Year-old MacBook adequate for PhotoShop?

My friend is a bit of a computer klutz and has a MacBook bought over a year ago. He was ready to buy an expensive Mac Pro desktop machine today for Photoshop work but I told him his MacBook would probably be powerful enough, and if not, an iMac would be good. BTW his MacBook is the higher-end black version with 1 GB ram, 120 GB HD, and a single processor chip (2 Ghz?) - the faster Core 2 Duo version came out about a month after he bought.
He has a couple of nice Canon digital SLR cameras and shoots lots of images on vacations and wants to do minor PhotoShop touchups from RAW files and print them. He also has Aperture, a 22" Samsung widescreen LCD monitor, a 1 TB USB/Firewire external hard drive, an expensive new large-format Epson printer, and a USB stylus pad.
So what version of Photoshop would be good, and is this MacBook capable? Or would iPhoto be sufficient for this? I think all he might need is a USB hub to increase USB port capacity for the extra devices, but actually the 2 ports on the MacBook might be enough. We have tested the Samsung monitor (226BW) and it works fine with the MacBook on the DVI cable. I think he would be able to use the external HD for archival storage of his images, and take the MacBook with him on vacations for dumping the RAW images from the camera.
Also, what is a good book or online site to get him up to speed on Mac? He knows how to do a few basic Mac things. This is unfortunately a common problem I think - lots of people who were into film photography are having a hard time making the transition to digital cameras, computers, and software.
I don't have a Mac (will get one soon), so I can't properly advise him yet.
Message was edited by: adams7

BTW his MacBook is the higher-end black version with 1 GB ram, 120 GB HD, and a single processor chip (2 Ghz?) - the faster Core 2 Duo version came out about a month after he bought.
The "Core Duo" model MacBook still has two processors inside, that's the "duo" part of the name. If it only had one, it would be a "Core Solo". (There were never any "Core Solo" MacBooks, but there were some Mac minis.) The "2" in the "Core 2 Duo" just means it's the second version of the "Core Duo" processor.
So what version of Photoshop would be good, and is this MacBook capable? Or would iPhoto be sufficient for this?
iPhoto is NOT an image editing application. Although it does have a very limited set of adjustments you can make, it's not a replacement for PhotoShop. In fact, if your friend does have Aperture, he doesn't need iPhoto. Aperture is the "pro" replacement for iPhoto.
I would strongly suggest upgrading to 2GB of RAM and using PhotoShop CS3. It should run fine, that's what I have on mine. I use it, mostly, to touch-up pictures from my iPhoto, so I'm no PhotoShop power user. But, I do open it almost every day.
-Doug

Similar Messages

HT201407 new iphone 5 and 4 year old macbook, and for some reason my computer says a later version of itunes is required to use iphone to sync. updated most recent version possible and still can not sync to iphone.

new iphone 5 and 4 year old macbook, and for some reason my computer says a later version of iTunes is required. So, i went to ITunes and found i have the latest version availble at this time. iTunes say phone can not be synced because it requires a version of 10.7 or greater?

iPhone 5 requires OS X 10.6.8 & iTunes 10.7 or greater. I suspect you're running Leopard, 10.5.8, correct? If so, you will first have to update your OS, then iTunes in order to sync your phone.

I have a 3 year old MacBook Pro with MAC OSX 10.6.8, iPhoto '09 version 8.1.2 and have downloaded two software programs: one is Aperture 3.2 and the other is Photoshop Elements 9 (which I got from a friend who didn't need it). I am totally happy with the

