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General Discussion

Arshdeep Singh
PLUS
Arshdeep Singh
Courses Plus Student 8,349 Points
Posted by Arshdeep Singh
Arshdeep Singh
Courses Plus Student 8,349 Points

Which Mac Book is Suitable for Web/UI/Graphic Design/Development ?

Hello,

I would like to know which mac book pro is ideal for Web/UI/Graphic Design/Development. I also occasional to minor video editing. I do have Large screen at home.If I am out will I be able to work with 13" or 15" screen comfortable. Software Usage - Photoshop, Illustrator, Sketch, Sublime Text/Dreamweaver, Lightroom, After Affects (Occasional). Premiere Pro (Occasional).

  1. Screen Size - Macbook Pro 13" or !5" .

  2. Graphic Card - Integrated or dedicated.

Please do share your experience in similar circumstances and which version of Mac you use. For web/graphic/development work.

Thanks

3 Answers

Marcus Klausen
Marcus Klausen
17,425 Points
Marcus Klausen
Marcus Klausen
17,425 Points

Integrated graphics will do I think. Photoshop runs no problem on integrated on new macbook models. I am very happy with my 13" + a henge dock and 25" QHD Dell monitor for desktop feel at home.

Note that no 13" model has dedicated graphics and 15" also has less battery life + heavier for traveling.

If you're worried about screen real estate then you can pump up the resolution on retina displays meaning you have more space available though it might decrease your performance a bit since more rendered pixels equals more memory usage in the graphics department.

I feel like photoshop on retina displays is useless since the upscaling ruins your designs - that is if you design on a pixel based technology.

Hope this helps a bit, cheers!

Kevin Korte
Kevin Korte
28,149 Points
Kevin Korte
Kevin Korte
28,149 Points

I have a 2010 MBP that is a bone stock 13" with CS5 master suite and is still my main developer machine. It's doing okay today, it was much faster, but with anything, 6 years later it's slower. I'm looking to replace it hopefully in the next year or so.

For me at the time, money was the biggest hurdle, so I went with the stock 13" MBP. If you can swing it, I'd recommend getting the 15". I feel graphics power, and ram, and cpu are the 3 most important things, and the 15" will have better options. But the 13" can get you by, it does for me.

Kristian Terziev
Kristian Terziev
28,449 Points
Kristian Terziev
Kristian Terziev
28,449 Points

Hello,

1) In my experience more screen space is always a plus. But you have to balance your needs with the screen size. What I mean is that you have to decide if you need more screen space or better portability.

2) Integrated graphics card will have no problems with most of the things you mentioned, however if you do any video rendering there will be difference in rendering time but non the less it will still be possible without integrated graphics..

Hope that helps. Best, Kris