while with Activity Monitor watching the mdworker crash and it is very predictable. Time Machine buddy does not pick it up because of course TM is still working albeit at a snail's pace.
Since mdworker is very associated with Spotlight, I tried setting Spotlight to not index any folderssame problem.
Finally, I set the TM destination drive to be a Private drive in the Spotlight Preferences and it finished without an mdworker crash.
It might be a temporary workaround or it might be coincidence that TM worked this time, so YMMV and Apple should look at this too.

Driver issue FIXED in Vista / boot camp with new, unibody macbook pro!!

Hay people, I found a fix for the freezing issues with Vista running in Boot camp with the new, unibody Macbook pros. The driver for the 9600M Gt is no good if you install it from the Apple 2.1 version driver disc (Mac osx disc)for some (most) of us.
I needed to go to Nvidia's site and download the one from DECEMBER 08. If you click the "download drivers" tab on the site, scroll past the current driver it wants you to look at (go to the near bottom of page), click the archives, and input your OS version. Also input "Gforce" and "M" series when needed. It will give you a choice of two drivers. DO NOT CHOOSE THE FEB 09 Driver. Thats the BAD driver for most of us. Choose the DECEMBER 08 driver. Download and enjoy. Be sure to roll back the VGA driver (or the current driver) first before you install this. It should work.
I've been through the ringer with this for weeks now and have even tried to take my MBP back to swap for a new one. Apple wont have any of that so I thought I was SOL. Not quite. This DOES work for me with Vista. It also works for Windows & if you have it handy.
By the way, I am posting this for people who HAVE HAD THE FREEZING problems, not for people who haven't. Apparently there are some out there who are running Vista just fine on their unibody MBS's. Most of us are not.
Cheer's-----Seattle, where the evil empire looms dark

This never worked. I sold that machine and got a new 17" unibody. IT, by the way, works just fine. I KNEW it was that **** 15'. It took 30 more seconds to boot up I found out also.

Seems like non retina macbook pro is more expensive than retina macbook pro!

MacBook Pro 15-inch 2.6 GHz is $2,299.00 with the Antiglare Widescreen Display now. If I wanna upgrade it with Crucial 16GB kit ($80) and 256GB Crucial m4 2.5" SSD with Data Transfer Kit ($220) it's gonna coast $2,599.00 all together. On the other hand, with the base Retina version with the upgrades (2.6 GHz, 16GB) from Apple It only coasts 2,499.00. I even save $100 for my external DVD burner if I want to get one. Most people say on this forum non retina is cheaper than retina MAcbook pro but I couldn't figure it out how please tell me if I am missing anything!
I have been looking for most discussions in this forum about retina and non retina Macbook pro. Most people think that upgrading is the biggest issue with the Retina Macbook pro but can we upgrade the non retina version more than 16GB? if we can't it's not an issue. With the SDD I guess we can go with the external ones if we really need one and I assume that external SSD's are going to get cheaper in the time too or we can get external USB3 / Thunderbolt hard drives. I just decided to purchase one of these Macbook pro and started looking for more information online to figure out which one is better but I got more confused because the numbers say the Retina is cheaper and upgrading is not that big of a deal but most people who know about Apple products more than me on this forum say non Retina is cheaper and it can be upgraded after purchasing it.
I might be wrong with my thoughts but I need some info about upgrading. What rigs can I upgrade with the non retina Macbook pro?
(Only RAM and Hard drive or more than that?) I would like to know your thoughts and advises too?
Thanks for your help!
I am thinking of getting one of these for video editing (Final cut pro X)!

Yep, the only things that you can upgrade on the non-Retina models is the RAM and the HD/SSD. I'm assuming that your calculations are correct, so you've just got to decide if you want to the Retina display model or not. For me, there have been too many issues with the Retina models to buy one just now - but I'm sure that there are a lot of happy Retina owners out there - we only hear from those having problems.
Clinton

MacBook pro still won't back up, not even with a cable.

I backed up my G4 tower wirelessly. I backed up my G4 Powerbook using an ethernet cable to the Timecapsule LAN port. (Of course now that I've upgraded to 10.5.2 neither of their airport cards works anymore. No fix for that so far.)
But the MacBook Pro still won't back up. Not even with a cable. I've tried using the cable to the Timecapsule's LAN port. Nothing. I've tried connecting to the Timecapsule's ethernet port. Nothing.
In fact, when I go into network preferences....ethernet is not even an option for connecting to anything. My choices are: Airport, Bluetooth and Firewire.
Exactly how am I supposed to back up my MacBook Pro? It won't do it wirelessly and I can't do it with an ethernet cable either.
Timecapsule POS!

Hmm...let me see if I can help you. In your Network preference pane, click on the '+'. Then select Ethernet from the drop down menu. After you click OK, you should be able to configure the ethernet interface to connect to your TC. After that, you should be able to connect to it with the your ethernet cable.
As far as your not being able to use your MBP's airport, I'm not certain what that particular problem is - I haven't had any problems with my TC and this MBP that I'm using (indeed, my problem is connecting wireless with my PB G4 (with WPA that is, it'll work using WEP)).
Hope my first paragraph helps you.

Can you install 16gbs of ram in a 2012/2013 non retina macbook pro?

the newest non retina macbook pro on the apple website. the reason im asking is that apple only offers 4gbs and 8gbs. does apple not sell 16gbs of ram on the macbook because of price or does the computer not support it? im getting the 2.9GHz dual-core intel core i7 btw thanks for the help.

According to this usually-reliable source, two @ 8GB will work:
http://www.everymac.com/systems/apple/macbook_pro/specs/macbook-pro-core-i7-2.9- 13-mid-2012-unibody-usb3-specs.html

Who Manufactures the new Unibody MacBook Pro?

Can anyone tell me who is building the new Unibody MacBook Pros? Is it Foxconn? Asus? Some other company? And where are they being built?

More than likely Quanta. There are some indications that Quanta is the sole supplier for the unibody chassis at least.
http://www.electronista.com/articles/08/10/14/quanta.macbook.exclusive/
http://www.electronista.com/articles/09/06/19/quanta.seals.apple.deal/
They're likely being built at Quanta-owned factories in mainland China.

Are non-Unibody Macbook Pros still viable for professional Photoshop/Lightroom work?

Similar Messages

Maybe you are looking for