I have a 3 year old MacBook Pro with MAC OSX 10.6.8, iPhoto ’09 version 8.1.2 and have downloaded two software programs: one is Aperture 3.2 and the other is Photoshop Elements 9 (which I got from a friend who didn’t need it).
I am totally happy with the way iPhoto organizes my photos and how I can work with iMovie to create slide shows with music from iTunes, etc.
I have been shooting mostly high resolution jpegs and I continue to learn more and more about photography, post processing etc. I realize that the small adjustments I can make in iPhoto are good, and are adequate most of the time. However, a have started to experiment with shooting RAW images and would like to go the next step, ie. post processing.I am totally technically challenged and need SIMPLE, INTUITIVE programs and am certainly NOT anywhere ready for Photoshop CS whatever!
After having these programs sit on my computer, I decided to try to see if I could figure them out. When I opened Aperture, this is what first comes up.
“Welcome to Aperture 3.2
Your library needs to be upgraded to work with this version of Aperture. Once upgraded, you will not be able to use this library with previous versions of Aperture.
Upgrading a library from previous versions of Aperture 3 generally takes a few minutes or less, though larger libraries will take longer. After that, Aperture 3.2 will upgrade your library's thumbnails, but you can use the application during that time.
Tip: To open a different library, quit Aperture and hold the Option key down while starting Aperture
Current Library Location:
Jadzia (home) -----Pictures------Aperture Library
QUIT UPGRADE”
I have heard horror stories about moving your entire library to Aperture, ending up with 2 libraries, etc. etc. hence my previous reluctance in attempting Aperture. In addition, many of my photography friends are saying: Go with Lightroom 3.....you’ll love it!
So here is my dilemma. I don’t want to mess around with my iPhoto library. All I want to be able to do, is to isolate a few photos, export them to Aperture, Elements, and work on them there, then bring them back into iPhoto.
Can I do this? Should I forget about Aperture and Elements and look at purchasing yet another program like Lightroom?

Export those few photos via the File ➙ Export ➙ File Export menu option with Kind = Original to the Desktop. Then import them into the Aperture library. That would keep one copy in your iPhoto library and another in your Aperture library to edit, etc.
You can use Photoshop Elements 9 from within iPhoto as your editor of choice. However, if you edit a raw file in iPhoto with PSE9 the resulting edited version must be saved outside the iPhoto Library and imported back in as a new file. For editing jpegs just do a Save (not a Save As) and it all will be kept within iPhoto.
Using Photoshop or Photoshop Elements as Your Editor of Choice in iPhoto.
1 - select Photoshop or Photoshop Elememts as your editor of choice in iPhoto's General Preference Section's under the "Edit photo:" menu.
2 - double click on the thumbnail in iPhoto to open it in Photoshop. When you're finished editing click on the Save button. If you immediately get the JPEG Options window make your selection (Baseline standard seems to be the most compatible jpeg format) and click on the OK button. Your done.
3 - however, if you get the navigation window
that indicates that PS wants to save it as a PS formatted file. You'll need to either select JPEG from the menu and save (top image) or click on the desktop in the Navigation window (bottom image) and save it to the desktop for importing as a new photo.
This method will let iPhoto know that the photo has been editied and will update the thumbnail file to reflect the edit..
NOTE: With Photoshop Elements the Saving File preferences should be configured as shown:
I also suggest the Maximize PSD File Compatabilty be set to Always. In PSE’s General preference pane set the Color Picker to Apple as shown:
Note: to switch between iPhoto and PS or PSE as the editor of choice Control (right)-click on the thumbnail and select either Edit in iPhoto or Edit in External Editor from the contextual menu. If you use iPhoto to edit more than PSE re-select iPhoto in the iPhoto General preference pane. Then iPhoto will be the default editor and you can use the contextual menu to select PSE for your editor when desired.
OT

I am running OS X Yosemite on my four year old MacBook Pro which has become progressively slower and is loaded with applications I no longer use. I plan to start afresh by formatting a new 1TB SSD as a boot disk and reinstalling Lightroom 5 and PhotoShop

I am running OS X Yosemite on my four year old MacBook Pro which has become progressively slower and is loaded with applications I no longer use. I plan to start afresh by formatting a new 1TB SSD as a boot disk and reinstalling Lightroom 5 and PhotoShop CC.
Is there a list of the files and/or folders that contain Settings and Preferences which can be copied from the old system to the new?

with your cc apps you should try to use the sync feature. that's never worked consistently for me, but when it does work, it's helpful.
there are preference folders and presets and settings that you could copy but you're better off installing fresh because a common problem for people with adobe program issues is a settings issue.

My 3 year-old macbook pro is very slow. I have run disk utility and virus scan with no improvement. The "beach ball" will spin for minutes at a time when opening, closing or changing windows. Apple Store looked at it a few months ago with no help.

my 3 year-old macbook pro is very slow. I have run disk utility and virus scan with no improvement. The "beach ball" will spin for minutes at a time when opening, closing or changing windows. Apple Store looked at it a few months ago with no help. What can I do?

Under CPU: 3.5% user; 5% system; 91% idle; 441 threads; 90 processes.
Under System: out of 2GB - 54.7MB free; 530MB wired; 603MB active; 862MB inactive; 1.95GB used.
Is too much of the system memory tied up? If so, what can I do to free some up?

How much discount would a 12 year old kid get for MacBook Pro (13 inch)?

How much discount would a 12 year old kid get for MacBook Pro (13 inch)?
He needs it for school and using iMovie.
Please answer this fast as possible.
Thank you.

None.
Why would you think he would get a discount?

Will Aperture 3 work on my 3 year old MacBook, OS 10.4.11

Will Aperture 3 work on my 3 year old MacBook, OS 10.4.11, I would upgrade to a newer OS but am concerns for conflicts with existing files, programs (EI Photoshop CS1) etc. I love the advertised features but don't want to open a new can of worm or simply buy software that will not work on my present MacBook. Am I better off to wait till I upgrade my computer? Also looking at all the problems that present users are having on the Apple discussions make Aperture look like it has a lot of issues, is this the general reality?

Kevin Allen4 wrote:
...Aperture 3 "works" on my iMac 2 Ghz Core Duo but in a way that makes it unusable.
...I am *issed that Apple could release a product that works like this. If I could find someone to complain to officially I would, this is really intolerable and should not happen. Everyone else can make a program that works on my machine, Adobe, Canon and others, but not within the scope of Apple programmers.
Those of us using Photoshop and other heavy graphics-handling apps for decades soon discovered that "works" and "usable in a pro workflow" are two different things. I remember answering many Photoshop complaints identical to this 8+ years ago.
Similarly, relying on vendors' published "System Requirements" has never worked. E.g. Adobe CS2 listed 256 MB RAM, CS4 listed 512 MB RAM and even today CS5 claims 1 GB RAM; anyone trying to run graphics in a pro workflow at those levels would have issues. Yet users on forums like this one would say "But the System Requirements say..."
No Apple laptop was strong enough to run Photoshop functionally until the Intel boxes, and within Intel laptops there is huge performance improvement as one progresses up from lowest end Core Duos to Core2 Duos, i3s, i5s and i7s. My first successful PS box was a PPC 8500 graphics tower made pretty much especially for PS, and even at that top end applying a filter to an image would take many seconds, sometimes hours.
*The nature of the heavy-graphics-app beast has always been that one needs to live in top end hardware to keep up with top end graphics apps.* Today the base hardware has largely caught up to Photoshop's demands, but apps like Aperture and Final Cut Pro still demand top hardware.
Personally I want developers to be designing state-of-the-art graphics apps to fully utilize/need state-of-the-art hardware. It is not that hard to keep up: my 2007 17" C2Duo MBP with 3 GB max-possible RAM works OK and my 2006 MP tower works well. Those boxes are not state-of-the-art by any stretch, but they are high end hardware for their time; and (carefully set up) they work. Unfortunately we cannot reasonably drive an app like Aperture using any 4 year old Core Duo box that was lower end when new.
-Allen

Handoff does not work on a 2 1/2 year old MacBook Air

As I do a lots of fieldwork I was looking forward to using the new handoff feature in Yosemite which would allow me to transfer my work from my iPad to my 2 1/2 year old MacBook Air. I have now discovered that my laptop is too old for this feature. Why? This smacks of built-in obsolescence.

This is a user-to-user support forum, so we can't usually explain the "why" of many Apple decisions, although you may get some educated guesses from someone here. You can provide feedback to Apples at https://www.apple.com/feedback/ if you like.
May not help, but my MacBook Air is a mid-2012 model that is supposed to support Handoff but I've yet to get it to work in spite of meticulously following all of the instructions.
Also may not help, but I don't really care if I don't get it to work as all it would seem to do is very slightly reduce the number of steps to open a document on the other device. Without Handoff I can start a document in Pages on my MacBook Air, save to iCloud then go to my iPhone and open Pages and resume editing there. You may already be aware of that -- and you may have more need or use of Handoff than I do -- but thought I would point that out just in case you were thinking Handoff provided more capabilities than it does.

I have a one year old Macbook Air 13. I have a brand new 22" external monitor. When I connect my external monitor it initially provides a nice display - very accurate and no distortions. But, within a few minutes the screen begins a incessant series

I have a one year old Macbook Air 13. I have a brand new 22" external monitor. In turning the Macbook and monitor on, the monitor displays very well, but within a few minutes it begins this incessant blinking (temporary black out of the screen that lasts anywhere from 1-5 seconds). This has been going on for a long time (it also happended with my older monitor which apparantly I threw out when I should have kept it thinking it was the problem). From reading various blogs in the Apple support community, this appears to be a widespread problem, but I don't find a solution, only a lot of speculation. I'm very surprised the Apple folks haven't figured this out. As a new Apple user, heretofor, I have been very impressed with the support and effort to get fixes out to users. This, however, has me frustrated to the point of junking my Mac and going back to a PC. I love the Macbook Air and most of the functionality, but I cannot function without an external monitor. Anybody have any ideas, please help. Frustrated, Jim

Your dsplay is getting extended onto the external monitor. Chcnage the setting to duplicate it or only display on the external monitor and you should be fine,
Let me know if this worked for you.

I am going to replace my 3 year old MacBook Pro with a new MacBook Pro Retina display machine. I have been told by Apple that I can use the Migration Assistant ON MY WIRELESS NETWORK (no cables) to transfer data... I've read this can take AGES.. True?

I am planning to replace my 3+ year old MacBook Pro with a new MacBook Pro, Retina display... I have been told by "chat" on the Apple site that I can transfer my data wirelessly... on my network.. Is is a good option? I don't want to invest in cables if I can help it... since the old machine has firewire and the new one has thunderbolt! Will the wireless transfer take forever... as in 30-50 hours??? I've been hearing these horror stories...

Ralph Landry1 wrote:
Recently did one MacBook Pro to another for my daughter...almost full 500 GB HD estimate wireless was 48 hours, wired took a little over an hour.
Wow, shocking in comparison. You have the patience of a Saint !

My 3 year old Macbook Pro is getting slow..

Hello, i have a 3 year old Macbook Pro which have been great use to me. When i first purchased it, the boot up time was extremely fast, and the general speed of the mac was superb. However 3 years later the machine take at least 3 mins to boot up and is pretty slow when i use it to carry out my daily tasks.
It originally came with Tiger but i upgraded to Leopard, basically i'm after advice on how i can increase the speed or how to make my mac as fast as it was 3 years ago. anyway help or information would be greatly appreciated. Many Thanks in advance.

Use a Utility like MainMenu or OnyX to clean out the caches, archived and temporary files.
Do a Parameter RAM reset - hold down apple/option/p/r keys at start up and wait for three chimes before releasing the keys.
Use Disc Inventory X to examine your hard drive and see a) if there's anything there taking a lot of space you can delete and b) that you still have 10%+ free space.
Consider doing a clean install of the OS and all Applications, it's a lot of work but is the one sure way of "starting over"

I have a 2 year old MacBook Pro and the superdrive has stopped working, it won't take discs in as if there is one already inside but iTunes or the dvd player doesn't recognise that there is a disc inside and if there is it can't be ejected

I have a 2 year old MacBook Pro and the superdrive has stopped working, it won't take discs in as if there is one already inside but iTunes or the dvd player doesn't recognise that there is a disc inside and if there is it can't be ejected, i have tried shutting down and restartinf while holding down the trackpad, as recommended on some forums but that has done nothing
It might be a huge coincidence but the drive was working fine before i installed lion?

Installing Lion would not cause the superdrive to stop working. Are you unsure as to whether or no a cd/dvd is inside? Something may be broken inside and you should consider bringing it in for service.

All of a sudden my 3 year old macbook pro screen is blurred - I can hardly read the words - any ideas?

All of a sudden the screen on my 3+ year old macbook pro has blurred badly - I can hardly read the words - any ideas?

You likely didn't erase the ENTIRE drive of the later OS X operating system before installing Snow Leopard. You just targeted the Macintosh HD partition.
Try again, this time make sure to select the name and size of your boot drive at the top to catch the hidden EFI partition that's responsible for the splash screen at boot time (no screen = white)
It will take two reboots to reset the EFI again, so once Snow is installed and reboots, reboot again.
How to erase and install Snow Leopard 10.6
How to revert your Mac to Snow Leopard
Restoring firmware on Intel Mac's

I am confused about Icloud. I have a 5 year old Macbook, a 2 year old macbook and a 5 year old mac mini. What exactly do I need to do to get all this connected via Icloud. I also have an Iphone 3G. Help please!

I am confused about Icloud. I have a 5 year old Macbook, a 2 year old macbook and a 5 year old mac mini. What exactly do I need to do to get all this connected via Icloud. I also have an Iphone 3G. Help please! Also, I still don't understand exactly what the benefits are. At the moment it seems a lot of hassle to change a system that's been working perfectly well and that I'm very happy with. I'm not at all sure whether the mac mini (1.66 GHz INtel Core Duo) can be brought up to the relevant spec to run ICloud. Any thoughts?

There are two aspects to iCloud. One is simply getting an account, or migrating a mobileme account to iCloud. The second part is using the various features of iCloud to sync contacts, calendars, use music match or photo sharing, and store iWorks documents.
First to get an iCloud account:
If you have a mobileme account, you can migrate by simply logging onto www.icloud.com (ignore any references to Lion and just click through to complete the migration). If you have OS X Lion or an iOS 5 mobile device, you can create an iCloud account on that device using any valid AppleID.
Once you have an account, you can use JUST the mail account if you wishi - it is a standard IMAP account so you would set it up like any other IMAP email account you have, in whatever client program you use to read email.
To use the OTHER feautes of iCloud, your computers will have to be running OS X Lion (10.7). Your iPhone 3G will never be able to use iCloud as it cannot run iOS 5 (you need a min. of an iPhone 3GS to run iOS 5).
The requirements for OS X Lion are here - http://www.apple.com/macosx/specs.html You need a min. of a Core 2 duo processor so you mini is not capable of running Lion.
So, in your case, the single reasons for iCloud would be if you have a mobileme account, then use the online www.icloud.com to migrate your account so you do not lose your @me.com email address. You can use iCloud email (without using any other iCloud features) by setting it up as IMAP mail with these settings - http://support.apple.com/kb/HT4864
If you want an iCloud account and do NOT already have a mobileme account, you will need to upgrade one machine at least to Lion in order to be able to create an iCloud account.

I have an 8 year old MacBook Air running OS X 10.6.8; can I upgrade to most current operating system or is it maxed out?

I have an 8 year old MacBook Air running OS X 10.6.8. Can it handle an upgrade to Lion and then to Snow Leopard or is hardware incapable. Additionally, I have a 3 year old Mac Mini running same OS X 10.6.8, with new solid state hard drive. Can I upgrade that one?

8 years old? Not likely. The first MBA was released in January 2008. It can be upgraded to Lion although it meets only the minimal specifications to run Lion. Snow Leopard would likely perform better than Lion on that hardware.
Lion System Requirements
Mac computer with an Intel Core 2 Duo, Core i3, Core i5, Core i7, or Xeon processor
2GB of memory
OS X v10.6.6 or later (v10.6.8 recommended)
7GB of available space
Some features require an Apple ID; terms apply.
An Early 2009 Mac Mini is capable of running Mountain Lion.
Upgrading to Mountain Lion
You can upgrade to Mountain Lion from Lion or directly from Snow Leopard. Mountain Lion can be downloaded from the Mac App Store for $19.99. To access the App Store you must have Snow Leopard 10.6.6 or later installed.
If you need to purchase Snow Leopard you can still purchase a copy from Apple's online store's telesales agents.[1-800-MY-APPLE (1-800-692-7753) or Customer Service and Sales Support at 1-800-676-2775.] Ask for a Sales Representative.
Third-party sources for Snow Leopard are:
Snow Leopard from Amazon.com
Snow Leopard from eBay
After you install Snow Leopard you will have to download and install the Mac OS X 10.6.8 Update Combo v1.1 to update Snow Leopard to 10.6.8 and give you access to the App Store.
If you need to purchase Lion call 1-800-692-7753 or 1-800-676-2775. Ask for a Sales Representative. They will check your Apple ID, and email you a code and instructions. The cost is $29.99 (as it was before) plus tax. It's a download.
Be sure your computer meets the minimum requirements:
Apple - OS X Mountain Lion - Read the technical specifications.
Macs that can be upgraded to OS X Mountain Lion
iMac (Mid 2007 or newer)
MacBook (Late 2008 Aluminum, or Early 2009 or newer)
MacBook Pro (Mid/Late 2007 or newer)
MacBook Air (Late 2008 or newer)
Mac mini (Early 2009 or newer)
Mac Pro (Early 2008 or newer)
Xserve (Early 2009)
Are my applications compatible?
See App Compatibility Table - RoaringApps - App compatibility and feature support for OS X & iOS.
For a complete How-To introduction from Apple see Apple - Upgrade your Mac to OS X Mountain Lion.

Year-old MacBook adequate for PhotoShop?

Similar Messages

Maybe you are looking for